Worlds Turned Upside Down: Will Byers x Reader

Chapter Twenty-One: A Girl in The Woods

At the Byers' house, Lonnie nails a wooden plank across the hole in the wall. Joyce walks in, cigarette in hand, and sighs, "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Lonnie gestures to the hole, "You wanna freeze to death all winter?" He continues to hammer. Joyce turns her head and notices strings of Christmas lights laying on the coffee table. "I told you not to take these down," she moves over to the table and grabs the cluster.
"They were in the way, babe. How long are you gonna keep those up? I mean, really?" Joyce starts to put a string back up on the wall as Lonnie nails in another plank, "You know it's a shame what they've done to this family," Joyce looks at him confused.
"What?"
"The Sattler Company. I went to the quarry on the way over here. I just wanted to look around, you know?" A look of suspicion becomes evident on Joyce's face, "Couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it," he hammers in another nail, "No warning signs, no fence, no nothing. Oughta be held accountable if you ask me," All Joyce does is stare suspiciously at Lonnie, something isn't right.

♥︎

(Y/N) and Will returned to "Castle Byers" quite a while ago. They've been sleeping soundly for nearly a day, finally able to rest. But, after a while, (Y/N)'s growing hunger and thirst conquers over her and she's drawn from her slumber.
She mumbles, her raw throat burning in the process. Her and Will are tightly snuggled up to each other, both of their bodies craving warmth. (Y/N) turns her head, which had been buried in Will's chest. She looks up at the damp wood and the dark sky that can be seen through the decaying roof. She touches her tongue to the roof of her mouth. It's unbearably dry. She remembers Mr. Clarke's statement again. If her and Will don't get water soon they're going to die.
She turns her head back to Will and looks up at his face, if she didn't feel his heartbeat beating against her chest, she'd believe he was dead. She shifts her arm, which had gone numb, and reaches it up to her face wondering if hers is as colorless as Will's. Her skin tingles at the warmth of her hand making contact with her icy cheek. (Y/N) moves her dainty fingers down her face and feels her cracked lips, they're sore from the lack of moisture.
(Y/N) looks back up to Will and, out of curiosity, she brings her hand up to his face and brushes her fingers against his cheek. His face is colder than hers is. That's because her face had been gaining some heat from his chest. (Y/N) places her full hand on Will's cheek. He doesn't react.
The silence makes her think. I wonder what they're doing right now? She's curious about her friends. Do they believe her and Will are dead? Or maybe, somehow, they know that the two are out here. What is her mom doing? She may be so close to saving them. Or so far. But, she's most curious about what her dad is doing.
(Y/N) and her dad had a delicate relationship. Her father never really understood the importance of fragility. He wasn't sure how to act around a little girl. Most of the time he'd come off as harsh or rude. The young girl knows about the abuse of drugs and alcohol and what it could do to a person. However, she hadn't considered something like that could actually happen in her own home. Her mother had hidden her father's alcoholism from her very well. But, (Y/N) was bound to find out at some point. And that point happened to be on the morning of the very day she disappeared.
Suddenly, Will stirs. (Y/N) swiftly moves her hand from his face and looks at him bug-eyed. She watches his eyes flutter open. Just as they lock eyes (Y/N) awkwardly shifts her glance to the side and gives Will a forced, crooked smile.
"How long have you been awake?" The boy asks groggily.
"Not long," (Y/N) says, her voice is just above a whisper. Too much speaking irritates her throat.
The two sit up and bask in silence for a few minutes, collecting themselves. (Y/N) breaks that silence by addressing her previous concern, "I...I think that we should try to find water or something," (Y/N) looks at Will, "We can't survive much longer without it," The boy turns to her and nods.
"Alright...just a few more minutes," They have to gather the courage before moving out into this world. Terrified that they could possibly alert the monster that's been hunting them for days. Both wonder how much longer they have to take this torture. Will they have to survive here forever, or will they die before they can find out?