Worlds Turned Upside Down: Will Byers x Reader

Chapter Seventeen: Accidents Happen

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Mr. (L/N) and Jonathan Byers both stand in front of the smallest coffin they have ever seen.
After the incident at the coroner's office, they headed straight to the funeral home, trying to get closure as soon as possible by getting the funerals over with. Secretly, Jonathan felt a bit relieved to have an adult there with him, honestly, he has no idea what he's doing.
The funeral home's director talks in detail about wood and it's color. Both men have no idea what to do in this kind of situation, so they both idly listen.
"Uh, now, I...I don't know what your budget is, but over here, we...we have copper and bronze," The funeral director says, mostly targeting Jonathan because the Byers happen to be less wealthy. The men follow the director aimlessly, not interested at all in the materials he's been speaking about.
A young girl, know as Nancy Wheeler, steps into the parlor. She looks shyly up at Jonathan. "Can you just give me a second?" Jonathan asks, his voice hoarse.
"Of course," The man responds politely. Mr. (L/N) has had to use the bathroom for a while now and doesn't really want to be left alone with the director, so he decides to use that as an excuse to give himself a break, "Yeah, and I'm gonna go use the men's room."
"Yes, sir. It's down that hall to the right.
"Thanks."

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Mr. (L/N) comes out of the bathroom and hears the two teenagers having a quiet conversation around the corner. It sounds serious. He leans against the wall and begins to eavesdrop.
"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" The girl asks.
"No," Jonathan responds timidly, probably nervous to be talking to a girl, "And she was there one second and then um...gone. I figured she bolted."
"The cops think that she ran away," The girl pauses dolefully, "But, they don't know Barb. And I went back to Steve's...and I thought I...saw something. Some...weird man or...I don't know what it was," There's a long pause. Mr. (L/N) is very interested in the teens' conversation now. His eyebrows are furrowed, and he's listening intently to every word. "I'm sorry. I...I shouldn't have come here today. I'm..." Nancy stands up and turns towards the exit. Mr. (L/N) backs up a little, getting ready to walk towards the two nonchalantly as if he'd just come out of the bathroom. "I'm so sorry—"
"What'd he look like?" Jonathan asks her bluntly. Nancy stops and turns back towards Jonathan. (Y/N)'s father stays put.
"What?"
"This man you saw in the woods. What'd he look like?"
"I don't...I don't know," Nancy stammers, "It was almost like he...he didn't have—"
"Didn't have a face?" Jonathan is asking Nancy the question but his tone suggests that he knows what he's saying. Mr. (L/N) feels his heart leap as he realizes a terrifying similarity.
"How did you know that?" The girl asks seriously. But, Mr. (L/N) doesn't need to listen any longer, he knows exactly what Jonathan Byers knows. This is the thing his wife was talking about. It can't be real. They're just teenagers being teenagers. They probably know he's there listening. This is a prank. This whole thing is a prank. It has to be. Everything is so surreal right now, how can this be reality.
He walks out into the open and clears his throat. Screw this. He heads for the door and makes his way to the closest pub, searching for some alcohol that'll soothe his troubles. Temporarily.

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Mr. (L/N) walks into the pub. He heads over to the bar and the bartender begins to prepare his usual beverage. He sits on a stool and begins to watch the sports game, however, a familiar voice makes it's way to his ears. "To Sarah," Two men clink their drinks together and take a sip. Mr. (L/N) turns around to see Chief Hopper and another man, who looks somewhat familiar, but he isn't sure why. In similar fashion to what he did to Nancy and Jonathan, Mr. (L/N) tunes into the men's conversation.
"I recognize you," The Chief says to the other man knowingly, "Are you famous or somethin'?"
"Uh, you might have seen me on TV, I, uh...I found that Byers boy...and that girl too," Mr. (L/N) feels another dangerous flood of adrenaline spike through his body at the mention of his daughter. He came here to get away from that, not to delve deeper into it. The bartender sets the drink in front of him and he takes a long swig of it.
"So, you on that case or what?" Hopper pretends to be oblivious. What's he doing?
"I just saw them on patrol, you know? Dumb luck."
"So that quarry, that's, uh...that's state-run, where they found the kids, huh?"
"Yeah," There's a long pause. All Mr. (L/N) wants to do is sit, drink, and watch the game with the other men like normal. But, he knows Hopper's working an angle, so he probably shouldn't get in the way. Besides, this conversation seems to be going somewhere a bit more interesting than the game.
"Yeah, well, that's funny," Hopper's chuckles are painfully fake, "'Cause, you know, I know for a fact that it's run by the Sattler Company," Hopper now uses a tougher and more serious tone, "Frank Sattler? Decent guy, still got a couple operational quarries up in Roane."
"Is that right?"
"Yeah. That's right. So, why're you lying to me, man?" Mr. (L/N) feels obvious tension present in their conversation. He doesn't know why the Chief is so angry with this guy. All he did was lie about who owned the quarry. What's the big deal?
"What's your problem, bud?" O'Bannon, the quarry worker, asks Hopper, who he doesn't know is the Hawkins Chief of Police.
"I don't have a problem. I'm just a concerned citizen."
"Yeah? Well stick your nose someplace else," Hostility lines O'Bannon's voice, "The kids are dead. End of story. He stands up. "Thanks for ruining the game, d*ck," Mr. (L/N) watches O'Bannon stomp out the door. A second later, Hopper follows after. Obviously, Mr. (L/N) does too.

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Slowly, (Y/N)'s father comes up to the corner of the brick building. He hears a fist hitting thick skin and O'Bannon grunting. Someone's getting the sh*t beat outta them. "What were you doing out there?"
"I don't know! I don't know," O'Bannon yells fearfully, "They...They just told me to call it in and not let anybody get too close."
"Get close to what?"
"The bodies," Mr. (L/N) furrows his eyebrows. What is going on! His daughter is dead. He saw her dead. So, why is 'everyone' in Hawkins saying otherwise.
"Who do you work for? The NSA? Hawkins Lab?" A black Sedan in the parking lot starts it's engine, "Who is that?"
"You're gonna get us both killed."
"Who is that?" Hopper runs at the car, "Hey! Hey!" The car speeds away as Hopper pulls out his gun. O'Bannon flees, injured, around the corner, seeing (Y/N)'s father leaning against the brick wall around the corner. He makes eye contact with him for a second, but continues to hobble away as quickly as he can.
"What the h*ll is going on," Mr. (L/N) yells at the Police Chief as he turns the corner of the pub. Hopper looks at him, exasperated, but his expression changes as he gets an idea. If someone's gonna help him, this is the man for the job.

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Thank you guys so much for the reads! I'm really glad you're enjoying my writing and I hope it brings you to another state of mind while reading it. I plan to get through season one more quickly so I'm going to try to upload each week! I'm sorry if I'm not able to stay true to that statement but I really hope I will be. It's almost summer after all! Have a great week ~WoodCeiling♥︎

*THE CHARACTERS, THEME, AND SOME DIALOGUE BELONG TO STRANGER THINGS AND THE DUFFER BROTHERS*