The New Girl

chapter twenty three

chapter twenty three - november, 1984

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"Get him out," yelled an agent as Joyce pulled up to the hospital, "Go! Go!" Will was screaming and sobbing in pain as they put him on a gurney and ran down the corridors of Hawkins Lab.

"God!" Joyce yelled, evidently distraught as Alex, Mike and Bob ran with her, "hold on, sweetie!" Will let out a sob as Alex held onto Mike's hand. "I'm right here. Just hold on." Will was pushed through the lab and into the infirmity as he kept screaming and sobbing. Once they arrived in an infirmary room, the doctors moved Will from the gurney onto a hospital bed as Alex's eyes watered as the devices around them began to beep and make a lot of noises while Will cried. 

"Vitals?" the doctor (Owens) asked, looking at the nurse.

"Heart rate two-twenty," she said, "Temperature's hundred and six."

"Will, where does it hurt?" the doctor as Will was holding his stomach, groaning in pain.

"All over," Will said as Alex looked at him.

"She says he feels like he's burning," Owens said, "check for burns." Will was screaming at the top of his lungs as the nurse cut opened his shirt to check for burns, but he was completely unharmed. 

"I don't see anything," another doctor said, "where does it hurt the most, Will?"

"Everywhere!" Will screamed as Alex held onto Mike's arm, crying silent tears, "everywhere!" As Owens sedated Will, Bob held onto Joyce as the woman was so distraught and sobbing. 

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Will was fast asleep in his hospital bed with Alex and Mike asleep on a chair next to the bed. Alex was curled up in a ball next to Mike as had her head on his shoulder as their hands were intertwined. Mike had his arm wrapped around Alex as they hard a coat keeping them warm.

"They made me sign, like, a thousand documents," Joyce said in a hushed voice as the monitor kept beeping rhythmically. "I mean, 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.," Bob said before hesitating, "what kind of documents?"

"Uh, confidentiality," Joyce said, trying to remember, "and there were these official forms saying, like, nothing ever happened, which is why. . . ."

". . . .Will got lost in the woods," Bob finished as Joyce nodded.

"Yeah," Joyce said. 

"Man," Bob said shaking his head lightly, "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 added.

"Yeah," Bob said, "Bob Newby, superhero," he said chuckling softly before turning to Will and sighing.

"You cold?" Joyce asked as Bob turned back to her.

"Uh, just a little jitters, I guess," he said before looking at Joyce and smiling lightly, "hey, don't you start worrying about me."

"Okay," Joyce said nodding her head lightly. 

"Okay?" Bob asked, "I'm fine. I'm fine. It's not like you didn't warn me. This is not a normal family. Isn't that what you said?"

"Yeah," Joyce sad smiling as Bob looked back at Will.

"You weren't kidding," he said chuckling before sighing. "It kinda makes my idea of moving to Maine sound a little less crazy, right?"