Heartbreak Story - Byler

II - The Snow, It was Falling

"What do you want?" I snapped a little too harshly as my heart sank at the sight of my older sister, Nancy and Will's brother, Jonathan.

Nancy's eyes widened in shock and hurt began to glimmer in them for a moment whilst saying, "Well, that wasn't a very friendly greeting. Jonathan and I were just wondering what was going on down here, you're quieter than usual. We can usually hear you from my bedroom but the only person we can hear now is you, Dustin."

Dustin seemed to glow with pride and Jonathan chuckled at him.

Remorse began to tint my cheeks with a slight blush as I responded, "Sorry, Nance. I didn't mean it to come off that harshly. Yeah, we're all good. Just missing our Cleric."

Jonathan sighed, his disdain in his little brother's choice of partner had been evident to us all from the beginning of Will and Alex's relationship and I found myself respecting him a whole lot more for it. "I get it, he should be here with you right now. I suppose this is still quite a new relationship and he's just excited is all, he'll be back with you in no time when he finally remembers how much you guys mean to him. Just he'll want to spend as much time with Alex as possible at the moment but that will cool off eventually." Then Jonathan began to frown and he whispered, more to himself than to us, "But he really should have called by now."

Terror began to spread throughout my whole body and I felt as my blood turned to ice. "What do you fucking mean, "He really should have called by now?" Haven't you heard from him?" I practically screamed. Joyce knew about Will and Alex and she was happy for them but she still didn't like Will going off without supervision by Jonathan. That meant that every time Will came to my house, Jonathan had to tag along but he didn't mind. It meant more time to spend with his girlfriend, my sister, so he was all for it. Will was the one who hated this predicament, he wanted to be able to spend time alone with his boyfriend, the way any other fifteen year-old would. Will and Joyce got into a huge fight about it about a month ago, the only fight they've ever had as far as I'm aware, but Joyce wouldn't budge. Will then went to his room crying and Jonathan came in and they made the deal. The deal that Jonathan would pretend to be supervising Will but the couple could go off on their own as long as Will promised to find a phone and call Jonathan once an hour so he'd know that he was safe.

Jonathan looked right at me and I could sense the worry radiating from him. The two of us have had a silent connection recently over our mutual dislike of Alex and we've even spoken once about how neither of us trusted him. I had a feeling that Jonathan had figured out why I was so invested in their relationship as well though he'd never asked me about it. "He's been gone for four hours," Jonathan began, talking directly to me, "And he only rang me for the first hour. He said he was having a good time but he hasn't called since."

Suddenly, I forgot how to breathe. Three whole hours and no one had heard from Will when he promised to have called three times in that period. I couldn't respond, I couldn't think straight, all I wanted was for Will to come bounding down the stairs and hold me tight. I would always be safe in those arms.

"I'm sure he's fine." Nancy crooned, gently stroking Jonathan's shoulder and standing on her tip-toes so she could peck him on the forehead. "He is probably just really enjoying himself and he's lost track of time. He'll be in touch."

Slowly, Max climbed off the couch and approached me. Everyone else had been quietly talking amongst themselves about Will and she'd been the only one who'd become aware that I was frozen. Frozen because of Will for the second time that day. Taking my hand in one of her own, she murmured, "Mike, are you okay?" Her touch was gentle despite the fact that her hands were quite rough from fixing her skateboard eighteen times a day. The delicate placing of her hand on mine calmed me as I knew she was almost as worried about Will as I was and she needed me to comfort her right back. Will was like a brother to her.

"Yeah, I just want him to stop being such an idiot and call his damn brother. He probably hasn't even realised he has us all scared senseless. Typical, Will." I laughed, trying to convince myself just as much as everyone else that he was safe. "Thanks, MADMAX." I gave her hand an affectionate squeeze before pulling it away and turning to Eleven. "El, can you find him?"

The curly-haired girl frowned at me and I knew why. We all made a vow to never ask El to use her powers unless it was an emergency as they made her weak and they were painful for her to use. I didn't care, this seemed like an emergency in my opinion. "I can try, I might be a little rusty but I can give it a go."

El was just about to cover her eyes with a makeshift blindfold we had fashioned for her out of one of mine and Nancy's little sister Holly's old dresses when the racket of someone frantically making their way down to the basement disturbed us all and made us jump.

My mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs, anxiety written all over face and she called, "Mike, Jonathan." Both of our heads snapped round to stare at my mom, "I've just got off the phone with Joyce. It's Will, I'm sorry, he's in the hospital. He's badly hurt."

*

Well, well, well. WHY DO BAD THINGS KEEP HAPPENING TO MY SON? POOR, WILL!
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I liked writing the little elements of Jancy, my babies, and my BROTP Will and Max.
Don't hate me but I find it hard to write Eleven as I am of the controversial opinion that I seriously dislike her and I have since episode 1. I'm trying to be nice to her in this, I'll be writing her how I'd like her character to be and not how she actually is or I wouldn't be able to cope. El has changed in these past couple of years and I now don't hate her. That's how I'm dealing with the situation.
I wonder why Will is in the hospital? Alex, do you know something about this?????????????????? Or nah?
Hmm...
And ooooh, two updates today ☺️ I'm proud of me.
Ta ta, see ya later.
- Niamh.