to protect. - s.harrington x oc

- five -

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why?

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"It was just lying there?"

We had gone inside after Hopper brought out the bike. Hopper and two other police followed us in to talk about what they had found. I could see Hopper giving me an annoyed look. I knew why; after he dropped me off at home, I was supposed to stay home. He told me to stay out of it, but I came to help instead. But what did he expect me to do? He should've known I wouldn't have just stayed home. It's Will.

"Yeah. Cal?" Hopper said, pointing in a direction and Cal moving in that direction. Joyce seemed too shaken to realise that they were searching her house. This is weird. Why would they search here?

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

"No, no, no, no, no," Hopper cut her off. "Phil?" He nodded in another direction and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"If you found the bike out there, why are you here?" Jonathan asked, looking slightly frustrated.

"Well, he had a key to the house, right?" Hopper asked, to which Jonathan said yes. And then it clicked.

"So maybe he came home," I whispered, just loud enough for them to hear it. Hopper glanced at me and nodded. Chills went through my spine and I gently rubbed my wrist with my other hand, glancing around the room.

Joyce turned back to Hopper. "What- You think I didn't check my own house?" She stammered, getting even more frustrated.

"I'm not saying that," Hopper said, walking over to the door. He looked at the door handle, or rather behind it. "Has this always been here?" I took a step closer to see what he was talking about. Behind the door knob, there was a dent in the wall, as if someone had forcefully slammed the door open.

"I don't know," Joyce stuttered, motioning towards it. "Probably. I mean, I have two boys. Look at this place."

I walked over to the door, realising what he was thinking. I opened the door until it reached the wall. It aligned perfectly with the dent in the wall.

"You're not sure?" Hopper asked, looking over at Joyce. Before anyone can say anything, we're interrupted by barking coming from outside. We all looked out the door immediately.

Chester, their doy, wasn't usually one to bark and make a lot of noise. He was generally calm, considering he was on the older side. So it was unusual for him to be acting like that. Unless... My eyes widened. What if it was Will?

Hopper walked out the door, Joyce right behind him. I hurried after them. I walked outside, only to see Joyce grab Chester's collar to bring him in. She walked past me, shaking her head. I watched as she walked back into the house, sighing, before turning my head back to Hopper, who was glancing at the shed. I ran up to him, standing only a little bit further back from him.

"Hopper?" I said, trying to get his attention, but he seemed distracted. He started walking towards the shed and I followed behind him, getting a bad feeling but going on anyway.

We got to the shed and Hopper opened the door. We walked in, I closed the door behind me, and it made a creepy creaking noise. Hopper turned on the light, the loud bang as it flickered on making me flinch ever so slightly. Something wasn't right about this place. I watched as Hopper walked to the left side of the room and looked around, noticing an open box of bullets on the bench. I furrowed my eyebrows. Bullets? Why are there bullets?

The wood creaked eerily, and a shiver ran down my spine. I'd been out in this shed before, but for some reason it felt different today; I felt like I shouldn't be in there, I had some weird feeling that I should leave. I walked over to the other side, noticing a broken box, but before I could think anything of it, the lights flickered and then turned off, making Hopper and I both quickly shoot our heads towards the light that was hanging in the centre of the room.