𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙇𝘿𝘼 || s. harrington

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ⁰⁰⁴

˗ˏˋ the body ! ˎˊ˗

⋆⁺₊⋆  ⋆⁺

LOSING SOMEONE is never easy. Matilda knew this ten times over. What she didn't know, was how much more intense it was when that someone was a kid.

After she dropped off El at the Wheeler's, Matilda and Dustin rode back home. They didn't even try to hide that they had been gone— that would be for a different time to explain. Claudia had been asleep on the couch, but woke up when she heard them moving around in the house. They explained what had happened that night with Will through fresh tears.

She let them go to bed without reprimanding.

As she laid in her bed staring at the ceiling, Matilda couldn't find the means to sleep. Will was only a kid. She wished it would have been anyone else, that it could have been her. Tears stuck to her pink cheeks, her eyelashes clumping together from how much she had been crying.

Will deserved to live the rest of his life. He deserved to grow up and have a family.

A knocking on her window pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked over to see Steve Harrington on the other side of the glass with a dorky grin on. This wasn't unusual for the pair, because while Matilda didn't want many to know about her home life, Steve already knew most of her situation. They were going through something similar enough anyways.

She rolled her eyes and stalked over to her window, cracking it a little. "Password?"

"Password?" He repeated. "Since when?"

"Since people have been going missing and I don't want to be next." She replied, knowing she was half joking, half not.

"Come on Bells, I'm not going to kidnap you."

"You never know! I'm just being cautious." Matilda shrugged, then looked to the ground. "Why are you here?"

He tilted his head. "Can't I come visit my best friend like old times? I've missed it. I think Tommy and Carol are getting in my brain."

"I'll say so. You were an asshole earlier, Steve." Matilda crossed her arms over her chest.

Steve sighed, "I know, I know. But it was messed up what he did." Matilda raised her brows. "But I shouldn't have broken his camera."

"Good on you for realizing. You can come in." She raised the rest of her window up and moved back to her bed, flopping on her back.

Steve climbed into her room and laid next to her. "So how've you been? With... everything happening?" He turned his head to look at her.

"If I'm being honest, terrible. I've been helping the kids because they were looking for Will, and it's so hard seeing them go through this. I'm almost like their self-appointed older sister and that's scary because they look up to me, you know?" Steve hummed as he kept his eyes trained on her. "And Barb, oh God." Her voice started to become shaky, "I don't know where Barb is and that scares me too. I don't want her body to turn up too, I want to find her—"

"Woah, woah, woah, what? What do you mean too?"

Matilda turned her head to now face the boy next to her. "They, they found Will's body tonight. I saw—" Matilda's breath hitched. "I saw them pull him out of the water. Oh my God, and the kids... oh my God."