Chapter 6
Will had been feeling very weak since the surgery. There was an infection in the incision and he wasn't reacting well to the antibiotics. Mike sat with him while everyone else was out. Will was propped up on some sofa pillows and Mike sat in a chair next to him.
"You don't have to let me win, Mike," said Will as he looked at his cards.
"I'm not," said Mike. "You're really that good!" Will rolled his eyes then had a brief coughing spell.
"Are you okay?" asked Mike. Will shrugged and smiled.
"I'm always okay!" He struggled to breathe.
"I'll get you some water," said Mike.
"You don't have to," Will started before he leaned back into the pillow. Mike reached over and felt Will's forehead.
"Jesus! You're burning up! I'll get you some aspirin too."
"Sure, okay," said Will. His head turned to the side and he closed his eyes. His breathing became shallow. Mike made a mental note to call a doctor if the aspirin didn't bring Will's fever down. He went to the kitchen and grabbed the water and aspirin.
"Here, this will make you feel better," said Mike as he held out the water to Will, who didn't move or react. Mike considered letting him rest, but he needed to get the fever down. "C'mon, Will, time to take your aspirin, you'll feel better." Mike gently shook Will's shoulder and his dropped. Mike froze. "Will? Will!" he wasn't breathing. Mike felt Will's neck. No pulse. No heartbeat. He felt cold. The Mind Flayer liked it cold. Will hated the cold. "NO!NO!NO!" said Mike. He ran to the phone. No dial tone. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. Mike sat down and pulled Will's lifeless body to him. He was limp. Mike closed his eyes and started sobbing as he rocked Will back and forth.
Slowly Mike's eyes opened. He wiped the tears from his face. He stared at the ceiling as it took him a few moments to remember that he was in the hospital. He looked over and saw Will sleeping in the next bed. Mike felt extremely nauseous but pushed himself to get up out of the bed. He sat down next to Will and saw that he was breathing. His breath was a little rattled, but he had the flu, that was normal. Mike looked at the clock. It was 3:30 in the morning.
Mike fought back the urge to wake his friend up. Will's rest didn't need to be interrupted just because Mike needed a little post nightmare reassurance. Mike had been experiencing occasional nightmares about Will dying ever since he'd seen a fake body pulled from the quarry. Although he repeatedly told himself that they were just nightmares, they still disturbed him. He hadn't told anyone about the nightmares, not even Eleven. He didn't want to trouble Eleven with them and be certainly didn't want to trouble Will.
If Mike had known that Will was having a nightmare of his own at that very moment (about being trapped in the Upside Down), he would have woken him up. For a few minutes, Mike's mind wandered to the conversation he'd heard a few hours earlier when Hopper had told Will that he'd kept his promise to take any symptoms seriously. Will had been feeling embarrassed about thinking his flu symptoms were heart attack symptoms and Hopper was trying to reassure him.
Mike was grateful that Hopper seemed to care so much about Will and Eleven. They deserved to have a decent father figure in their life. He'd been furious at Hopper for keeping Eleven hidden for a year, but that was the past. He was keeping her safe even if he didn't always make the best decisions. At least his heart was in the right place.
"Noooo! Please!" said Will as he put his arms over his face in defense.
"Will!" said Mike as he grabbed Will's shoulders and shook him awake. Will opened his eyes and they were wide with terror. "It's okay, Will, it was just a nightmare."
Will seemed disoriented for a few moments then noticed Mike. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat up. "I was being chased by the Mind Flayer again. It's gone though, it's gone."
"Yeah, it's gone because of you," said Mike. "You defeated it."
Will pulled his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs. "I just wish I could get it out of my head."
Mike gently rubbed Will's back between his shoulder blades. "I know what you mean, I wish I could get those killer tomatoes out of my head."
Will looked at Mike with raised eyebrows. "Killer tomatoes?"
Mike told himself it was more of a joke than a lie. Will didn't need to know that Mike was having recurring nightmares about him dying. Besides, Mike remembered dreaming about killer tomatoes trying to catch him before he was sitting with a dying Will. Mike silently hoped that his tears had dried up enough that Will wouldn't notice he'd been crying. "Yeah, killer tomatoes. I think we should refuse to take any more of the medicine they gave us to help us sleep."
Will suddenly burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Mike soon joined in.
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Three hours before Mike and Will woke up from their nightmares, Jonathan and Nancy got out of a cab at the Byers-Hopper home. A college friend of Jonathan had given him and Nancy some frequent flyer miles from his parents that were about the expire. They had decided to make a surprize visit to Hawkins. They flew to Indianapolis from New York, then taken a connecting flight to the Pawnee municipal airport and gotten a cab to Hawkins.
Jonathan noticed that Joyce's car wasn't in the driveway when he got out of the cab and the house was very quiet when he went inside. He knew that it was homecoming night, but Hopper and his mother would have certainly been waiting up for Will and Eleven to get home. Will had told him that Mike and Julie were planning on staying over and playing some Nintendo.
"Something's off," Jonathan said to Nancy.
"Maybe everyone's asleep," said Nancy.
"Maybe," said Jonathan doubtfully. They were greeted by Chester and Buttons who bounded down the stairs. "Hey, boy," said Jonathan as he scratched behind Chester's ears. He gestured for Nancy to follow him upstairs. They peaked in all the bedrooms, but they were all empty. "Something's wrong." It wasn't the first time he'd come home to an empty house."
"I'm sure they're fine," said Nancy as she rubbed Jonathan's arm. "Maybe Hopper got called away on a case. Why don't we call the station?"
"But where's Mom?" They headed back down stairs to look for the keys to Hopper's car. Jonathan had sold his own car for the parts before he left for college. He'd considered just giving it to Will, but it was having too many problems and breaking down too often.
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"Did we leave the lights on?" Joyce asked Hopper as they pulled into the driveway.
"Only the porch light," said Hopper. As they got to the porch, they noticed that the front door wasn't completely shut. Hopper pulled out his gun and took the safety off.
"I think I hear someone in the kitchen," Joyce whispered. Hopper nodded. They tiptoed in in quietly closed the door. The two dogs were standing outside of the kitchen wagging their tails. Chester would normally have growled. There was the distinct sound of a couple people opening and closing drawers.
"Alright, freeze, assholes!" said Hopper as he pointed his gun. Though a second later he was really glad that he'd never been trigger happy.
"Whoa! Wait!" said Jonathan. Hopper quickly lowered his gun and put the safety on.
"Jonathan!" said Joyce as she started crying tears of joy at the sight of her oldest child. She walked briskly up to him and pulled him into a hug. Nancy leaned against the counter for relief. "I can't even tell you how happy I am to see you!" Joyce took Jonathan's face in her hands.
"A friend gave us some frequent flyer miles and we decided to come home for a surprise visit," said Jonathan. "Surprise?"
"Sorry we weren't here when you got home. It's been a crazy night." Behind her, Hopper sat down at the table and started rubbing his eyes.
"Where are Will and El? Still at a party? Are they alright?" asked Jonathan.
"They both caught that flu that's been going around and will be in the hospital for a couple days," Joyce answered with a sigh. "What about you two? Did you get the vaccine yet?"
"Everyone staying in the dorms got it, don't worry," said Nancy.
"Good, good," said Joyce. "Well, we can take you both to the hospital to visit them in the morning-Mike's there too," she added to Nancy. "Your brother and sister will be so happy to see you though, Jonathan." she hugged him again. "I'm sorry you didn't come home to better circumstances."
Joyce and Jonathan ended up dropping Nancy off at the Wheeler house on their way to the hospital. Karen was pleasantly surprised to see her daughter. She asked Joyce to call her when the kids were hungry for breakfast: she intended to cook something for them as she knew they didn't much care for the hospital food. She gave them a basket of orange cranberry muffins and a bottle of apple juice to take the kids as a starter.
They stopped at the nurses station. "Jonathan!" said the nurse on duty as he an Joyce approached. "I didn't know you were in town!"
"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing," said Jonathan.
"How are the kids doing, Mary?" asked Joyce.
"You're step daughter is away and refusing to eat her breakfast," said Mary. "She said the eggs smell like farts." Jonathan snickered. Dustin was obviously having an influence on Eleven. Joyce shifted uncomfortably as she always did when people referred to Eleven as her step daughter. She was her own flesh and blood taken at birth. It was a secret they all had to keep, but she hated hiding the truth.
"How about Will?" asked Joyce.
"The night shift nurse said that he and the Wheeler were playing tic tac toe a few hours ago when she checked on them. They told her the medicine was giving them weird dreams about killer tomatoes. She gave them some benadryl and they were still sound asleep when I checked on them five minutes ago."
"They were up in the middle of the night playing games because of weird dreams,' said Jonathan. "Some things never change." Mike had stayed the night countless times since he and Will became friends in Kindergarten. They often had bad dreams and woke each other up. Jonathan usually heard them playing some sort of game when that happened.
"Let's check on your sister first since Will is still asleep,"Joyce said to Jonathan as she took his arm and they walked toward the patient rooms. "And since they aren't letting us bend the rules on visitation hours like we've done before, maybe we can do something.. Just the two of us."
"Yeah, I'd like that," said Jonathan. They stopped by the room where Mike and Will were staying and peaked inside. Both boys were still sound asleep and looking really pale.
Eleven was in the next room with Julie. Mrs. Mason was already trying (with no success) to get them to eat their hospital provided breakfast of powdered eggs and limp bacon. Eleven was laying in her bed with her arms folded across her chest and facing away from Mrs. Mason while Julie had her blanket pulled up over her head. They were both letting out wet coughs.
Eleven looked over to see her brother enter the room. She smiled and hopped out of bed to hug him. Jonathan noted how sweaty she was and also the fact that she was burning up. He was grateful that he'd gotten a flu shot that year.
"Jonathan!" Eleven shouted happily before letting a stream of wet coughs into his shirt. "Sorry," she added as she looked up ruefully.
"Don't worry about it, El," said Jonathan. "Sounds like you need to lay down, though. C'mon." He helped her back to her bed.
"Your brother came home for a surprise visit," said Joyce.
"Sorry we're all sick," said Eleven. "I'm happy to see you."
"Maybe these girls will listen to you about eating something," said Mrs. Mason.
"This food is gross," said Eleven. "And the eggs smell like farts. They didn't even give us eggos."
"Now, Ellie," said Mrs. Mason. "There are a lot of starving children all over the world. You and Julie shouldn't be wasting your food."
"The hospital wasted it by making it gross," said Julie, who was still hiding under her blanket.
"Well, Mrs. Wheeler sent over some muffins and apple juice," said Joyce. "And we can call her when the boys wake up and she'll make you something really good."
"Eggos?" asked Eleven.
"Better than Eggos," said Joyce as she handed Eleven a muffin. She turned around and rubbed Julie's shoulder. "Here, Julie, eat one of these muffins, they're really good."
Julie peeked out from under her blanket, then took the muffin Joyce offered her.
"I think I'll go sit with Will until he wakes up," said Jonathan as he gave Eleven another half hug.
"The nurse said the Mike and Will are dead to the world," said Eleven. "We didn't know where we were at first when we woke up this morning. That medicine is weird. The boys probably won't know where they are either. You can help them Jonathan."
"I will," said Jonathan. He saw Eleven gesture for Joyce to sit beside her as he was leaving. She then rested her head on Joyce's shoulder.
Will and Mike were still sleeping when Jonathan entered the room. He quietly took a seat next to Will and picked up a magazine to read. After a few minutes, a nurse entered the room. She nodded at Jonathan and took a brief moment to check on Mike.
"I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to take their temperatures. The both need as much sleep as they can get," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. Jonathan smiled. She walked over to the other side of Will's bed and wrote some numbers on his chart. For the first time since he'd entered the room, Jonathan noticed that Will was connected to a heart monitor. Maybe it was just something to do with this particularly nasty strain of flu?
Jonathan looked over at Mike. There was no machine monitoring his heart. He couldn't remember seeing any kind of heart monitoring equipment next to Julie or Eleven either. Jonathan's nerves went into overdrive.
"Um," said Jonathan as the Nurse looked up at him. He pointed to the wires connected to Will's chest. She smiled, stepped away from the bed and gestured for Jonathan to follow.
"The doctors were just telling your mother than we might have some good news about that."
"Oh?" said Jonathan.
"Your brother may not need a full heart transplant after all. Looks like they can fix the damage with a simple minimally invasive surgery. That means he won't have to wait as long to get it all over with."
Jonathan smiled trying very hard to not look surprised. "That is good news."
"Getting the flu may have been a blessing in disguise. The doctors may not have thought to look otherwise. Your poor brother was scared to death when his friends brought him in last night. This should ease his mind a bit. Your mother was relieved, that's for sure."
"I bet she was," said Jonathan. "I know I am."
The nurse smiled and patted Jonathan on his arm. "Can you do me a favor and press that buzzer over there when these two sleepyheads wake up? I still need to get their vitals."
"No problem."
Jonathan walked back over and sat next to his sleeping brother. He folded his hands in front of his face and closed his eyes. Will was on the list for a heart transplant and his family hadn't told him. There was only one possible reason for that: Will must have insisted that they not tell Jonathan. He was probably worried that Jonathan wouldn't be able to focus on his school work. Will still seemed to think he was a burden to everyone.
As Jonathan tried to think of what to say to his brother, Will started to wake up. Jonathan decided it was best to be direct and tell Will that he knew about the condition. His brother had likely been stressing over keeping the secret.
Will's eyes flickered open. He appeared to be a little disoriented at first, then he noticed Jonathan sitting beside him.
"Jonathan, what-" Will's voice was hoarse and he let out a few wet coughs.
"Hey, Buddy,"said Jonathan as he perched on the edge of Will's bed and caressed his sweaty forehead. Will was burning up just like Eleven. Jonathan was glad his mother had insisted on him taking extra vitamin C that morning. "I decided to make a surprise visit and half of Southern Indiana has the flu."
Will took a moment to catch his breath when he was done coughing. He then looked at Jonathan carefully for a moment as though he was wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him. He then sat up and threw his arms around his brother and buried his face in Jonathan's chest.
Will wanted to tell Jonathan everything, but stopped himself as he just didn't want his brother to worry. He at least wanted to say something about how happy he was to see his brother, but his throat felt like it was on fire. Jonathan started to rub his back.
"I can call the nurse and get you come cough medicine, but we'll make sure it's different from what they gave you last night. Mary said you and Mike were up playing games a few hours ago. I guess some things never change," said Jonathan. Will smiled in spite of himself as he continued to lean into the comfort of his brother's physical presence.
"It sounds like everyone had a pretty good scare last night, but everything seems to be working out for the best. One of the nurses told me that you may just need a simple minimally invasive surgery rather than an outright transplant," Jonathan continued. Will froze. Jonathan strengthened the hug. "I think Mom and Hopper must have forgotten to tell the hospital staff to not mention your condition to me. I know about it and you don't have to stress yourself out trying to keep it from me."
"I'm sorry," said Will. He looked up and his eyes met Jonathan's. "Just please don't worry about me. I'll be okay. Promise me you'll focus on school. You've worked so hard to get there."
"I promise I won't let my school work slip. You're right, I have worked hard. I had you there encouraging me all the way though and that made all the difference in the world, Will."
Will sat there quietly, not knowing what to say. "Did the nurse really say I might not need a full transplant?"
"Yeah, she did. It's good that you came in sick last night or they may not have run the test that gave them that solution."
"That was so stupid," said Will. "If I hadn't been so self absorbed and freaking out last night, I may have noticed that Mike, El, and Julie were looking sick last night too and figured out it was just the flu. It wouldn't surprise me if Dustin, Lucas, and Max are sick too and I was too busy freaking out to notice."
"Okay, Will, how about in addition to my promise to focus on my school work; you promise to stop beating yourself over minor things."
In the next bed, Mike suddenly let out a string of wet coughs. He then looked rigid and Will and Jonathan knew he'd been trying to pretend he was still asleep.
"It's alright, Mike," said Jonathan. "How much have you heard?"
Mike sat up and faced the Byers brothers. " Since we're all trying to me more honest:I know that you know about Will's condition. I didn't mean to listen though, sorry."
"Will tells you more than he tells anyone else anyway," said Jonathan.
"Yeah, well, that's because I'm awesome. In the name of complete honesty though, I've had to pee really bad for several minutes and have been waiting for the right time to get up and go. I think that moment just presented itself."
Mike hopped out of bed and went into the bathroom and Will and Jonathan both burst out laughing. He knew he wasn't being completely honest with them. He still had the fear of Will dying. He didn't need to burden them with the details of his re-occuring nightmares.
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"Your daughter caught that flu that's been going around, Chief," said the receptionist at the front desk.
"Can I still see her?" asked Hopper.
"Of course you can."
"Sorry we didn't call you last night when she started getting sick. We tried to call this morning, but no one answered."
"That's alright," said Hopper. "Will and El seem to have come down with this two and they spent the night in the hospital. Our oldest came home from college for a surprise visit too."
"A lot of people came down with it in this hospital, we've been disinfecting everything."
"This seems to be all over the whole damn state," said Hopper.
The nurse stopped outside of Sara's room, unlocked the door, opened it and knocked on the frame.
"Sara, you have a visitor." Sara was laying down on her bed. Her face was pale and puffy. Hopper imagined that Will and Eleven were probably in a similar state. Sara looked up hopefully, then tried to hide the disappointment on her face. Hopper tried not to take it too personally as he was well aware that he wasn't her first choice visitor.
The nurse left and locked the door behind her as Hopper took a seat.
"Where are my dear siblings? They promised to visit me today and they're always talking about the importance of promises."
"They both came down with the flu and had to go to the hospital last night. They asked me to come see you."
"Oh, well I wonder if I got them sick or if it was the other way around. Viruses are the most contagious before symptoms show up... that's what I read at least."
Hopper smiled. Sara always had a great mind, even when she was little. He held out Eleven's corsage from the dance. "El wanted you to have this."
Sara stared at the flowers for a moment then took it from her father's hand and opened it. She sniffed the corsage then rubbed her temples. "I'm sure it smells really good, tell her I said 'thank you. They must have been really sick if they had to go to the hospital."
"Poor Will thought he was having a heart attack. We were all pretty relieved when we found out it was just the flu."
"He's more scared that he's admitting, I can tell."
"Yes he is. He always tries to put on a brave face for everyone. Doesn't want us to worry."
"Do you worry?"
"All the time," said Hopper. He realized he was having the most civil conversation with Sara that they'd had since he found out she was alive. "I worry about you too, you know."
"What's there to worry about, I'm locked in here so I can't hurt myself!"
"You deserve better than being locked in here, Sara."
"It's not so bad, you know," said Sara. "The doctors and nurses here are actually really nice. It's paradise compared to where I was before."
"But do you want to leave?"
Sara looked her father in the eyes and shrugged. She stared at the floor again. "Maybe."
"I can talk to Dr. Owens."
"I-I don't know if I can."
"Why not?"
"Part of me really wants to get out of here and not have to ask permission to do every little thing. Maybe go to school. But when I think about actually walking out those doors, I just freeze."
Hopper took a deep breath. It was huge that Sara was admitting feeling vulnerable to him. He wanted to choose his words carefully and not cause her to shut down again. He wanted to pull her into a tight hug and comfort her, but she might not want to be hugged.
"I really wanted to leave the war, but was afraid to," he said.
"You were afraid to leave a place where people were dying around you every day?"
"I really wanted to get away from it, but I wasn't sure I'd fit in with the 'real world' after being a part of that war. The MKUltra scientists screwing with our brains didn't help."
Sara pushed herself up and rearranged her pillows so she could prop herself up better. The flu was making it difficult for her to sit up on her own without getting dizzy. "What did they do to you?"
"I don't really remember. I just have flashes of being dunked in a tank and getting some electroshock therapy. I always thought it had been a bad dream until Doctor Owens showed me the files. That's exactly what they wanted me to think... Just like they wanted me to think you had cancer and died."
Sara folded her hands in front of her face and inhaled sharply. Her eyes flickered over the the solar system model that Eleven and Will had gotten her. She had started to work on it after they left they day before, but started feeling tired (the initial flu symptoms). "They told me you said I liked the solar system..."
"You loved it when you were little. None of the other kids in your class could name all the planets or any of the constellations. You wanted to know about things, so you learned. I always talked about that when I told people about you."
Sara looked from the solar system model to her father. "Did you tell a lot of people about me."
"I told a few people... when it didn't hurt too much to talk. I couldn't bring myself to tell them you were dead-when I thought you were dead-most of the time. I was telling El about you one night after she'd been living with me for almost a year. She asked me who you were and I suddenly realized I'd never mentioned you out loud to her. I was always thinking about you though...always."
"Always?"
"Yes, Sara, always. When Will's mom and I were going into the Upside Down to save him, I was constantly thinking about you. When I was keeping El safe from the 'bad men' I was constantly thinking about you. The thought of you drove me to help other people, understand?"
Tears began pouring down Sara's face. Hopper leaned over and put his arm around her. She didn't pull away or tense up so he decided to pull her into a full hug. "El said you read to her. You used to read to me."
"Yes," said Hopper in a barely audible voice.
"I used to make up stories in my head...when I needed to take my mind off of-everything. I imagined those stories were books that you were reading to me."
"Those people took that away from us. I wish I could have spent all those years reading you stories."
There was a knock on the door. Sara and Hopper looked over and saw the handle turn. Doctor Owens entered. He noticed that Sara was crying and Hopper had tears forming in his eyes.
"Is this a bad time?" he asked.
"Maybe," said Hopper. "But I assume you have something important to tell us." Sara pulled away and leaned back on her pillows as she wiped her eyes. Hopper rubber her shoulder.
"We just got a call from Hawkins General about Will's test results," said Doctor Owens. Sara sat back up.
"Is he okay?" she asked.
"I can talk to you about this later if you want to finish visiting with your daughter, Chief."
"Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it in front of Sara," said Hopper.
"Alright, it's actually some good news: Will may just need a simple operation instead of a complete heart transplant. We want to run a few more tests when he gets over the flu to make sure, but this means we can take care of it and get him out of the woods a lot sooner."
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"A wheelchair? Seriously?" said Will as the nurse gestured for him to sit down.
"Sorry, kid, hospital policy," the nurse replied.
"C'mon, sweetheart, let's get this over with," said Joyce as she took a groaning Will's arm and urged him into the chair."
Jonathan had decided to hang back and talk to Mike. "So, what's going on with you?"
"You know, some old stuff," said Mike with a shrug. Jonathan decided to get right to the point.
"I noticed you had that look on your face this morning like something was wrong, but you were trying to pretend everything's alright."
"Just had another bad dream last night, but I'm fine," said Mike.
"Oh, I take it, that killer tomatoes aren't what's bothering you."
"Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter."
"It seems like it does," said Jonathan.
"I had a dream that Will died after his surgery, okay? I've had occasional dreams dreams about Will dying since they pulled that fake body out of the quarry!" Mike wiped a few tears from his eyes. It was the first time he' mentioned those nightmares out loud. Jonathan squeezed his shoulder.
"Have you told Will?"
Mike shook his head. "Why would I bother him with this?"
"He wouldn't consider it bothering. He always wants to be there for you."
"This isn't me being upset about El missing or school or anything in the real world. This is me having nightmares about him dying when he has a life threatening condition. Hopefully, he'll be too distracted to notice something that's only in my head."
"Mike, this is Will we're talking about. When he woke up in the hospital for the first time after being in the Upside Down, he was concerned about a cut on my hand. He had been trapped in an evil dimension for a week and had almost died and he was worried about a cut on my hand. Besides, I noticed that something was going on with you. If I noticed, it's only a matter of time before Will notices."
"What am I supposed to do about it? Take him aside and tell him something that won't help anything?"
"You don't have to take him aside or make an announcement, but if he asks you what's wrong, be honest. He'll worry more if you don't talk to him."
"Fine," said Mike. "I'll tell him the truth *if* he asks."
"You're having bad dreams about Will dying, Mike?" asked Eleven as she entered the room. She looked pale. Mike figured that the flu was taking its on her just as it had taken its toll on him and Will.
"They're just dreams, El, don't worry about it," said Mike.
"But they're making you sad and scared," said Eleven. She walked up to Mike's bed and put her hands on her hips. Mike was congested, but could smell a clean scent coming off of her. She had obviously recently showered and Mike started to feel self conscious about not having showered since the morning before. "Why didn't you talk to me?"
"You're already worried enough about Will. I didn't want to bother you or him about this, okay?"
"Okay, I understand," said Eleven. "But Jonathan is right, you should tell Will the truth if he asks you what's wrong." Eleven sat down next to Jonathan and put her head on his shoulder. She missed her older brother and lamented all the time she'd lost with him while in the lab.
"Hey there, Mei mei," said Jonathan as he put his arm around his sister. "Feeling any better?"
Eleven shrugged. "The flu is gross, I don't like it."
Jonathan chuckled. "You're right, it sucks."
"Where's Julie?" asked Mike.
"She was arguing with her mom about going off alone with Will last night because they were bored at the dance, and she's taking a shower when her mom leaves."
"Speaking of showers, Will is probably going to want to take one when he gets back, so I'll get mine in now," said Mike. He hopped off his bed, grabbed his duffle bag and closed the bathroom door behind him.
"Will said you didn't have a Mike when you were growing up," said Eleven. "He also said you had to help pay the bills with your job. That's why he didn't want to tell you about his surgery. He wants your dreams to come true and thinks they won't if you're worried about him."
"HMMM," said Jonathan as he squeezed Eleven's shoulder. "It's my own fault I didn't have a Mike. I convinced myself I didn't like anyone. I didn't try to get to know people. But I have Nancy now and I'm meeting a lot of great people at NYU. I can't wait for you and Will to meet them. As for working to help Mom pay bills-that's Lonnie's fault and no one else. He was a shitty father and didn't pay child support so Mom had to do everything on her own. I think she did a great job, especially with everything that happened."
"You want me to meet your new friends?" asked Eleven. "But I'm weird. I could embarrass you."
"What?" asked Jonathan. "I could never be embarrassed by you. Weird is awesome. Weird changes the world for the better."
Eleven smiled.
"But anyway," Jonathan continued. "Will shouldn't feel guilty about anything. It's his nature to worry about others though."
"He said he had the easiest childhood of the three of us," said Eleven.
"What? How could he think that? He got stuck in the Upside Down and possessed by the shadow monster. Don't get me started on the kids that bullied him."
"He said the Upside Down and the Shadow Monster were only a few days, and he had Mike, Lucas and Dustin when the other kids were mean to him. But he thinks I had it worse because I was in the lab-"
"That's a valid point, I'll give him that."
"-and you had it worse because you didn't have a Mike- or a Lucas ot Dustin."
Jonathan smiled and shook his head. "I'm not going to try to argue with him on who had the rougher childhood. I had Will and Mom the whole time and that was pretty. Maybe we should just all focus on helping each other make the rest of our lives better. How does that sound."
"That sounds good," said Eleven. "And we can help Sara too."
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"Are you sure you want to schedule your surgery at the beginning of Christmas break?" Joyce ask Will as they sat in the consultation office after the doctor left to call Dr. Owens in Bloomington.
"Yeah, I'm sure," said Will. "I want to miss as little school as possible. I also have a couple months to get some assignments done ahead of time so I don't fall behind."
Joyce sighed as she rubbed Will's arm. If she told him he was pushing himself too hard for the millionth time, he wasn't likely to listen anyway.
"You're right, we have time to plan. Why don't I get you back to your room. You can spend a little time with your brother before we have to leave. The hospital isn't letting us bend the rules on visitation hours today."
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"Are you sure this is what you want to do today?" Joyce asked Jonathan as they unpacked the ingredients for the lasagna.
"Yeah, I mean I live is a dorm room so I never get to cook," said Jonathan. "I took it for granted all those years."
They took a seat on the sofa while the meat simmered in the crock pot. "Do you remember reading to Will and El when I was pregnant with them?" asked Joyce.
"I could read when I was three?" asked Jonathan.
"Well, no, but you turned the pages and made up words. You wanted to tell the baby-babies- stories. That's what you said to me. You were always such a good big brother."
"I wish I could have had more time to be a good big brother to El," said Jonathan.
"Yeah, me too. I think that maybe those stories you told her and Will before they were born stuck with her all those years she was in that horrible place. She's always had a natural goodness about her-always wanting to help people-despite being raised by that psycho. Will has always wanted to help people too. Maybe you had something to do with that, Jonathan."
"You probably had a lot to do with that, Mom."
"I really do miss you, Jonathan. But I'm so happy that you're away from this town and doing what you've always wanted. I'll miss Will and El too when they leave for college. But I want them to get away from this town too."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Eleven woke up from her nap around 1:30 in the afternoon. Julie was sitting on her bed reading a magazine.
"Have a good snooze?" asked Julie.
"I guess," said Eleven. She rubbed her eyes. Her face felt puffy.
Julie shut her magazine and tossed it on the nightstand. "You wanna go over and hang out with the boys while our parents aren't here to lecture us about every little thing?"
"Maybe," said Eleven. She got up and walked over to the mirror. Her hair had still been a little damp when she went to sleep and it was completely disheveled. The bags under her eyes were swollen and her nose was red and raw. "Maybe not, don't want Mike to see me like this."
Julie gave an exasperated sigh and hopped off her own bed. Her own hair was disheveled and her face was swollen. She put her arm around Eleven and looked in the mirror. "You still look pretty," she said. Eleven spared he a skeptical glance. "You do and Mike will think so too."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Think about it. Whenever Mike had gotten sick or injured haven't you wanted to hug and cuddle with him more?"
"Yes, probably. I wanted to make him feel better."
"Exactly!" said Julie."And if we want to cuddle our boyfriends when they get sick to make them feel better, don't you think they'd want to do the same for us?"
"Good point, let's go," said Eleven as she tugged on Julie's arm.
When they got into Mike and Will's room the boys were sitting on the floor looking like they were just finishing a serious conversation. Eleven figured that Will must have noticed something was off and gotten Mike to tell him about the nightmares.
"Don't you like your beds?" asked Julie.
"We feel cold all the time, but when we get under our blankets, we get all sweaty and gross," said Will as he and Mike got to their feet. "It's a catch-22."
"This hospital has cable," said Mike. "Why don't we watch a movie."
The four teenagers struggled to find comfortable positions on the two hospital beds. "These beds suck!" said Eleven.
"C'mon, you know this is the most romantic double date ever," said Mike.
"Have the flu makes everything awesome," said Julie as she settled into a position where Will rested his head on her stomach and she began caressing his hair.
After flipping through the channels, they decided to to watch "Friday the 13th." Will seemed to be the only one who wasn't scared of the movie. When they asked him about it, he shrugged and said that it was just a movie.
The phone rang and everyone but Will jumped. When he answered it, a familiar voice was on the other end.
"Hey asshole!" said Dustin. "What's up with you disappearing without telling us last night, we were worried."
"How did you know we were here?" asked Will. He mouthed that it was Dustin to MIke.
"Randy told us," said Lucas.
"I'm glad you called," said Will. "Do you think you could get my homework for me?"
"Well, at least you're still yourself," said Lucas.
"You don't have to worry about that for a couple days," said Dustin. "So many people have the flu, they canceled school at least until Wednesday. So relax for once in your life."
"I am relaxing, actually," said Will. "They did some tests and found out I just need a minor surgery instead of a full transplant. I'm getting it during Christmas Break."
"That's great!" said Lucas. "The flu is awesome."
"We were just saying the same thing," said Will.
"Looks like you're not trying so hard to keep the surgery a secret anymore," said Mike as Will hung up the phone.
"Well, I'm not going to make an announcement about it," said Will. "But I'm not going to stress myself out trying to keep it a secret anymore."
"You're making progress, my friend," said Mike.
"I know, it's amazing," said Will.
"It's more than amazing, it's epic," said Mike.