Worlds Turned Upside Down: Will Byers x Reader

Chapter Four: The Tale of Two Bicycles

Mike, Dustin, and Lucas are anxiously sitting on a plaid couch in the principal's office. Chief Hopper, Officer Callahan, and the principal are listening to their overlapping chatter. Each boy is trying to speak over one another but ultimately failing and giving the officers a headache. "Okay, okay, okay," Hopper puts his hand up and silences the group, "One at a time, all right? You," He points at Mike, signaling him to speak. Mike nods, understanding. "You said Will takes what?"
"Mirkwood," Mike responds.
"Mirkwood?" Hopper searches his brain for the name of the street but it doesn't ring a bell.
Mike nods again, "Yeah."
"Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?" Hopper asks Callahan who already has an answer prepared.
"I have not. That sounds made up to me," His voice is just above a whisper, he doesn't want the kids to react badly to him accusing them of lying. On the other hand, if they are right, not knowing the name of a street in his town would be embarrassing, especially in front of his boss.
"No," Lucas chimes in, "It's from Lord of the Rings."
"Well, The Hobbit," Dustin corrects his friend and Mike sighs.
"It doesn't matter," Lucas puts his hands up and looks at Dustin in annoyance. Mike shakes his head at his constantly quarreling friends. They could always find the time to make an argument out of absolutely nothing.
"He asked!" Dustin raises his voice.
"He asked!" Lucas childishly mocks his friend.
"Shut up, guys!" Mike is sick of the bickering. The two continue to mock each other.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Hopper gains the boys' attention once again, "What'd I just say?"
"Shut up," Lucas whispers to Dustin.
"One at a d*mn time," Hopper doesn't have time for the arguments, "You," He prompts Mike to proceed.
"Mirkwood, it's a real road," Mike explains to the officers, "It's just the name that's made up," The Chief is picturing the location in his head, "It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet."
"Yeah, all right, I think I know that--"
"We can show you, if you want," Mike offers to the Chief.
"I said that I know it!" Hopper is frustrated from dealing with the kids, however, he still has one more question that needs to be answered. "If (Y/N)'s house is in the other direction why'd she ride all the way down to the Byer's?" Hopper slouches back down in his chair, sounding a bit too casual for a situation like this.
The boys are silent for a few seconds. They don't know why she didn't go straight home that night.
"I think she just wanted to ride with us for a bit," Dustin is the one to answer since he rode with (Y/N) for a few minutes after she missed her street. He overheard parts of her and Will's conversation but not much. She's a quiet girl.
Hopper nods, he knows there has to be more to it than that but for now that's good enough.
"We can help look," Mike has a determined look on his face.
"Yeah," Dustin grins, he wants to help find his friends but also thinks that it would be cool to work on a case with a real police officer.
"No," Hopper repeatedly states as the boys try and convince the chief to let them help with the search. "After school, you are all to go home. Immediately," the excitement drains from the boys' faces, "That means no biking around looking for your friends, no investigating, no nonsense," Hopper has an intimidating tone in his voice that silences the boys. "This isn't some Lord of the Rings book."
"The Hobbit," Dustin, once again, corrects.
"Shut up!" Lucas hits Dustin on the knee which triggers a chain reaction of the boys smacking each other and starting to bicker amongst themselves.
Hopper speaks softly, "Do I make myself clear?" Mike stares forward, embarrassed that his friends are fighting in front of two officers and their principal. Dustin and Lucas look at each other with a twinge of red in their faces which was born out of anger.
Hopper stands up and towers over the three boys. They look up, frightened, no longer thinking about how irritated they are with one another. "Do I make myself...clear?" Hopper's voice is deep and threatening. The boys all nod rapidly.
"Yes, sir," both Dustin and Mike respond, fear clearly motivating their responses.
"Yeah," Lucas chooses a more casual response but he's just as terrified as the others.

♥︎

"(Y/N) (L/N)!" Officer Callahan calls, "Will Byers!" Hopper walks across the empty road, the silence is ominous. "Come on, kids!" Callahan shouts again while Hopper pops a pill into his mouth.
"(Y/N)! Will!" Officer Powell takes a turn calling for the children. Hopper slowly turns his head from one side of the road to the other, surveying the land. Suddenly, his eyes lock onto two familiar items and he freezes up for a moment.
Then, realizing that he should alert his colleagues, The Chief starts to walk towards the objects, "Hey! I got something!" Hopper and the two other officers hastily make their way down the small hill that the children, who previously tumbled down it, could have sworn was a mountain. At least it felt that way to them.
The officers come to a stop and stare at the scene in front of them.
"Those their bikes?" Callahan asks The Chief as they look down upon the bicycles which have their pedals intertwined, chains linked, and wheels hooked onto each other.
"Yeah, they must have crashed," Hopper responds, all the possibilities of what could have happened to the children are rushing through his brain.
Hopper walks away from the bicycles and looks around at the forest engulfing the land. Callahan turns to Powell and then to Hopper, "Do you think they got hurt in the fall?"
"Not so hurt they couldn't walk away," Hopper looks back at the bicycles which could be separated if someone were to add enough force. "Bikes like these are like Cadillacs to these kids," Hopper looks in the direction of the Byer's house, "They would've walked them to Joyce's," Hopper takes a few steps towards the bikes and picks them both up even though they're in a tangled mess. He awkwardly holds the two bikes as he and the two other policemen take one last glance around to make sure they hadn't missed any obvious clues. The air is dry and the world is quiet. Too quiet.