Chapter 1: New adventures
17th of May 1986
I pace around the Wheeler’s house, in the middle of the night unable to sleep. A strange, all-too-well-remembered strange feeling overwhelms me. ‘He’s planning something’ I think. I have to be careful to not wake anyone up while I look for a glass of water and maybe sit outside to get some air. I can’t shake the fear of being taken again, of putting everyone else in danger, this anxiety of not knowing what will happen and when. A hand touches my shoulder startling me and making me jump.
“Will, are you okay?” Mike whispers, his voice filled with concern “Is it him?” my eyes meet his in the dark and I look away as fast as I can. On top of being back in Hawkins and feeling Vecna’s presence again, I now live with my friend. He is just my friend. I have to stop these thoughts. I look at him again, he’s expecting for an answer
“No… yes? I don’t know” I say as I sit on a kitchen chair.
“What did you feel?” Mike shows interest and he sits right in front of me, his hand is lingering on my shoulder still and I try to talk even though his touch feels as if someone was burning my skin, as if a hot summer sun was shining directly on it.
“It’s not much of what I feel right now.” I sigh “It’s more of a general kind of eerie feeling like… You know when you feel like you’re being watched and somewhere in the room—”
“—There’s a spider, yes” Mike finishes my sentence. He gets me. Always has. Always will. Will. Stop. It. Now.
“Or like when you roll a low perception check, you don’t necessarily fail but you just– Just know there’s something wrong” I keep going with an example that I feel is more appropriate for how I feel. Mike nods his head.
“How long have you felt this way?” my heart inevitably skips a beat. An innocent question that is appropriate to the theme but holds such a weight that he’ll never know.
“Ever since I came back to Hawkins.” I reply trying to keep my voice down “like as if I were a walkie-talkie and I was back in range”
“Is it like the goosies?” his question makes me laugh a little
“The goosies?” I look at him and when I do he seems to notice his hand lingered so he takes it out and makes a gesture when he responds
“Yeah, that’s how Steve calls it” Mike rolls his eyes.
“No, it’s not like that. And please don’t call it that ever again” We both laugh and for a second I don’t feel it, as if in that second Mike acted like a shield.
“We have no way of knowing if he’s planning anything or if anything will happen. So far it has been quiet.” Mike says after a moment of silence “How often do you get this feeling?” he asks
“Well… It usually comes when I’m alone and at night. As if he was most active when people are asleep” I say “When people aren’t going to be paying attention.” Mike nods understanding
“At least until we actually know if he’s alive, maybe what you need right now is something to keep you occupied… Distracted.” Mike’s voice is a whisper, we aren’t trying to wake anyone up but at the same time he sounds confident in his words.
“Like what?” I ask genuinely confused cause I have no idea what he means.
“Well, summer vacation is coming soon” his confidence wavers for a moment before he keeps going “Maybe we could start a new campaign?” YES. My eyes widen
“Yes, I- I like that idea. Do you think the rest will be up for it?” I ask excitedly.
“Well, I was thinking that we should do this during the time you’re getting the feeling you know? at night” he says “I doubt the rest will want to do that” when I actually think about it he’s right. Lucas spends most of his free time with Max at the hospital, Dustin hasn’t been the same since everything went down and El lives with Hopper now so she’ll never be allowed to play with us at night.
“You’re right” silence. I feel like Mike’s going to take it back so I say “It’s going to have to be just us then.” I say without looking at him
“Yeah, just us.” he says and he sounds… Relieved?
“Sir Mike, the Paladin and Will, the Wise on a midnight adventure” I smile at the thought. “Can I be the DM? This past year in Lenora I wrote a couple of adventures. One Shots. And I would love for you to play them, since you’re the writer I’d like some notes” Mike nods
“Sure” he says.
After that, I go to bed but since I can´t sleep I look for my notebook where I wrote all the one shots last year and select all the ones I think would be fun to play I don’t have to be as quiet in the basement since upstairs no one will actually hear unless I scream, besides Jonathan is not here, he keeps sneaking to be with Nancy and then pretends he hasn’t as if I’m not going to notice.
It’s exciting to feel like Mike and I will play DnD, to feel like we’ll be friends again, like we used to be.
Next morning we all have breakfast as we have been getting used to. Every day is a different kind of chaos. Loud and messy, though weirdly organized. I keep thinking Mr. Wheeler doesn’t really like us very much, especially me cause he looks at me funny, though I don’t know why. Weekends are quiet anyways. Jonathan and Nancy have their dates on the weekends so I barely see him. Mike used to hang out with El on Saturdays, they haven’t been doing that lately. He says it’s because it’s getting dangerous cause the military is still looking for her. On my part, on Saturdays I hang out with mom and since today it’s a Sunday I go to the hospital to be with Lucas. Mike’s going to be at Dustin’s and mom’s with Hopper, her boyfriend.
The hospital is not very full of people. That’s a good thing I guess. The nurses at the reception smile at me and don’t ask anything, they already know why I’m here.
As I’m getting closer to Max’s room I can hear Kate Bush’s voice get louder and I know Lucas is here already. Before I get to the room I buy a can of coke for me and him.
“Hi” I say as I walk in
“Byers, hi” he replies with a smile. His smile is torn. Ever since everything happened he hasn’t smiled the same and I don’t blame him. I can’t help but to feel a little guilty though. If I hadn’t gotten caught maybe… No. You can’t start doing this again. Barb also got caught and it wasn’t her fault, you would never blame her, so why blame yourself? “Is that for me?” Lucas disconnects me from my own thoughts.
“Yes, I just bought it. I thought you might want some.” I say as I sit next to him “Any changes?” Lucas shakes his head and his eyes blur.
“I know she’s in there, Will” he whispers “I know it”
“She’ll come back, Lucas” the song stops and Lucas almost immediately grabs the boombox and rewinds the tape. I hope Max finds her way back, Lucas deserves to have her by his side and she deserves him too.
Sunday passes faster than I expect and sooner than later I’m back at the Wheelers house having dinner. Mrs Wheeler made meatloaf. Dinner is just like breakfast: Pure Chaos.
“Hey, do we get to start to play today?” Mike asks, I smile at his impatience
“No, not today. We have school tomorrow.” he rolls his eyes “But you should start making a character” he nods.
Before going to bed Mike stops me at the basement door.
“Is there any class that can be more appropriate for the campaign?” he asks
“One shot. It’s a one session game and no, you can play whatever you like. Make sure you’re to make your character level 3 at least” I explain calmly. “Be ready to start off classic though”
“Cool, a good old fight the bad guys rescue the town kind of deal?” he asks excited
“Yeah, kinda like that” He smiles “Goodnight, Mike”
“Goodnight, Will”
