Act 16: Singing

At the Byer house, Living room. Time: Night . . . .

There was indistinct chatter coming from all over the house as policemen searched the house and around the area for the creature Joyce saw earlier. Powell was touching the wall where Joyce the monster come out of, "This the wall she was talking about, chief?" However, Hopper wasn't paying the slightest attention to the man as he stood with Joyce near the couch. 

To joyce, everything sounded distorted, muffled. Like she was underwater or something was covering her ears. She felt numb, there was no way this was happening. She thought as Hopper continued speaking to her, trying to be as delicate as possible with his words. 

"A trooper found something in the, uh . . .  water thats at the quarry. Our working theory right now is that Will . . .  crashed his bike, he . . . made his way over the quarry and, uh . . . accidentally fell in. The earth must have given way" Hopper paused his words when he realised that Joyce didn't seem to be paying attention to what he was saying. 

He placed his hand on her shoulder, "Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?" He asked her, speaking softly yet with a firm attitude that succeeded in grasping Mrs. Byers' attention, She turned her head to him. Her body was shaking wilding, "No. Whoever you found . . .  is not my boy- - -It's not Will" Joyce shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her chest with one arm grasping her hair. 

Hopper sighed softly, it was almost inaudible, "Joyce- - -"N-No, you don't understand. I talked to him . . .a-a half hour ago. *Sniffled* He was . . . He was here. He w-was . . .  He was talking with these. . . " Joyce grabbed a tangled up mess of christmas lights. Hopper raised his eyebrow at what she said, "Talking?" He voiced his confusion to the mess of a woman, "Uh-Huh. One blink for yes, two for no. and . . .  and uh . . .a-and then I made this so he could talk to me 'cause he was hiding. . .  from that . . . that thing" Joyce tried her absolute best to explain what had happened but she found herself stuttering and stammering as she explained ehr story. 

"The thing that came out the wall? The thing that chased you?" Hopper clarified, rubbing his temple to relieve the slight pain he had begun to feel. Joyce nodded her head, "Yeah" Jonathan had walked in when their conversation had started and felt now a good time to intervene. 

"Mom, come on, Please. You've gotta stop this" Jonathan told her, resting his right hand on her left shoulder. Joyce just shook the hand away, "No, maybe he's . . . It's after him! He's in danger. We have to find him! We- - - " Hopper cut her off mid sentence, hoping to derail this conversation away from the way it was headed. 

"What exactly was this thing? It was some kind of animal, you said?" He was quite successful in changing the subject seeing as joyce took the bait and stopped talking about the lights, "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" Joyce stammered as she tried describing the creature she saw earlier. 

However, Hopper didn't believe what she was saying. It was obvious why. Joyce knew it too, she sounded crazy and ridiculous but thats what she saw. 

"It didn't have a face? . . .  Joyce" He sighed softly, knowing that everything was just taking its toll on the woman. Her son went missing, then later found drowned in a quarry. Joyce was obviously not pleased with the fact that no one believed her, "It didn't have a face. . ." She muttered almost desperately, using both her hands to pull on her hair. 

Hopper rubbed his face with his hands, "Joyce, listen to me." Joyce turned her head to Hopper, who took that as a sign to continue speaking, "Listen to me. Afte Sarah. . .  I saw her too. And I heard her. I didn't know what was real. And then I figured out that it was in my mind. And I had to pack all that away. Otherwise, I was gonna fall down a hole . .  that I couldn't get out of" Hopper's face fell from annoyance to sorrow as he recounted what had happened to him. All those painful things, All those horrible things he saw and heard. All of it. 

Joyce, she knew of all the things Hopper went through with his daughter but what he was talking about and she was talking about were two totally different things. She shook her head, "No, You're .. . . you're talking about grief. This is different" She knew the difference between the two, she had felt her fair hare of grief and grief felt nothing like this. She saw Will, She talked to him. She wasn't hallucinating and It wasn't just in her mind. 

"I'm just saying that you- - -"No, I know what you're saying, Hop" Her had gone hoarse, "I swear to you, I know what I saw. *Sniffle* And I'm not crazy" She wiped away her tears as she half-glared in Hopper's direction, Hopper let out a low huff, "I'm not saying you're crazy" But Joyce had once again shook her head in anger and irritation. 

"No . . .  Y-You are. A-And I understand, but . . .  God, I . . .  I need you to believe me. Please . . " Her voice started getting quieter and Quieter, until it was barely above a whisper, "Please" She begged, rubbing her arms to warm herself up a bit. Her shoulders were still shaking a little bit, and Although her tears had stopped, her eyes were red. She truly looked like a mess, she hadn't slept, nor taken proper care of herself in a few days. 

Hopper pulled Joyce into a loose hug, "Listen. . .  I think you should go down to the morgue tomorrow and see him for yourself. It'll give you the answers that you need. But tonight . . . " He trailed off a bit, hearing Joyce gasp a little as tears rolled down her cheeks again, ". . . .I want you to try to get some sleep, If you can" Hopper heard joyce sniffle before he left her to Jonathan, leaving the house with the other officers. They all crowded into their cars, driving off. 

At the Wheeler's house, living room. Time: Night . . . 

The T.V was on, Karen and Ted wheeler were watching it with frowns on their faces. More so Karen than Ted but either way, they both felt upset as they listened to the news anchor speak into a microphone with the quarry behind her.

"Byer's body and another unidentified body was found in the water of this quarry by the state police earlier this evening. They were discovered by state trooper david O'Bannon, just after dark. The state police are mounting an investigation to determine the both boy's cause of death, but an initial inquiry . . .  " The reporter continued talking indistinctly as The Wheeler's turned away from the Tv. 

Ted looked at his wife, "Should I go down and talk to Michael?" But Karen just shook her head, "Give him time. He'll come to us when he's ready" She said before turning her attention back to the Tv. Ted doing the same. 

At The Wheeler's house, Basement. Time: Night . . . . 

Mike was sitting on the couch that was rested against the wall, His gaze was lowered to his lap as tear stains were left on his cheeks. He kept hearing the static crackling from the radio that El and Lev were messing with in the fort. 

Twelve was currently lying on his stomach while Eleven was currently messing with the radio, changing the channels every few seconds. She and Lev were taking turns with it, to try and convince Mike that Will was still alive. It was starting to Irritate Mike, he couldn't take much more of that incessant noise. 

The feedback was whining every so often, Finally Mike just had enough. He settled his gaze on El and Lev, "Can you please stop that?" He groaned, running his fingers through his hair as he slumped forward a bit on the couch. Eleven looked up at him with narrowed eyes before returning it to the walkie-talkie, She turned it off before turning it on a second later. 

She poked Twelve on the shoulder, making him sit up and look over at her. She handed the walkie-talkie over to him, nodding her head for him to try and connect with Will. He took it with a soft smile before he concentrated on the crackling, static noises coming from the machine in his hands. Eleven then wiped away the blood coming from her nose as she turned her attention to Mike. 

Mike huffed as he turned his head to the side to look at the siblings, "Are you deaf? I thought we were friends, you know? But friends tell each other the truth. And they definitely don't lie to each other. You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there. But he wasn't. He wasn't!" Mike had stood up from the couch and glared heatedly at the pair as he continued shouting, "Maybe you thought you were helping, but you weren't. You hurt me. Do you understand? What you did sucks. Lucas was right about you. All along" Mike's voice got quieter and quieter before he eventually sighed, sitting back down on the couch with tears in his eyes. 

Twelve didn't like seeing Mike cry, He didn't like seeing anyone cry but He hated it when he saw Mike cry. He didn't know why but it just made him even more motivated to show him that Will was still alive. He didn't like the things Mike said to them but He knew that Mike was sad. Eleven had taught him what sad meant when they were younger. 

It was back at the lab, they had seen another child in the rainbow room that Papa would often put them in. The child was a young girl that was older than them both, she had dark skin and black hair that was put into two braids. 

She was playing all by herself, there was no one else in there with her except them. So Eleven brought them over to her, and soon enough they were all playing happily together. They had learned that she was #8, She was brought her a few years after El and Lev. Eleven did most of the talking, for both of them. Thankfully, Eight understood her broken speech. She was kind to the two of them. They both liked her, so whenever Papa put them in that room, They were happy that they could play with their friend. She taught them a bit about the outside. Though Lev didn't quite understand as much as Eleven did, He still enjoyed their talks. 

Until one day, A woman with blonde hair came into the room. The three children stopped playing with the toys in their hands. The woman burst into tears when she saw them, she advanced a bit to try and pull El and Lev into a hug. She called them weird names, "Jane" and "Elliot" However before she even touch them, she got dragged away by two guards. She was screaming and crying for the two of them as her voice got further and further away. Twelve had non-verbally asked Eleven why that woman was crying. But Eleven didn't know either so Eight explained that she was sad. For what reason, none of them knew. 

Twelve was suddenly pulled out of thought when he heard someone sing shakily over the radio, He channelled the sound and finally connected the radio to Will, He was singing a song. Twelve had never heard it before: "So come on and let me know. Should I stay or should I go? Should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble. If i stay it will be double" He watched Mike quickly jump out his seat and rush over to the fort. He kneeled down quickly, Twelve then handed the walkie-talkie over to him. He did it, He reached Will. He made Mike happy, and that made him happy, for some reason. 

[A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I've been running low on inspiration so I might update less than before but I'll still update as I love this story. I'll also be fixing some chapters and editing them. Enjoy and Thanks!!]