BENEVOLENT ; S. HARRINGTON

02

Anna's throat aches. With how much she's shouted Will's name in the past few hours it's a surprise she has any voice left by the time the sun sets in the evening.

Right after meeting Jonathan in his drive way, the pair went inside the Byers' home. Anna, with her aching heart, hugged Joyce as soon as she was within reach, the woman like a second mother to her after only a few years of friendship with her eldest son.

Then, Joyce left for the police station, returning a couple hours later with a fresh pack of cigarettes and a plan for the three of them to search the woods around their house, all the way to Will's favorite hiding spot; Castle Byers. Which is one of the few places he might have gone instead of home if he were lost, or in any kind of danger.

So, wrapped up in Jonathan's jacket, because she'd left the house in a fast-moving blur and forgotten one of her own, Anna continues to yell out the young boy's name, hoping he'd emerge over the top of a hill or from around a tree. Will would without a doubt be tired, hungry, and maybe even a little cranky, but at least he'd be okay.

Until that happens, however, the shouting continues. It continues for what very well may have been hours on end until Joyce tells them to head back to the house; That maybe Will has called from wherever he's ended up and they just missed it.

The woman moves like a bolt of lightning, darting way ahead of the teenagers she'd been searching with. So far ahead, that Anna has no other choice than to be impressed.

"I don't think I've ever seen her like this," Jonathan quietly says after a moment, the chilled, lightly frosted leaves of the forest floor crunching beneath his step.

Anna looks up at her friend, gently hooking her arm through his, "Well it's not like you and Will have ever given her reason to worry before."

"She worries, just not like this."

Anna nods, hugging Jonathan's arm a little tighter, "She worries about Will, and we worry about her."

"Then she'll start worrying about us, and we'll be stuck in a cycle," Jonathan murmurs, looking to Anna and offering a sad smile.

"It's kind of like when you first got your license."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, remember?" Anna prods, the corners of her lips quirking up, "You came to pick me up for school the morning after you passed the test, and your mom called every two minutes after you left to ask if you got to my house okay," Jonathan snorts, his smile growing the slightest bit, and Anna feels proud that she could draw such a thing from him today of all days, "We live seven minutes apart, eight if there's traffic at the stop sign and–."

"And then she did the same thing every morning for a week," Jonathan finishes, slowing their steps until they've come to a stop. Jonathan takes a long breath, and Anna is about to ask him what's wrong, to offer him some kind of comfort, when he beats her to speaking, sincerity gleaming in his eyes, "Thank you for being here, Anna, you don't have to be."

"You and I both know that's not true," Anna says, squeezing Jonathan's arm once more, "I mean seriously, where else would I be right now?"

"School?"

"That wasn't me inviting you to make guesses, that was rhetorical," Anna chimes, making Jonathan roll his eyes, and her heart, mind and soul suddenly grow serious, "I'm not letting you go through this alone, Jonathan. You have me, no matter what."

The older Byers boy nods, smiling tightly although his eyes are suddenly lined with silver, and at the sight Anna releases his arm for just a second before she's wrapping her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly, a gesture he returns immediately.