~ Hidden Love ~

CH1 - The Vanishing of Will Byers [PT2]

I walked out and rode my bike to school. It was a normal day, like every other day. I heard Nancy talking about how she made-out with Douche-Harrington, not one, but twice. God I hate him. To think I used to like him. I walked over to my locker that's not far from where Nancy and Barbara are talking. "Hey Y/n! How are you today?" Barb asked me.

"It could've been better, but it's fine." I said while looking at her then Nancy.

"Hey Y/n." Nancy said to me awkwardly.

"Hey Nancy." I said and turned back to my locker and closed it. I put my bag onto my shoulder and walked away. The rest of the day I just stayed to myself. When I got home, mom told me and Jonathan that she went to the Chief Hopper to send out a search party for Will. When she told us that, my heart dropped. I thought he just went to school early. He's really missing. We decided to go look for him in the woods behind the house. We searched the woods, yelling for Will. Mom checked Castle Byers to see if he was in there.

—-

"Riiiiinnggg." I said as I rang the 'fake' ringer of Castle Byers. "Password, Radagast." I said as I waited for Will to answer.

"You may enter." Will said behind the curtain.

"Thank you, Will the Wise." I said as I entered and sat down next to him. "Guess what?"

"What?" Will said curiously.

"Mom said you and I could go to the theatre and watch.." I brought the tickets to 'Poltergeist' out of my pocket and showed him. "Poltergeist!"

"What? I thought mom said I couldn't see it?!" He said excitedly.

"Well, I might have convinced her to let you, but only if you don't have nightmares." I said giggling.

"I won't, I promise!" He said happily.

"Fine, let's go get ready then!" I said rushing him, to go.

—-

"Will!" Jonathan was yelling as Mom was checking Castle Byers.

"Will!" I shout. "Will!"

"Will!!" Mom yells at the top of her voice.

I sigh. "Will! Where are you?!"

—-

I'm sitting on the couch helping Jonathan make flyers for Will, and looking at the bracelet on my wrist Will made for me a year or so ago. Mom has been trying to call Lonnie for the past ten minutes. "Is Lonnie there?" Mom asked someone on the phone. "Can you please put-" she sighed. "Who is this?"- "Cynthia."- "Cynthia, this is Joyce."- "Lonnie's ex-wife." - "I really need to speak to him."- "Can you please put– No! No, not later. Now!"- "Can-" she slammed the phone back. "Bitch!"

"Mom." I said quietly.

"What!?"

"You need to stay calm." I looked at her. She just chuckled. She started calling another number. I looked at Jonathan, then the flyers and started to work on them again.

She started talking on the phone again. "Lonnie, some teenager just hung up on me. Will is.. is missing. I don't know where he is. I need- I just need you to call me back, please, just-" she said before she slammed the phone back down. "Damn it! Damn it!" She yelled again and sighed. I kept working on the flyers.

"Y/n, mom?" Jonathan said.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"What?" She said annoyed.

Jonathan stood up. "Cops." I shot straight up, so did Jonathan and Mom. We ran outside and saw Hopper get Will's bike out of the trunk. I imagined Will running out of the backseat to us, but he didn't.

"It was laying on the side of the road." Hopper said as he sat down on his bike and headed inside the house.

"It was just lying there?" Mom said, confused.

"Yeah, Cal?"

"Did it have any blood on it, or?"

"No, no, no, no, no.. Phil?"

"If you found the bike out there, why are you here?" I said to Hopper.

"Well, he had a key to the house, right?" Hopper questioned.

Jonathan replied, "Yeah."

"So.. maybe he came home."

Mom says to Hopper, "You-you think I didn't check my own house?"

"I'm not saying that.. Has this always been here?" Hopper points to a hole in the wall from the doorknob to the back door.

"What? I don't know. Probably. I mean, I have three kids. Look at this place."

"You're not sure?" Hopper questioned once more.

"Before I left for work, that wasn't there. I don't remember seeing it." I say to Hopper. Felix (idk the dog's name, so I made one up.) started barking outside. Jonathan and I stood inside as the two walked to the backyard. I stood at the window, looking through. Next thing I know mom brought Felix inside. She walks to the food bag and puts his food in his bowl. I looked back out the window and saw Hopper walk into the shed. A little after, I saw a deputy walk in. Hopper busted outside of the shed. I ran outside to see if he found anything.

"..want you to call Flo. I want to get a search party, alright?" Hopper said to his deputy. My heart dropped.

"What?! Did you find something?!" I asked Hopper worriedly.

He sighed. "It's just a precaution." He said to me.

"But you're getting a whole search party?" I asked him, my voice growing weary. "Tell me what you found."

"Did your Mom have a gun on that rack in there?" He asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm pretty sure. Why?"

"It wasn't on the holder in there." He continued walking and talking to his deputy and I froze. Why would the gun be gone? Did someone steal it, or did.. Will take it. Why would he have needed a gun? My mind started to fill with 'Whys?' or 'Whats?'. I snapped out of it and ran inside. Hopper told us to stay home while the search party started. None of us could stand it, but we 'had' to.

(1002 Words)