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 threw open her door, looking into her living room, seeing Aaron and Peter sitting in silence. She could hear her heart pounding loudly in her ears, terrified of what she was about to ask. She couldn't even form the words as she took a step into the living room, both Aaron and Peter looking up at her as she did.
"Tell me it isn't true." Ryan pleaded, tears already stinging her eyes. "Tell me he isn't."
Aaron didn't speak, his gaze trained on the floor, but it said everything she needed to know. There had to be some mistake. This wasn't right.
"Aaron answered a call made to the station today." Peter said softly, standing up from the couch, taking a step closer to her. "Someone said they had seen something along the shore of the quarry." Ryan's head started spinning again, she heard roaring in her ears. "It was Will, Ry."
She felt like she was drowning, unable to breathe. She was suffocating, the walls closing in around her.
Ryan backed into the wall, heading to the stairs, trying to get to her room before it happened, before she completely and totally fell apart. In her room, she would be safe. She could fall apart, break down, she could feel- all she could feel was pain.
"Ry-" Peter tried stepping forward to calm her down. Aaron stayed still in his spot, for the first time in his life not knowing how to help anyone. Ryan took off up the stairs, ignoring Peter calling for her downstairs.
She slammed her bedroom door behind her when she finally reached her room. Her breathing was heavier than it had been in a long while, the roaring in her ears getting louder. She couldn't stop crying, but she didn't even know when the tears had started falling in the first place. Then, a scream of anguish was ripped from her chest. So much time, so much sleep lost, so much effort, all of it was for nothing. Every effort she had made to bring her little nerd home safely- she still lost him.
Will was dead. She cared for him like he was a little brother, he was always smiling and laughing. It didn't make sense. She should have been there for him, she should have gone to their Dungeons and Dragons campaign. A small part of her brain told her it wasn't her fault, she was with her family. Ryan didn't listen. She was missing Will.
Ryan grabbed the pictures of her and the kids off the wall, throwing them across her room, not wanting to see Will's smiling face. The glass shattered when the pictures hit the ground, triggering more tears to fall. She felt just like the broken glass. She could feel her sobs getting louder and more out of control. She moved to her dresser, looking at herself in the mirror, trying to calm down. She only felt worse. She grabbed the things on her dresser, throwing them to the floor, letting out another scream.
Her bedroom door flew open and she felt arms wrap around her, as if to restrain her from breaking more of her things. Her brothers were standing in her doorway, looking on in fear and sympathy. Ryan sank to the ground with the person holding onto her. She turned and cried into the person's chest.
