Note: Another little time skip, Mike's "Him" is different to Will's "Him" and some underaged drinking all in the chapter.
Friday 19th December, 1986-
Clothes were strewn disorderly all over my bed as I pondered what to wear that night. It felt wrong that after everything that had happened in my life recently that I should be going to a Christmas party but I was trying to follow Nancy's advice and move on from my life without Will and that's why I accepted the invitation from Kelly Ratcliffe.
The Ratcliffes were old family friends and my parents always tried to keep in their good books as they were some of the richest people in Hawkins. They lived in a big house in Loch Nora and Kelly went to the private school up near there so my family wanted to keep up appearances of being in the Ratcliffes' inner-circle. My mother was delighted when I told her I'd be going to the party because I'm pretty sure she always hoped me and Kelly would end up falling in love and living out the rest of our lives together in an even larger house than the one she lives in now. It did surprise my mom though when I informed her I would be going because I'd lost touch with Kelly in recent years, we grew up together and spent most of our early-childhoods in each other's company but we ended up in different schools so naturally we stopped hanging out.
Nobody other than Jonathan and Joyce, not even Max, had seen Will since his week in school. I never expected him to show on the Friday - the day after I finally told him I loved him - but I was surprised to not see him at all on the Monday after. When he didn't show up to our first lesson, I immediately got on my bike and cut school to go straight to his house because I knew what he'd done to himself the last time he was alone and I'd learned my lesson about calling that I would never receive a response.
I pounded on his door and Joyce opened it and told me she'd pulled Will from school until after Christmas as he clearly hadn't been ready to go back when he did. She informed me that Will didn't want to see anyone at all for now and then shut the door in my face and that was the last I heard from her of what was going on with him. My fount of knowledge on Will's well-being therefore became solely Jonathan who, when he visited Nancy, would give me updates on how he was doing and it turned out he wasn't doing very well. Jonathan stated Will was different, he'd been acting out; would lock himself in his room and speak to nobody for hours on end; would only eat when forced to and there were times when he'd run off for the whole day to god knows where and would only return in the early hours of the next morning but Joyce was giving him freedom and allowing him to do these things for fear he'd hurt himself even more next time. She was terrified and didn't know how to cope with Will's behaviour. It broke my heart to learn of Will's new situation but he'd entirely cut ties with everyone, especially me, and there was nothing I could do about it so I learned what was new from Jonathan and had to just accept whatever it was that he told me.
Will was over me and our friendship and it was time I moved on too but it's not so simple when you're madly in love with someone. I just hoped the party would be a little distraction from everything for me for a night, I just wanted to get drunk and try to forget for as long as possible. I needed to forget Him.
A faint knock echoed from my door and drew my attention away from the clothes. I told whoever it was to come in and I watched as Nancy traipsed her way into my room. "How are you getting home tonight? Loch Nora is too far away to walk by yourself at that time." My sister asked.
"When Kelly invited me, she said I could stay over and I can come home in the morning." I responded dully.
Nancy raised an eyebrow at me and I knew she had picked up on something I really didn't want her to. "Is there a big group of you staying over or something?"
"Nope, just me."
"Mike, are you sure that this is a good idea? I know Kelly and she's always had a bit of a thing for you so, with the whole Will situation...I don't know but are you sure you want to do this?"
"You're the one who told me to move on, right? That's exactly what I'm doing." My temper was beginning to flare up again, I just wished everyone would leave me alone. I was completely aggravated with everyone trying to involve themselves in my personal life.
Nancy wiped the look of surprise off her face and solemnly nodded at me. "I see you've already thought this through. As long as you're sure then I suppose there's nothing to worry about. Maybe it's for the best."
"Maybe." I said in a toneless, emotionless voice.
"Well, I hope you have a good time anyway." Nancy gave me a reassuring smile and sidled out of my room, leaving me and my clothes alone once more.
I flopped down on my bed, disturbing the heaped piles of shirts and trousers, and stared at the ceiling. Nancy's words replayed over and over again in my head: "maybe it's for the best" and I hoped to god she was right. I was sick to death of feeling nothing but miserable and I just prayed that, under the influence of alcohol, I could finally relax in the arms of another. However, I knew that the comfort I so desperately craved would never be given as the only person who could ever make me feel alive wanted nothing more to do with me.
In the end, I eventually settled on some dark jeans and one of my numerous striped shirts and I honestly couldn't have cared less if I wasn't fancy enough to meet the dress-code. My mother beamed at me when I found my way downstairs and ushered me into her car. She'd insisted on driving me even though I'd made it clear that I was willing to cycle. My mother blabbed on about how great it was that I was spending time with Kelly again and how much of a nice girl she was but I wasn't paying attention, I just muttered the occasional "yeah" to keep her happy.
"Oh, how lovely!" My mother exclaimed as we pulled up outside of the Ratcliffe residence that had been decorated for tonight. Christmas lights glistened of every colour over all their windows and their porch had bright red ribbons wrapped up and down the columns and a there was a huge evergreen wreath positioned at the top and centre of their door. The large house did look beautiful and I couldn't help but think that Will would have loved it and probably would have recorded its magnificence in one of his sketches. I smiled at the peaceful thought whilst saying goodbye to my mom. I entered the huge house where I was immediately greeted by a joyful Kelly who was wearing a velvet, forest green dress that was cinched at the waist, showing off her figure. She did look quite radiant with her long, wavy blonde hair dancing down to about her ribcage but, in my life, I'd never seen her as anything potentially more than a friend and that fact remained.
"Mike!" She squealed and threw herself at me, embracing me with such a force that I almost fell down. "I'm so glad you came."
"Yeah, me too." I responded, awkwardly patting her back before pulling away. "Er...your house looks nice."
"Thanks, me and my mom set it all up today. It took us hours." She beamed and grabbed my hand. "Come on, I'll introduce you to some people." I found myself being dragged down a long hallway and being forced to interact with an endless amount of wealthy strangers, all the while, Kelly's hand continued to tightly grip my own. I began to get increasingly uncomfortable with every new name I was forced to learn and every new face I tried to remember and she noticed and asked me if I was okay.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just need a break from talking to all these people. I'll go and get a drink, I'll be right back."
"I'll come with you!" Kelly said brightly and I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at her. The refreshment table was heavily supplied to my relief and I silently thanked Kelly's parents because I knew I'd need to be quite under the influence to be willing to go any further with this girl who I'd known for as long as I could remember.
I finished the first few drinks within minutes so it didn't take long for my head to start feeling slightly heavier and I could feel my inhibitions lowering. Suddenly, conversing with Kelly seemed much easier and I didn't mind the feel of her hand enclosing mine as much. Maybe I could go through with it after all.
More alcohol was consumed and I found I was feeling much more confident so I didn't even refuse when Kelly started leading me out of my usual comfort zone, towards the huddle of teenagers on the dance floor. My mind was becoming so clouded that I nearly missed the sight of a small boy swaying to the music on the outskirts of the group. My breath got caught up in my throat and I very nearly started choking as my heart picked up its pace, flooding my veins with fire and bringing me back to life. After weeks of not speaking, of not having any contact whatsoever, of barely knowing if He was even alive, here He was in the last place I ever expected to see Him.
Will.
My Will.
*
Whatcha doing there, Mr Byers? Shouldn't you be at home? Pretty sure your family are worried about you.
Yeah, I don't hate Kelly. She's pretty harmless she just has no idea what a complicated mess she's walking herself into. Back away, sweet child. Back away and don't touch Will's man.
Also, I don't know the geography of Hawkins so I'm making it up. For all I know, Mike could actually live a street away from Loch Nora.
And omg the next chapter is so dramatic and I- you'll have to wait and see...
- Niamh.