VEILED MYSTERIES ↝ S. HARRINGTON [1]

[5]

In the mere twelve hours since the body of Will Byers had been discovered in the murky waters of Sattler's Quarry, the air of Hawkins High School had completely shifted upside down. The noisy atmosphere Riley had started to become more acquainted with in the few days since starting school had deflated completely, students now huddled together in small groups talking just loudly enough for those in close vicinity to hear, the halls a near ghost town even between classes. In a town as sleepy as her uncle had first described to her, the tragedy had left everyone in shambles, for nothing ever happens in a town like Hawkins, Indiana.

The silence followed Riley into the lunchroom, where she placed her tray down across from where Kelly and Hadlee had already sat down, conversing quietly. They both shot her sad smiles as she climbed onto the bench across from them, glancing around the room briefly before looking back at them.

"Hey," she said, "Kelly, sorry I never called you last night after my uncle got home."

"It's okay," she quickly assured Riley. "With everything going on last night, I completely understand."

"Did your uncle say what happened?" Hadlee asked. "Dustin was a mess last night, but he wouldn't say anything other than that they'd found him."

"Just that they pulled the body out of the quarry." Riley said, shaking her head. "He wasn't home long after that, and I was already asleep when he came back last night."

"I just don't understand." Hadlee insisted. "It's Hawkins. Nothing bad ever happens in Hawkins."

"His poor family," Kelly said, crossing her arms over her chest as she left her sandwich untouched in front of her. "I can't even imagine. Your brother and their other friends too, Hads."

"I know," Hadlee agreed. "Just... why Will? He was the sweetest kid. He used to come over with Dustin all the time, if they couldn't go over to Mike's house for some reason. But he's smart, too, how could he have gotten lost and somehow fallen into the quarry? It just doesn't make sense, that's not like him."

The three girls let the silence hang between them as Hadlee paused, reaching up to wipe away a stray tear that had fallen. Their lunches were long forgotten in front of them, Riley's soup already going cold along with Hadlee's mashed potatoes as they mulled over the million dollar question.

What really happened to Will Byers that night in the woods?

As the day went on, even the professors had been sympathetic to the news coming out about one of Hawkins's own, claiming class periods were to be used that day for study hall time, or to simply watch a video relating to that class's current subject material, as the teachers were in no mood to lecture, nor were the students in any mood to learn that day. Grief hung over the town as if in a cloud of fog, and whether its citizens knew Will personally or just a member of his family, it affected all of them in one way or another as it had claimed one of their own.

When the bell finally rang to signal the end of the day, Riley nearly raced out the front doors to wait for her uncle's truck, eager to figure anything else out that he may have learned during the day about what happened to Will, but in the line of cars waiting to pick up their students from Hawkins High School that afternoon, he was nowhere to be found. She took a seat on the nearest bench, dropping her backpack beside her and pulling her knees up to her chest while she waited, assuming he was running only a few minutes behind, the police chief's truck due to turn the corner into the parking lot any second.

As the pickup line began to dwindle, the high school becoming a near ghost town as the parking lot cleared out one by one, save for a few club meetings and study sessions happening directly after school, Riley's heart began to sink inside her chest as her uncle was nowhere to be found. She knew he wouldn't have forgotten her, that maybe he'd just been held up at work, but as the clock neared four, he still had yet to arrive.