Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Will Byers. A normal kid from a small town in Indiana. At least he thought so until November 6, 2015, when his life changed forever. ⋆⭒˚.⋆ November 6, 2015 Will spent the entire day over at his best friend Mike’s. His small group of friends and he had been playing Dungeons and Dragons down in the basement all day. It had finally gotten dark, and Mike’s mom began sending everyone home. “Mike!! Time for everyone to go home!!” Karen shouted from the top of the stairs. “Ah!” everyone said in unison. “I guess I’ll see you guys later.” Mike sighed. Everyone said goodbye and headed up the stairs. Before walking up the stairs, Will turned back to Mike, “Bye, Mike. See you tomorrow!!” He got outside on his bike and began racing all of his friends home. The five of them were all spaced out evenly in the middle of the road. Lucas lived down the street, so he wasn’t riding with them for long. Max and Eleven eventually split off, leaving Will and Dustin. “Race to my house? The winner gets a comic?” Dustin asked. “Any comic?” “Yeah, sure.” Will begins pedaling. Fast. Dustin’s already behind, “Hey! Slow down!” “I’ll take your 'X-Men' one-three-four!” Will yells back as he flies by Dustin’s house. He was now riding down the street alone when he passed a large fence with a sign that reads... HAWKINS NATIONAL LABORATORY. NO TRESPASSING. He started biking faster as he was getting closer to home, until he saw a mysterious figure in the middle of the street. It was a dark, dead-end road with no street lights. Will swerved his bike to the side of the road and rolled into the woods. He left his bike and started running home, terrified. He made it home and rushed inside to lock the door. No one was home. His mom and brother were both working late that night. He tried calling them, but the phone was dead. The entire house was completely silent until someone started loudly banging on the front door. Will ran to his room and locked the door. The banging slowly stopped, and the house was silent again. He sat on his bed when all of a sudden someone busted out of his closet doors. He turned around to see a shadowy figure with something in his hand. He went to run for the door, but the mystery person grabbed him and stabbed a needle into the side of his neck. *ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚ Mike had woken up to the news of Will’s disappearance. He didn’t quite understand who would want to take Will, and why. The party was absolutely devastated. There wasn’t really anything they could do. Everyone started putting out flyers to help find Will. Over a thousand copies, and a couple of weeks later… Will hadn’t turned up, and no one had seen him. They’d checked everywhere, all of his favorite places, his dad’s house in Indianapolis. He was nowhere to be found. Mike and his friends couldn’t believe that he was just gone. They were the last people to see him before he disappeared. They had reached the new year, and they still hadn’t found Will. It was January 3rd, and the state police discovered a body in the quarry. It was Will. The town was at a loss. Joyce and Jonathan were an absolute mess. They didn’t leave the house for weeks. The party didn’t believe that it was him, but what else were they supposed to believe? They had a funeral and everything. Never in a million years did they think something like this would ever happen in the small town of Hawkins, where nothing ever happens. *ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚ Will slowly opened his eyes to white tile walls, his arms and legs tied down, and a man sat to the right of him. “Good Morning, Will.” He looked over to see a tall man, dressed in a suit, with bright white hair. “Who are you?”, as he looked him up and down. He moved his chair closer and grabbed Will’s hand, “I’m Dr. Martin Brenner.” “What do you want? Why am I here?” Will asked, attempting to break free from his restraints. “Don’t be afraid, we’re just gonna run some tests on you.” Dr. Brenner said. “What do you mean? What kind of-” he stops short as Dr. Brenner puts him back to sleep. Will woke up again in a different room, sitting in front of a table, with an electrode cap on his head. This was his daily routine for months. He had eventually realized where he was. They had been experimenting on him inside Hawkins Lab. Every day, he wondered if his family and friends were looking for him. He knew his mom must be worried sick. Brenner was using this rock called the “Mind Stone” to experiment and help him develop his powers. After a couple of months, Will had noticed this yellow energy coming from his hands. He spent the next couple of weeks trying to harness his powers, hiding them from Brenner. He pretended like the experiments weren't working. He could do the impossible. His powers were primarily a combination of telekinesis, mental manipulation, and telepathy. He could do the most unimaginable things; he couldn’t believe it. After about a year, he eventually used his powers to escape the lab. He was able to cut all the cameras at once and manipulate the guards to let him go without being seen. He immediately went to the police and told them almost everything. He couldn’t tell them about his powers; he didn’t want them asking him too many questions. They took off towards the lab and arrested Brenner. They condemned the lab, and nobody ever heard about it again. Will returned home to his family, and they couldn’t believe their eyes. His friends hugged him like never before; they couldn’t let go. They didn’t want to lose him again. Everyone at school started calling him “zombie boy” and “the boy who came back to life”, and it never stopped. That was his name until the day he graduated high school... *ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚ 11 years later... March 27, 2026 Will just turned 23 a couple of days ago, and it’s been almost 10 years since he was kidnapped and experimented on. It’s been 10 years, and he’s even more powerful than when he escaped the lab. His friends were the only ones who knew of his powers. They promised to keep everything a secret. They’d all become even closer since becoming adults. They practically lived together. They all lived in the same apartment building in downtown Hawkins. Mike and Will lived on the 7th floor, Eleven and Max on the 2nd floor, and Dustin and Lucas on the 3rd floor. Each of them had their 9-5 jobs, took vacations together, etc. Always with each other. They have a trip coming up next week, but only four of the six party members can go. Eleven, Max, Dustin, and Lucas were all going to visit Joyce and Hopper in Montauk. Mike and Will had to stay back in Hawkins for the start of their new “jobs”. Nancy, Mike’s older sister, had gotten each of them an internship at Hawkins Post. Mike was gonna be an intern for the post writers, and Will was going to help in the photography department. Will couldn’t bear the thought of doing photography since his brother Jonathan passed away. Photography was Jonathan’s absolute favorite thing to do. He was always carrying his camera and taking photos. It was so hard for him, but he knew it would help him get connections in the arts industry. He always tried to blame himself for Jonathan’s passing; he was on his way to visit Will from New York. He got in a fatal car crash in Pennsylvania, and Will never got to say goodbye. He'd finally moved past the most traumatic time of his life, being kidnapped, then his brother dying a couple of years later. His mind had been elsewhere. The only thing that’s ever on his mind these days. The love of his life, his best friend, his roommate... Mike. He had loved Mike since they met in kindergarten when they were five years old. Will tried flirting with him over the year, but Mike was so oblivious. He did it even though he knew that Mike would never like him that way. He was so protective of Will ever since he came back from the lab when he was 13. Will had always hoped that Mike would love him too, and he knows he does, just not in the way he wants to be loved. Will came out of the closet when he was 15, and all of his friends were very supportive. He had told Max and Eleven that he had been in love with Mike his whole life, and they told him that they already knew. They had always noticed Will making eyes at Mike when he wasn’t looking. Will wanted to tell Mike how he felt, but didn’t want to ruin the longest and best friendship he’s ever had. He never planned on telling him, but he knows it’s time that he should. It’s easier to get over him once he knows how Will feels.