the vanishing of will byers:
❛ CARDIGAN ❜ ↷ stranger things
❝ it's only monday ❞

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Despite how small the town of Hawkins was, the high school still had a social order. There were the freaks slash outcasts, nerds, regular side characters and the popular kids. The popular cliques consisted of basketball players, cheerleaders and well . . . assholes.

Clary would say she was stuck at the bottom with the freaks and outcasts. After Carol declared her the school slut shortly after she and Steve broke up, her reputation went downhill. And when she punched Steve in the face during their break up, everyone immediately said she had severe anger issues.

The only person she spent time with in school 𝘯𝘰𝘸 was Jonathan and to Robin Buckley who she wouldn't survive without.

But Robin was a sophomore and Clary was a junior so they had different schedules. Today just so happened to be Robin's Science test so she just faked sick and skipped the entire day. So, since Robin was home and Jonathan ran off the second they got there, Clary was walking the halls of Hawkins High alone.

She was doing a perfectly good job at ignoring everyone until she caught sight of Tommy and Carol making out right next to her locker.

𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦.

Tommy pulled away and looked over his girlfriend's shoulder to make eye contact with Clary. A small smirk immediately made its way to his face and he leaned down to whisper something in Carol's ear but he still never took his eyes off of Clary.

And Clary? She felt like she was going to literally throw up.

She didn't think twice before spinning on her heel and storming off towards the other side of the school, as far away from the couple as possible. Just as she turned a corner and was about to go inside of the bathroom, someone else came out and bumped into her.

"Sorry." said an all too familiar voice that belonged to Nancy Wheeler. She didn't even spare Clary another glance before she rushed right past her and down the hall.

Clary stared at her retreating figure down the hall, scoffed to herself and muttered under her breath, "Bitch." She shook her head and walked into the bathroom, only to stop dead in her tracks at the sight of Steve Harrington standing in the middle of it while grinning like an idiot. "Seriously?"

It has only been a few months since the two of them broke up which happened precisely because Steve chose to kiss her best friend. And is he seriously already making out with that same best friend all around the school? And don't even get her started on what a backstabbing bitch Nancy was. She could see it coming from Steve but she thought Nancy had more self respect and class than that.

"I had a terrible week and seeing you is only adding to the list of my problems." Clary told him, her voice bitter and her face emotionless. "Now get the hell out of the girls' bathroom before I tell Mrs. Stephens that you have been molesting younger girls here."

Steve's facial changed about ten times with every word that escaped her mouth. First, he looked surprised to see her, then he looked impatient when she started talking and when she was done he looked like there was not a single thought in his head.

"It's Monday." he started with his eyebrows furrowed slightly, making her blink and squint up at him in confusion. He shrugged and explained, "You said you had a horrible week and it's only Monday."

"You are only proving my point." she deadpanned, "Don't you have somewhere to be and things to do? Like, I don't know, stop your best friends from swallowing each other while making out."

Steve looked like he wanted to say something but he chose to bite his tongue and keep quiet. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴. After staring at her for a few more seconds he swallowed and made his way out of the bathroom.

Clary let out the shaky breath that she didn't even know she was holding and leaned the palms of her hand against the sink. She looked at the mirror; her hair was a mess of uncombed waves that had washed out red dye still visible on them and her dark circles could not even be hidden anymore. The only thing that made her look like she wasn't falling apart was the unwavering piercing look in her eyes.

So, she might have looked like she was falling apart. But at least she still had her pride. And she would be damned if she let Steve, Nancy, Carol or Tommy take that away from her.

-

Jonathan and Clary ditched the three classes they had left after lunch and left while everyone was making their way to the cafeteria. Joyce was waiting for them in the car and they instantly went looking for Will who never showed up to school that morning.

The first place they searched was the Byers Castle which was a small castle that Clary, Will and Jonathan had built in the woods behind their house a few summers ago. Then, Jonathan walked through the woods.

They were searching for Will for hours but it was hopeless. He had no reason to just run away and what was the worst that could have happened to him on his ride back from the Wheelers' house? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

Before picking them up, Joyce went to the sheriff's station and informed Hopper about Will being missing. And Hopper quickly put together a couple of other cops who helped him search for Will all over town.

After Clary and Jonathan checked the arcade and realized Will was not there either, they got back home just in time to watch their mom attempt to call their father.

"Is Lonnie there?" She asked, "Can you please put him on ── " Joyce clenched her jaw and demanded, "Who is this?" A smile of disbelief tugged at her lips as she shook her head to herself. "Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Joyce. Lonnie's ex wife."

"Cynthia." Clary muttered with a shake of her head, "Do you hear that Johnny? 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘦 has a Cynthia."

Jonathan let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his forehead in response, choosing to keep quiet about the topic.

"I really need to speak to ── " 𝘊𝘺𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘢 must have cut Joyce off again because she looked like she was about to explode when she stopped talking. "Can you please put ── no! Not later. Now! Just ── " she slammed the phone back down and yelled, "Bitch!"

"Bitch." Clary agreed with a look of distaste on her face.

Jonathan gave her a disapproving look and then turned to Joyce, "Mom."

"What?" she snapped.

"You have to stay calm."

Joyce barely spared her son another glance before she chuckled humorlessly and grabbed the phone again to dial the same number. She let out another frustrated laugh and started speaking again, "Lonnie, some 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 just hung up on me. Will is missing. I don't know where he is. I need . . . I just need you to call me back, please, just ca ── " the line went dead and she slammed the phone down again, "Damn it! Damn it!"

The desperation in her mom's voice made Clary squeeze her eyes shut and rub the sides of her nose to keep herself from crying. She was absolutely terrified but her mom was ready to snap and Jonathan did not need to handle both of them losing their shit right now.

"Mom?" Jonathan called out, his eyes glued to the window. Clary followed his gaze to see a police car pulling up in front of their house. She immediately followed her brother and got to her feet before all three of them rushed outside.

When Hopper came into view and Clary saw what he was holding, she swore her heart stopped right then and there. Joyce let out a shaky breath and Jonathan completely froze while Clary's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes started to water.

He was holding Will's bike.

"We should head inside." Hopper told them softly after placing the bike down on the ground.

Jonathan looked between his mother and sister anxiously. He noticed that Clary was so close to breaking down while Joyce was francting, in denial and demanding answers. After a moment of hesitance, he placed one of his arms around Clary's shoulder and nodded towards the inside of their house as a silent invite to the police.

-

"So, it was just lying there?" Joyce asked, unconvinced, after Hopper explained how they found the bike lying next to the road.

"Yeah." Hopper said with a frown and looked at one of the cops, "Cal?"

𝘊𝘢𝘭 nodded and, much to Clary's dismay, started looking around their house. She ignored the unease building up in her stomach and followed her mother and Hopper further into the house.

"Did it have any blood on it, or . . . " Joyce trailed off, not being able to keep rambling because Hopper cut her off with a frantic shake of his head.

"No, no, no, no, no." he gave another cop a tired look, "Phil?"

"If you found the bike out there, why are you here?" Jonathan asked him with narrowed eyes.

Hopper looked at Clary and ignored her brother's question, "Well, he had a key to the house, right?"

"Yeah." she answered after clearing her throat. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her chin, closing herself off a little but trying to look unfazed and collected.

"So . . . maybe he came home."

"You think I didn't check my own house?" Joyce exclaimed.

"I'm not saying that." his eyes narrowed at a hollow place on their wall. It looked like something hit it but as far as Clary knew, that could have been there for ages. "Has this always been here?"

"What?" the Byers woman asked, confused by the question, "I don't know. Probably. I mean, I have two boys and a daughter that can't keep still for more than a second. Look at this place."

Hopper opened the back door and gently pushed it towards the wall, raising his eyebrows knowingly when the doorknob hit the hollow place in the wall perfectly. "You're not sure?"

The door barking outside was enough to completely remove Hopper's attention from the wall and have him shift it to somewhere else. He walked through the backdoor and Joyce followed him without a second thought.

"I don't like this." Clary whispered to Jonathan while watching the two cops go through their stuff right in front of them. "Does Hopper even know what he's doing?"

"I hope so." her brother sighed and squeezed her shoulder in a comforting manner just as Joyce walked back inside with the neighbor's dog next to her. She ignored them and led him towards the fridge to give him some leftovers.

Clary sighed, "For fuck's sake . . . "

-

By the time the sun set, Hopper had already gathered a bunch of people for a search party. Clary wanted to go too but she did not want to leave Joyce and Jonathan alone.

Instead, she spent the night on the couch in her living room, sitting between her oldest brother and mom. They were going through some of Jonathan's photos in search of a picture they could use for Will's 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 poster.

"Jonathan, wow." Joyce gushed quietly, "You took these? These are great. Wow, they really are."

A faint smile appeared on Clary's face as she nodded and nudged Jonathan's shoulder with her own, "Yeah. He has a good eye."

Joyce stared between the two with a guilty look, "I know I haven't been there for you two. I've been working so hard and I just feel bad. I barely even know what's going on with you. All right? I am sorry about that."

"It's okay, mom." Clary gave her a weak smile, "You were taking care of all of us."

Jonathan nodded but his eyes weren't focused on them, he was blankly staring at the table that had pictures scattered across it.

"Hey, what is it?" their mom asked him softly, "What is it, honey?"

"Nothing." he shrugged, but Clary could instantly tell that he was holding back tears.

"Tell me." Joyce pleaded, "Tell me. Come on. You can ── "

"No." Jonathan cut her off, "It's just . . . I should've been there for him."

Clary swallowed and placed her hand on his shoulder, "No. You were working and trying to help us."

"You can't do that to yourself." Joyce added and squeezed his wrist. "This was not your fault. Do you hear me?" she looked at Clary, who was sitting on the other side of him and repeated, "This was not your fault."

She might have been a little too stuck in her own head but she knew when something was wrong with her daughter. She was more closed off than usual and she was far too quiet to seem normal.

"He is . . . close. I know it. I feel it in my heart." she explained, "You just have to trust me on this, okay?" she rubbed Jonathan on the back and then turned her attention to one of the pictures of Will. A small but genuine smile appeared on her face and she instantly picked it up. "Look at this one. Look at this one. I mean that's it, right?"

Clary felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared at the picture of her little brother smiling. The sound of her mom's sobs and laughter was nothing but background noise while she finally allowed herself to cry.

Jonathan rested his head on Joyce's shoulder and pulled Clary into a side hug, allowing her to cry onto his shirt.

"That's the one."

The moment was broken by the phone ringing and Joyce immediately rushed to answer. "Hello? Hello?" her eyebrows furrowed, "Lonnie?"

"Dad?" Jonathan whispered hopefully.

Clary, on the other hand, sat up again and whipped the tears off of her face in an attempt to get her shit together.

"Hopper?" Joyce asked when she did not receive an answer, "Who is this?" her eyes widened and the Byers siblings quickly made their way over to her before they heard her gasp. "Will? Will?"

"Oh, my god." Clary whispered to herself and then asked, "Mom, is it Will?"

"What have you done to my boy?" Joyce sobbed into the phone, "Give me back my son!"

Clary watched in absolute confusion, stunned into silence. She jumped back in surprise when her mom dropped the phone on the floor and jumped away from it in shock.

Jonathan rushed to pick it up and placed it to his ear, "Hello? Hello, who is this? Who is this?!" he put it down and turned to Joyce, "Mom, who was it? Who was it, mom?"

"It was him." she sobbed and he grabbed her chest in an attempt to calm her down.

"Was it Will?"

She nodded rapidly and said through her sobs, "Yes."

Clary hesitantly asked, "What did he say?"

"He just breathed." Joyce sobbed and got the phone back in her hand, only to almost stumble to the floor which she would have if Jonathan was not there.

"Was someone else there with him?" he tried to ask but never got a clear answer.

"It was him. I know it was his breathing! I know it was his breathing!"

Clary watched her mother sob into Jonathan's chest with tears in her eyes. She didn't know if it was someone messing with them or if Joyce was going crazy or if it was somehow actually Will.

She just knew that something bad was happening and had a feeling that something even worse was coming.