Broken: the Ultimate Crossover

Chapter 8

Betty's POV

"Jonathan, it's going to be okay," Archie says as Jonathan speeds Nancy's minivan down the freeway. "We'll find him."

Jonathan doesn't respond, he just keeps his angry eyes focused on the blacktop ahead of us.

"Seriously," Archie goes on. "He might have ended up going to one of those other nerd's houses, or maybe he left the house before your mom was up. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Jonathan slams on the brakes, sending backseat residing Archie flying forward. He pulls the car off the road and turns around to Archie.

"Shut your obnoxious, pretty boy mouth," he tells him angrily. "My brother could've been eaten by the demagorgan! I don't need your fake comfort."

Archie gapes at him before moving back into the backseat, buckling his seatbelt this time. Jonathan restarts the car and continues down the road.

I'm not sure what to do. Jonathan protects his little brother like he's Will's guardian angel. He always has, especially after his dad left. I look at him and see the hatred and fright in his eyes. If I knew how to console him without making him angry, I definitely would, but I don't.

We pull off onto a side road and slow to a respectable speed before turning onto the road that Jonathan lives on. Archie and I examine the forest surrounding as the minivan moves slowly down the blacktop.

We reach the Byers house and Jonathan parks the car. We get our, still silent from Jonathan's previous scolding, and stare at the run-down house in front of us.

Jonathan leads the way into the house, instructing us to split up and search anywhere for signs that Will had been there. He tells us he would check in the shed and behind the house.

Archie and I quietly examine the Byers house. I start in the living room, finding a stack of comic books next to the tv, bills on the coffee table, but beside that the room looks pretty normal.

Archie in in the kitchen when I was done with the livingroom, so I move down the hallway toward the bedrooms. I pass all of the family pictures on the wall, looking at each of them as I go.

It breaks my heart, honestly, to know that Will is missing. Not because he's a missing child, but because he's my best friend's little brother. Will was always my favorite kid, so quiet and reserved, and so good at art. It also breaks my heart that the Byers family is facing the fact that their son may not come back. My mind flashes with memories of a black hood in my father's dresser drawn, police lights out the window. I shake my head and  smile sadly at the pictures before opening the door to the missing boy's bedroom and stepping inside.

Inside shows no promise, a perfectly made bed, nothing out of place. Crayons scattered on the small desk in the corner with a piece of printer paper, a wizard drawn on it.

It's almost impossible to tell if Will has been here because he could have made his bed before he left for school. I know the demagorgan is involved in this, it has to be.

I take out my cell phone and start a list of people missing.

-Cheryl Blossom
-Will Byers

I hope desperately that those are the only two people that will be on that list, and that one of then makes it off.

I slide my phone back into my pocket and look out the window. Just as I move the blue curtains away, I see a flash of red fly across the landscape, through the trees.

My eyes widen with wonder and I run outside, ignoring Archie's frantic questions and concerns.

I spin in circles in the outside world, looking for the red blur. I spot it swinging from between the trees like a monkey. I take off running, almost as fast as I had ran the night before when running from the monster.