𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬. ༄ s. harrington

iii.

MADELINE rushed outside as school finished for the day, getting on her bike and riding it as fast as she can to the byers's household. as soon as the small house of the byers came into sight, she hopped off her bike, stumbling and almost tripping over. she knocked on the door twice, she heard footsteps quickly come to the door and open it. her heart thumping against her chest, hoping it was will but instead it was joyce. but...something was off about joyce. her hair was messed up, she had slight bags under her eyes and she had a worried look on her face. strange. madeline thought. she was used to seeing joyce all bright and smiley.

"oh, m-madeline? what are you doing here?" she said stepping to the side so mad could
walk in as jonathan stood beside joyce.
"i was worried, well, because i didn't see will when dropping dustin off at school and i didn't see jonathan too at school too..."
joyce looked down, her hands shaking slightly making madeline's heart sink.
"w-will, he's-" joyce's voice cracked slightly.
"he's no where to be found" jonathan finished the sentence for her.
the henderson girl felt her stomach drop to her feet. had she heard correctly?
"what?"
"I'm not sure if he came home last night or if he went somewhere but we're not finding him" joyce looked like she was going to cry, tears filling up in her eyes. madeline comfortingly rubbed her back as the joyce tried her best not to break down. "i checked castle byers, called lonnie, everything medeline! i can't find my boy"

madeline frowned, feeling terribly bad about joyce not finding her own son.
"have you told hopper yet?"
"yes, he- he's trying. i think he went to will's school."
"the middle school? why?"
"maybe to ask will's friends some questions because he was last seen with your brother and his friends along with you"
"oh" her eyes widened.
just then, madeline heard a car approach outside.
"mom?" jonathan called.
"what?"
"cops."

they both rushed outside, henderson following. they saw a couple of police cars as hopper got out a bike from the back of one of the cars. it was will's bike.
he came inside with the other two police officers with him. "so it was just lying there?" joyce asked the cheif. "yeah. cal?" hopper called as he made his way to the kitchen. "did it have any blood on it?"
"no, no, no, no."
"if you found his bike out there, why are you here?" jonathan asked.
"well he had a key to the house, right?" hopper asked
"yeah"
"so...maybe he came home."
"you think i didn't check my own house?" joyce stammered.

madeline looked at the clock, dustin must've been home already and she had to go home by five. she looked over at jonathan. "listen, if anything happens or if you need anything, call me okay? we'll find him, we have to" she said to  jonathan reasurringly as she held his shoulders. he nodded as she left the house.

she stumbled into the house, sighing heavily as she went upstairs to her brother's room.
"hey" madeline said, leaning against the doorframe.
"hey. listen uh mike, lucas and i are gonna go to out looking for will tonight, wanna join us?" the younger henderson asked, sitting on his bed.
"wait you're gonna what?" the older henderson replied.
"yeah, we're gonna look for will, and if you're not gonna come then we're gonna go anyway" he shrugged.
"uh no, you kids are coming with me. i'm supposed to take care of you guys and if something happens to you little shitheads then i'm screwed. you hear me?"
"ok first of all, we're not kids mad, stop calling us that and two we know how to stay safe" dustin said, a little bit annoyed.
madeline just rolled her eyes, sarcastically saying "sure you do"
"you're so annoying" dustin whined getting his and his sisters raincoats, handing her one to her then coming out of his room, to go outside and get his bike.
"right back at ya" mad said following her brother.

-

the two henderson siblings arrived in front of the sinclair house where lucas and mike were standing. "why is your sister here dustin?" lucas asked dustin, annoyed.
but before dustin could reply, madeline beat him to it.
"because i'm literally always with you guys and also because if you shitheads get hurt or if something happens to you guys, I'm getting the blame okay, and i don't want that. plus i also care about will as much as you guys do."
"anyway it's getting really late, so we better move it" madeline got back onto her bike, riding off. the three boys all glared at her as they got on their bikes following the girl.

they all arrived at the place they were all gonna look for will at. "ah man, this is it" lucas said.
the place was pretty creepy too since it was really dark outside and it had many tall trees. also it was thundering which meant it could rain at any point now.
"hey guys? you feel that?" dustin asked, looking up at the sky and flinched as a drop of rain fell on his face. "i think maybe we should go back"
"no" mike immediately said. "we're not going back. just stay close"
mike and lucas both went and started to go inside the forest. "just stay on channel six and don't do anything stupid."

madeline looked down at her brother, seeing his fearful face. "hey, come on. let's go. i'll stay with you okay?" she said reassuringly as she headed into the forest too. as the thunder started rumbling even louder, he quickly ran to the others. "hey guys! wait up!"
mike, lucas and madeline turned around as dustin caught up with them. they all headed more deeper into the forest.

the rain slowly started pouring down, soaking the four as they wondered across the forest. "will!" mike called. "will byers!" madeline called too, her hair and clothes now soaking wet, even though she had a raincoat on.
"i got your x-man 134!" dustin yelled. "guys i really think we should turn back"
"seriously dustin? if you wanna be a baby, go home already" lucas said.
"i'm just being realistic lucas!"
"no, you're just being a big sissy!"
"did you guys ever think will went missing because he ran into something bad? and we're going to the exact same spot he was last seen? we have no weapons or anything?" dustin mumbled on.
"dustin, shut up" mike said as he pointed his torch at something.
"i'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?"
"shut up, shut up" mike said, a concerning look on his face. "you guys hear that?"
they heard a crunching noise of leaves coming closer and closer. they all pointed their torches at the direction they heard the noise, but nothing was there.
then again, they heard the crunching noise just behind them. startling them. they pointed their torches as they turned around quickly. the light of the torch landing on...a girl. a girl who was squinting her eyes to adjust the light of the torch, she had a shaved head and a yellow, old looking dress who was also soaked in the rain.

♡.°୭̥ ୨୧

AUTHOR SPEAKS!
i'm so excited to continue this book!