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Will sobbed and writhed as she was wheeled into the hospital of Hawkin's lab. His pained screams pierced the ears of Sam, Mike, Joyce, and Bob as they followed the doctors wheeling him around.

His eyes were screwed shut and filled with tears, fluorescent lights shining down on him in his reclined position. An oxygen mask was around his mouth, slightly muffling his sobs.

"I'm right here," Joyce had two arms on Will's bed. "Hold on."

Will's arms were wrapped around himself, hands gripping his forearms so tight they could leave bruises.

The bed took a turn. A door was opened. Will was transferred into another room, but Sam didn't really register that. Will's pain and sobs took away most of her focus.

It was so painful to watch; so painful to hear. Sam had begun crying, as if she was the one in so much pain. She had surged forward to help Will when they placed him on the hospital bed, but Mike was wrapping his hand around Sam's wrist and pulling her backwards. Sam felt Mike's hand shaking, distraught, as he tried letting the doctors do their job and keeping Sam away. She coughed out a sob, feeling useless, and Mike's grip tried tugging Sam closer.

"Will," Sam cried, and next thing Mike knew, he was feeling the painful shock of electricity and letting go with a hiss. The lights above were flickering rapidly as Sam tried to make it to Will's bed again.

This time, Bob held Sam back, and he was much more stronger than Mike was. Blood dripped down her nose, mixing with the tears that ran down her face.

"Vitals?" A doctor asked.

"Heart rate 220. Temperature's 106," another voice answered.

Another doctor was taking scissors and cutting off Will's shirt that was drenched in sweat. A nurse was taking Will's face in her hands, trying to get his attention, "Will? Where does it hurt?"

"All. Over," he groaned. His voice was muffled by the mask.

"Joyce says he feels like he's burning," a doctor spoke up. Dr. Owens, Sam faintly recalled. "Check for burns."

Will continued writing under the hands of multiple nurses and doctors, back arching off the bed as he yelled.

"I don't see anything," the ER doctor examined. Will's skin wasn't burned in the slightest, remaining the pale shade it always is. If anything, he was paler.

"Where does it hurt the most, Will?" The ER doctor tried, terribly unsure of what was going on.

Will didn't notice how the ER doctor now took a needle to his arm. "Everywhere," he screamed as the sedative went in. "Everywhere!"

Sam turned in Bob's arms sobbing, Joyce tried soothing Mike from behind while she cried too, and Will was out like a light.

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"Your nose was bleeding earlier, Sam," Mike broke the silence, he and Sam having been just staring at a sedated Will for hours. Mike wasn't even sure Sam had blinked in that long.

He heard the sharp inhale through her nose, saw Sam turn to face him.

"There was a lot going on, Mike," dismissed Sam, and her voice was raw from the crying. "There still is. Will isn't okay."

"Okay, but... your nose was bleeding," Mike repeated, as if that would make Sam care as much as he did.

Sam shrugged stubbornly, said, "Okay?"

"You shocked me."

"I'm sorry."

"Sam," Mike said, with a pointing look on his face.

Childishly, Sam mocked, "Mike."

He glared back at her.

She grinned back innocently at him.

Mike's glare fell, and he sighed to himself, eyes focused on the way Sam was fighting with her fingers. It was a tell-tale sign she wasn't okay, as much as she tried making Mike believe so.

"You know, I didn't mean to react like... that... last night," he started, eyes in his lap now. "I know you were just — I know you meant well. So, um, I shouldn't have... stormed out, or anything. I may have overreacted."

Sam raised an eyebrow. In a teasing voice, trying to bite down an amused smile, she asked, "So you're... sorry?"

"I am... remorseful... over an action I participated in," Mike said, and it was clearly very hard for him to say it.

She snorted out a laugh, hand moving up to cover her smile. Mike immediately noticed he got her to stop nervously fidgeting, focusing on that more than anything. Sam nodded at Mike, sobering up her smile and pretending not to be amused.

"Well, you don't need to be 'remorseful' for anything," Sam told him surely. "I just want you to know I'm here. I already told you that."

Mike exhaled, looking a little ashamed of himself. "I — I know, I just... get scared, I think."

"Of me?" Sam asked incredulously, because as much as she hated it, she knew she was just as intimidating as a baby duck holding a knife.

"Of me," Mike contradicted.

And oh. Oh, that was sad. That was really sad. That was also very relatable, which made it even more sad.

The truth was, Samantha Hughes was so terribly afraid of herself that it wasn't funny, anymore. No one else may be intimidated of her, but she was. She hated herself for it, too. Maybe that's why she got so stubborn around the topic of supernatural abilities, or maybe it wasn't, but either way Sam was scared.

It was an awful feeling. She didn't want Mike to feel it, too.

"I get scared, too," Sam admitted, voice smaller than before. Her fingers were twisting one another again. "Of myself, I mean. I didn't think anyone else did."

Mike's face screwed up, cringing about himself. He confessed, "I don't wanna... feel like this, anymore."

"So talk to me, Mike," Sam practically begged. "You don't have to be. I can help you."

And Sam saw it, then. Mike's eyes were getting teary, like he was gearing up for a different kind of confusion. His hands were the ones shaking now. He opened his mouth to tell her.

"Sam, I—"

The door opened up.

Into the hospital room came Joyce, who had just returned from talking with Dr. Owens and the other doctors. Ironically enough, Dr. Owens' first name was also Sam. It made girl-Sam think about how Ms. Godfrey thought girl-Sam was not a girl, but a boy, which ended up being the reason girl-not-boy-Sam became friends with Will and Mike.

Now, things were much more complicated than screwing up the gender of names.

Now, looking at Mike, Sam knew he was hiding something much more serious.

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"They made me sign, like, a thousand documents," Joyce whispered anxiously to Bob. Sam and Mike were asleep in chairs next to Will's bed as noon arrived, and the adults tried their best not to wake the kids.

Mike had taken his jacket off, laying it over himself as a makeshift blanket to stifle the cold. Sam, unfortunately, had never been wearing a jacket – only a long-sleeve white shirt with an unbuttoned pastel pink button-down shirt over it. She was curled in on herself searching for warmth, but the biting cold in her chest hadn't left since Will had a seizure at the pumpkin farm.

"I mean..." Joyce stammered quietly as she filled Bob in on the truth of Will last year, "we all had to. We had to. I mean, I lost track at a certain point. They're gonna make you do the same. I'm sure."

"Yeah. Well, hey, whatever," Joyce's boyfriend tried to be as supportive as he could. When the woman didn't seem satisfied, he furrowed his eyebrows again, "What kind of documents?"

Joyce racked her mind in remembrance, "Uh, confidentiality... and there were these official forms saying, like, nothing ever happened, which is why..."

Bob's head turned to a sleeping Will in his hospital bed. Finally, he understood, "'Will got lost in the woods.'"

"Yeah," Joyce huffed. "Capitalist, government bastards."

Bob frowned as he turned back to her, "Man, I always thought stuff like this happened in movies and comic books... Certainly not in Hawkins, and certainly not to someone like you."

"Or you," Joyce shot back, feeling very guilty for the situation Bob was currently in.

"Yeah," he huffed a laugh, "Bob Newby, superhero."

Joyce's mouth opened to say something else, but another hoarse voice beat her to it.

"Mom?"

Joyce gasped in surprise, setting down her coffee mug, "Hey."

As Joyce went up to her, Bob left the room to look for a doctor. Bob's yelling woke up the sleeping kids, and now Sam and Mike were leaning into Will's bedside.

"Sweetie, how are you feeling? You okay?" Joyce questioned.

Bob sent the disoriented Will a soft smile, "Hey."

"Who is that?" Will's raspy voice asked Joyce.

Everyone's faces, including the Sam and Mike duo, dropped at Will's question.

"Who are you?" Will now looked to Bob.

He chuckled nervously, "It's me, big guy. It's Bob."

Bob's hand reached for Will's with a frown, but Will flinched away guardedly. He eyed Bob up and down, noticing Bob's teal scrubs, "Are you, uh... a doctor?"

"No," Bob's strained voice responded. "It's just me. Just... Just Bob."

To Mike, Sam muttered, "He really took the 'crazy together' thing, seriously."

Mike hit Sam in her side with a pointed glare. "Not the time, Sam."

The doctors finally all came back into Will's room, intending to analyze him. The sound of the monitor beeping filled Sam's ears as Dr. Owens did some checkups on her possessed friend. Sam stood in between Mike and Bob as she bit her thumb nail nervously with her eyes trained on Will.

Dr. Owens was shining a pen light in Will's eyes, presumably checking for a concussion. After a minute, the light clicked off but he still kept an observant eye on Will. "Do you know your name?"

"Will," he answered.

"Your full name."

"William Byers," said Will, his voice devoid of all emotion. It made Sam's heart shatter, and clutch at her chest with the hand that wasn't biting her fingernails. The cold there was growing, and it hurt so much, but Sam was too worried about Will to speak up about it.

Dr. Owens sent a forced smile, "Do you — Do you know who I am?"

And Sam watched Will try, he really did try. With his eyes shut and everything, but she could tell he didn't. Sam didn't even know if Will knew himself, anymore. She feared he didn't remember her — Sam didn't know what she would do if Will didn't remember her or their friendship.

"A... doctor," Will guessed, judging by Dr. Owens' white coat and light.

"Have we met before?" Dr. Owens continued pressing Will for more information.

Will looked back, ashamed, "I don't remember."

Dr. Owens hummed, with a flat face, and Sam felt her heart drop. Will had been seeing Dr. Owens in regularly scheduled appointments for an entire year and didn't recognize him.

"You don't remember me?" Dr. Owens asked again, and Will just shook his head timidly. Dr. Owens just shrugged as if everything was fine, asked, "Okay... How about this guy here?"

Everyone's heads turned to face Mike, including Sam, including Will — even with the wires and tape attached to his face. One of Mike's hands left the zip-up jacket to awkwardly wave in a way that made Sam smile slightly, despite everything going on.

"That's my friend," Will started, tripping over his words. "Mike."

Mike let out a small breath of relief as he smiled, and Sam shared the look too. It may have taken Will a long time to do it, but he remembered Mike. He remembered one of his best friends.

Dr. Owens' finger then pointed to Sam, who was right next to him, not having expected to be called on. "And her?"

"My sister, right? Sam?"

Sam's eyes went wide, and she flushed pink, realizing that Will thought of Sam as a sister. It warmed the biting cold in her chest.

"What about me, kid? You remember me?" Hopper asked out of the blue, a smile of hope over his face. Surprisingly, it didn't wipe away when Will shook his head no. "They tell me... that you helped save me last night. You remember that?"

Will's head shook once more.

"Do you remember anything about last night? About what happened?" Dr. Owens interrogated again, gaining Will's attention.

"I remember they hurt me," Will answered. Sam had flashes of Will seizing on the ground in her mind, Sam doing nothing uselessly, because she wasn't good for anything.

Dr. Owens tilted his head a smidge, "You mean the doctors?"

Will shook her head once, "No. The soldiers."

"The soldiers hurt you?" Dr. Owens furrowed his eyebrows, leaning closer.

Will sent him a cold stare and even colder voice when he said, "They shouldn't have done that... It upset Him."

Dr. Owens opened up a blue manilla file, pulling out a photograph of the drawing Will had made. "You say, 'upset Him.' Is that Him?"

He handed it to Will, who took in sight of the long, shadowed arms and wild, red storm. The drawing of Him.

Will nodded slowly.

"Okay," Dr. Owens returned his nod. He turned around towards Will's friends and family, said, "Okay, I wanna try something. It's gonna seem a little odd at first, but I think it's really gonna help us understand what's going on here." He put a friendly hand on Will's shoulder, "Is that okay?"

Again, Will nodded, "Okay."

After only a few minutes, a different doctor wheeled in a metal cart with an open box on top. Inside, Sam saw part of the vines that were under the grounds of Hawkins. It was squirming and curling, still alive despite being cut out of the tunnels.

Sam cringed, sending Will a sorry look. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

"Now, Will, I want you to just let us know if you feel anything," Dr. Owens spoke again. "Okay?"

Will seemed ready enough, because he sent the new doctor a signal to begin. Once the new doctor pulled out a flame torch, Sam's hands were squeezing hard into fists, even though she wouldn't be affected. She just saw the flame go on, and all at once knew.

He slowly began bringing the torch down, and Sam could already hear the soft screeching of the living vine was inside.

Will tensed, shifting his hands to grip the side of his hospital bed. Sam frowned as she watched Will twitch painfully, but his eyes were trained on the box.

"Do you feel anything?" Dr. Owens asked as the torch dropped lower.

Will's breathing hitched. He said, "L-Little sting."

"It stings? Where?"

As the screeching in the box grew louder, Will's grip on his bed tightened in pain. One hand left the bed, and he clutched at his heart in the same way Sam had been doing for the past two days, "My chest."

Joyce whipped to face Will, rubbing a comforting hand on his leg. She cooed, "Sweetie..."

"Okay, son," the heart monitor speeding up was audible, and Dr. Owens sent another nod to Flame Torch Man.

With that, the flame torch was dipped a few inches lower. Will groaned.

"How about now?"

"It..." Will's voice was strained, "It burns."

The flame was finally in the box now, and the vine screeched as Will's breathing picked up. Will's hand left his chest with a yell to grip the bed sheets, body stiffening up in pain. "It burns," he wailed.

Dr. Owens shot out a careful hand, not quite touching Will yet. "Where?"

Will threw his head back and screwed his eyes shut. They flew back open to yell in pain, "Everywhere!"

"Wait, stop," Sam said, her heart beating at her chest at the sight of Will in so much pain. "Please, stop. It's hurting him!"

Flame Torch Man did not falter as he continued burning the creature. Will's yelling grew, and Joyce tried stopping everything now.

"That — That's enough!" Joyce tried pushing forward, but she couldn't make it to Will. "That's enough!"

The burning continued, so Hopper used his projective voice to be heard. "Stop! You heard her! That's enough! That's it! We're done!"

"You're hurting him!" Sam exclaimed, and Flame Torch Man suddenly dropped the flamethrower in shock, or as if being shocked, and the flame burned no more.

Will leaned on the bed, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes trailed up from the glass case that held the vine and over to Sam.

Sam met his gaze, and while Will's chest burned with heat, Sam's was paralyzed with cold.

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The sound of static filled her ears, and she looked around the room, thinking there was a TV or a radio. Sam didn't find one, but the static had stopped, and instead there was a whisper, or, almost just wind. It sounded like a breeze, and for a moment, she thought Mike was blowing in her ear to piss her off. When Sam turned to face him, he had fallen back asleep.

Goosebumps grew on her arms and neck, and a shiver crawled up her spine. The blowing wind got louder, and she could almost make out voices, or whispers — messy whispers that tumbled over the other.

They didn't make any sense, and they were all saying different things at once.

Sam's stomach dropped as it would on a rollercoaster, and she looked at Will, who was already watching her. She shifted in her seat, and her breaths came shallow. And then, she could hear the whispers clearly.

Stars shining bright above you...

Blood rolled down her nose again, but she didn't notice. Her eyes were dazed, and horrible visions got placed inside her head.

Night breezes seem to whisper, "I love you..."

Will's lips itched into a smile, the same views rolling through his mind. But then, it all stopped at once. There were flashes of a car wreck and two bodies before Sam snapped out of it.

Sam shot up from her seat, walking over to grab more tissues while Will watched her every move. Wiping her nose, she walked past Joyce, who began to stammer and stop down the hall, Bob following along.

Mike had woken up and started talking to Will. Sam ignored them, looking around for a tissue box.

"Are you hurting again?" she heard Mike ask as Sam opened and closed cabinets with shaky hands.

"Uh," Will mumbled softly, almost as if he didn't want Sam to hear. "I — I saw something."

"In your now-memories?"

Will nodded slowly and leaned in closer to Mike. "The shadow monster... I think I know how to stop him."

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Sam was now in the doctors' meeting room; everyone else was, too. Will was sitting at the table with Mike at his side, and Sam on the other side of Mike. Everyone else was standing up, watching Will expectantly.

Laid out before him was Sam's drawings of the vines in the pattern of the map they were meant to make. Not the actual drawings, though. The lab workers took polaroid pictures of them when they went to the Byers' house.

Will's eyes scanned the table, looking for what he saw in his now-memories, acting as a spy against the shadow monster.

"Sam," Flame Torch Man started, gaining the attention of girl-Sam before she realized he was talking to Dr. Owens, "this is ludicrous—"

"Just give him a moment, okay?" said Dr. Owens, a certain edge to his voice.

Impatiently, Flame Torch Man scowled. "We don't have time—"

"Hey, jackass, why don't you do us all a favor and shut up?" Hopper snapped, and Sam coughed to hide the smile followed it. Flame Torch Man's mouth snapped shut with a dumb look that was so stupid Sam had to try not to laugh.

Will got out of his chair, staring at the pictures with a new look on him, like his mind was working a mile a minute. Everyone let him walk to the end of the table where a hub of many vines all connected.

"That's it," Will pointed his finger onto the large intersection.

"That's what?" Dr. Owens asked, pointed to the juncture as well. "What... what's there, Sam?"

"I don't know," Will mumbled, not meeting anyone's eyes. "I just know he doesn't want me to see there. I think it's important."

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In Hawkins, Indiana, there were four kids and a teenager, hiding in an old school bus while waiting for a cat-eating monster to show. And not so far away, there were three other kids and two adults. They sat around in a hospital room, waiting for the chief of police and the doctor to come back from sending soldiers in dangerous tunnels to burn it down after a thirteen-year-old possessed boy had told them to.

Sam didn't know when it happened, but out of nowhere, she felt attacked by that cold in her chest. Out of nowhere, Mike, Joyce, and Bob heard Sam suck in a pained gasp as she shot up from her chair. Sam clutched at her chest, breathing shortly in and out. Slowly, her head turned to Will with a look of disbelief.

He couldn't have. He couldn't have.

Will met Sam's look. His face immediately crumpled, and he began stammering, "I — I'm sorry."

From the left side of the bed, Mike looked up at Sam. Joyce and Bob, on the other side, looked to Will, confused as well.

"Wh-What do you mean, sweetie?" Joyce asked, leaning over to take her son's limp hand.

He couldn't have done this. Not Will.

"He... He made me do it," Will's shaky voice wavered as everyone was set on edge by his tone of voice – remorseful, but still so very hollow.

Not Will Not Will Not Will Not Will Not Will Not Will Not Will Not Will—

"Who?" Joyce sat up straighter with concerned eyes while Mike looked down, thinking in his head. "Who made you do what?"

Will's eyes were wide, and disturbed. "I told you. They upset Him... They shouldn't have done that," he said. Will began crying, "They shouldn't have upset him."

"Will, tell me you didn't," Sam begged. "Please. Please, tell me you didn't."

And finally, looking at Sam and looking at Will, Mike realized. He finally understood.

"The spy," said Mike, shooting out of his chair as Will cried to Joyce. "The spy!"

"Shit!" Sam cursed, because there was no denying it now:

Will wasn't spying for them. He was spying for the shadow monster.

She and Mike were running out of the room and into the hallway before they could stop themselves. Both kids were sprinting for the exit of the hallway. Unfortunately, it was blocked by two guards who were quick to stop Sam and Mike.

"Woah, woah, woah!"

Sam and Mike were shoved back from the exit, though they still pushed forward.

"We need to get through!" Mike expressed.

"It's a trap!" yelled Sam, trying to shove the guards' clutch off of her. It reminded Sam too much of last year in the school, being held by Brenner's men before the Demogorgon. "Let me go! It's a trap! They're gonna die!"

"We need to get through! It's a trap!" Mike yelled. The guard holding him back wasn't budging, so Mike punched him in the face.

"Woah!"

Both guards ran to restrict Mike, so Sam tried to continue running forward. Before she could, Bob was running out into the hall. He wrapped his arms around Sam from behind, who thrashed and tried to get out.

"It's a trap! It's a trap!" Sam repeated desperately while Mike shouted, "I need to warm them!"

Bob forced Sam to cross both her arms over her chest from the way he was holding her. Faintly, she could hear him trying to tell Sam to breathe or to calm down, but she couldn't. Why weren't they listening? It was a trap.

"Sam, kiddo, come on," Bob muttered into Sam's hear from behind. "Please breathe—"

"NO! They're gonna die! They're gonna die!"

"Let us go! It's a trap!"

But they were both too late.

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strange things did happen here no stranger would it be...

what kills me is the fact sam KNOWS what's wrong with her friends, what's wrong with mike, but she would never assume/press unless THEY came to her first. she has so much respect and love for them i want to cry.

if you kick samantha hughes out of your party, then who will be sacrificing their mental stability to cheer everyone up, hawkins?

oh, that's not...

what'd you think?