don't fear the reaper

chapter 3: mirkwood

Joyce and Allison sat in Hopper's office waiting for him to arrive. Joyce's knee was bouncing up and down as she played with her hands out of nervousness. Allison leaned over and grabbed Joyce's hand.

"We'll find him, we will." Allison always saw Joyce as her mother, ever since Hopper's wife left them. Diane was never really Al's mother, more so Sara's. She loved Allison no doubt but never as much as Sara, but there was never anything held against her sister. She loved her.

Joyce tearfully smiled and held the younger girl's hand. Unbeknownst to Allison, Joyce had always seen her as the daughter she never had. The daughter she wished she had.

The door opened suddenly, the two shot up.

"Hey dad."

—

"We have been waiting here for over an hour, Hopper." Joyce checked her watch as Hop sighed.

"And I apologize again."

"I'm going out of my mind!" Al leaned forward on her knees on the chair next to Joyce.

"Look, boy his age, he's probably just playing hookie, okay?"

"No." This was the first Al said anything since Hop began filling out the Missings Persons report. "Not Will. He's not like that at all."

"He wouldn't do that." Joyce added. Hopper looked away for a moment.

"Well you neve know. I mean, my mom thought I was on the debate team, when really I was just screwing Chrissy Carpenter in the back of my dad's Oldsmobile, so." Al winced in her seat.

"Ew dad." Hopper shot her a look.

"Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be at school?"

"We'll technically, yes but I saw Joyce on my way to my school and decided to go with her so..."

"Look," Joyce interrupted the squabble. "he's not like you, Hopper. He's not like me. He's not like Al at all. He's not like," She paused. "most." Which was true, Will was everything Allison wished she could be when she was younger, just a happy kid, not filled with such rage. "He has a couple friends, but, you know, the kids, they're mean. They make fun of him. They call him names. They laugh at him, his clothes-"

"His clothes?" The father and daughter questioned at the same time.

"What's wrong with his clothes?" Hopper asked not feeling the judgemental stare from his daughter.

"I don't know. Does that matter?"

"Maybe."

"Jesus Christ okay," Al stood up next to Joyce. "he's a sensitive kid. He told me, his dad," That absolute piece of fucking shit. "he used to say he was gay. Called him names." Will confided in her about a lot of things, mostly about the bullying and his dad. She wished more than anything she could take his pain away.

"Is he?" Hop asked.

"He's missing is what he is." Joyce lost her temper.

"When was the last time you heard from Lonnie?" Joyce scoffed, taking a seat, she hated the man she once loved so much. Allison followed her behavior, sitting down as well.

"Uh, last I heard, he was in Indianapolis. That was about a year ago. But he has nothing to do with this."

"Why don't you give me his number?"

"You know, Hopper, he has nothing to do with this. Trust me."

"Joyce a lot of times when a kid goes missing an estranged parent or relative took them." Al had seen a lot of true crime specials and been at the station long enough to know that.