SWEET DREAMS - STRANGER THINGS SEASON 1

thirteen; the body in the quarry

Mary shivered deeply, hugging her arms as the image of Will replayed in her mind and Jim sighed, "Mary, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you with me, you should have saw —"

"No, it's alright," Mary interrupted, looking over at her father before down at her lap, "I needed to see that."

        ———

Mary didn't know what to expect by the time she arrived at the Byers residence, but once she did she didn't quite know where to look. The entire house was decorated with Christmas lights — Joyce hadn't left so much as one spot without them, they were everywhere. And she had painted the alphabet on her living room wall, where most of the multicoloured bulbs sat on each letter.

Jonathan was there, but Mary tried avoiding all eye contact with him. She didn't know quite how to look him in the eyes, "Will crashed his bike, he made his way over the Quarry and uh, accidentally fell in... The earth must have given way." Her father was trying his best to explain to Joyce — the mother that Mary hadn't saw since before Will's disappearance and she looked terrible. But she also didn't seem to be taking in what her father was saying.

"Joyce? Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?" He asked her gently whilst Mary stood on the other side of the room, looking uncomfortable and out of place.

"No," Joyce suddenly said, looking up at Jim, "Whoever you found is not my boy. It's not Will!" She exclaimed, gesturing with her hand and Jonathan from the entry by the hall diverted his gaze, his eyes red and Mary glanced over at him.

Jim sighed, "Joyce —"

"No, you don't understand," She interrupted, "I talked to him half an hour ago. He was, he was here! He was, he was talking with these!" She rushed over the room, digging into a cabinet and Mary tilted her head to get a good look.

Joyce brought out another set of lights and Mary looked over to Jonathan whom turned away, unable to believe his mothers rambles, "Talking?" Jim questioned and Joyce rattled her head with a fast nod.

"Uh-huh. One blink for yes, two for no. And uh, and I made this so he could talk to me," She said, gesturing to the wall with the scribbled letters and Mary bit down on her bottom lip, "Cause he was hiding from that thing." Joyce insisted and Mary looked to her father.

He seemed tired, exhausted even, "The thing that came out of the wall? The thing that chased you?" He asked her tiredly and Mary chewed down on the ends of her nails nervously; Joyce Byers was having a mental breakdown right before her eyes and it was hard to watch.

"Yeah — Yeah." She agreed, just as Jonathan rushed to her and grasped her shoulders, unable to take his mothers rambling anymore, it were tearing him to pieces. And he had already lost his brother, he couldn't lose her too.

"Mom, come on, please. You've gotta stop this —"

"No! Maybe he's — it's after him! He's in danger, we have to find him!" She cried and that's when Jonathan couldn't take any more. He latched off his mother and stormed to his room, tears dripping down his cheeks and then his door slammed shut and music blasted from the room.

Mary made a step forward, almost going after him when she stopped herself. She wouldn't even know what to say — and he wouldn't want her there anyway. Surely Jonathan Byers hated her guts from the years of torment he received from her friendship group.

"What exactly was this thing? It was some kind of animal, you said?" Jim asked, trying to get to the bottom of what Joyce was seeing — although Mary were sure it were just in her head. It wouldn't be the first time a parent went mad after the death of a child.