Joyce hadn't talk to Will for awhile trying to give him space and not make him get emotional again. He had been so shook from the situation he didn't have the courage to open up on his own. He had been trying to figure out how he'd explain it. He also didn't know if he'd talk about the slugs and if they had anything to with it. Joyce watched her son contemplate it all and needed answers.
"Okay Will, can you tell me what happened?" Instead of responding to his mother, he looked down and started to get teary-eyed. "Will I want you to remember that you can tell me anything okay." Will didn't know what to tell his mom. He hadn't known if it were a dream or not. It had felt so real but also like a dream. "I don't know.", Will muttered out. His voice was so shaky it was hard to tell what he had said but, Joyce figured it out. "Well, is there anything else you can tell me like, like what you saw?"
Will took a breath and swallowed. He finally let out, "I was back-back there.", he told his mom. "Where? Where honey I need to-", she stopped, realizing what he meant. She let Out a sigh of fear and confusion. "And- it was dark and cold and… I thought I lost you guys again." The tears that Joyce had in her eyes started to fall down her cheeks. She grabbed her son, pulling him into a hug. "It was just a dream, ok?", she told him. She startsd rubbing her hands through his hair, trying to calm him. Will started crying softly again and those cries turned into sobs. He grabbed his mom tightly not letting her go until Jonathon came in the room looking worried.
"What's going on?", he said turning on the lights to the living room. Once they turned on, Will stopped crying and started drying his eyes.
"Well," Joyce started looking at her youngest son. "Your brother had a bad dream but, I think he's ok now.", Joyce continued. She started rubbing her son back as he started coughing and coughing. Will realizing what was going to happen, got up and told his mom he had to use the bathroom. Before he left she asked him, "Are you ok honey?" Will nodded and quickly walked to the bathroom. He got in the bathroom, locked the door, and puked up the slug again but this time, there was no vision of the upside down. Will was super relieved but also still scared about the slugs.
He walked out of the bathroom to see Joyce walking towards him. She quickly put the back of her hand on his forehead and felt if it was hot. Will closed his eyes while she checked, hoping for the best. Luckily, Joyce didn't feel that his head was hot but he did look very pale. "Well, you do feel fine so, I guess I'll leave you alone. Just remember that you can tell me anything ok?" "Mom! I know ok…you've said that a million times." She sighed, kissed his head and told him to ly on the couch. So, Will did exactly that. He sat down on the couch, drained and tired but, he couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the Upside Down again and a shiver would go down his spine. His mom stayed up with him while he watched Star Wars. They watched 'A new hope' and 'empire strikes back'.
Eventually Will fell asleep, dreaming about everything except the Upside Down. Joyce was super relieved that her son had found some sort of peace that night. She had been so scared that something had happened to him again. She was so heartbroken that her kid was now traumatized from his experience the place that he and she had once visited. But, she was so happy that he was finally resting well and hoped that everything would be fine.
Will woke up feeling not well rested but, not as tired as he would've been if he hadn't gone to sleep. It was around 10:00 a.m when he woke up to the smell if bacon. He looked up, eyes squinted, and saw Jonathon in the Kitchen making food. He saw his mother sitting in the dining room reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. She glanced over at him and saw his tiny self looking over at her. She smiled, got up, and walked over to him.
"Hey Will, how are you?", Joyce asked her son. Will sat up and shrugged at his mother. His memory of last night suddenly became blurry and he didn't understand what had happened last night. He shrugged his shoulder at his mother with a tired face. "Well, how about you eat some breakfast and then…we can see where the day leads us.", Joyce told her son. "Don't we have that Christmas Eve part at the Wheelers tonight?" Will said. His voice was all raspy and croaky. "That's right!", Joyce said. "Well, we can do whatever we want until then but, I have to ask how you're feeling." Will went silent. He looked down at the couch and took a deep breath. He really didn't want to tell his mom and make her stressed again. "I just, I don't know, I just didn't feel well." Will got out quickly. "But, I'm ok now.", he continued.
"Well that's good but, if you start to feel sick at the Wheeler's, tell me." Will nodded at his mother. He moved the blanket off of his legs and walked along over to the table. Jonathon put a plate down in front of him and smiled at him. Will smiled back, then started eating. It had been a few minutes of silence at the table. Joyce decided that there was something important. "So Will, do you think you'll be able to go back to school in January?" Will suddenly though of his friendship with Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. He had missed them a lot. The last time they saw each other was when he was in the hospital.