Prologue
Joyce Preston had been a perfectly normal child until June of 1957. She decided to visit her father at work only to find him passionately kissing his secretary. How could he do that to her mother? When Jack Preston noticed his daughter standing there in shock, Joyce turned and ran as fast as she could. Her father called after her and she only ran faster. She wasn't sure how, but she ended up at the lab on the very outskirts of Hawkins. She leaned on the fence, though it may have been better if she'd simply sat on the ground. The "scientists" of Hawkins Lab were performing an energy experiment. An inter-dimensional current produced by a couple of particularly potent MK-Ultra energy pulses that traveled through the ground and the chain link fence was an excellent conductor. Joyce was paralyzed for a moment before being thrown back and knocked unconscious.
Fortunately for 14 year old girl, a couple of friendly hunters would find her before a young Doctor Martin Brenner and Agent One. She was in the hospital and her parents were at her side (even if Joyce had nothing to say to her father). Brenner and Agent One did get a sample of her blood for testing...they saw some potential and decided to keep an eye on the unsuspecting child. It wasn't the last blood sample they'd take.
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Karen Bryce had never exactly become *friends* with Joyce Preston, but she had an odd admiration for her-it would be an admiration that would continue well into adulthood when Joyce kicked her husband out and still managed to support two children without a dime of child support. They rarely spoke, but had always been friendly toward each other despite Karen running with the future sorority girls and Joyce running with girls who were considerably less fond of pink.
On a warm May day in 1961, Karen was walking out behind the school when she saw Joyce sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette. She felt compelled to approach Joyce just as her son would feel compelled to approach Joyce's son on their first day of Kindergarten 15 years later.
"Hey Joyce."
"Hi, Karen," said Joyce as she stared blankly across the parking lot and exhaled a stream of smoke.
"Mind of I sit down?" Joyce spared Karen a brief glance, shrugged and indicated the spot next to her on the bench. Karen sat and Joyce offered to share her cigarette. Karen hesitated for a moment and decided to accept the offer. She inhaled and had a coughing spell.
"These aren't for everyone," said Joyce as Karen handed the cigarette back to her.
"Why do you like them?" asked Karen. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry."
"Don't worry about it, they help me relax," said Joyce as she took another drag.
"How are you? I haven't seen you much since you dropped out of the college prep classes."
"Anything to piss off dad," Joyce replied. "I can't believe mom puts up with him." Joyce would look back on this statement years later and laugh at herself. She'd sworn to herself that she'd never put up with any man's shit like her mother put up with her father's infidelity. At least she finally reached her breaking point with Lonnie Byers-just for different reasons.
"So," said Karen as she decided to change the subject. "Just a couple more weeks until graduation."
"Yep," said Joyce. "And we won't have to worry any more about some dirty old man telling us our skirts are too short." Joyce plucked at the hem of her plaid skirt. "They wouldn't have to worry about that if they'd let us wear pants."
"You want to wear pants?" asked Karen.
"It would be nice to not have to worry about wind or guys with mirrors on their shoes."
"I guess that makes sense.
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After high school, Joyce and Karen both married older men. Karen married Ted Wheeler, who was a bit on the dull side, but he had a good job and came from a good family. He was a change from the jocks she'd dated in high school-even if he had played baseball in high school and college. Most of the boys she found remotely suitable were drafted to go the Vietnam before college was done. Joyce did about a year at Pawnee community college before having to drop out to care for her sick parents. When they passed away, there was some insurance money that was split between her and her sisters. Joyce used her share for a down payment on a house on the edge of town. Her sisters left town to start new lives and barely had any contact with her, even when her children were born. She began dating the handsome car mechanic, Lonnie Byers. He was charming at first. He seemed to be completely different from her father at first and that was a huge draw.
Growing up, Joyce's father had been very insistent that she and her sisters act and dress like proper young ladies. Lonnie seemed to enjoy the fact that Joyce didn't care to dress up and spend hours on her hair. He didn't mind that she chose to wear pants instead of skirts. After they had two sons, however, Joyce saw that Lonnie was exactly like her father. He wasn't thrilled that Jonathan loved photography or that Will loved to draw. He wanted them to like hunting and sports. He frequently reduced them to tears trying to get them to act more manly. It proved to be an eventual breaking point for Joyce. Karen would admire Joyce for that decision.
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In 1967, Joyce and Karen were both pregnant at the same time. They ran into each other, sans their husbands a few times at the doctor's office. They exchanged friendly hellos, not realizing that the babies they carried would one day track down a monster together, expose a corrupt government agency and fall in love. Dr. Brenner and Agent One would take an interest in Joyce's blood samples. They'd see potential.
In the winter of 1970 to 1971, the friendly acquaintances would each find themselves pregnant a second time. The children they carried would become as close as any children could be. Joyce had suffered with nerves since she had her accident at 14. The events that surrounded her second experience of giving birth would amplify her issues tenfold. It would lead her to having a reputation of being unstable.
Dr. Brenner and Agent One saw something beyond potential in her blood work this time and decided to approach her husband. Lonnie Byers was always open to money…
It was the second day of Spring in 1971, a few weeks after Karen had giving birth to a baby boy name Michael, Joyce collapsed in pain on her living room floor. She was bleeding.
"No! No! No! It's too early. I'm not due until May!" Joyce sobbed, terrified for her baby. Jonathan ran to her side. He didn't understand what was happening, just that his mother was in pain.
"Babe, you gotta calm down," said Lonnie. "This isn't good for you or the baby."
Joyce couldn't remember what happened in the next fourteen hours because she passed out right then and there. She woke up in a hospital bed in the early am hours of March 22. Every instinct told her that something had happened and something was missing. Lonnie repeatedly assured her that she was imagining things. She'd lost a lot of blood. Telling Joyce that she was imagining things was a regular occurrence in the coming years.
Later that morning, Joyce gave birth to her second son. He was relatively healthy for being born six weeks early. Joyce felt a grip of terror that something terrible would happen to baby Will. She insisted on keeping him in the hospital room with her. Lacking the vocabulary to say anything of comfort, little Jonathan just gave his mother a hug. Lonnie returned to work with a simple "Sorry, Babe, we need the money. We have another mouth to feed."
On the morning of March 23rd, Karen Wheeler brought baby Michael into the hospital for a check up. The doctor happily reported that he was perfectly healthy. Karen had read the birth announcement for William Byers and decided to pay Joyce a visit. She entered the hospital room and saw Joyce laying on her side on the hospital bed with one arm around Jonathan and her other hand resting on the side of Will's cradle. She looked as though she had no interest in taking her eyes off the sleeping newborn.
"Joyce?" said Karen tentatively. She kept her voice down so not to wake William or Michael who slept in his carriage. Joyce glanced up at her first visitor. Her sisters had both moved out of town and she had lost contact with most of her friends when she married Lonnie.
"Karen? Oh, hi. Come in," said Joyce. Her eyes quickly flicked back to William. Karen entered and took a seat near the bed. Joyce looked at the infant in the baby carriage. "This must be ...Michael," she said as she recalled the birth announcement in the paper.
"Yes, this is Michael," said Karen. Jonathan craned his head to get a better look at the baby. "And you must Jonathan." Karen smiled at the toddler. Jonathan nodded. Michael stirred briefly. He opened his eyes, blinked and went right back to sleep, oblivious to the fact that the newborn sleeping just a foot away would one day become his best friend and that he'd fall in love with another newborn sleeping in a lab a few miles away. "Where's Lonnie?" asked Karen.
"He said he had to go back to work," said Joyce. She didn't appear to feel one way or another about that issue. Little did she know that Lonnie had decided to do a little gambling at one of the casinos in Pawnee.
"Are you alright, Joyce?"
Joyce looked at Karen, considering her carefully. Tears formed and she quickly brushed them away. "I don't know," she started. She thought about telling Karen about her concerns that something had happened while she was unconscious, but decided against it. "Will came early, I just want to know he'll be okay." She also happened to be worried about the health of her baby, so it was enough to keep Karen from asking further questions.
Karen reached over and gave Joyce's hand a gentle squeeze. "Joyce, if you need anything, I'm here for you."
"Thanks Karen," Joyce replied. It was an offer that Karen would make many times in the coming years, but Joyce would rarely take advantage of it.
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In December of 1974, Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler prepared for the Hawkins Elementary annual Christmas concert. Nancy sat with her friend Barbara Holland in a corner while Jonathan sat with a group of boys. He found himself wishing he had a camera with him. He and Nancy had a relationship similar to that of their mothers. They weren't exactly friends, but they were friendly with each other and would be until middle school.
When the first grade class took the stage for their set of songs, Will Byers stood up on his chair to see his brother. Joyce put her hand on Will's arm to ensure he didn't fall. She felt a stab of annoyance as she saw Lonnie checking his watch. Across the gymnasium, Mike Wheeler sat between his parents. He wasn't quite as eager to see Nancy as Will was to see Jonathan. Karen reached over her son to shake her husband out of his nap. He was starting to snore.
After the first graders finished their set and left the stage, Lonnie stood up to leave. "Where are you going?" asked Joyce. "They're having the whole school do some songs at the end."
"I'm getting a drink and catching the rest of the Colts game," said Lonnie. He left without another word. When she really thought about it, Joyce was relieved. Will slid off his chair and stood in front of her. He reached up his arms imploringly. Joyce smiled and pulled him into her lap. He was almost four years old, but still small for his age. He wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder. Hugging their mother after their father walked away was common practice for Jonathan and Will. They weren't big talkers, but understood that hugs made their mother feel better.
By intermission, Will had drifted into a deep sleep. Joyce decided to go for a quick walk. A cigarette was out of the question with a sleeping Will in her arms, but walking helped her anxiety more than sitting there.
"Joyce!" Joyce looked over to see Karen Wheeler holding a sleeping Mike in her arms. As fate would have it, Mike and Will would not be awake together for almost two more years.
"Oh, hi Karen."
"Haven't seen you in a while. Have a seat," Karen patted the empty chair next to her. Joyce considered for a moment. She really felt like taking a walk, but figured she was less likely to wake up Will if she took Karen up on her offer. "Looks like our boys are out for the count. I don't think Mike ever sleeps this soundly at home."
"Yeah, Will had a nightmare last night and barely slept. I couldn't get him to take his nap this afternoon either," said Joyce at she gingerly took the seat next to Karen. She carefully shifted Will in her lap.
"Is he alright?" asked Karen, her brows furrowed in concern. Mike briefly stirred without waking.
"I think so. He gets nightmares all the time. Lonnie isn't exactly a great help when that happens, but Jonathan is pretty good with him.
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In September of 1976, Will Byers and Mike Wheeler became inseparable. They had both started Kindergarten terrified of going to school; but meeting each other had given them the courage to face anything. They mostly kept to themselves during playtime, but that was alright with them, they had each other. Lonnie wasn't thrilled that Will had made friends with a boy like Mike Wheeler. He wanted his sons to be tough. Mike, like Will, preferred more creative things in life rather than sports. Lonnie was never fond of his younger son's vivid imagination. Mike's imagination only helped make Will's imagination even more vivid as they pretended to have great quests. Joyce would give him a warning stare if he started to say anything around the children. She put up with a lot of thing from her husband. Putting down their children or their friends was not among the things she put up with.
One afternoon, Mike and Will sat in a corner of their classroom pulling on Will's Stretch Armstrong figure and laughing.
"What are you losers doing?" asked their classmate Tom Johnson. He snatched the figure from them.
"That's mine," said Will. "Give it back!" Will stood up to grab the Stretch Armstrong back, but Tom shoved him to the ground. The other boys with him, except for one, started to laugh. Mike stood up angrily and tried to shove Tom. Tom merely shoved Mike to the ground next to Will.
Miss Patterson, their teacher walked over to the group. "What is going on here?" Will turned away trying not to cry. Mike put his arm around his friend and glared at Tom.
"Miss Patterson, Tom took Will's Stretch Armstrong and won't give it back," Lucas Sinclair, the only boy in Tom's group who hadn't laughed at Mike and Will, spoke up.
"Shut up, Lucas!" Tom hissed.
"We don't say shut up in this class, Tom," Miss Patterson scolded. "Now give Will his toy back!"
Tom groaned and held out the Stretch Armstrong figure. Will remained seated on the floor and facing away from the group. Mike stood up, took the toy from Tom and handed it back to Will.
"Say you're sorry, Tom." said Miss Patterson.
"I'm sorry," Tom groaned. Miss Patterson became distracted by another group of children across the room.
"Lucas, you wimp!" said Tom shoving Lucas's shoulder. "You told on me!"
"You shouldn't be mean to people," said Lucas.
"You're a nerd, Lucas," said another boy.
"Well, you guy are jerks," said Lucas. He stepped away from the group and took a spot near Mike and Will. He stared at Tom and the other boys and folded his arms. Tom looked like he was about to say something, but looked toward Miss Patterson and decided to walk away. Lucas looked at Mike and Will. "Can I play with you two?" he asked.
"You wanna play with us?" asked Will as he looked up in surprise that someone as cool as Lucas Sinclair wanted to play with him and Mike.
"Yes, I do," said Lucas with a smile. Mike and Will returned the smile. At that moment, their duo became a trio.
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Driving his sons to tears was a normal thing for Lonnie Byers. He resented the fact that they preferred more artistic endeavors as opposed to the more manly things in life. He tried to get them to like sports, cars and hunting, but they preferred art and music. In Will's case, he also liked nerdy things like Star Wars. To his frustration, Joyce regularly encouraged the interests of her sons. She didn't back him up when he tried to teach his reluctant sons baseball or car repair. Joyce had yelled herself particularly hoarse when he took Jonathan hunting for his tenth birthday and made him kill a rabbit.
When they got home that night, Jonathan wasn't hungry for his birthday dinner or his birthday cake. He went directly to his room and slammed the door shut. After a minute, he heard the voices of his parents having a shouting match. A soft knock was barely audible over the yelling. Jonathan got up to let Will in.
"Hey bud," he said as he opened the door. Will stood there holding a drawing he'd made for Jonathan earlier that day. It was a picture of a wolf-and pretty impressive one at that.
"I made this for you," said Will as he handed it to Jonathan. Jonathan smiled for the first time since he and his father left for the hunting trip that afternoon. He wiped his eyes and took the drawing.
"Oh wow, this is the best present." He knelt and pulled his brother into a tight hug.
"The boys need to toughen up, Joyce, you can't keep coddling them! Jonathan needs to learn that life is hard. He can't spend all his time taking pictures. He needs to learn to to be a man!"
"A man like you?" asked Joyce sarcastically.
"I'm his father, of course he should be like me. And don't get me started on Will."
"Will is a smart and talented boy, there's nothing wrong with him."
"Oh please!" said Lonnie with derision. "Just look at those clothes he picks when we let him dress himself. And the way he's always hugging his friends?"
"It's called showing affection, Lonnie. It's what people do when they care about each other. I wouldn't expect you to understand that though."
"Oh, please, that little fag is as queer as Harvey Milk."
Jonathan felt a surge of anger. He wanted to go out and punch his father in the face, but thought better of it and decided to close the door and put on some music instead. He put on Dust in the Wind and he sat on his bed pulling Will into a half hug.
"Jonathan, what does 'queer' and 'fag' mean?"
"I-I'm not sure," said Jonathan. "I think it's just mean names that jerks like Dad call guys that aren't jerks."
"Okay," Will replied wistfully. "Is it weird that I hug my friends?"
"No, it's awesome. If Dad thinks it's weird, that definitely means it's awesome."
Out in the living room Joyce threw some cash at Lonnie and told him to go somewhere and get drunk. One of the last things she said to Lonnie before he left was that she was grateful that Jonathan and Will were nothing like him or her father. She wanted to go check on Jonathan, but decided to have a quick cigarette calm her nerves. She needed to do that a lot. It would take a couple more years, but that fight would be the beginning of the end of her marriage.
There were a lot of insults Lonnie threw at their children over the next couple of years that lead to Joyce eventually reaching her breaking point with her husband. The incidents were particularly bad on birthdays. On Will's 8th birthday, Lonnie couldn't hold back his derogatory remarks when Will drew his rainbow ship. Joyce decided to take the picture and show it off at work.
An incident in the summer of 1979 pushed Joyce right near the edge. She was at work on Saturday. Lonnie was at home with the kids, but watching the Cardinals game a lot more closely than he was watching his sons. Jonathan felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He took several deep breaths.
"Are you okay?" asked Will.
"I think I need to go to the hospital," said Jonathan.
"I'll tell Dad," said Will. He headed to the living room where his father sat on the couch holding a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. "D-dad?" said Will timidly.
"Wait until the commercials, Will," said Lonnie, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Dad," Will grabbed Lonnie's sleeve, causing him to spill his beer a little. "Jonathan's sick. He needs to go to the hospital."
"Dammit, Will! You made me spill my beer!"
"Dad!" Will raised his voice to a yell. "Jonathan's sick! He needs to go to the hospital!"
The batter hit a home run. Lonnie felt a surge of anger at his younger son for causing him to miss it. He stood up, grabbed Will by the arm and shoved him down the hallway toward the bedrooms, causing him to trip and fall to the floor. His father wouldn't have dared tried that if his mother had been home.
"Stop being an overly sensitive little fag, Will. I'll check on your brother after the game!"
Will felt hot tears sting his eyes. He hot up, ran back into Jonathan's room and closed the door. Jonathan was curled on his bed in pain and Will ran to his brother's side. He patted Jonathan's arm. "Don't worry, I'll get help!"
Will darted to the window. In a split second, he decided to go to Lucas's house and he lived slightly closer. He opened the window and climbed out before Jonathan could object. Will grabbed his bike from the porch and peddled as fast as he could.
The chain snapped when he was close to the edge of the neighborhood where Lucas and Mike lived. Will lost control and skidded across the ground scraping his left leg and arm. He decided to run the rest of the way, but the new police chief pulled up in his truck.
"Hey, kid, are you okay?"
Will got up and ran over to the truck. "My brother is sick and my dad won't take him to the hospital!"
Chief Hopper turned off his engine and got out of the truck. He looked at Will carefully. "You're Joyce's kid, aren't you?"
"Yes," said Will breathlessly. "Please, sir, my brother needs help." Hopper nodded. He grabbed Will's bike and threw it in the back of the truck, then he opened the passenger side of the truck for Will.
"Where's your mom?"
"She's working. My dad told me to till after the game, but Jonathan really hurts. I had to sneak out to get help."
Hopper shook his head in disgust. He'd never really cared for Lonnie Byers and couldn't understand what Joyce ever saw in him. His opinion for Lonnie plummeted knowing how he treated his own sick child. After losing Sarah, Jim Hopper had a much stronger opinion about neglectful parents.
"You're name's Will, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Your mom talks a lot about you. She's really proud, you know."
"Yeah," said Will. "She told me that you were her friend in school."
"I was," said Hopper. "You look like her."
The pulled up to the Byers home. Will led Hopper through the front door. He held his breath knowing that his father wouldn't be happy. Lonnie looked up and jumped to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing coming into my house, Jim?"
"Will here was trying to get help for his brother."
Lonnie looked behind Hopper and suddenly noticed his younger son standing there. "Will, I told you to wait until after the game. You need to stop overreacting to everything or you'll end up just like your mother."
"Tell you what, Lonnie," said Hopper as he stepped in front of Will. "You can finish your game and I'll check on Jonathan. We'll see if Will is overreacting."
"This is none of your damn business, Jim. Now get out of my house."
"This is actually Joyce's house and as the chief of police, child endangerment is my business. Will, show me the way." Will trotted out down the hall the Jonathan's bedroom and Hopper followed. Jonathan was still curled in a fetal position on his bed, clutching his abdomen. "Oh, Jesus!" Hopper rushed to Jonathan's side and felt his forehead. He was burning up. "Let's get you to the hospital, kid."
Hopper sat with Will in the waiting room while Lonnie smoked outside. Joyce burst through the door, panic was all over her face. "Where is he?" Joyce asked Hopper as she rushed over to him.
"They're taking out his appendix. He should be fine thanks to Will." Hopper ruffled Will's hair.
"And no thanks to Lonnie," said Joyce through gritted teeth. "I've had it, I'm going to kill him!" she noticed the scrapes on Will's arm and leg. "Will, baby, what happened to you?"
"My bike chain broke. I'm sorry, Mommy."
"Don't worry about that, Baby," said Joyce as she pulled Will into a hug. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up. Thank you, Hopper," she added as she squeezed her old friend's hand before leading Will to the bathroom. The chief of police would make an excellent witness in her divorce a few months later. That was good because Lonnie could be quite the charmer and was good at playing the caring father in front of people that weren't his wife or his two children. He would often try to convince people that Joyce was unstable.
Later that evening, Will sat with his brother in the hospital room. He was drawing a picture of something he called "Castle Byers." He didn't imagine that the fort would exist anywhere other than his paper, but that would change three months when his father left for good. The Wheelers came to visit. Mike and Nancy entered the room carrying flowers and a stuffed bear while Lonnie put on a show (pretending to be a caring father) Karen and Ted out in the hall.
Nancy walked over to the night stand and set down the flowers and stuffed bear. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she gave his shoulder a squeeze. Jonathan felt a blush crawl up his face.
"I'm fine thanks to Will. He saved my life."
Mike slung his arm around Will's shoulders. "See, I told you, you're a hero!" Will stared at his feet, but smiled.
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About a week after Lonnie left and Will and Jonathan recovered from being out all night in the mid October rain building Castle Byers, Joyce decided to take Will to the park. He carried his favorite Tonka truck. He noticed his classmate Julie Mason, best friend of Jennifer Hayes crying in the sand box. She was one of the few kids in his class who was always nice to Will and his friends. Mike told Will that Julie's grandmother had died while Will and Jonathan were at home sick. Will looked down at his truck. He made a decision.
"Mommy, I'm going to give Julie my truck."
"Will, honey, we don't have the money for another one," said Joyce.
"But she's sad, Mommy, she should have it because she's sad."
"Alright, baby," said Joyce in a hoarse voice. She smiled with pride as will walked over and handed the girl his truck. Joyce felt more strongly than ever that Will would never be anything like Lonnie or her father.
Julie Mason would always treasure that Tonka truck, even though she didn't much care for Tonka trucks. The memory of the kind gesture from Will Byers would lead her to asking him to dance at the Snow Ball five years later.
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Three weeks into their fourth grade year Mike, Will, and Lucas gained the fourth member to their party. They stood with a group of their classmates around the new monkey bars.
"Who wants to do the first flip?" asked Dave Carter.
"I'll do it," Will volunteered. He'd been feeling more and more reckless every time he and Jonathan had to visit their father. Will climbed to the top while Lucas and Mike watched anxiously. Unfortunately, the finish on the bars was still too new and had no traction. They were also wet from rain the night before. Will's hands slipped, he lost his grip and banged his head on the side of the set before hitting the ground.
"Shit!" Lucas cried as he and Mike ran to Will's side. Jennifer Hayes and Julie Mason gasped as they noticed Will's forehead was bleeding.
"Will, are you okay?" asked Mike.
"I'm fine," said Will as he lifted himself off the ground. The bell rang.
"Let's get you to the nurse," said Lucas as he and Mike helped Will to his feet.
When they got to the nurse's office, she gave Will an ice pack and made him lay down for a few minutes. Mike and Lucas were sent to class. They took Will's book bag with them.
After Nurse Kent gave Will permission to get up, he was called to the principal's office. Will thought he was in trouble at first. Principal Radcliff greeted him with a smile.
"How's your head, Mr. Byers?"
"Better," said Will.
"Good to hear. This is Dustin Henderson." Principal Radcliff indicated a curly haired boy sitting behind him. "He'll be in your class. Would you mind showing him to Mrs. Drake's room?"
"Okay."
"Wonderful. Now wait here, for a minute while I finish some paperwork with Mrs. Henderson." A woman who must have been Dustin's mother smiled at Will and followed the principal. Will walked over and sat next to Dustin who smiled at him, but kept his mouth determinedly closed.
"Did you just move here?" asked Will.
Dustin nodded.
"I'm Will." Will held out his hand, Dustin shook it. Normally, Will was excessively shy around new people, but he reminded himself that Dustin was new to Hawkins and likely as scared as he and Mike were their first day of Kindergarten. "Do you like Star Wars?"
Dustin's face lit up. "I love it! I can't believe Vador is Luke's father."
"Me either," said Will. "My friends and I saw it three times. What about Dungeons and Dragons? Do you like to play?"
"I love Dungeons and Dragons," Dustin's smile grew even wider. His lips parted revealing that his front teeth her missing. He couldn't help but notice that Will didn't look at him like he was a freak.
"You should play with us. I'll have to ask Mike and Lucas if it's okay, but they'll say yes, I know they will!"
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As the four party members rode their bikes near Mirkwood in the summer of 1982, Will was once again feeling a little reckless. His brother had just given him a mix-tape to distract him from the fact that Lonnie had yet again failed to visit. His mother seemed determined to distract him as well as she'd even taken him to see "Poltergeist."
"Hey, looks like someone built a ramp," said Dustin as the four boys stopped for a brief rest.
"Wanna see if my remote control car can go over it?" asked Lucas.
"I bet I can take it with my bike," said Will.
"I don't think that's a good idea," said Dustin.
"I can do it," Will insisted. He positioned his bike in front of the ramp and peddled furiously before his friends could stop him. He felt a rush of excitement as his bike flew up in the air. It was a very brief rush of excitement as his bike lost its balance as it hit the ground. Will instinctively reached his hand out to stop his. Numbness engulfed his body before a wave of pain in his finger and nausea.
"WILL!" Mike and Lucas shouted in unison.
"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaimed.
"Will, are you okay?" asked Mike as he knelt next to his friend. Will whimpered as he tried to keep himself from crying.
"I-I think I broke my f-finger," he choked.
"Lucas, Dustin, go get help. I'll stay with Will." said Mike. Lucas and Dustin scurried back onto their bikes and pedaled as fast as they could.
"I shouldn't have done that, it was stupid," said Will and tears poured down his cheeks. Mike pulled him into a hug. It was one of those things that Lonnie didn't approve of, but as Jonathan so often pointed out, Lonnie's disapproval made hugs with friends awesome.
"We all do dumb things, Will. It was just your turn this time." Will laughed into Mike's shoulder.
The moment that Will had broken his finger, Test subject number Eleven woke with a start in Hawkins lab. It was one of many times she'd seen Will Byers without trying to find him in her mind. She'd seen him many times before and would see him many more times before knowing who he was.