𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭; byler

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WORD COUNT: 1027

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MIKE AND WILL parted ways at the charity. They had scheduled to meet at the mall the next day.

At the charity, Mike stayed with Will until he found his mom. Joyce hugged Mike and thanked him for the afternoon, making Will turn completely red. She was a really sweet, very motherly figure. Mike was really starting to like her.  

He obviously didn't know her for long at all, but the way she treated Will Mike could see she cared about him more than anything.

It was just something in her eyes: Mike was almost jealous. He wished he had such a bond with his mom.

The Byers left towards their car, and it was Mike's turn to find his mom.
He was surprised at how fun the morning had been. It was like hanging out with his friends- maybe even more fun? he hated that he was going to have to admit that to his mom.

He went to his mom's office, but she wasn't there. The girl sitting in the reception desk told him she had gone home, and left him money so he could take a cab home.

Mike didn't really care: he was glad he had the ride home to think, because something had occurred to him on the walk back home.

Mute people can't laugh.

He had remembered, like a weird vision, an assignment they had done in 5th grade about different disabilities. 

Each group of students had gotten a different disability: Max and Jane had gotten mute people,  Lucas, Dustin and Mike had gotten deaf people. Mike was sure they had said something about vocal cords being nonfunctional-  which meant they couldn't make sounds.

No talking, no audible laughing, no audible crying.

But Will had laughed so many times. His laugh couldn't really leave Mike's head- it was so sweet, like bells blowing in a light wind. How would that make sense if he was mute?

"Hey, mom," Mike called as he stepped into the house, after the pretty long taxi ride.
The living room was barren except for little Holly, playing with some dolls on the carpet. Two old, long-haired blond barbies Mike new had belonged to Nancy.

It was funny how despite the fact that Holly got whatever toy she wanted, she always came back to Nancy's barbies in the end.

"Holly, where is mom?" Mike asked his sister.
"Kitchen," she said without raising her eyes from the barbies she was making kiss at the moment.

Mike went to the kitchen. His mom was standing by the stove, wearing an apron and stirring something in a big pot. Mike had a weird wave of admiration for his mom: she did so many things so fast- it was barely 2 pm and she had already been in the charity, picked Holly up from her friend's and made lunch. Sometimes he forgot how many things she really did for their family.

"Michael! How was it?" She asked when she saw him standing there. She left the spoon in the pot, wiped her hands on the apron and came to stand by him. 

"Umm- it was okay," He said, carefully phrasing his next sentence. He didn't want to fight with her.
"Hey, mom- why can't Will talk?" He asked slowly. 

He was afraid his mom would get irritated by the question (since she had already told him she didn't know and she hated when he asked her things multiple times) but her expression just changed into one of thoughtfulness. 

"I don't know." she said finally after about a minute of silence and sat down at the kitchen table. She really had a disturbed look on her face.

"But like- he isn't mute, is he?" Mike continued excitedly, taking this as a sign she was willing to talk about it. He sat on the chair next to her, leaning so his hands were practically touching hers.

"No, I don't think so," She said, "His mother told me they went to a doctor, and physically his vocal chords are fine. According to her, however, he has never said a word ever. I really don't know what to tell you, she wasn't really willing to talk about that subject." Her eyebrows were crunched in an expression of worry Mike had only seen when his sister fell of her bike a few years ago.

He really didn't understand why she was so bothered by this.

"Listen, I think something's wrong with that boy. You know the kids we get, and I have a feeling his past isn't that great. Maybe this is too much to spring on you. You already have school and friends, maybe it'll be better if you just handed out leaflets or something-" She started, but Mike cut her off.

"No! I mean, it's okay. He's actually pretty nice, and we kind of manage." He didn't know why, but he really didn't want to stop seeing the boy. 

He just wanted to learn more about him... and besides, he really thought he could be friends with Will. He just really liked Will, even though they had only spent one morning together. He was already looking forward to the mall.

"If you're sure. Just remember, if it gets to be too much you can get re-assigned, I can even find you someone else to do this with," She said.

Mike was pleasantly surprised. These past two days he had spent much more time with his mother than probably all of last month- and she was actually pretty understanding. 

Of course he had always loved her, but during these two days he got a different appreciation to her. maybe she wasn't such a cliche like had thought. She was actually kind of awesome.

"Now, change your shirt and wash your hands. Also, lunch will be ready in twenty minutes and I want your room squeaky clean." She said in a sudden "matter-of-fact" tone, rising back to the stove and chopping up vegetables quickly.

Mike smiled to himself as he went upstairs. 

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[AUTHOR SAYS]

I actually kind of like how this is going ahaha