A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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Ryan walked out of the office into the busy school hallway, Peter and Hopper behind her. There was no way she was going back to class and they both knew it. All she could think about was the fact that Will hadn't made it home from the Wheeler's, that no one knew where he was, that he had been gone since the night before. The only thing they knew was Will had left the Wheeler's house to head home after their D&D campaign.
Somewhere in between his house and there, he had disappeared. He could've been kidnapped, gotten lost (which seemed highly unlikely with the amount of times he had biked from his house to the Wheeler's and vice versa), he could be hurt- or worse. She tried not to think about it possibly being worse.
"Come on," Peter said quietly as Hopper pushed open the doors of the school. "I'll give you a ride to the Byers'. Aaron's already there."
Ryan looked over at Hopper, "Where are you going?"
"I've gotta talk to the kid's friends, find out what they know." Ryan opened her mouth to suggest she go with him, but he shook his head. "No, you can't come with. This is a police investigation, go with Peter and wait with the Byers'."
She didn't try to argue this time as she got into the passenger seat of Peter's police car. She was lucky enough that they weren't forcing her to stay through the rest of the school day.
The ride over to the Byers' was silent, the only sound being the occasional police chatter over the radio. Ryan was thankful that Aaron was already there; he was surprisingly level headed in intense situations, both her brothers were. She was usually good in a crisis as well, but right now, so many things were running through her mind. She really had to get them under control before she walked into the house. The Byers' had enough to worry about.
They pulled into the driveway, Ryan barely waiting for the car to come to a complete stop when she got out, running into Aaron's outstretched arms like a five year old running to their parent. Peter walked behind her, wrapping his arms around the two of them before they broke apart.
"We gotta be strong." Aaron said calmly, giving her another hug. "For them, you know?"
Ryan nodded, walking into the house. Jonathan was sitting on the couch making a missing person's flyer, a sight that made the situation all the more real. Will was missing. Joyce was pacing back and forth, stopping when she saw Ryan walk through the door. She pulled her in for a hug and Ryan could feel her shaking, "Hi, sweetheart, thank you for coming."
"Of course," Ryan rubbed her back before pulling away. "You guys are my family, I need to be here with you."
Jonathan stood up as she walked into the living room, immediately wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. She had hugged Jonathan a hundred times before, but never like this. This time, it was different, more- sad, scared maybe. "They're gonna find him, J." She said when she pulled away, but it was hard to tell which one of them she was trying to reassure the most. "Don't worry."
