the vanishing of will byers

✄ - - - -

  HAWKINS WAS A SMALL TOWN. It was easy to get around whether it was by foot, bike or car. But sometimes, even in the smallest of towns, there are secrets. There were many secrets in Hawkins, many places still lay undiscovered.

Sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong time can lead to finding something that was never meant to be found.

Take Will Byers for example.

"Hey Scar!" Lucas rushed past his cousin, out of breath. Scarlett turned from her spot in the window and watched Lucas slam the door to his room with a puzzled expression on her face. Getting up, she walked to his door and gently tapped on it.

"Lucas, you do realize everyone's asleep right?" She says as the doorknob turned and the door opened, revealing Lucas who had a guilty expression on his face, which soon morphed into a look of confusion.

"Then why are you still up?" He asked her, waving Scarlett into his room as they both took a seat on his bed. He watched as Scarlett played with her ring, a ring that meant so much to her. She never took it off, understandably. The ring was from her mother, Lucas didn't understand why she liked it so much because she had never even known her mother.

Scarlett let out a sigh that pulled him out of his thoughts, "couldn't sleep. Just thinking, you know? The usual." She shrugged. "What were you doing out so late? Hanging with a girl?" She teased, nudging him as they both let out a laugh.

Scarlett knew well enough where her cousin had been, and it was definitely not with a girl. But as always, she wanted to hear about his day.

"Well, no. But we did finally have that campaign!" Lucas grinned excitedly. He looked up to his cousin, telling her about his day was his favorite part of it. Scarlett was always the 'cool' cousin. She was like the older sister he'd never had. He'd known her all his life and was so grateful to have her by his side. Although, it was annoying when his friends brought her up, considering they all had massive crushes on her.

"Really? Like the one that you've been planning for months?" She exclaimed, sharing the same amount of enthusiasm as him.

"Whoa, months is a reach. Weeks, maybe." Lucas held his finger up to her face.

"Okay then, how'd it go?" She laughed, gently pushing his finger down.

"It went well, until the Demogorgon came out of nowhere! We were all low and Will needed to make a move. We were in deep shit but we needed to get by, so I told Will to fireball him! Dustin was all like, 'noo cast a protection spell!' But he needed to roll a thirteen. He decided on fireball and rolled the dice and the dice went flying! We couldn't find it. Mike went upstairs and Will found the dice. It was a seven but.. I told him it didn't count." Lucas rambled on, "hopefully when we continue, it won't take ten hours."

Scarlett let out a gasp, clasping a hand over her mouth. "You played for ten hours?!" She exclaimed. "You're crazy."

"I know, but we just got so into it-" Lucas began with his head hung.

Scarlett laughed and pat his back. "You know I'm only messing with you," She stood up and walked towards his door. "But you need to get some sleep."

"Okay." Lucas sighed, saluting his cousin playfully just as she returned the motion. "G'night Scarlett!"

"Night, nerd!" Scarlett waved farewell, trudging to her room and crawling into bed.

✄ - - - -

"Hey! Ms. Perfect! You have to leave in five, I hope you're ready!" Erica yells, banging on the door leading to Scarlett's room.

Although the girl had been up for a while, she was not ready. It wasn't because she was doing her hair, or makeup or picking out forty different outfits. Scarlett sat on the edge of her bed, thinking. It was something she did a lot lately, she didn't know why. Maybe she was at that age where she was either going through a mental breakdown or just putting life into perspective.

"Just a minute, Erica! Tell Lucas to put Pop-tarts in for us, and that I'll be out soon!" Scarlett yelled as she stuffed her bag with her school supplies, lacing up her Converse and rushing to the kitchen, where she was greeted by Lucas with a Pop-tart in hand. "Where's yours?" She asked him, taking the food from him.

"I ate it already..."

"That's okay! We gotta get to school though." Scarlett grabbed her car keys and turned to Lucas. "Do you want a ride today?"

"No thanks, I'm riding my bike." Lucas answered with a shrug, quickly rushing out of the house. Mike and Dustin were waiting outside for him, Lucas was quick to question where Will was.

The two other boys simply shrugged and suggested he left early. With that, they were off.

Scarlett soon realized that she was going to be late if she didn't hurry. She hustled outside, starting her car and driving off towards Hawkins High School.

✄ - - - -

"Nancy Wheeler." Scarlett announced, approaching her locker with a grin. "Glad I'm seeing you right now."

"Hello, Ms. Scarlett Sinclair!" Nancy said playfully, shutting her locker and turning towards her friend.

"Rough night?" Scarlett teased, looking at her with a smirk on her face. She knew about Steve and Nancy's so called 'relationship' they had going. She just hoped Steve wasn't trying to just get in Nancy's pants, like his past relationships.

"Oh, stop it." Nancy laughed, shoving Scarlett as they walked towards the cafeteria. "Hey, um. Do you think it's a good idea to be with Steve?"

"As long as you're safe then, yeah. But don't make bad decisions." Scarlett nodded towards her friend, giving her a look.

"You're such a mom."

The two broke into laughter, taking a seat at an empty table. Barb, Steve, Tommy H. and Carol soon slid in, beginning an obnoxious conversation about a double date somewhere.

Scarlett didn't know why it bothered her so much, it might be because she hated Tommy H and Carol, or she was worried her friends might forget about her.

"Right, Scar?" Steve looked at Scarlett, waving a hand in front of her face. "Helloooo? Earth to Scarlett?"

She shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts. "Sorry, what did you ask?"

"Jonathan Byers? He isn't here, right?" Steve asked again, slowly repeating his question.

"No, I don't know. I don't think so." Scarlett narrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Well, we just thought since you were such good friends with him, maybe you would know." Tommy H said in a mocking tone, letting out a snort.

Tommy H, Carol and sometimes Steve always would mock her because of her friendship with Jonathan. She never understood why they were so cruel to him, he was just lost. Jonathan held a special place in her heart and she loved him.

"Hm. Sorry, I guess." Scarlett shrugged, picking at her food. A look of disgust appeared on her face as the mashed potato split into two solid pieces.

"I just don't understand why you're still friends with him! I mean, he's kind of a creep." Steve reached over Nancy and poked Scarlett in the shoulder.

Scarlett quickly turned to him and shot him a glare. "Maybe because he's not a douche?" She answered motioning towards him.

"So, what? Are you calling me a douche?" Steve argued, holding his hands up.

"That's exactly what I'm doing." Scarlett leaned towards him, jabbing his chest. She stood up and walked by him, messing up his hair.

Steve watched as she walked out of the cafeteria with his jaw on the floor. Tommy H noticed, kicking his leg and getting him to look over. "stop drooling!" Tommy mouthed.

✄ - - - -

After school, Scarlett drove to the Byers house. She looked around in concern as she noticed cop cars in front of the house. Parking, she rushed towards the front door, about to knock on it. Jonathan answered it, immediately hugging her. Shocked at first, she returned the hug.

He pulled back, holding her within arms length. "Have you seen Will?" He asked her, he watched as her expression became even more concerned and confused.

"Not since last night, why? Is he not here? He was riding with Dustin, are you sure he didn't go to Dustin's house?" Scarlett peeked around Jonathan's arm, noticing Hopper talking to a very panicked Joyce.

"He, um.. Didn't show up last night, didn't stay the night at anyones house, and didn't go to school early." Jonathan explained bleakly, rubbing the back of his neck with the palm of his hand.

Scarlett's expression softened as she pulled him back into his house, taking a seat on the couch. "I'm sure he's okay, he's probably lost. I mean, we're in Hawkins. He'll be okay."

"Yeah.. yeah. Hopefully." Jonathan's sighed. Suddenly he turned towards her, "will you help us search tonight?"

"Of course, my aunt probably won't mind." She agreed quickly, sending her friend a warm smile. "I'm gonna go give your mom a hug real quick."

Scarlett got up and walked over to Joyce, who looked up at her from her seat with a sniffle. Engulfing her in a hug, Joyce began letting her tears fall. "I'm just so worried about him." She wailed.

"I know, it's not your fault." Scarlett replied softly, rubbing her back.

"But we do need to find him." Hopper interrupts, causing Scarlett to stand up and nod towards him. "Get your search parties ready, we'll start where his bike was found." Hopper explained to the three in a monotone voice.

"You got it, boss." Scarlett grinned.

"Don't call me that."

✄ - - - -

"Will! Will Byers!" Scarlett yelled through the dark woods, shining her flashlight in every direction. Faint shouts for Will were heard in the distance as Jonathan and Scarlett strayed father away.

"Do you really think he came this far?" She asked him, dragging her feet in the leaves.

"A scared little boy? Definitely." Jonathan answered, staying focused on his surroundings. "Will! Where are you?"

The search continued for another hour before it began to drizzle. "Hey, Scar. I think it might be time to go, yeah?" He shook her arm as she examined the bark of a tree.

"You can go ahead, I'll be fine. I'll find Hopper in a bit. Get home with your mom, Jonathan." She waved him off, giving him a quick hug before turning around again.

"Alright, be safe. Our house is close by here, run to it if you need anything." Jonathan said. He knew Scarlett didn't need him to protect her, but there was this gut feeling inside of him that told him he should have never left her there alone.

After the two parted ways, Scarlett continued calling for Will as the rain poured down. She moved deeper into the woods, losing her path of mud she had created.

Barely being able to see, she almost walked into a fence. "What the-" She cut off, shielding her eyes from the rain and looking through the fence. Scarlett's eyes were met by the infamous Hawkins Laboratory. She'd always been curious about the lab, not really knowing what was going on in there.

There wasn't a way in though, she wasn't too upset as she knew it would be dangerous. There was no way Will could've gone in there, he would've had to climb the fence. She always knew Will never had the best coordination, she was surprised he knew how to ride a bike.

Her flashlight's beam flickered, soon turning completely off. Scarlett smacked it against her hand in frustration, trying to get it to turn on. "Damn it! Stupid cheap flashlight."

When the flashlight did not turn back on, she took it as her cue to head home for now.

As she began her trek back, she started to realize how terrifying these woods were. She also now realized that Jonathan probably got in trouble for leaving her out in the same woods where Will went missing.

A low growl behind Scarlett caused her to slowly turn her head towards the sound. A large gray creature stood before her, staring at her but it had no face. As if Will was with her, she heard an echo of his voice, telling her to run.

So that's exactly what she did.