[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗫: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗣𝗬]

"THAT THING, IT . . . IT DID SOMETHING to him." joyce says to owens.

"okay. and these now-memories, as you call them, how long has he been experiencing them?" owens questions. "i told you, since thursday. since i found him and sage on the field." joyce replies to the man.

"and why wasn't he brought in? why wasn't the girl brought in?" someone asks.

"i have been bringing him in, and what have you done? nothing. nothing! and sage isn't to be brought in by me!"

"these are new symptoms, joyce," owens informs to the byers woman. "no. no, he has been telling you over and over that something's wrong, and you said it was all in his head. you said, "be patient." those were your words!" joyce argues.

"i understand that you're upset, okay? i get it. and i would be, too, if i were in your shoes. but we are all in the same boat here, and i need you to try —"

"what? stay calm? trust you?" joyce cut him off. "no, i want him transferred to a real hospital."

"well, you know that's not possible."

"he really will get the best treatment here, mrs. byers,"

"the very best,"

the byers woman scoffs. "and what are you treating him for, exactly?" joyce stammers before standing up from her seat. "can anyone tell me what's wrong with him?"

"can a single person in this room tell me what is wrong with my boy, and sage?"

no answer.

"what is wrong with my boy and sage?!" joyce repeated and slammed her hands down on the table.

"they made me sign, like, a thousand documents," joyce whispers to bob as she was now back in the room with will, and the twins. "i mean . . . we all had to. we had to. i mean, i lost track at a certain point. they're gonna make you do the same. i'm sure."

"yeah. well, hey, whatever." bob tells his girlfriend. ". . . what kind of documents?"

"uh, confidentiality, and there were these official
forms saying, like, nothing ever happened, which is why . . ."

"will got lost in the woods." bob finishes as he looks over at the sleeping will. "yeah." joyce whispers while looking at her son.

"man, i always thought stuff like this happened in movies and comic books. certainly not in hawkins, and certainly not to someone like you." bob tells his girlfriend. "or you," joyce replies with a small grin. "yeah," bob agrees with a small chuckle. "bob newby, superhero."

bob sighs, looking back will then back at joyce.

"you cold?" joyce asks bob. "uh, just a little jitters, i guess. hey, don't you start worrying about me." bob replies to his lover in a serious tone. "okay," the byers woman whispers.

"okay? i'm fine. i'm fine. it's not like you didn't warn me. "this family is not a normal family." isn't that what you said?" bob grins.

"yeah," joyce smiles a little. bob chuckles. "you weren't kidding. it kinda makes my idea of moving to maine sound a little less crazy, right?"

"oh, it's . . . it's not crazy at all." joyce assures her boyfriend.

"mom?" will asks, now awake.

joyce gasps a little and puts her cup down. "hey," she says with a small smile, walking over.

bob quickly opens the door and walks out into the hallway.

"is there a doctor? we need a doctor!" bob calls out.

"sweetie, how you feeling? you okay?" joyce asks her son, rubbing his shoulder. "okay, they're on their way." bob tells his girlfriend.

sage and mike sit up on their chairs, now awake as well.

"hey," bob smiles at will. "who is that?" will asks his mom. "what?" joyce asks, confused.

sage furrows her eyebrows and looks at mike in confusion.

bob chuckles nervously, "it's me, big guy. it's bob."

bob tries to reach over to hold will's hand, but the byers boy pulls it away quickly.

"are you a . . ." will scans bob's outfit. "doctor?"

"no. no, it's just me. just . . . just bob."

joyce looks back at her boyfriend then back at her son, rubbing will's shoulder still.

sage and mike stare at will before looking at each other in shock. sage looks back at her best friend and takes in his looks, noticing a change.

his eyes are brown, sage thought.

   DOCTOR OWENS FLASHES A LIGHT onto will's eyes to check if they were normal.

"do you know your name?" owens questions the byers teen. "will," the boy replied. "your full name?" the man asked. "william byers."

"do you know . . . do you know who i am?"

"a doctor,"

owens nods a little, "have we met before?"

"i don't remember," will said. "hmm," owens hums. "you don't remember me?" he asks. "okay. how about, uh . . . about these two here?" owens point at mike and sage.

the twins wave at will as the boy stares at them.

when sage noticed an answer wasn't coming out of his mouth, tears formed in her eyes.

"it's all right. take your time."

"they're my friends," will answered. "mike and sage."

mike smiles then looks over at sage to see she sighs in relief.

"what about me, kid? you remember me?" hopper asks the byers boy. will looks over at the chief and shakes his head. "they tell me you helped save me last night. you remember that?"

will shakes his head again.

"do you remember anything about last night? about what happened?" owens asked the boy. "i remember they hurt me." will replied.

"you mean the doctors?" owens tries correcting him. "no. the soldiers." will corrected.

"the soldiers hurt you?"

"they shouldn't have done that. it upset him."

sage furrows her eyebrows, clinging onto mike's elbow, looking up at her twin.

owens takes out a polaroid and shows it to the teen. "you say, "upset him." is that him?"

will takes the photo then looks over at the doctor, nodding at him in reply. owens takes the photo back with a small sigh.

"okay. okay, i wanna try something. it's gonna seem a little odd at first, but i think it's really gonna help us understand what's going on here." owens explains. "is that okay?" the man asks will for his consent. will nods. "okay."

a doctor walks in, pushing a cart in front of him that has one of the vine creatures in a tank.

"now, will, i want you to just let us know if you feel anything. okay?" owens tells will then nods at the doctor.

the doctor lights a fire causing sage to grip onto her brothers elbow tighter. the man slowly lowers the fire towards the creature.

"do you feel anything?" owens asks the teen boy. will stammers. "little sting," the boy replies.

"it stings? where?"

the creators screeches a bit and will grunts, grabbing his chest. "my chest," he breathes out.

"okay, son."

the doctor lowers the fire more onto the creature causing it to screech in pain.

"how about now?"

"it . . . it burns." will grips onto the railings of the bed. "it's burns!"

"where?" owens asks. "everywhere!" will groans.

"that's enough. that's enough!" joyce tells the man. "stop! you heard her! that's enough!" hopper cuts in as will screams.

sage tilts her head a little causing the fire to turn off, and the fire tank hit the doctors forehead.

"that's it! we're done! you're gonna fucking kill him!" sage raises her voice, blood slowly falling from her nose.

owens turns to the wheeler girl, shocked, but turns around back to face will when he notices her eyes are slightly orange-red, and her face has a small crack on her cheekbone — the same color from her eyes appearing between the small crack.

"sweetie . . . sweetie. it's okay." joyce whispers to her son as mike hands sage a napkin. sage takes the napkin and slowly begins calming down.

"our best guess right now is it's some kind of virus which is causing this neurological disorder. now, when . . . when a typical virus attaches itself to its host . . . it duplicates, right? it spreads, essentially hijacking the host. a virus is alive. it has a intelligence. that's not . . . that's not unusual." owens explains to the adults.

"what is so unusual here, this virus . . . the infected hosts seem to be communicating. it has some sort of a hive intelligence, and it's connecting all the hosts. the good news is a virus can be cured. we . . . we're gonna continue to run tests, and we're gonna see what we find." he continues to explain.

"what happens when he can't remember anything?" joyce asks owens. "when there's nothing else there? what happens when my boy is gone?" she asks again before leaning into hopper's chest, crying.

   "WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING SO long," joyce says with a sigh.

"hey . . . doctors take forever, always. just try and relax. just be patient." bob whispers to his girlfriend, rubbing her knee for reassurance.

not even ten seconds later joyce stands up, "you know, i just . . ."

the byers woman walks out of the room to see sage walking through the doors. the wheeler girl waves at joyce before walking into the room where will was. joyce gives the teen a smile and continues walking to the doors where two guard men stood.

"let me through. let me through!"

"you know we can't do that."

"i need to talk to him!"

"he'll be with you shortly."

"you said that an hour ago." joyce argued.

sage sits next to mike, bouncing her knee. mike looks at his twin sister before looking at will, hearing the monitor beeping rapidly.

"will," mike whispers to will. "will? will?"

the byers boy jumps up on his spot on the bed, looking over at mike.

"what's wrong? are you hurting again?"

will sits up while looking at the twins.

"i saw something," will stated. "in your now-memories?" sage asked the byers boy. will nodded at the wheeler girl. "the shadow monster. i think i know how to stop him." will told the twins in a whisper.

DUSTIN HENDERSON AND STEVE harrington walk together at the spot they told lucas to meet them at.

"oh, yeah. yeah, this will do." steve said and took off his sunglasses. "this will do just fine. good call, dude."

dustin smiles and follows steve, dropping more meat onto the floor. the two teens pour both their meat from the bucket onto the middle of the abandoned place they were at.

"i said medium-well!" lucas shouted as he walked in with his bike, max next to him with crossed arms. "who's that?" steve asked, looking at max.

dustin didn't respond. steve looked over at the henderson teen when he didn't get a response.

"you told her?" dustin asked lucas, hiding behind a car. "so what?" lucas questioned. " "so what?" " dustin mocked while scoffing.

"you wanted to tell her, too."

"but i didn't, all right? we all agreed not to tell her and look for dart."

"sage told her about having pyrokinesis powers! and look for dart who you conveniently found." lucas argued. "sage has powers? and are you suggesting that i'm lying?" dustin asked.

"apparently," lucas huffed. "but i'm saying that you have a creepy little bond with him."

"we're gonna talk to sage about her powers, and yeah, that was before he turned into a demogorgon." dustin stated. "yeah, we are. and you haven't heard from mike or sage?" lucas asked the henderson boy.

"no,"

"or will?"

"no!"

"hopper?"

"no! no one is around. why do you think i'm with steve harrington?" dustin told the sinclair teen. "something's —"

"wrong. i agree. which is why we need as much help as we can get." lucas told his friend then heard max grunt. the dark-skinned boy looks through the non-existence car window to look at max. "she didn't believe me anyway."

"you probably didn't tell it right." dustin chirped.

"that must be it," lucas grinned at dustin then stuck a hand out to him. "so, we good?"

just as dustin was about to shake his hand, steve hit the car with a chair.

"hey! dickheads! how come the only one helping me out is this random girl? we lose light in 40 minutes. let's go. let's go, i said!" steve told the younger teens. "all right, asshole! god." dustin shouted at him. "okay! stupid." lucas said.

AUTHORS NOTE //

i just realized how close we are to finishing season two for this book —

bee<3