It had been a month since everything went down. Karen Wheeler had tried to get her families life back together. Mike had stayed in his room and wouldn't open uo to anyone, Nancy was always at the library with Jonathon, and Mr. Wheeler had divorced Mrs. Wheeler which put a lot more pressure on her shoulders. She had to watch after Holly while also making sure her kids wouldn't fall apart. She had finally had enough of and needed to talk to her family. She had told Nancy and Mike that they'd have a family meeting while Holly was taking a nap. Nancy was ready to open up but, Mike didn't know. He didn't know what he had felt anymore but, he went anyways.
"Ok guys, i think that it's time we have a talk.", Mrs. Wheeler said.
"I agree mom. I miss talking to you guys. Especially you Mike.", Nancy said. Mike looked up at Nancy. His eyes all red, filling with tears already.
"I do too.", he replied. His voice was very shaky.
"Great. Well to start, i just wanted to make sure you guys are ready to go back to school in January.", Mrs. Wheeler said to her kids.
"Well, I'm ok with it. Are you find with it Mike?", Nancy asked him. His head was down again.
"I guess i'm ok with it.", he said, keeping his head down.
"That's great! And, it'll be great you'll get to see your friends everyday again.", Mrs. Wheeler said. Nancy looked down. She automatically thought of Barb. "By the way, your friends are coming over for Christmas Eve. And, Nancy i talked to Steve parents and their going to come over to." Nancy smiled, remembering her boyfriend. They had run into each other a few weeks ago and made up. They were dating again. "Don't worry it'll be fun.", Mrs. Wheeler continued.
Back at the Byers house, everything started cooling down. Will had mostly been resting on the couch, watching movies. Jonathon was usually out at the library with Nancy or getting things for Joyce while she was watching her son. Joyce and Will had been bonding a lot over the course of a few weeks. She tried to keep herself from asking questions about the upside down but, sometimes she did for Jim. He had still been trying to find Eleven and was thinking of ways on how she vanished.
One night at the Byer household, while they were eating dinner, Will started to feel his stomach churn. It felt like something was crawling up and around his stomach. Immediately, Will thought he was going to be sick so he excused himself to the restroom. He got into the bathroom and felt whatever that was in his stomach make itself crawl upward, through his throat. He coughed and coughed trying to get the thing out of his throat. Finally he threw up, seeing a green and slimy slug. Will looked up at himself, tired, scared, and confused. Will frantically turned on the water, letting the slug go down the drain. Once it was gone, he looked up at himself again. Suddenly, the bathroom went dark. The walls had vines on them, the air was thin with particles in it, it smelt like a garbage, and it was cold. Will then realized it was the Upside Down. After 5 seconds of the horrible vision, Will snapped back to reality. A wave of horror went through his body. He quickly escaped the bathroom, terrified of what might happen next.
He entered his kitchen again, still uncomfortable and scared. Joyce saw him come in with a blank and scared look on his face. "Hey, you ok?", Joyce asked her son. Will finally realizing how he look replied with, "Yeah i'm ok.", then looked down at his plate. For the rest of dinner, Will couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. He was trying to comprehend if it was just a vision or if it was real. Thinking about it all made his head hurt.
At around 8, Will decided to go to sleep because of him not feeling well. His mother had questioned him, asking if he had a fever. Will told her everything would be fine if he had just gotten some rest. Joyce started to worry about her son, thinking he wasn't opening up to her about something. She was scared that he had been nervous to tell her something which was the case. Will on the other hand didn't want to tell his mom because he didn't want her to worry about it but, she already had been.
Will had gone to bed hoping to feel better in the morning and forget what had happened at dinner. He closed his eyes, relaxing them, and slept well for the first half of the night. He had woken up suddenly when he heard a loud bang. He awoke suddenly, heart beating fast, and found himself on the ground in his tent. He freaked out and ran outside of it, wondering how he got there. He got out of the tent and was shocked when he saw himself back in the upside down. He let out a scream of fear, tears filling in his eyes. He thought that him going home was all a dream and he was still stuck in that horrid place. He started to cry and then, the cries turned into sobs. That had lasted until Will heard his name being called. The voice sounded scared and worried. He finally realized that it was his mom, and started calling her name. "Mom! Mom, where are you!?", he screamed out. He closed his eyes, tears running down his face, and breathless. He opened his eyes and was back in his room. His bed was a mess and the lamp on the floor with him.
Joyce barged into Will's room to find him helpless on the floor crying. She ran over to him and asked a series of questions like, "Will what's going on?" and "Are you ok?!". Will didn't answer and just kept on crying. He tried to say words but they ended up just being gibberish. Joyce hugged him and kept saying , "Will, it's ok i'm here. I'm here ok, just breathe." After a while Will calmed down and Joyce moved him to the couch.