Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Three: What Happened To Will?

"Riley! Riley, where are you going!? STOP!"

I ignored him, continuing out of the school and booking it towards my truck, my heart pounding in my chest.

People don't just go missing in Hawkins. It doesn't happen, I was the first missing person in probably fifty years, and now another kid goes missing a year after I escape?! That can't be a coincidence, and this is a kid kid we're talking about, and the idea of him even going through a fraction of what I went through breaks my heart-

My chaotic slew of thoughts were cut off as Dad grabbed my arm, pulling me back so that I would face him.

"Don't walk away from me!" He exclaimed. "What are you doing?!" I grabbed my notepad with shaking hands, scrawling out a response.

I'm going to look for Will.

"No, you're not. You're gonna go back in there, finish the rest of your school day, and then you're going home." I shook my head, writing again. "This is not up for debate-"

You have no idea what you're up against here!

"You don't know that this is at all related to what happened to you!" He exclaimed. "And if it is related, and what happened to this kid is what happened to you, then I need you to tell me!" 

Its not that simple.

"I think it is that simple." I shot him a look. "I know, you don't feel comfortable talking yet, but if you could just write it down or something-"

There's too much to write! Its complicated and it will take a lot of explaining.

"Then explain it to me!" He said.  I shook my head, raking a hand through my hair. "This kid's life could depend on it, I need to know what happened."

I opened my mouth, willing myself to make a noise, any noise at all. But the very thought acted like a hand, squeezing around my heart and making it impossible for me to breathe. I began hyperventilating, pulling at the collar of my shirt as the panic attack set in, and I began to fear that if I stopped desperately sucking in air my breath wouldn't reach my lungs and I would die on the spot.

"Riley? Riley!" I collapsed so that I was sitting with my back against the tire of my truck, willing myself to calm down. Dad crouched down in front of me, putting a hand on my knee. "Hey, hey, hey, its ok. Its ok, its fine, we'll figure something out, ok? Just breathe...breathe." I put my head between my knees, tears streaming down my face as my entire body shook. Dad put a hand on my back, rubbing it in an attempt to calm me down. My breathing and heart rate began to slow down, and I was left feeling shaky and and drained, and suddenly I felt like I'd just been hit by a bus. My chest still burned with falling anxiety as I leaned my head back against the truck, still taking deep breaths. "Breathe...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you. I know you would talk if you could, I'm sorry." I nodded, wiping my eyes with the heels of my hands.

I reached over to my fallen notepad, writing another phrase.

What happened to Will?

He sighed.

"I don't know. I'm not sure yet, all we know is that he was at the Wheeler's house last night, they said he left around eight o'clock and then he never made it home. I went and talked to his friends, they said he usually goes home on that road where Cornwallis and Kurley meet." My eyes widened and I began scribbling again.

Near the woods?

"Yeah...why?" I shook my head, pressing a shaking hand over my mouth. "You think whatever happened to you is what happened to him?" I shrugged, pushing my loose hair back out of my face. "Well' we've got to figure out a way for you to tell me what happened to you. If a similar thing happened to Byers, I need to know what we're up against, since you seem to think we have no idea."