the body: ❛ CARDIGAN ❜
↷ stranger things
❝ you can't run away from that ❞

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Clary was doing her Math homework for the past two hours. They got too many pages of tasks to do and it was almost midnight. She was ready to go make some coffee so she could pull a proper all nighter, when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

The doors slowly opened and the face of her youngest brother peaked inside. His eyes were with and there was an almost nervous look on his face. Clary gave him a small smile and raised a curious eyebrow.

He let out a sigh, "I can't sleep." Will slowly walked inside and closed the doors behind him. "Dustin made all of us watch Friday the 13th."

An involuntary chuckle left her lips as he nervously fidgeted on the spot. Her eyes were full of fondness and amusement when she said, "You can sleep here."

Another sigh left Will's lips but this time it was out of relief. He laid down on her unmade bed and pulled the covers over his shoulders.

"Thanks." She hummed in response and turned back to her homework when he spoke up again. "So ... is Steve your boyfriend now?"

Clary let out a scoff and turned to give him an offended look, "Did Dustin make you ask me that?"

She was already aware of the fascination that her brother's best friend had for her boyfriend. It was kind of cute since the two of them never even had a proper conversation.

"No." Will answered a little too quickly. "Well, he did. But I still want to know. I'm your brother."

"Yes. Steve is my boyfriend." Clary told him and chuckled when his eyes widened comically. She added. "Now go to sleep. You have school in the morning."

"Can you come to bed too?"

She hesitated and looked at her homework before she looked at her brother's wide pleading eyes. Her shoulders fell in defeat and she placed her pen onto the desk. "I'm done for tonight."

-

They found his body in the lake. Which was ridiculous because Clary remembered the little road trips that the two of them would take during summer when Joyce and Jonathan were working. He knew how to swim. He was pretty good at it actually. So his "cause of death" seemed like bullshit to her. Until Hooper got them home and explained everything.

"A trooper found something in the, uh, water that's at the quarry. Our working theory right now is that Will . . . crashed his bike. He made his way over the quarry and, uh, accidentally fell in. The earth must have given way." Hopper's eyes narrowed at Joyce when she didn't say anything. "Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The woman shook her head, "No. Whoever you found is not my boy. It's not Will."

Clary closed her eyes tiredly and Hopper sighed. "Joyce."

"No, you don't understand. I talked to him a half hour ago." Joyce tried to convince him, "He was . . . he was here." She walked over to the Christmas lights that were all over the place when they walked in. "He was─ he was talking with these."

"Talking?"

"Uh-huh." she nodded rapidly, "One blink for yes, two for no. And─ and, uh─ and then I made this so he could talk to me. 'Cause he was hiding from that─ that thing."

"The thing that came out of the wall?" Hopper asked, trying his hardest to not seem impatient, "The thing that chased you?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵? Clary thought as she stared at her mother in utter confusion with her mouth agape.

"Mom, come on, please." Jomatjan stepped towards her and grabbed her forearm, "You've gotta stop this."

"No, maybe he's ── " Joyce yelled but didn't dare to finish her sentence as she grabbed his shoulders, "It's after him! He's in danger. We have to find him! We - "

"What exactly was this thing? It was some kind of animal, you said?" Hopper asked calmly.

"Uh, no, it was . . . it was almost . . . human, but it wasn't. It had these long arms and it didn't have a face."

Jonathan stormed out of the room while his sister scoffed. "It didn't have a face?" Clary repeated, not able to keep quiet any longer, "What are you even talking about?"

"It didn't have a face . . . " Joyce nodded and sat down, a soft sob escaping her lips that made Clary's heart sink.

"Joyce, listen to me." Hopper kneeled down in front of her, Listen to me. After Sarah . . . I saw her, too. And I heard her. I didn't know what was real. And then I figured out that it was in my mind. And I had to pack all that away.
Otherwise, I was gonna fall down a hole that I couldn't get out of."

"No, you're . . . you're talking about grief. This is different." Joyce sniffed.

"I'm just saying that you - "

"No, I know what you're saying, Hop." the woman nodded, her voice hoarse, "I swear to you, I know what I saw. And I'm not crazy."

Hopper didn't miss a beat. "I'm not saying that you're crazy."

"No . . . you are. And I understand, but, God, I . . . I need you to believe me." her eyes flickered towards her daughter, who was staring at the floor but still hanging onto every word that she said. "Please." When Clary met her gaze, she repeated, "Please."

"Listen . . . " Hopper started, "I think you should go down to the morgue tomorrow and see him for yourself. It'll give you the answers that you need. But tonight, I want you to try to get some sleep, if you can."

A tear rolled down her cheek while Clary hit her bottom lip as hard as she could to keep herself from crying until Hopper was out of the room. The Chief stood up and turned to the teenage girl to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Call me if you need anything." His words were directed to both of them but Clary was the one that nodded. "Good. Get some sleep, kid."

She stayed glued to her spot as he left the room and therefore left her alone with her mother. The brunette opened her mouth to make an attempt to talk to her mother but she beat her to it.

"Come here." Joyce urged, causing Clary to join her on the sofa. Her mom wrapped her arms around her shoulders and pulled her into her chest, all that while whispering. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Clary cried into her shirt, yet still managed to whisper back, "It's okay."

-

It was definitely not okay.

When Clary got out of her room the next morning, her mom was still sitting on the sofa. That would not have been that concerning if it was not for the ax that was sitting in her lap.

Well . . . at least she was sleeping.

"Mom. Mom. Mom. Wake up." Jonathan spoke as he shook her shoulders to get her to wake up. They were supposed to go to the morgue to identify Will's body. After that, they were supposed to plan a funeral.

Joyce gasped when she woke up and Clary could only guess that she was having a nightmare but she chose not to comment on it.

"What ── what time is it?" Her mom asked tiredly, her eyes only half open.

"It's almost eight." Jonathan said, "We have to go."

"Go where? Where?"

Clary's eyes softened a little before she answered, "To the morgue. Last night, Hopper told us to go identify the body, remember?"

Joyce was hesitant. She swallowed and looked between her two oldest, and now only, children. Seeing the sadness in their eyes made her shoulders fall. "Okay."

-

The three remaining members of the Byers family were standing shoulder to shoulder in the morgue as they waited to see Will's body. The autopsy was apparently already done last night and the cause of death was proven to be exactly what Hopper guessed it was.

They watched as an unfamiliar man slowly lifted the cover off of the body on the bed.

Clary immediately realized that the sight of her little brother's dead face was probably going to haunt her forever. She also knew that she was not the only one.

Joyce's mouth fell open in shock and she realized that all her theories did not make any sense now. So, her children and Hopper had every right to think that she was crazy. She didn't know that none of them did.

Jonathan gagged and took a step back before storming out of the room.

Clary, on the other hand, was staring at the floor with her jaw clenched and her eyes wide. A part of her really hoped that her mom was right. That there was a way to bring Will home. But one look through the glass was enough for her to realize that maybe people like her do not even deserve to be happy.

"He has a birthmark on his right arm." Joyce told the man with a shaky voice, "Can you show that to me, please?"

When her eyes fell on the birthmark, Clary felt tears that were both sad and angry build up in her eyes. She didn't even spare her mom a glance when she stormed out of the room.

Her feet carried her to the empty hallway that led to the waiting room but she stopped in the middle of it. There was no way in hell that she could face anyone right now. She needed a minute to cry in peace because she could not even do that last night when she got to her room. Last night she still had hope that her mom was right. Now, that hope was long gone.

-

Just as she walked into the waiting room to join Jonathan and Hopper, the doors behind her opened and her mom stormed out of the room.

"Ma'am!" the man called after her, "Ma'am, I need you to sign!"

"I don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!" Joyce yelled angrily.

Hopper blinked, taken aback by the scene that she was causing, "Joyce, wait a second."

"No!" she snapped and walked out of the building without another word.

Clary stared at her in disbelief, "Mom, seriously?"

"Mom!"

"Ma'am!"

-

Joyce was refusing to get into the car. So, Clary was driving the car painfully slow while Jonathan was begging her to get into the car. They looked like fucking idiots.

"Mom, will you get in?"

Their mom shook her head, "No, I─ I need to think. Just go on home."

"Mom, will you just get in, please?" Jonathan pleaded but she kept walking and ignoring him, "Mom."

Clary huffed and stopped the car. "This is fucking ridiculous."

She stormed out of the car and rushed after her with her brother hot on her heels. "Mom! Mom, stop."

"Just go home." Joyce brushed both of them off.

Jonathan glared at her and exclaimed, "No, this is not an okay time for you to shut down."

"Shut down? What . . . ?"

"We have to deal with this." Clary stated sternly. She felt like she was lecturing a child. "This is not something you can just run away from. We have to deal with the funeral!"

"The funeral?" Joyce looked stunned. "For─ for who? For that thing back there?"

"That 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 out there is your fucking son and 𝘰𝘶𝘳 baby brother!" Clary yelled, "He is dead. And you can't run away from that."

She shook her head. "No."

"Okay, let me get this straight. Will, that's not his body, because he's in the lights, right? And there's a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?" Jonathan ranted, as angry as Clary was.

"I know it sounds crazy." Joyce said, matching their tone, "I sound crazy!"

Clary swallowed. Her words came out a lot more quiet than she wanted to, "Yeah. Mom, you do."

"You think I don't know that? It is crazy! But I heard him. He talked to me! Will is─ is calling to me! And he's out there, and he's alone, and he's scared, and I . . . I don't care if anyone believes me! I am not gonna stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home. I am going to bring him home!"

Clary watched her mother turn on her heel and walk away from them in total disbelief. She was walking away from her children ─ who were still very much alive ─ in order to chase after a ghost.

"Yeah, well, while you're talking to the lights, the rest of us are having a funeral for Will!" Jonathan called after her with years in his eyes that matched his sister's. "I'm not letting him sit in that freezer another day!" He turned to Clary and grabbed her hand while giving the people around them a glare. "All right, the show is over."

The Byers sister let him drag her to the car and did not utter a single word the entire ride.

-

Clary was used to caring about her siblings. When their mom was at work, she would make an attempt at cooking dinner or lunch ❪ which usually led to her ordering pizza ❫ and she would save up money so she could give it to Will for his school trips or she would sell some of her old stuff to get money to get him a present for his birthday. She was okay with that. Because at the end of the day, it was their mom who kept their roof above their head.

She just never thought that she and Jonathan would have to carry the burden of organizing Will's funeral.

"It's made of soft wood with a crepe interior." the man that worked at the store that sold coffins explained. "Uh, now, I─ I don't know what your budget is, but over here, we . . .  we have copper and bronze."

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

Clary was saved from the awkwardness of the conversation when Nancy Wheeler caught her eye in the doorway. She was looking between the siblings while offering them an awkward wave.

"Can you just give us a second?" Jonathan asked the man who immediately nodded.

"Of course."

"Hey." Jonathan greeted Nancy with furrowed eyebrows while his sister gave her a short nod.

"Hey." Nancy said, "Your mom, um, she said you two would be here. I just──" She let out a shaky breath and pointed at the exit, "Can we talk for a second? All three of us."

Clary swallowed and surprised all three of them by nodding.

-

Nancy showed them one of the pictures from two nights ago that Jonathan took in the woods. She took one of them yesterday and was curious about the fact that Barb just disappeared from one of them.

And the day after ❪ or possibly that same night ❫, she disappeared all together.

"It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion, but I wasn't using the wide angle. I don't know. It's weird." Jonathan explained and handed her the picture back.

"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?"

"No." Jonathan shook his head, "And she was there one second and then, um . . . "

"Gone." Clary finished, "Like a ghost. I turned around for like ten seconds and she wasn't there anymore. I figured that she just went home. It wouldn't surprise me based on all the things that were going on."

Nancy didn't miss the shady comment directed her way but made the smart decision of not responding to it.

"The cops think that she ran away. But they don't know Barb." she said.

It was true. Barb was the type of girl that wanted to get out of Hawkins but never had the guts to do anything about it. At least, that was what Robin told her.

"And I went back to Steve's, and I thought I . . . saw something. Some
weird man or ── I don't know what it was." Nancy shook her head, immediately changing the subject just as her words piqued Clary's interest. "I'm sorry. I . . . I shouldn't have come here today. I'm . . . I'm so sorry."

"What did he look like?" Clary asked, ignoring her apologies, not wanting her to leave until she told them everything.

Nancy froze, before turning back to her. "What?"

"The man you saw in the woods." Clary pushed. "What did he look like?"

"I don't know." Nancy stuttered, "It was almost like he didn't have - "

"Didn't have a face?"

"A face?"

Jonathan and Clary finished her sentence at the same time which caused her mouth to fall open in surprise and confusion.

"How did you know that?"

"He was there that night too." Clary told her, "I originally thought that it was just some kid trying to scare someone with a Halloween mask but they wouldn't do that in the middle of the day."

-

They were back at the high school so they could take a better look at the picture that Nancy had.

"And you're . . . " Nancy trailed off with a clueless look on her face as Jonathan messed around with the machine for editing pictures.

"Brightening. Enlarging." he said and she hummed in acknowledgment.

"Did your mom say anything else?" she asked, "Like, um, where it might have gone to, or . . . "

"She just said that it came out of the wall." Clary stated, her eyes glued on what her brother was doing.

Nancy nodded and looked at Jonathan, "How long does this take?"

"Not long."

"Have you been . . . doing this a while?" she asked almost hesitantly.

"What?"

"Photography."

"Yeah." he almost smiled, "I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know..."

"Talk to them." Nancy raised an amused eyebrow.

"I know. It's weird." Jonathan said sheepishly.

"No." Nancy shook her head, causing Clary to roll her eyes from behind them.

"No, it is. It's just, sometimes . . . people don't really say what they're really thinking. But you capture the right moment . . . it says more."

"What was I saying?"

Clary was going to throw up.

"What?"

Nancy smiled up at him, "When you took my picture."

"That you are incapable of feeling any guilt and remorse." Clary chimed in, not being able to help herself, "I mean, that was all I was able to see 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 you took your shirt off in my ex boyfriend's bed room." She shrugged and felt a glint of satisfaction when her former best friend avoided her gaze. "But then again, I never did judge people well. There was always more than meets the eye. Surprisingly, I think I was right this time."

"Clary, can we not ── " her brother made an attempt to stop her from starting an argument.

"That's it." Nancy cut her off and when they turned to her, they saw that her eyes were on the picture that now contained a weird looking figure. "That's what I saw."

"So, mom was right." Clary said in disbelief. "There really was something in our house."

"I thought she was crazy, 'cause she said that's not Will's body. That he's alive." Jonathan added.

"And if he is alive - "

"Then so is Barb." Clary finished for Nancy, meeting her gaze with a confident look in her eyes.

a/n: I love joyce with all my heart but I'm still trying to make her relationship with clary as realistic as possible based on the show. joyce's main priority has always been will since 1.01 and she wasn't the best mom when it came to jonathan, so I'm trying to show both sides here