The Overcomer, Stranger Things

Where are the Byer kids?

In the Byer home, the morning of November 6, 1983, Joyce and Johnathan are honing their morning routine. No one has yet taken notice of the Byer kid's disappearance, but when they do, chaos will ensue. 

"Johnathan where are my keys?" Joyce yells frantically as she scurries around the house. 

"Check the couch, Mom!" Johnathan calls back, knowing exactly where they were since they go through this every morning. 

As the stressed woman searches the couch, she complains, "I've already checked the couch- oh."

Joyce gives a sheepish grin as her hands clamp around the keys, "Found them."

"Okay Sweetie, I'm going to work, Wait! Where are Gwen and Will?"

"Probably still sleeping," Johnathan answered with a shrug as he dumped some scrambled eggs onto his plate. 

"Johnathan, you were supposed to get them up. I've told you this a thousand times," Joyce exclaimed angrily as she hurried to Will's room. 

"Mom, I'm making breakfast!" Johnathan justified. 

Joyce clapped her hands together as she entered Will's room, announcing her presence, "Alright, up and at 'em!" 

Joyce was startled to see an unmade bed and no Will. She quickly brushed it off and hurried over to her youngest's room, thinking that Gwen and Will just had another sleepover. 

"Gwen, baby, it's time to get up! You, too, Will!" Joyce said as she entered Gwen's room. 

If Joyce wasn't anxious before, she definitely was now. The room was vacant. The overprotective mother rushed out of the room, trying to push down her nagging worry that something terrible happened to her kids. 

"Did they come home last night?" Joyce questioned Johnathan as she stomped back into the kitchen.

"Um... I don't know," Johnathan answered shamefully. 

"You don't know?!"

"I was working!"

"You were working?!"

"Can you please stop repeating everything I say?" Johnathan asked, exasperated from his mother's dramatics. 

"I cannot believe you!" Joyce snapped as she went over to the phone. 

"Unbelievable," Joyce muttered, as she phoned the Wheelers, making Johnathan roll his eyes. 

"Hello?" Karen Wheeler answered, trying to ignore her kids who were fighting in the background. 

"Hi, Karen. It's Joyce." 

"Oh, Joyce, hi."

"Quiet!" Karen shouted to Mike and Nancy, who were squabbling over the syrup. 

"Was that Will and Gwen I heard back there?" Joyce asked hopefully. 

"No no no it's just Mike and Nancy," Karen answered confused. 

"Will and Gwen didn't spend the night?" Joyce questioned, casting Johnathan a worried glance.

"No, they left here a little bit after 8:00. Why? They're not home?" Karen asked, now also slightly worried. 

"Um, you know what? I think they just left early, for... for school," Joyce lied, not wanting to panic. Yet. 

"Thank you so much. Bye," Joyce finished, quickly hanging up the phone. 

Joyce looked at Johnathan fearfully. She didn't know where her kids were. A mother's worst nightmare. But little did they know, the nightmare has just begun.