Chapter Three: What Happened To Will?

"Riley! Riley, where are you going!? STOP!"

I ignored him, continuing out of the school and booking it towards my truck, my heart pounding in my chest.

People don't just go missing in Hawkins. It doesn't happen, I was the first missing person in probably fifty years, and now another kid goes missing a year after I escape?! That can't be a coincidence, and this is a kid kid we're talking about, and the idea of him even going through a fraction of what I went through breaks my heart-

My chaotic slew of thoughts were cut off as Dad grabbed my arm, pulling me back so that I would face him.

"Don't walk away from me!" He exclaimed. "What are you doing?!" I grabbed my notepad with shaking hands, scrawling out a response.

I'm going to look for Will.

"No, you're not. You're gonna go back in there, finish the rest of your school day, and then you're going home." I shook my head, writing again. "This is not up for debate-"

You have no idea what you're up against here!

"You don't know that this is at all related to what happened to you!" He exclaimed. "And if it is related, and what happened to this kid is what happened to you, then I need you to tell me!" 

Its not that simple.

"I think it is that simple." I shot him a look. "I know, you don't feel comfortable talking yet, but if you could just write it down or something-"

There's too much to write! Its complicated and it will take a lot of explaining.

"Then explain it to me!" He said.  I shook my head, raking a hand through my hair. "This kid's life could depend on it, I need to know what happened."

I opened my mouth, willing myself to make a noise, any noise at all. But the very thought acted like a hand, squeezing around my heart and making it impossible for me to breathe. I began hyperventilating, pulling at the collar of my shirt as the panic attack set in, and I began to fear that if I stopped desperately sucking in air my breath wouldn't reach my lungs and I would die on the spot.

"Riley? Riley!" I collapsed so that I was sitting with my back against the tire of my truck, willing myself to calm down. Dad crouched down in front of me, putting a hand on my knee. "Hey, hey, hey, its ok. Its ok, its fine, we'll figure something out, ok? Just breathe...breathe." I put my head between my knees, tears streaming down my face as my entire body shook. Dad put a hand on my back, rubbing it in an attempt to calm me down. My breathing and heart rate began to slow down, and I was left feeling shaky and and drained, and suddenly I felt like I'd just been hit by a bus. My chest still burned with falling anxiety as I leaned my head back against the truck, still taking deep breaths. "Breathe...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you. I know you would talk if you could, I'm sorry." I nodded, wiping my eyes with the heels of my hands.

I reached over to my fallen notepad, writing another phrase.

What happened to Will?

He sighed.

"I don't know. I'm not sure yet, all we know is that he was at the Wheeler's house last night, they said he left around eight o'clock and then he never made it home. I went and talked to his friends, they said he usually goes home on that road where Cornwallis and Kurley meet." My eyes widened and I began scribbling again.

Near the woods?

"Yeah...why?" I shook my head, pressing a shaking hand over my mouth. "You think whatever happened to you is what happened to him?" I shrugged, pushing my loose hair back out of my face. "Well' we've got to figure out a way for you to tell me what happened to you. If a similar thing happened to Byers, I need to know what we're up against, since you seem to think we have no idea."

You don't. I promise.

He furrowed his eyebrows, glancing up from the notepad to meet my eyes.

"Well you work on that," He said, "But in the meantime, you're not going anywhere alone or at night, do you hear me?" I shot him a look. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not risking you getting nabbed again, its not happening, is that clear?" I stood up, brushing off my overalls and putting my notepad on the truck, writing my answer before stepping aside so he could see it.

I can handle myself.

"What-you think I don't know that?" He asked, propping his arm up on the roof of it. I looked at him skeptically. "I know you can Riley, but just because you can take care of yourself, doesn't mean you willingly put yourself in dangerous situation without a second thought. That's stupid, and we're not stupid, right?" I sighed, but nodded, picking up my notepad and hugging it my my chest. I heard the bell ring inside and pointed towards the building, indicating I had to go get my stuff for my next class. "Ok, just...promise me you won't do anything stupid? Promise me you'll go home, lock the doors, keep yourself safe?"

I nodded, and so did he before nodding towards the building. I turned around and walked towards it, my notepad still pressed against my chest as I pondered the promise that I had just made to my father...

A promise that I had no intention of keeping.

~~~

I half kept my promise at least. I did go home right after school, and I did grab my pistol, but it wasn't so I could lock the door and hunker down safely inside while teams of people pursued the woods for a lost little boy.

I grabbed a tan duffel bag out of my closet, packing it full of everything I would need if this went astray. I had my pistol tucked into the holster my Dad had bought me, and I put every box of bullets we had in the bag along with food, blankets, spare clothes, a lighter, multiple flashlights and batteries, and a bottle of scotch Dad hid under the sink, just in case I needed to take explosive measures. I grabbed my warmest jacket and put pillows under my blankets to make it look like I was asleep. Then I fished my bike out of the garage so that my truck would still be parked out front and made my way towards the road connecting Kurley and Cornwallis.

We lived quite a ways out of town, I was out of practice riding a bike, and a storm was coming, all of which meant that it was dark when I finally reached the road. I began slowing down the closer I got, anxiety spiking up inside of me again at the idea of going looking for the creature that haunted my nightmares. It was a miracle I escaped the first time and now here I was, walking into the woods, alone, at night, with a storm coming, practically begging to be taken back to that awful place.

But I also slowed down for a different reason.

As the road came into view, even in the dark, I could see three figures standing just outside of the police barricade, indicating that Dad had already checked this place out. Unfortunately for him though, he didn't know what he was looking for. I did.

There were three lights shining, attached to bikes very similar to mine, and that, mixed with the small nature of the figures in front of me told me that these were kids, three of them, gathered in a clump, staring into the Forrest as thunder rolled above our heads.

"Hey you guys, you feel that?" One of them said, looking up as a raindrop splattered on his face. I pulled my hood up over my head as the drops started coming down. "I think maybe we should go back."

"No. We're not going back. Just stay close." This boy had a voice that I recognized instantly as Mike Wheeler, Nancy's kid brother, leaving me to believe that if Will was missing, than the other two figures were Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair. The four of them were inseparable and spent most of their days playing Dungeons and Dragon's in the Wheeler's basement, so I had encountered them many times.

"Guys..." Lucas said, "I think someone is standing over there." They turned to face me and I realized my cover had been blown, so I got off of my bike and walked beside it, wheeling it over to them.

"W-who are you?!" Mike exclaimed, fishing a flashlight out of his backpack and shining it in my face. I winced, shielding my face with my arm.

"Riley?" Dustin's voice asked. "Guys, its Riley Hopper." The light was lowered and I looked up at them again, squinting my eyes.

"Let me guess...you're here to stop us?" Lucas asked. I shook my head. "Then what are  you doing here."

I passed my notepad to Dustin.

"Same as you, I'd guess." He read off, "Something stupid and incredibly unsafe for the sake of a missing child." He looked up at me. "Well, you're not wrong." I nodded, taking the notepad back.

"You're not gonna stop us. We're going to look for Will." Mike told me. I nodded.

I know better than to try and stop you three from doing ANYTHING. The best I can do at this point is come with you and make sure you don't get yourselves killed.

"No offense, but what are you gonna do?" Lucas asked. I smiled at the question, taking the pistol out of its holster and pointing it towards the ground, cocking it. 

"Whoa! Why do you have a gun?!" Dustin exclaimed. I ignored his question and nodded towards the woods, making an 'I'm watching you' gesture as a way to tell them to stay where I could see them.

"Stay on Channel Six," Mike instructed as we entered the woods, "Don't do anything stupid. Will!"

"Will!"

"Byers!"

"I've got your X-Men 134!" They scanned the surrounding woods and I took out my own flashlight, looking around at the base of the trees for some sign of a hole or goo or anything that could point towards there being another opening into the other world. The rain went from trickling to pouring and within minutes we were all soaked through our clothes.

"Guys, I really think we should turn back." Dustin said. I stopped, turning to face them and shrugged, silently indicating it might not be a bad idea.

"Seriously Dustin! You wanna be a baby, then go home already!" Lucas exclaimed. I lightly smacked his arm, tapping a finger to my temple. Lucas mocked the motion, clearly not knowing what I meant.

"She's saying I'm not being a baby, I'm being smart!" Dustin translated. I nodded. For whatever reason, that kid had always seemed to get what I was saying. "And I am, I'm just being realistic, Lucas!'

"No, you're just being a big sissy!"  I rolled my eyes.

"Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?!" Suddenly an image of the faceless monster flashed across my mind, and I felt a chill go down my spine that I could tell was in no way related to the rain. "And we're going in the exact same spot as when he was last seen?"

Suddenly there was a sound of a branch snapping a few feet away, and I jerked my gun up in the direction it came from.

"Dustin, shut up." Mike told him.

"I'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?"

"Shut up, shut up!" He held out an arm, stopping them.

"What?" I heard more rustling and pointed the gun in the opposite direction.

"Did you guys hear that?" My eyes widened as I heard a familiar, animalistic screeching sound from the distance. A twig snapped behind us and I whirled around, pointing the gun as the boys pointed their flashlights, all of us coming face to face with the thing that had been making the noise that caught our attention in the first place.

Or more specifically...who.