Lover boy[s] // Will Byers

-chapter nineteen-

It hurt.

A lot. But not the falling off you skateboard and scraping the skin off your knees kind of hurt. It wasn't the rolling over the bonnet of a pizza van kind of hurt. It wasn't even the hours of pain that washed over his body as he was tied down and forced to worm his way into other people's minds.

This sort of hurt was the last soldier hiding behind another body and then shooting Sev five times. This was the splotches of deep sticky red growing along the left side of his body kind of pain.

Sev could see the sky from where he was sprawled in the sand. It was bright and blurry. A rock was digging into his back uncomfortably, but that was least of his problems. It hurt too much to talk, everything hurt too much. His mouth was dry, but there was liquid dripping down his face like a waterfall.

The sky got dimmer, and the sun that shone down turned into two suns that shook in the sky unsteadily. This wasn't exactly how Sev had planned to die.

"If I die, I don't want it to be like this."

Will paused the music when he heard the serious tone in the boy's voice, perhaps for the first time. "What do you mean?"

"It seems so stressful." Sev yawned, "I'd just want to chill. Maybe listen to music, be with my friends or something. I dunno, but I wouldn't want people to be sad about it."

"Wait, what do you mean if?"

"Sev, Sev wake up!"

Sev glanced to the side, inhaling sharply as the slight movement of his neck caused hot needles of pain to shoot through him. There were people standing over him. He couldn't make out their faces, it was too blurry, and it might not have been just because of the bloody tears. "Hm?"

"Someone call an ambulance!"

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, the grim reaper isn't supposed to die!"

"He's not gonna die!"

"Sev, c'mon, just stay awake! Please." He recognised that voice. It was Will. What was Will doing in the middle of the desert? Sev felt someone shake his shoulder slightly, and he cried out in pain as blood spurted up.

He couldn't focus on anything, what was happening? Why did everything hurt? Why were their four suns in the sky and who was yelling loudly?

He felt something yank on the back of his mind, and the suns grew darker as his eyes closed slightly. The rushing in his ears faded, and the pain grew numb.

Then it was quiet and dark.

"Status one, code blue!"

There was something cold. It was around his face, like a mask, or a muzzle. There was a tightness around him, as if he was being held down to- what was he being held down on? There was a little bit of sound, but it was drowned out by the incessant buzzing in his head. There was also beeping. It was slow.

He was moving, but it wasn't him moving. The thing he was being held down on was moving, maybe. It jolted, and a sharp jarring feeling went through him. It hurt.

His eyes cracked open slightly, but he couldn't see anything except for brightness. It was sort of like neon lights.

Then they were gone again.