6 Chapter 5 - Will Byers?

As the officers fussed around him, David felt a mixture of relief and shame wash over him.

"Hey kid," one officer said, "Hey, it's okay," they repeated, gripping his shoulder.

"Just get some rest,"

At that, David gave a grateful nod and decided to head to bed, skipping a routine of showering and brushing his teeth. He just needed to lie down and let the fatigue wash over him, pulling the weight of the day into the deep recesses of his mind.

The next day, David wanted to go to school. Maybe try and get away from his home, the death place of his grandpa.

But he decided to stay at home for the next day.

He had many visitors in the morning like the some of the Wheelers, and some of the Sinclairs, Officers Callahan and Powell even quickly went to check up on him.

The community support was overwhelming, but David wrestled with his thoughts, uncertain if he could return to his normal routine so soon after such a traumatic experience.

He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his hands, feeling the weight of grief pressing down on him like a physical force.

David wanted nothing more than to leave, to get out of Hawkins, to get out of the town where that monstrosity lived in the forest.

But he had an obligation to stay now.

"Protect the kids,"

The voice of his grandfather kept repeating in his head. An unusual amount. Like the world wanted him to remember what was told to him.

"Don't worry Grandpa," David said with a look that betrayed the previous evening's look of dread, "I'll find that beast,"

"And I'll kill it,"

"But first," David said standing up and stretching his muscles, "Let's hit the town," he finished before deciding to Jump to a side alley no one ever visits anymore.

He knows that because he decided to make it a gathering area for rats to scare off anyone who wants to chill out there, making it so that when he travels there, he only has to worry about rats spreading the word about a teleporting human.

He quickly walked out onto the main road, looking left before seeing that a small crowd was gathering.

He crept over, pulling his cap over his head a little bit more.

"Okay, let me get this straight," he recognises the voice of Jonathan Byers.

"Will. That's not his body, because he's in the lights right?" He said, causing everyone to look at Joyce, Jonathan's mother, with pity and sympathy.

The loss of a child truly hurts the mother the most.

David joined the huddled crowd, heart pounding with the weight of the fact that from what he has experienced in life, the crazy woman might be the most sane person here.

"And there's a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?" Jonathan said, his voice cracking and the rage building up.

He could see the disbelief in Jonathan's eyes, but deep down, he knew that they were all in for a terrifying truth.

Joyce started to sputter out the admittance of her sanity.

"He's out there, and he's alone, and he's scared, and I…I don't care if anyone believes me! I am not gonna stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home!"

David heard this, and couldn't help but collegiate the words of this woman with the words of his mother when he had come home after discovering his powers.

She had also rambled about incredible, unbelievable things, but as David had learned, truth can be stranger than fiction.

"Protect the kids," David heard again, though this time as he listened, the voice of his grandpa sounded less ominous, and more compassionate, more reassuring.

As if the words were compelling him for action outside of vengeance l.

David felt a new sense of purpose forming within him, a determination to find the truth about the mysterious creature and protect those who might be in danger.

The others exchanged troubled glances, feeling torn between compassion and scepticism.

As Joyce rushed away from her defiant and still grieving son, David moved out of the way so she could walk past but then decided to follow after her.

—————

Conner Krazinsky

Also known as Crazy Conner.

People in Hawkins High and Middle School call him that because of his claims of the supernatural.

Being a member of the Hellfire Club probably didn't help his reputation either.

People know him as this because of his claims that he saw a boy, David Rice, teleport in and out of the library, bringing with him cold water, and drowning the books and shelves.

People at first were sceptical and nearly started to believe him until Hawkins Lab decided to investigate the library and found that there had been a leakage in the pipes at the school, which had flooded into the library.

Crazy Conner had never felt more vindicated in his life.

"It really happened!"

"David Rice is a mutant!"

"He has like…an X-Gene or something!"

These claims began to fall on deaf ears as the testimony of the government-issued institution proved him wrong.

And from that day on…Crazy Conner was forever known, as…well…Crazy Conner.

"The end," Mike Wheeler said as he scanned his older sister's, Nancy's, yearbook, pointing at a picture of David Rice and Conner Krazinsky.

"He's pretty," A girl with a blond wig on her head said, looking at the picture of David with a big grin on his face.

"Yeah, he's a real ladies' man," Mike complained, "My sister used to have the biggest crush on him, but Steve swooped in when she realised David didn't care,"

"He handsome, Eleven, not pretty. You call girls pretty," A boy called Dustin said.

"Yeah whatever," a boy called Lucas Sinclair shrugged as he shut the yearbook, "So now what? We have Professor X and Nightcrawler?"

"Awesome," Dustin commented with a goofy smile.

"Come on guys, we have to focus," Mike Wheeler commented in annoyance, "We're gonna try and find Will using El's powers, then we'll try and find David and confront him about his powers. Then, when he has no choice but to admit it, we'll make him help us so we can save Will,"

With that declaration, the group of three boys and one girl set out into the streets of Hawkins, determined to use Eleven's extraordinary abilities to locate their missing friend while piecing together the strange occurrences happening in their town.

As the group biked to school, they continued hoping that they would soon be able to bring their friend back home.

——————

"Nice house," David commented as he looked around at the tattered home of the Byers.

He looked around, taking in the absolute mess chewing absently on a sandwich as he did. "This can't be a safe living environment,"

Suddenly, David heard the whimpering of a child, as well as the vibrating sound that normally accompanies him when he jumps.

Slowly, the whimpering became louder and much, much creepier.

"Hello?!" David shouted out, getting scared of the invisible crying child.

The whimpering grew louder, echoing through the dimly lit room, a result of Christmas lights, sending shivers down David's spine.

Despite his growing unease, David took a step forward, determined to investigate the source of the chilling sound.

"Hello?" David asked again.

As if for an untold signal, as he spoke, his powers began acting up, causing David's body to spasm.

Instinctively, he willed them to calm down, but the powers only became stronger, crackling in the air around him. It felt like the house was responding to his presence, almost as if it were alive.

"AAARGGGHHH!" David shouted as his body kept phasing in and out of existence.

And then, for the first time in 3 years, David had appeared yet again inside the grey, dusty world.

It was the exact place he thought he'd left behind after the incident of awakening his powers.

"Yeah, fuck this," David said resolutely, hearing the crying of a child even louder, just outside the building.

"Definitely the horror movie cliche of some shapeshifting monster trying to eat teenagers," he mumbled to himself as he prepared to face the unknown entity and find a way out of the mysterious world he had returned to.

He tried jumping away, but it was like his powers refused to respond to him, as what would usually result in him jumping back home, David just stayed exactly where he was.

"What?" He muttered confusedly.

David stood frozen in disbelief, his mind racing with fear and curiosity as he pondered the circumstances that had brought him back to this eerie world.

Abruptly, he felt two small hands grab his arm.

He turned around with a jump as he came face to face with a small, terrified young boy.

"We need to go. Now,"