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It was one of the few times he could be alone. He's been living at the Wheelers for about a year now, he's been in this house to see summer, fall, winter and now it's spring again. Part of him misses Lenora, not because he hates living with the Wheelers. He just misses being able to breathe.
Maybe that is just a by-product from being back in Hawkins, living with five other people one being Mike Wheeler, and there being an impending doom. It's been a lot, El not being able to find Max or Henry, Mike and El being around each other again, everything everything feeling finite and part of him feeling like it's all his fault.
But today, on a beautiful spring day in early March, just shy of his 16th birthday, Will is able to escape if only for a day. He was able to sneak off this morning just before the sunrise without anyone knowing. Of course he left a note for Jonathan to see when he wakes up so they don't think he was taken. He knows he shouldn't be out alone but he also knows Jonathan will understand his need to breathe.
He is sitting on top of the hill Dustin had his Cerebro on that summer so long ago. The grass is wet with the morning dew, staining his jeans. But Will doesn't care, because for the first time in about a year he's breathing. He doesn't have to be anything right now, he just is.
With his eyes closed he focuses on the smells around him. In a deep breath he can smell last night's rain, the pollen that is coming from the nearby newly bloomed flowers. He can smell the pines that stand a few yards down from him. He can smell the sunshine as it starts to rise in the night sky.
He can feel the grass around him make room for his existence, and it feels like it's not because it has to but because he belongs there. He can feel the warmth of the sun and the light breeze in the air that brings a cool crisp. Not enough to pull him back to his reality, the one where he can't stand the cold because there are evils that have inhabited his body. No, just crisp enough to make it easy to breathe.
He can hear the birds flying back from their winter vacation. The bugs and bees move from flower to flower, taking their part in the creation of life. Far away, if he tried to, he could hear the squirrels coming out of their tree, racing each other in a game of tag, fully unaware of the darkness that lives under their home. Will is happy that even after Hawkins split and the military has settled in the once calm town, nature still moves on. Like the flower that manages to grow in a crack of the concrete.
As he slowly opens his eyes, he sees the most beautiful collection of colors. Dark blues mixing with the bright golds of the morning sun. Faintly some stars still linger in the sky, Will marvels at the possibility that so much of the night is currently colliding with the morning creating a beautiful picture of both living in harmony.
He feels the urge to draw it, so he does because he can. He pulls out his sketch book and colored pencils from his backpack. As he starts to sketch the sky in front of him, a flock of wild geese fly through the sky in their notable V shape.
The perfect addition.
Wills never got the privilege to be good enough for religion. He was told he was too quiet, too different, too queer. After he was taken, he just figured that if there is any God out there, he must hate Will and this life is his eternal punishment for his sins. But for a second he thinks that maybe it's moments like this that cause people to believe.
For now, he draws and he breathes and he looks around him. He is not required to be quiet, he just is. He is not being forced to be something he isn’t or being shielded from what he is. He’s not alone right now even if there is no one sitting next to him. Right now he is just Will Byers, a boy, a human, sitting in front of night mixing with the day. He doesn't have to be good right now. Right now he feels at place in the family of things and nature. For now that's enough for him.
He breathes in one more long deep breath, when he hears someone walking up to him and sitting next to him. He doesn't have to open his eyes to know who it is, it's the only person that wouldn't respect his wish to be alone but after this morning Will doesn't find it in him to be mad at the boy that sits next to him.
He opens his eyes and turns to face Mike. “Hi.”
Mike is looking back at Will and smiles when he says “Hi.”
Will just turns back to the sight ahead of him and he feels Mike do the same. Slowly he finishes his drawing of the world he was shown. As he's done, Mike starts to stand up but Will grabs his arm, not ready to go back just yet. Wordlessly Mike understands because of course, and he sits back down.
Together, they watch as the morning wins over the night and as the day starts to morph into a beautiful spring day rather than a spring morning. Will doesn't think about all that waits for him in the town that was once home. He just thinks about how intertwined he feels with the nature ahead, it's not a lot, just forever, he thinks. He breathes in and thinks yes that'll be enough.