𝙷𝙾𝚁𝚁𝙾𝚁 𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙼𝚂 sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄ

episode three

playing therapist

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

   AFTER SCHOOL, SAM DECIDED TO STOP BY THE BYERS HOME. When they had the talking-to by the chief, it finally clicked that this was real, and not just a bad joke. And because she knew Johnathen and Joyce, it was clear they would need some outside comfort.
At the moment, Sam was preparing the first draft missing poster while Jonathan looked through pictures of his little brother.
"Is Lonnie there?" Joyce said into the phone after a few rings. "Who is this?" There was a pause. "Cynthia." Another pause. Sam glanced at Johnathen then to his mother.
"Cynthia, this is Joyce." The woman's voice shook. "Lonnie's ex-wife. I really need to speak to him. Can you please put- No, no. Not later, now! Can-" Joyce slammed the phone into the receiver."Bitch!"
"Mom!" Jonathan sighed, rubbing his temples with his eyes squeezed shut.
"What?" Joyce turned and rubbed her forehead as her cigarette hung from her fingers.
"You have to stay calm." The older Byers boy reminded softly.
"Yeah, Joy. You can't get worked up over Lonnie again." Sam looked at the woman worriedly, knowing her ex was a piece of work. Joyce chuckled humorlessly before picking up the phone again. "Lonnie, some...teenager just hung up on me. Will is...is missing. I don't know where he is. I need..." Her voice broke and Jonathan sighed with a shake to his head. Sam slid closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, showing him that she was there.
"I just need you to call me back, please, just call-" Joyce tried again before slamming the phone again and again. "Damn it! Damn it!"
A cars wheels rumbled against the driveway and caused Sam and Johnathan to look up.
"Hey, Joy?" Sam called, not glancing away from the window.
"What?" The woman sighed. The two teens stood abruptly.
"Cops." Johnathan pointed lazily to the window. Joyce ran outside, flinging the front door open and not stopping to close it. Sam glanced at the older Byers kid before they rushed after her.
Hopper got out of the drivers seat of his cruiser and walked to the trunk. Walking back around with Will's forgotten bike in hand, Sam's hand went her her lips as she gasped silently. This wasn't the news they'd wanted.

Following silently, Sam closed the door after the deputies and the chief where inside.
"It was just lying there?" Joyce repeated with a raised voice.
"Yeah." Hopper looked around the home. "Cal?" He motioned to the open kitchen.
"Did it have any blood on it? Do you think he's hurt?" Sam brushed her hair behind her ear before holding her arms close to her body.
"No, no, no, no, no..." Hopper dismissed and walked past the distraught mother. "Phil?"
Joyce, Johnathan, and Sam followed Hop as he made a path through the house.
"If you found the bike out there, why are you here?" The photographer finally addressed the elephant in the room.
"Well, he had a key to the house, right?" The chief asked rhetorically.
"Yeah..." Johnathan pushed for him to continue.
"So..." Hopper hit his open palm against the counter gently. "Maybe he came home."
"You think I didn't check my own house?" Joyce scoffed, obviously taken aback by the accusation.
"I'm not saying that." Hopper mumbled a dismissal, walking closer to the back door.
"Sure as hell sounds like it, Jim." Sam squinted her eyes briefly at his accusation.
"I told you to stop that, Samantha." Hop grumbled over his shoulder. "Has this always been here?" He then pointed to a dent in the wall.
"What? I don't know." Joyce sighed. "Probably. I mean, I have two boys. Look at this place." Hopper didn't answer and instead opened the back door. Motioning it to the dent, he looked up with raised eyebrows. Sam furrowed her eyebrows, it was the same height, almost as if the door was thrown open. Maybe he was onto something here.
"You're not sure?" Hopper worried his lower lip as he brainstormed. The dog began barking out back. The chief walked down the stairs and towards the animal.
"Hey. Hey, what's up with this guy?" Jim leaned over and gently pat the dogs head.
"Nothing, he's probably just hungry." Joyce mumbled as she pulled the dog inside the house. "Come on."

-

   SAM LAID ON HER BED, TRYING HER BEST TO FOCUS ON HER HOMEWORK. The chief refused to let her help search for the missing boy, so accentually, she was useless.
For the past five minutes, however, she was trying, and failing, at fighting off sleep. She wasn't actually tired, she was just very, very bored.
"Sam!" Dustin yelled as he ran into her room. The girl in question nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Damn, what is it Dust?" The blonde placed her hand over her heart in an attempt to keep it from leaping through her chest.
"Come on! We're going to find Will." The boy smiled a threw a bag full of essentials at her. She caught it and looked over with a smile.
"Make sure mom is sleeping. I'll get my shoes." She whispered as she pushed from the comforter. Dustin took off down the hall with quiet steps.
Slipping on her dirty high-top sneakers, and snatching a jacket from her coat rack, Sam turned the light in her room out. Dustin appeared next to her seconds later and nodded determinedly, confirming their mother was indeed sleeping.
The siblings tiptoed out of the house and into the garage where Dustin grabbed his bike and Sam placed her board on the ground.
"Sam, get your bike. It'll be easier." Dustin whispered before she took off.
"Okay." The Henderson teen groaned. She hated her bike, it was too difficult. Especially down hills.

"Ah, man." Lucas sighed. "This is it." The party pulled to a stop next to the road block. Thunder rumbled and a flash of light rippled by.
"Let's hurry. It'll rain soon." Sam grabbed the flashlight from her pocket.
"Maybe we should go back." Dustin suggested worriedly. He looked around at the dark woods in front of them, not wanting to get lost.
"No!" Lucas turned around quickly, his eyebrows pinched together.
"We're not going back." Mike shook his head. The three looked to Sam as their final decider.
"Just...stay close, okay? I won't let anything happen to you guys." She smiled comfortingly. "Come on." She ushered the boys first, just to make sure they didn't go missing as well.
"Stay on channel 6. Don't do anything stupid." Mike marched forward.
"Come on, Dust." Sam rested her hand on his head. "Hey, I got you. Don't worry."
The Henderson boy nodded quickly as the thunder rumbled again. "Hey, hey guys!" He started walking forward. "Guys wait up!"
The Henderson siblings ran forward and caught up with the other boys.
"Alright, stay in my line of sight and don't run off anywhere." Sam ordered. No more of her boys where going missing on her watch. Not if she could help it.

chapter three
playing the therapist