far too young to die ✰ m.w.

CHAPTER FOUR

The police had found the Byers' on the road and escorted them back to their house. They had one officer outside with the three of them, telling them that Will's body had been found in the quarry. Emily was continually crying into Jonathan and only heard parts of what Joyce was telling the officer. She heard her say something about blinking Christmas lights and a creature coming out of the wall. Some officers, including Hopper, then went inside of the house to look around to see if the house was safe, as Joyce was hesitant to go back in or allow her children in. When the house was cleared, they were all brought inside and Hopper sat the family down to speak with them. Emily was so out-of-touch with reality at that point that she didn't even notice the alphabet painted in black on the wall in the living room, or the absurd amount of Christmas lights hung on that same wall.

"A trooper found something in the, uh... water that's at the quarry," Hopper explained. "Our working theory right now is that Will... crashed his bike, he... made his way over to the quarry and, uh... accidentally fell in. The earth must have given way. Joyce? Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No," Joyce finally responded. "Whoever you found... is not my boy. It's not Will."

"Joyce-"

"No, you don't understand. I talked to him... a half hour ago." She walked over to a sort of compartment in the wall and opened it, taking out a bundle of Christmas lights. "He was... he was here. He was... he was talking with these."

"Talking?"

"Uh huh. One blink for yes, two for no. And... and, uh... and then I made this so he could talk to me." She motioned at the Christmas lights and the alphabet on the wall. "'Cause he was hiding... from that... that thing."

"The thing that came out of the wall? The thing that chased you?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

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

"No, maybe he's- It's after him! He's in danger! We have to find him! We-"

"What exactly was this thing?" Hopper asked her. "It was some kind of animal, you said?"

"Uh, no, it was... it was almost... human, but it wasn't. It- it had these long arms and it didn't have a face."

Jonathan didn't want to hear any more. "Come on, we don't have to listen to this," he said to Emily. She could hear his voice trembling as he cried and it just made her want to cry even more.

Jonathan took her to her bedroom and she sat down on her bed. He closed the door to help drown out their mother's rambling and sat down next to her.

"Shouldn't I have known?" Emily said in a weak voice. "Shouldn't I have felt something? I mean... I'm his twin. I... I was so sure he was alive."

"Don't talk like that," Jonathan told her. "You couldn't have seen this coming. Your mind wouldn't have gone there. We all thought he was alive. None of this is your fault at all, you got that?"

After a moment, Emily nodded and began to sob again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

At some point during the night, Emily had cried herself to sleep with Fleetwood Mac playing on her boombox. However, her sleep was full of nightmares, so when Jonathan woke her up at 8 o'clock the next morning, she felt like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all.