"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Four: The Search
(The Vanishing Of Will Byers, Pt. 4)
***
It was four hours after the Graveswoods had gotten home, six hours after the siblings had learned of Will's disappearance. None of them had moved from where they sat in the living space, except to use the bathroom, and the stove hadn't been used; they had all been too tense and worried to eat. When someone came to ask for a reading, Aco would storm to the door and tersely say that her psychic room was closed for today, that there wouldn't be any readings today, to piss off and come back another day, then slam the door in their face.
Then return to her seat, where she would grab her loaded shotgun and hold it. In her chair at the table, Rowan gripped her pistol, while Alistair sat in another chair, holding the hunting knife in a white-knuckled grip. Ready to use, if they needed to. At their feet were bags, filled with what they needed. Ready to take them and run, if they had to.
A loud banging came at the door. Aco's gun was up and raised, the barrel pointed straight at the door. For a heart-stopping moment, Rowan was afraid, afraid that the door would burst open and agents would come in, riddle her aunt with holes and take her and Alistair to The Place, lock them away, poke and prod them with needles and use them as experiments, as weapons. That all their fears were coming true.
Then a familiar voice shouted, "Aco? You in there? Open up!"
Lowering the gun, Aco ordered, "Stay there. Keep the weapons out of sight. Take your bags and run into the woods if there's trouble."
Rowan and Alistair nodded, the orders almost a comfort.
Keeping the gun hidden behind the wall, Aco opened the door, revealing the ruddy face of Mrs. Waters.
"Beatrice, how are you? How's Dale and the kids?" Aco greeted, a fake smile on her face.
"They're good," Mrs. Waters replied, hands on her hips. She squinted at her aunt. "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"The Byers kid has gone missing. Around Kerley."
"Oh, I have heard. My nephew's his best friend, after all."
"Then did you hear that the police are organising a search party? They're roundin' up anyone who's willing to volunteer and look. Personally, I think the kid's run away, but I thought I ask you to join the rest of us and look, just in case. Can't imagine my Lisa out there, alone and scared. Can't even imagine what Joyce is goin' through..."
