I Know The End ✸ Steve Harrington

iii. dead or alive

"I was looking for my brother."

"No. No, this is called stalking."

Nancy had now joined the group, looking just as confused as Josie. "What's going on?"

"Here's the starring lady." Tommy grinned.

"What?"

"This creep was spying on us last night." Carol handed Nancy the picture of her just in a bra, "He was probably gonna save this one for later."

Steve clicked his tongue, stepping forward once more. "See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but...Man, that's the thing about perverts...It's hardwired in 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves." Steve ripped up the picture in his hand, letting the small pieces of paper flutter on the ground. "So, we'll just have to take away his toy."

"Harrington, don't be a dick for once." Josie remarked. Trying to stop the situation from going any further, knowing that if Jonathon's camera broke, he wouldn't be able to afford a new one.

"No, please, not the camera." Jonathan pleaded, trying to step forward, getting pushed back by Tommy.

"Hey, Tommy, Tommy. It's okay." Steve stopped him, holding out the camera for Jonathon to take. "Here you go man." Instead, he dropped it onto the cobble ground, pieces of it shattering.

"Come on, let's go. The games about to start." Steve ushered his group away, guiding them towards the back of the building.

Josie kneeled down to Jonathon's level as the boy scrambled to pick up the ripped up pieces of the left over pictures shortly joined by Nancy. The Wheeler girl came to a halt with her movements for a second, before scrambling to put some pieces of a photo in her bag, before standing up and running after her boyfriend.

"Assholes." Josie muttered under her breath once the group was out of ears reach.

"Look, Josie-" Jonathan whispered.

"It's okay." She dismissed his apology not because she was mad at him but it was more so because the apology wasn't supposed to be for her, it should've been towards Nancy instead.

The five of them had been searching for hours, walking along the woods with their feet thumping against the leaves on the ground and their flashlights hooked up in front of their bikes to be able to see through the dark. That afternoon, Dustin had alerted his sister that Eleven allegedly knew where Will was, which of course Josie didn't believe him at first but the Party had shared to her that El had special abilities.

The four continued to trail after Eleven with their bikes held to their hips, which had felt like a never ending path to the teenage girl as they had eventually cut through the woods up until nightfall. She walked along with Lucas and Dustin when suddenly they all came to a halt, panting as they came across the Byers' house, causing everyone match a look of confusion.

"Here."

"Yeah..." Mike trailed off, "This is where Will lives."

"Hiding." Eleven said lowly.

"No, no, this is where he lives." Mike stated, "He's missing from here. Understand?"

"What are we doing here?" Lucas wondered, dropping his bike onto the floor.

Mike sighed, "She said he's hiding here."

"Um...no!"

"I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing-"

Lucas interrupted the younger Henderson, "That's exactly what we did. I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"

Josie stayed silent, her eyes focused on the house in front of her. How could Will be missing all this time just to be in his house?

"Why did you bring us here?" Mike plainly asked El which caused her to stammer for an answer.

"Mike, don't waste your time with her." Lucas demanded the boy.

"What do you want to do then?"

"Call the cops, like we should have yesterday." He replied.

"We are not calling the cops." Mike fought back.

"What other choice do we have?!" Lucas exclaimed.

Amongst their bickering, Josie's eyes caught a swarm of blue and red lights passing by with sirens approaching. "Guys!" Dustin yelled for their attention, now silencing the two. They all watched as two cop cars and an ambulance had zoomed past them.

"Will..."

They all scattered to retrieve their bikes, hopping on and following after the sirens. Josie felt that her legs were about to go numb — she had never pedalled so fast in her life. By the time they had gotten there, each of their bikes thumped onto the grass as each one of them hid behind a fire truck. They silently watched as they lifted a body out of the quarry, the familiar bright red vest sticking out like a sore thumb — the same vest Will wore the night he went missing.

The older Henderson felt her stomach drop and her eyes glossing but she swallowed her tears down, clenching her jaw.

"It's not Will." Mike shook his head in denial, "It can't be."

"It's Will." Lucas's face contorted into sorrow, "It's really Will."

"Mike." Eleven tried putting her hand onto his shoulder, but it was harshly slapped away.

"Mike"? "Mike", what? You were supposed to help us find him alive. You said he was alive! Why did you lie to us? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you?" The Wheeler boy spat angrily before turning on his heels and walking away.

"Mike, come on. Don't do this, man." Lucas choked out.

"Mike, where are you going?" Josie yelled out for the boy, watching him ignore them all and wheel away. She looked at each of their devastated faces, the fact sinking in that their best friend was dead.

A sob ripped through her throat, one she was desperately trying to hide from them to stay strong. But her chin quivered as tears uncontrollably ran down her face like a waterfall - she felt responsible for this. She could've done anything to prevent this from happening. She suddenly felt her brother practically throw his body into hers for a hug, his cries being muffled by her jacket, followed shortly by Lucas as the three were now huddled in a small group hug, grieving together that they had found their friend in an unexpected way.