The Vanishing Of Will Byers
The next morning Cat woke up with a bad feeling. She ignored it-deciding to deal with it later- and threw on a black and white stripped t-shirt and a pair of overalls that had hundreds of paint stains on them from when she had redecorated her room. Cat ran out of her room and into the bathroom, shoving Dustin out of the way. Grabbing her toothbrush, she hurriedly squeezed toothpaste on it before shoving it in her mouth to brush her teeth. As she started brushing her teeth, she ran back out of the bathroom and ran down the stairs to the phone, not seeing her brother's confused face. She grabbed the phone off the wall and dialled, pacing back and forth while she waited for the other end to pick up. After a couple of rings, the person at the other end of the phone picked up.
"Jonathan!" Cat greeted her friend down the phone, although you could barely make out what she was saying as her toothbrush was still in her mouth.
"Hey, Cat. What's up? That is you, right?" He asked through the receiver.
Cat ran over to the sink to spit the toothpaste out of her mouth, phone still in hand before she answered. "Yes, it is me. Sorry." She placed her toothbrush next to the sink and begun to run the tap. "For the record, I was brushing my teeth. Also," She stopped running the tap and picked an apple from the fruit bowl, taking a bite from it. "Am I cycling to yours this morning?"
"Yeah sure. I'll give you a lift to school from mine, like usual."
"Sweet. I'll see you soon Byers."
"See you soon, Henderson."
Cat hung up the phone, took another couple of bites from her apple before throwing it in the trash and running back upstairs to her room so she could get her shoes. She grabbed her trainers, shoving her feet into them as quickly as she possibly could before running back out of her room, calling out a goodbye to Dustin and her mom and leaving her house. She shut the front door behind her and hopped onto her bike before racing down the street to the Byers's house, taking no notice of the porch lights flickering on and off.
***
Roughly fifteen minutes later Cat reached the Byers' house and hopped off her bike, leaning it against the wall next to the door. Her fingers pushed the doorbell, signalling her arrival.
"Its open," called a voice from inside the house, which Catherine recognised as Jonathan's. She pushed open the door and saw her friend standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast.
"Well that smells nice. What 'cha making?"
Jonathan turned around and smiled at his friend who had perched herself on the kitchen counter next to the back door. He was about to reply when Joyce Byers' voice rang through the house.
"Where the hell are they?"
Cat looked at Jonathan in confusion. "Keys." He simply said and Cat nodded her head in understanding.
"Jonathan?" Joyce called out from the living room.
"Check the couch!" He suggested.
"Ugh, I did." It was silent for a moment before Joyce announced that she'd found her keys. She walked into the kitchen as Jonathan started dishing up the breakfast he made.
"Hi Mrs. Byers." Cat greeted.
"Oh, hi Catherine. I didn't hear you enter the house." Joyce walked over to the teen and gave her a hug. "And call me Joyce. You practically live here anyway, might as well call me 'mom'."
Cat let out a short laugh as Joyce picked her bag up from the table.
"Okay, sweetie, I will see you tonight." She said to Jonathan. "And I'll probably see you tomorrow morning." She said to Cat.
"Yeah, see you later."
Joyce went to leave but stopped, realising that Will wasn't in the kitchen. "Where's Will?"
"Oh, I didn't get him up yet." He turned around to face Joyce. "He's probably still sleeping."
Joyce sighed. "Jonathan, you have to make sure he's up!"
"Mom, I'm making breakfast."
Joyce walked off down the hall towards Will's room. "I told you this a thousand times." Cat heard Joyce say, "Will! Come on, honey. It's time to get up."
"I think it was pretty late when they left last night so he's probably still really tired. I think Dustin was, although I didn't really see him before I rushed out of the house this morning." Cat said to Jonathan.
Joyce walked back down the hall to the kitchen. "He came home last night, right?"
"He's not in his room?" Jonathan asked.
"Did he come home or not?" Joyce asked her son.
"I don't know." He replied, placing the plates on the table.
"You don't know?"
"No." Jonathan stammered. "I got home late. I was working."
"You were working?"
"Eric asked if I could cover. I said yeah. I just thought we could use the extra cash."
"Jonathan, we've talked about this." Joyce said to him.
"I know, I know."
"You should have called me. I wouldn't have minded babysitting him until you guys got back." Cat spoke.
"You can't take shifts when I'm working." Joyce told her son. "Or at least ring Catherine and ask her to babysit. She wouldn't mind."
"I really don't mind looking after Will. Or any of that lot." Cat added.
"Mom, it's not a big deal. Look, he was at the Wheeler's all day. I'm sure he stayed over."
Both looked over to Catherine who was still sat on their kitchen counter. "He didn't stay over. Not to my knowledge anyway. I cycled with them all home. I even asked Will if he wanted me to cycle back with him to make sure he was okay. He didn't want me to, said he would be fine. But maybe he came back here and grabbed some stuff and headed back to the Wheeler's for the night." She shrugged. "I didn't see his bike outside this morning."
Joyce sighed. "I can't believe you." She walked over to the phone and dialled the number for the Wheeler household.
Cat had another thought. "Or maybe he left extra early this morning and that's why I didn't see his bike out front." Jonathan shrugged as Joyce started speaking into the phone.
"Hi, Karen. It's Joyce." There was silence for a moment as Karen Wheeler spoke on the other end of the phone. "Was that Will I heard back there?" She asked. "Will didn't spend the night?" She was starting to sound worried. Cat shared a look with Jonathan as if to say 'I told you so'. "Um, you know what? I think he just left early for... for school."
Catherine threw her hands up in the air as she whispered to Jonathan, "That's exactly what I suggested." Joyce thanked Karen and hung up the phone. She looked really worried.
"I'm really sorry Joyce." Cat hopped off the counter and walked over to Joyce to give her a hug. "If I'd just have followed him back here, you would know where he is."
Joyce wrapped her arms around the teenager, "It's okay. We'll find him. It isn't your fault."
Cat pulled away from the hug and looked at the clock. "Shit. I've got to go. Jonathan, are you still able to give me a lift today? I mean I could always cycle to school today. Or... or I could stay and help you look for Will?"
"You get to school dear." Joyce told her. "I'm sure if Jonathan drove you you'd get there in time."
Jonathan grabbed his car keys and headed outside to his car, telling his mum that he'd be back soon.
"I'll come by after school. I'm sure Will's fine. He's got to be." Catherine gave Joyce one more hug before rushing outside and jumping into the passenger seat next to Jonathan. She pushed down any guilt that started to bubble up. She should have insisted on walking Will home, then they'd know where he was.
***
Edited: 4/4/2020
Edit 2: 25/5/2021