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The room is hot. Too hot. The monster can’t take it, and Nancy knows it’s only a matter of time before they’ll get Will back. She keeps finding it hard not to think of this creature in front of her as Will. After all, it has the face of the boy she has known since he was a baby. His face, so young, but with a flash of evil that lets her know it isn’t Will. And, unless they could remove this parasite, never would be again.She can only imagine how Joyce must be feeling. And Jonathan…her Jonathan. Her heart is breaking for this guy she loves with everything she has in her.Joyce has placed four space heaters all around the bed she strapped her son’s body on. While the creature was still out cold, Joyce had also discussed with them about starting a fire in the grate for good measure. All the heat is driving the monster crazy and it continues to pick up the ferocity of its frantic struggling.Jonathan stands beside Nancy, shaking. He grasps for her hand, squeezing it tightly. Sensing his distress, Nancy slowly rubs his arm, trying to soothe him.
As the thing’s screaming and thrashing seems to reach its climax on the bed, Joyce turns the heat up even higher.“Mom,” Jonathan says, barely holding back tears.“No!” yells Joyce.Jonathan turns around and tightly hugs Nancy, unable to watch his little brother who isn’t his little brother be in so much pain. She hears him sob against her shoulder.Joyce and Nancy watch as the creature begins to scream louder. As the screeching volume picks up, Jonathan turns around. Looking from Will to his mom, he leans in to Nancy.“It isn’t working,” he whispers. Nancy holds on to his hand tighter to steady him, but it doesn’t seem to work.“Stop,” Jonathan suddenly yells, “you’re killing him!”He bolts over to Will’s bed to turn off the space heaters, but Joyce is faster. She slaps his hand away.“Just wait!” she screams.They begin to struggle, each yelling at each other. Joyce barely manages to fend Jonathan off as he repeatedly reaches for the heaters.As this continues, Nancy notices Will’s face begins to change. Black begins creeping its way slowly up his neck, looking like veins. Realizing that the two are too close to him, Nancy runs over.“Stop,” she yells, “Look…his neck. His neck!”A loud crack sounds around the room, causing all three to look over at the monster with Will’s face. It has gotten one of its hands free and was beginning to struggle with the other strap.Joyce leaps over the bed and struggles to get its hand restrained again, but her grip slips and the thing grabs her throat. Jonathan goes over, grabbing its arm in an effort to release the death grip it has on Joyce’s throat.“Mom…mom!” he exclaims.Nancy notices Joyce’s eyes begin to roll back, her body losing its fight for oxygen. She quickly goes through her options of what to do. She notices a poker sticking out of the fireplace, blazing hot from the fire. She runs over to the fire and picks it up.Without a second thought, Nancy lays the hot poker across Will’s side. This sudden heat causes the monster to shriek and release its hold on Joyce’s throat.As Joyce gasps for air, Nancy notices Will’s face. It has become completely black; even the whites of Will’s eyes were the same midnight black color. His mouth opens and a dark cloud comes out, along with a sound that could plague nightmares. The sound was filled with such pain and misery, it instantly caused the hairs the back of Nancy’s neck to stand up.The cloud is so big, it seems impossible that it could have fit into Will’s small frame. The blackness in the cloud looks fathomless, as if there is no ending. Its presence seems to suck the very air from the room, leaving only a heart wrenching emptiness. The dim room grows even darker as the cloud swirls around the room, seemingly looking for an escape. Nancy and Jonathan stare up at it in disgust and awe, while Joyce picks up Will, cradling him to her body.The creature locates the door and bursts through quickly, causing Nancy to get up and run out of the shack to see where the monster goes. Outside, she looks up in curiosity. She notices it flying through the night sky, seemingly looking for a new host. Suddenly, it seems to shift, almost as if it gets disrupted by the wind. But, no. It’s flying back towards the shack. Flying to Nancy.Nancy continues to stare, feeling as though she is unable to move. Her body doesn’t feel connected to her mind anymore. She senses, rather than feels, her eyes growing wider as the creature continues flying directly to her. She tries to scream, but no sound escapes her throat. And suddenly, the darkness is hovering right in front of her.She realizes she can no longer feel the breeze on her skin. She can no longer see the forest around her. The only thing she can see is the darkness. She can only watch in horror as the cloud draws closer and closer until… it’s in her. It seems to consume her completely. And, then, she can’t see anything at all.…Once the monstrous being that had been possessing his brother was gone, Jonathan rushes over to Will. He and his mom frantically try to awaken him.
“Will!” cries Joyce.Jonathan can feel the mixture of tears and sweat streaming down his face. He quickly wipes at his eyes in frustration, angry that he cannot clearly see Will. He grabs at Will’s face, gently shaking him.“Will? Will, can you hear me?” says Jonathan, feeling fresh tears reach his eyes as he questions why his brother isn’t waking.Then, Jonathan notices Will’s eyes begin to flutter. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Jonathan pulls Will into a tight hug. This seems to rouse Will slightly. He opens his eyes and looks at his brother, for the first time in weeks, with unclouded eyes.Jonathan feels himself shaking with joy.“It’s good to see you, buddy,” he says.At this, Will laughs weakly. “It’s good to see you, too.”At this, Will begins to get up.“Easy. Easy,” whispers Joyce, as tears flow down her face.The bed creaks as Will continues to get up. After standing, he haphazardly sways before he eventually gains his footing.“Will, baby,” says Joyce as she keeps a protective hand on Will’s arm. “Are you sure you should be taking things this fast?”Will gives his mom a quizzical look.“Mom, I haven’t been standing as myself in days. I need this.”Jonathan glances at his mom, giving her a knowing look. He understands that, while his mom may still be concerned, Will needs a little bit of independence. Then, with an all too quick feeling, he notices the heat that seems to be penetrating his mind.“Mom, let’s get Will home.”At this, Joyce takes hold of Will’s arm more firmly and begins leading him out the door.“I can do it,” Will says assertively.“Will, honey, let me help y—”“I said I’ve got it, mom.”Joyce looks at Will for a moment before slowly nodding.Jonathan begins slowing walking the other two out, when Will suddenly grasps his arm. Glancing over, he notices the expression spreading across Will’s face. It seemed to be a mixture between determination and pain.“What is it?” Jonathan asks quietly so that his mom wouldn’t overhear.“Nothing,” he replies in a breathless tone. “I…I suppose…I can’t do it as well as I thought.”Jonathan puts his arm around Will’s shoulders, giving him support while attempting to still hide the exchange from his mom.They begin shuffling through the trash littered on the floor. Old, discarded boxes and rusted tools seemingly everywhere they stepped. Jonathan lifts Will up over a particularly large pile.Suddenly, Jonathan got the strangest sense that he was forgetting something, as if something were wrong. Continuing to escort his mom and Will out, he realized that there was someone missing.
Nancy…Where is Nancy?
He realized he hadn’t seen her in several minutes. Taking a quick look around the room, he notices she’s no where to be found.
Where is she?
Walking to the doorway that no longer has a door, Jonathan swiftly peers out to make sure all is well outside. Taking a look around, he notices that they are alone. This causes Jonathan to get a sense of foreboding.
She wouldn’t have left, especially not without knowing whether Will was alright or not.
“Nance?” Jonathan says in confusion. “Nancy, where are you?”Waiting a few seconds for a reply, he notices the silence. It’s almost too quiet. On a normal night, crickets would be chirping. Even the wind seemed to be at a standstill, noting that there was no rusting in the tree leaves. He looks out at the forest surrounding them, pitch black in twilight.Setting Will up against the wall, he looked to his mother with concern. The unspoken question in his eyes clearly reflected in her own.Turning his head back to the woods, Jonathan's feeling of panic begins to grow.
Where could she be? Please, please, please be okay.
“Nancy!” he screams. "Nancy!!"Silence.Noticing the unmoved car, he realizes she couldn’t be far. It’s too far of a walk back to town from where they are. Quickly walking down the steps, he loses his footing on the last step and falls to the ground.He peers up from where he’s lying, tears once more filling his eyes. Then, he sees it. Lying on the ground near his foot is a small white tennis shoe. Memories immediately enter his mind. He picked that same shoe off his bedroom floor countless times to give it back to the girl he loves. The same shoe she was wearing today, as she helped him separate the monster from his brother.
No.