Worlds Turned Upside Down: Will Byers x Reader

Chapter Ninteen: The Vale of Shadows

The Hawkins Lab sits calmly beneath the starry night sky. Two employees in lab coats exit the building casually chatting. Hopper and (Y/N)'s father dart behind them, unnoticed. They slip inside of the building before the door closes.
Inside, Hopper peers down a vacant wood paneled corridor. The two start down it, but before getting far, two scientists, engrossed in their paperwork, turn the corner and head their way. Both men duck inside of a room before they're spotted. They wait for the chattering employees to pass, then exit back into the hallway.
Now, they walk under fluorescent lights. The two arrive at the quarantined area and stare at the plastic sheet which bears biohazard symbols. Hopper gives a resigned look before unzipping the sheet and stepping through the barrier into a white tiled corridor. Mr. (L/N) looks very hesitant before stepping in. What if there's some sort of radiation in there? He shakes off his fear and follows the confident cop.
They approach a set of doors and Hopper reaches for the handle. He attempts to turn it a few times before murmuring a panicked, "No," The door is locked. The Chief's eyes drift to a keycard scanner on the wall.
A gun cocks behind them. Mr. (L/N)'s heart jumps whilst a look of annoyance makes itself apparent on Hopper's face. Another obstacle. "Hands up. Hands up!" The officer tells the men. Their hands go up in the air.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," They turn around, playing innocent.
"Forget all the cameras, bub?" The man says arrogantly. There's another guard that stands to the right of the man, judging by his uniform, this guard obviously has less power.
"Look, Dr. Brenner asked for us specifically. Okay?" Hopper, once again, tries to play this off coolly, "How else do you think we got in here?" The security guard reaches for his radio.
"What's your name again?" The guards lower their guns.
"It's Jim Hopper," He gestures to himself as if the guard should already know this. "Chief Jim Hopper and this is my right hand man," Hopper points his thumb to Mr. (L/N), who nods unsurely. He goes along with the Chief even though he looks like a deer caught in headlights.
The guard begins to talk into his walkie-talkie, "Yeah, I've got Jim Hopper an—" Hopper punches the officer in the face, knocking him out. He pulls his gun on the other guard and holds him to the wall. He pockets the guard's gun. "Hey..." Hopper examines the man's keycard, "You mind if I borrow this one?" He snags the guard's card and slides it through the reader. He lets Mr. (L/N), who is absolutely stunned, go through the door first. Hopper keeps the gun trained on the guard as he backs into the door. The door locks. Hopper eyes another card scanner on the other side and shoots it, causing the system to become faulty, therefore, any reinforcement entering will have some trouble getting to the two.

♥︎

At the Byers' house, Joyce sits blankly on the sofa with a blanket draped over her. Lonnie, her ex-husband, pours three drinks and slides one to Joyce. He hands the other to Mrs. (L/N), who is sitting to the left of them on the other couch. "Drink. It'll calm your nerves. Help you think straight, yeah?"
"I don't know what to do," Joyce says delicately, her voice just above a whisper.
"I know. I know," Lonnie sips his drink. (Y/N)'s mother stays silent again, she feels very out of place right now. She knows she should probably let the couple work things out on their own but, honestly, she feels obligated to stay, just in case (Y/N) and Will return.
"This whole time..." Joyce shakes her head and tries not to break down, "I...I could...I could feel him...feel them. They were...they were so close. They were...they were right there," Joyce gestures across the room to the hole she had bashed into the wall earlier. A blue tarp is now plastered over it, that was Lonnie's doing. "I knew they were alive. Our hands...our hands were almost touching. Now it's like," Joyce looks away from the tarp, "God, it's like I can't feel them anymore," Joyce's lips form into a thin line and fresh tears leave her eyes. Lonnie looks at her sympathetically. "Don't look at me like that," Joyce's brokenhearted tone molds into annoyance for her ex-lover.
"Like what?"
"Like how everybody is looking at me...at us. Like we're out of our d*mn minds," Mrs. (L/N) takes a deep breath and sits back. She takes another sip of her drink.
"Hey," Lonnie's voice is low and husky. He gives Joyce a deeply serious look, "You're not gonna like this, but I think you need to seriously consider the possibility that all this...It's in your head," Both women scoff simultaneously. He's no help. Lonnie takes Joyce's hand lightly in his.
"Joyce, remember your Aunt Darlene?"
"No," Joyce knows what Lonnie's going to say and she isn't having it, "No, this is not that," She takes her hand out of his. Even though (Y/N)'s mother knows that Lonnie is completely wrong, her interest is peaked.
"I mean, when something like this happens, your mind makes up stuff for you to cope, you know?" Both women stay silent, they know Lonnie isn't going to believe them so why waste energy trying to convince him? "I mean, Jesus, there's a funeral tomorrow for our little boy and your little girl and you're both saying the bodies are fake. They're in the wall. I mean how do you explain that?" Lonnie shames the two women, neither appreciate being made into fools. Joyce's chin trembles as she shrugs.
Lonnie continues on, "It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't. At least go talk to a shrink or..." Joyce sighs while rolling her eyes, "What about Pastor Charles or someone--"
"I don't--Well they can't help."
"Joyce, you just told me...that Will is gone," Joyce's lip quivers and she begins to silently cry to herself, "What else is there to do?" Joyce covers her face with her hands and Lonnie touches her back. Joyce downs her drink in one long sip, then reaches for the liquor bottle to pour herself some more.
Mrs. (L/N) is baffled. After all this time convincing me that our children are alive, she's going to listen to the a*s and forget all about it? (Y/N)'s mother also downs the rest of the drink in her glass and prepares to pour herself some more. It is in this moment that Mrs. (L/N) realizes what a long journey she has ahead of her. Hopefully, in the end, it'll all be worth it and her daughter will be back home, safe and sound.