Something Wicked ➢ Stranger Things

Chapter Four

The town didn't waste a moment in spreading the news that the police had found a body at Sattler Quarry, it was all over the news the following morning, her mother sitting in the living room sipping on her coffee. "Just horrible." Kat looked over at Dustin's closed door, not knowing if he was home or not. "Kitty, I made a casserole for the Byers, bring it to them. I called the school and excused you, figured that Jonathan needed a friend today. That poor family."

Kat knew she needed to be there for Jonathan, putting her issue to the side, temporarily, she took her bike to the Byer household in the morning. Her mind not even thinking about her brother at the moment or if he was even home, though she figured he was since she remembers seeing his bike at one point.

What she wasn't prepared for when she got to the house was a wall of Christmas light, with the alphabet painted on the wall under each light, and a giant hole in the wall. Taking everything in, she looked over at Joyce and Jonathan. "I defiantly missed the party," she muttered.

"Kat, don't you have school," Joyce said looking at the female teenager.

Kat turned her attention to her second mother. "I believe my friend and his mother need me at the moment. Plus, I know a thing or two about planning a funeral. And before you ask, my mother does know I'm here, she even told me to bring this." Kat then proceeded to pull a casserole out of her backpack. Joyce took the casserole from her and placed it in the fridge.

"We're about to leave to identify Will's body, you should come with us," Jonathan spoke lowly.

The two Byers and Kat went to the town morgue; Kat only went as moral support for the family. Having some flashbacks to when her father passed away three years ago from a heart attack while working at the plant. Her mother had mentally checked out for months after, making Kat take care of her brother. Also making her responsible for planning the funeral services, luckily some people in town had taken pity on her and helped. During those months Kat did a lot of growing up, rapidly, leaving no time to have fun or be a kid.

Kat waited outside, knowing the next few minutes were going to be the roughest for the family, she knew they needed this moment. What she wasn't ready for was when Joyce stormed out of the morgue, Jonathan following after her calling after her and asking for her to stop.

"We have to deal with this, Mom! We have to deal with the funeral!" Jonathan called after her.

Joyce snapped around. "The funeral? For... for who?" She started getting louder. "For that thing back there?" She said pointing towards the morgue.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Will, that's not his body, because he's in the lights, right? And there's a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?" Jonathan yelled right back at his mother.

"I know it sounds crazy. --- I sound crazy! -- Yeah. Do you think I don't know that? It is crazy! But I heard him, Jonathan. He talked to me! Will is... is calling to me! And he's out there, and he's alone, and he's scared, and I... I don't care if anyone believes me! I am not going to stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home." Joyce shouts one last time. "I am going to bring him home!"

"Yeah, well, while you're talking to the lights, the rest of us are having a funeral for Will! I'm not letting him sit in that freezer another day!" Jonathan now full-on yelling back at his mother as she walked away. He turned towards Kat, who had moved closer to him during the argument, holding her hands up in innocence.

"I'm going to follow her and make sure she's okay. I know how to handle this; you take care of everything else." Kat walked up to place a hand on his shoulder. "You got this."

Jonathan was about to speak but Kat beat him to it. "We'll talk later. You're not forgiven, but we will talk later."

Kat ran to catch up to Joyce; Joyce snapped her head towards the teenager but didn't say anything about it. As the pair walked back to the Byers' house, they walked in silence. It was about halfway to the house when Kat wanted to know what Joyce meant by when she said he talked through the lights.

Wanting to hear the answer, Kat asked. "Joyce, what do you mean by Will talking through the lights?"

"You're going to think I'm crazy."

Kat stopped and looked at the older woman, both standing on the side of the road. "Try me." With everything Kat had found out over the last few days, nothing would surprise her anymore. Her mind briefly remembered El and what she meant by Will being trapped in the Upside Down.

Joyce then proceeded to tell Kat the first event that happened when the phone rang and it was Will which then resulted in the lights to flicker and the phone shocking her, which then lead her to Will's room where his room where "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was playing from his radio. The next event is how she rigged the Christmas lights in a way to actually talk when she realized he could use it to communicate, this is when he tells her that he's alive but not safe, then tells her that he was right there and told her to run. Joyce then told her about the creature that came through the wall, a demogorgon, Kat realizes, the same creature that El had warned them about.

"You think I'm crazy," Joyce said, finishing her story, her hands rubbing the back of her neck.

Kat was in shock and rapidly shook her head no. "You're not crazy. I believe you. I can't exactly explain why I believe, call it a gut feeling, but I do believe you. We need to try reaching him again." Everything Kat has learned over the few days goes together with everything Joyce just told Kat.

The pair quickly made their way back to the house to see if they could talk to Will again, maybe figure out a way to get him back home. Walking into the house, Kat stopped in the living room as her eyes traveled around the room, still couldn't get over the fact that there was an Upside Down. Joyce immediately put on "Should I Stay or Should I Go", both of them knowing it's Will's favorite song. Joyce was calling out to Will, but nothing happened.

Eventually, Will's voice could be heard through the speakers, it was very faint; he was calling out to his mom. "Mom!" His voice echoed throughout the room.

It sounded like he was coming through the wall, Joyce went outside and looked but he wasn't there. Kat moved closer to the wall, realizing it was coming from within; running her hands along the wall she started peeling the wallpaper, Joyce saw what she was doing and joined her. Pulling the last piece, they both saw Will through a fleshy membrane; a menacing growl could be heard. As Joyce was too busy freaking out over Will, Kat's eyes wandered around the room wanting to know where the monster was. She stepped back as her eyes flickered around, as the growling started getting louder and louder.

She turned to see Joyce running out of the house, looking back at the wall the fleshy membrane had closed up and was back to being a solid wall. Joyce ran back into the house carrying an ax, hitting the wall, over and over again until she broke through but there was nothing there, just the front yard.

Kat's heart was racing and she couldn't calm it down. Stepping back into the middle of the room, her eyes couldn't focus on one object, she kept looking at all the evidence in the room that proved the Upside Down existed. What really frightened Kat was the demogorgon, this monster-like creature that Joyce had explained to her what it looked like. She knew she needed to tell Jonathan as soon as possible. Just so he knew his mother wasn't crazy. She also wanted to tell Dustin everything, that this is way bigger than all of them.

Both women were snapped out of their thoughts when they heard a car pull up; looking at each other before getting up and investigating. Joyce opened the door to see Lonnie Byers, her abusive ex-husband. Kat gave the man a nasty glare as Joyce embraced him as she was still freaked out with everything that just happened; knowing Jonathan wasn't going to like this.