Chapter 4
The next morning Mike was pacing back and forth in the basement of the Wheeler house. He didn't know what to believe. He was angry. He was angry with Eleven who made him believe that Will was still alive but he was also angry at himself for getting his hopes up. Eleven had led them to the quarry so they were there, unnoticed by the adults, when they fished Will's body out of the water and Mike had been so hurt and angry that he'd run off home after arguing with Dustin and Lucas. The boys bought El back to the Wheelers much to Mike's disappointment but they couldn't just abandon her.
El was sitting under the table which was where she had been sleeping for the past few nights, in a blanket fort made up by Mike. She was fiddling with Mike's radio again. Mike was mumbling to himself about everything that had happened and El could feel that Mike was angry at her and she didn't like it. She knew Will was alive, she could feel him but she needed to prove it to Mike again.
Only a static sound came out of the radio to Mike's annoyance. "Can you stop that?" He asked, his voice sounding more aggressive than it should have been. El looked at Mike but then closed her eyes and continued. Mike continued pacing and but then stopped when he heard Will's voice on the radio again. He was singing that same song 'should I stay or should I go' this time it was a few verses longer. Mike watched El as he listened to Will sing and the blood dripped from her nose so Mike knew that she was channelling Will. He grabbed the radio from El's hands and started speaking to Will, "Will, its Mike do you copy? Over." He said in a hurried tone. He said it again but when Will continued to sing Mike realized that the radio was only channelling one way, to the place called the upside down where Will apparently was trapped. He radioed Lucas to tell him to come over and bring Dustin with him. At first Lucas declined but Mike explained a little of the story to Lucas who then agreed.
"I'm going over to Mike's." Dustin told Lacey who looked up and nodded, "Do you want me to drive you? I'm going to see Jonathan just to see how they're holding up?" Dustin shook his head and walked into his sister's bedroom and closed the door behind him. "El channelled Will again so we're going to take her to the school to channel him through the radio Mr Clarke got the AV club last semester." Dustin told her honestly. "Dustin, they found his body?" Lacey interrupted but Dustin shook his head. "Mike believes that he's still alive and whatever they found in the quarry wasn't Will's body.
Lacey didn't say anything she just let Dustin go. If this was the way the boys would cope with Will's death she wouldn't get in the way of it.
Lacey got dressed in some jeans and a top that had some rock band on it. She grabbed her sweater off of the coat rack by the door on her way out.
She walked out to her car and climbed in. Soft music played on the radio system.
Once she'd reached Mirkwood which was near Will's house she felt a cold chill run up her spine. It was darker that usual and it creeped her out so she sped up a little until she was near a dirt road which led up to the Byer's residence. She parked her car on the grass that occupied the front of the house. The house looked oddly quiet and Jonathan's car wasn't there but Joyce's car was so Lacey got out the car and walked up to the house. She rung the bell and Joyce opened almost immediately. "Come in, come in." She said almost as if she didn't want to let any light in the house. Once Lacey was in the house however what she saw was incredibly disturbing. There were Christmas lights strung from every corner of the room all the way down the passage to Will's bedroom and there was a smell of paint wafting through the air and when Lacey saw the entire alphabet painted across the wall in black paint with each letter placed under a Christmas light she looked back at Mrs Byers who was now sitting on the couch staring at the lights.
Lacey sat down next to Mrs Byers and stared at her for a while. She looked tired and unwell. Lacey understood though because she knew that if her own mom lost either her or Dustin she'd most definitely act the same way but what Lacey was more curious about was the lights. Mrs Byers eventually spoke to Lacey and Lacey listened with the utmost interest.
"Hop thinks I'm crazy but that's not my boy they found." She said softly, shaking her head vigorously in the process. "He spoke to me this morning." She continued and Lacey's eyes widened. "He's spoken to me since he disappeared. He's trying to reach out, he wants to come back home but he's trapped." Mrs Byers looked at Lacey now and Lacey changed her weirded out facial expression to a shocked one before Mrs Byers had noticed.
She knew Mrs Byers couldn't be lying because El had also made contact with Will but that was before they'd found his body. She hadn't made any contact with him since then but wait a minute Dustin had told her that El had channelled Will that morning and Lacey hadn't believed him and brushed him off because she thought that's how Dustin was going to deal with the death of one of his best friends, by believing that he was still alive.
"Mrs Byers…" Lacey started but the lights in the house started to flicker. Mrs Byers stood up quickly. "It's him." She stated, near hysteria.
Lacey looked around at the lights flickering and then focused back on Mrs Byers who was staring at the wall opposite them. Lacey turned her head in the same direction. "Mom…" They both heard the small voice of a young boy. He sounded frightened. The wall started to pulse almost as if it had a heartbeat. "Will?" Joyce shrieked suddenly and ran towards the wall. Lacey held back as she thought that Mrs Byers was having a mental breakdown but then she saw it with her own eyes. It was Will. Mrs Byers had her hands on the wall trying to grab Will but the wallpaper was still in the way. Shrieking that sounded almost animal like was heard. "MOM IT'S COMING." Will cried, "I have to hide" He ended before disappearing to Joyce and Lacey's disappointment. Joyce wailed in despair and Lacey held onto Joyce's shoulders. "WILL" She cried out again but now there was something that looked like a claw that was scraping through the wallpaper. Lacey tried to pull Joyce away but Lacey could not control her. There was a shriek and the claw made its way into their world. The creature, animal … whatever it was stuck its left leg out first and started to climb out the hole it had created.
"MRS BYERS, I THINK WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Lacey screamed in horror and with all her might she pulled Joyce towards the door. "BUT WILL?" She cried and Lacey shook her head, "THAT'S NOT WILL!" Lacey yelled and turned back to see the creature's full body which was now in their world. It shook its head or what Lacey thought was its head and turned towards them. "RUN!" Lacey yelled as the creature made its own awful sound which sounded like nails on a chalk board.
Lacey pulled the front door open and ran for it. She could hear Mrs Byer's footsteps and panting behind her but Lacey could not slow down, all she knew was that they needed to get out of there.
Lacey and Joyce had been running for a good five minutes down the dirt road when they saw Jonathan's car. Joyce jumped in front of it much to Lacey's horror and waved him down to a halt. Jonathan's breaks screeched and he got out the car in a hurry. "Mom, what's going on?" He asked, his voice filled with worry. As Joyce started explaining Jonathan noticed Lacey standing on the side of the road looking around in a nervous manner. "Lacey?" Jonathan asked but Lacey didn't respond. She was petrified that that thing would come get them while they were hovering around in one place although as her ears started to adjust to the quiet that surrounded them she realized she could no longer hear the creature. Lacey felt her body collapse as she fell to her knees. She was in a state of shock and she had a feeling that Mrs Byers was too and when Mrs Byers started talking in circles Lacey could tell she was freaking out. "Something … Will was in the wall… something came out of it." Joyce was saying and Jonathan looked at Lacey and seeing the look on Lacey's face told him that something had happened but he just didn't understand what his mom was saying. Joyce eventually started crying and hugged Jonathan. Lacey got up from her hunched position and breathed in deeply, letting the fresh air into her lungs.
"Let's get back to the house." Jonathan said, pulling his jacket tighter around him and putting his arm around his mother leading her to the car. Lacey followed the two to the car but kept silent. She felt like she couldn't talk about what just happened, no one would believe them but hopefully when they got back to the house Jonathan would see the wreckage that the creature had made of their lounge wall and hopefully believe them.
When they reached the house the door had been left open so it was dark and cold inside. The lights were no longer flickering and it was quiet. Lacey stood in entrance of the doorway too scared to go in. Jonathan had ushered his mom in and was now sitting her down on the couch. "Are you coming in?" Jonathan asked Lacey who shook her head. "I think I'm going to get going." Lacey replied, the day had disappeared and night had fallen and Lacey did not want to be alone in the streets with that creature roaming around. Once Lacey had turned to walk away she heard Jonathan ask his mom, "What wall?" Jonathan had looked around and everything had seemed normal to him, except obviously the Christmas lights strewn across the room and the alphabet painted on the wall. Lacey turned back towards the front door to see why Jonathan couldn't see the big hole in the wall but what Lacey saw chilled her to the bone. There was no hole in the wall. Lacey stepped inside the house, her eyes fixated on the wall where the creature had come out. Lacey walked towards the wall and touched it with her hand. "Lacey?" Jonathan questioned and Lacey turned to look at Jonathan, "It came out of there…" Lacey told him quietly. "What came out of there?" Jonathan asked and this time Joyce spoke, "Something, animal like. It had no face but it looked human." Joyce muttered
"It had long arms, too long for its body." Lacey added and Joyce nodded.
"I think the paint fumes have gone to your heads, have you even left the house today mom?" Jonathan brushed off their description of the creature and spoke to his mom.
"I'm going to go." Lacey suddenly said and before Jonathan could say anything she was out the door. Maybe she and Mrs Byers had imagined the whole thing but deep in her gut Lacey knew what she saw was real and it shook her to her core.
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I really enjoy writing this story. If you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them.
