Chapter Text
Karen was drinking her nightly cup of tea when she heard the loud rapping on the door over the noise of the storm outside. Odd, she couldn't remember inviting anyone at this time of night. She called out to her husband who was laying on their La-Z-Boy reclining chair, which Karen sometimes joked he loved more than he loved his own children, "Ted, honey, could you please get that?"
No response. Typical.
In hopes of waking him, she asked a little louder this time, to no avail, "Darling, I've just sat down. Could you go see who's at the door?"
He only snored in return. Karen groaned as she got up from her spot and reminisced, trying to pinpoint when exactly her husband became so careless towards anything that wasn't his recliner or the television. It was truly getting to an unbearable point and every time she would try bringing it up, he would change the subject in such a childish manner that made her wonder how she even ended up marrying him in the first place.
Karen immediately shoved down the impetuous thoughts; they were too much, even for her.
Another knock came, bringing her back to reality.
"Coming!" She hollered.
She turned the doorknob and pulled. What stood at the threshold was what she least expected; it was little Will Byers, shivering and drenched in the water pouring from the sky. She couldn't differentiate the seemingly two dissimilar streams of water falling from his face; as in, what were tears and what were just raindrops. She didn't hesitate for a moment longer to usher the small boy inside.
She quickly came to the conclusion that something must be very wrong for Will Byers to be having to do something of this nature because Will was a good kid. Not once had Karen or any other of Mike's friends' mothers ever complained about him, including his own. He was sweet-natured and very polite–the type of kid who would stay behind to clean up the aftermath of every playdate. For these exact reasons, she hadn't thought for a moment the boy was at fault at all.
She was loosely aware of the Byers' unfortunate situation at home although she wasn't in frequent contact with Joyce like she had once been.
Even back in high school, Karen had her suspicions about Lonnie. She felt guilty for not warning Joyce sometimes for now she knew how awful he could get. Karen was genuinely scared every time she would visit their place. Lonnie could do absolutely nothing but stand in the room yet Karen would feel uneasy throughout as if he were actively contaminating the air. It was an unspoken obligation to walk on eggshells around him or he might have snapped–it was obvious to Karen the first time she paid them a visit as a married couple. This led to fewer and fewer visits until it came to a point where she cut off communication indefinitely. That was until Michael happened to befriend Joyce's youngest on their fateful first day of kindergarten.
When the two women reconnected, nothing much was new in the Byers household except the fact that now there were children who acted strangely around their father as well–especially Will, she barely recognized him within his own walls. He wasn't the constantly smiling sweetheart she had the privilege of knowing. And every single time, out of the scarce amount she had dropped by in the past few years, it seemed like Joyce's eyes screamed out for help and once she even thought she spotted a bruise on her arm. But Karen chose to ignore it, to make up excuses to herself; telling herself she wasn't in the position to judge anyone's relationship when she couldn't even sort out her own, which was partially true, of course but if Will was actually hurt this time, she couldn't turn away a blind eye.
"Can I talk to Mike?" Will asked timidly, calling Karen back to the present. "...Please?"
"Oh, of course, honey. But we should get you a change of clothes first, don't you think?"
"No it's okay, I- I brought my own!"
Karen looked down at the sad, wet sack of clothing in his hands, "Sweetie, they're soaked."
She bent over and took the bag into her own hands and Will only averted his eyes.
Karen put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm going to put these in the tumble dryer and get Michael to lend you something for tonight."
"No, no, he doesn't need to do that for me," Will mumbled in response, revealing his usual unpresuming nature.
Karen still persisted. She wasn't going to let him get sick, her maternal instincts wouldn't allow it even when the child wasn't her own. Besides, this was Will–an honorary Wheeler, as Nancy sometimes teased.
"Don't worry your little head about it, sweetie," Karen had already started walking up the stairs. "I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you!"
She got to the top of the stairs, strutted down the hall and knocked on Michael's door a few times, with each getting louder before he actually opened it.
"What is it?"
"Honey, um- Will is here, he wants to talk to you. But-"
"Will's here?" He interrupted, clearly ready to race down the stairs to see him.
The way her son's face lit up when she mentioned Will's name made her smile before she had to explain the unpleasant nature of the visit.
"Yes, but," she lowered her voice quite drastically. "I don't think he's feeling all too well."
"Oh, he's sick?"
"No, hon, I mean-" Karen crouched down to the boy's level and placed both her hands on his cheeks. "I think something happened at home that made him really upset and he came here to talk to you . He trusts you and he loves you very much, I know it. You're his best friend and he trusts you, understand?"
Michael nodded his head.
Karen was on the verge of tears at this point but continued, "So promise me you're going to do the best you can to help him. He deserves it."
"Oh- Okay!"
"Good boy," Karen remarked as she kissed her son on the forehead.
" Mom, " he groaned. "Gross."
"Okay, okay," Karen sighed in response. "Just one more?"
"Nooo!" Mike laughed. "Let me see Will now!"
"You find a pair of clothes to lend him, I'll let him know you're coming."
Mike nodded excitedly. It was nice to see him happy in such a childlike manner; not too long ago, she noticed that he hadn't been acting like one. He was more solemn as of late. He didn't do the things he liked to do and ramble on about them so openly anymore. Although he did still manage to make smartass remarks towards his sister every night at suppertime. But still, he was generally quieter now and she had been notified by his teachers that they suspected Michael and his friends may be experiencing some bullying. It was all alleged but internally she begged to know what had been going on with him. It was difficult, though. Karen didn't want Mike to feel she was the scrutinising type. She wanted him to know that he could come to her on his own terms and inform her when something was wrong.
Additionally, she thought that the task should be left to Ted. Some father-and-son time might've done Michael some good if Ted could just get off his ass for once. At the end of the day, she feared Mike would grow up too quickly for others' approval–a mistake she had once made herself.
She walked back downstairs to find Will had fallen asleep on the table, his head tucked into his crossed arms. She didn't want to startle him but at the same time, she did need to speak to him about the whole situation. She also recalled how urgently he wanted to see Mike so she gently ruffled his wet hair. Luckily, it seemed Will was a light sleeper for he awoke with that gesture instantaneously. He rubbed his eyes before looking up and facing Karen.
"Oh! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Wheeler."
"No worries.. and please, you can call me Karen," she insisted. "Mike will be down in a minute and with a pair of pyjamas for you."
"Oh, Okay. Thank you." Will replied somberly.
"Will, honey, would it be alright if we have a little talk before he gets down here though?" She felt the need to clarify, noticing Will's energy. "You're not in trouble."
"F-fine" he murmured.
"Great. Firstly… Do either of your parents know you're here?"
The boy shook his head.
"Alright. Can you tell me why you came here?"
Will only shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"You know what? I'm sorry, that was too straightforward," Karen sighed. "Is there anything you're comfortable sharing with me? Really, anything at all. Just something that can help me help you, hon."
Will nodded in response, very slowly, with eyes fixated on the floor.
"Great! I'm all ears."
"Well.. my dad. H-he- well, both my mom and my dad were yelling at each other. And then I.." Will stopped there, clearly unable to continue.
"Okay, okay. That was good enough, thank you for being so brave, sweetie."
He looked up and smiled.
"Now, do you think it would be okay to call your mom? She's probably very worried about you."
"It depends."
"On what?"
"If Dad's around or not."
Karen lowered her head ever so slightly, gesturing to Will that she understood and furthermore, was sympathetic.
"Will!" A voice rang out, disturbing the quiet.
Will politely waved to Mike–who was standing at the bottom of the stairs–while he kept his position at the table; like the good boy he was. Not even a moment later, Mike ran over to him, overwhelmingly hyper as usual but in the purest way possible.
Mike started running his mouth at the speed of light, "Hey, look, I brought you my best pair of pyjamas! They've got the Batman logo all over them! I know you prefer Superman but I don't have any Superman stuff… anyways, you're sleeping over, right? I just got a huge shipment of comics the other day and I haven't even gotten around to reading any of them yet! So-"
Karen was aware that Mike only meant well but it seemed his friend was a tad startled by all of this information being shot at him all at once so she quickly intervened, "Michael, honey, why don't you slow down?"
"M'kay." He sighed. "Hey, um. Do you wanna take a shower, maybe?"
"Yeah, I guess. Thanks."
Mike took the other boy by the hand and together they made their way up the stairs. Karen was positive that Will would be taken care of as he should be; she was almost jealous of the pair's special bond. She always hoped they would stay close for years to come.
When Karen no longer heard the boys within range, she picked up the phone receiver and dialled the Byers' number. Shakily. She waited about thirty seconds of ringing in her ear and with every second that passed, she contemplated hanging up. But she reassured herself that this was the right thing to do; a thing she had to do. She had to do something, she couldn't allow herself to keep silent any longer. It got tiring after all this time.
"Hello?" A quiet voice answered. It wasn't Joyce though; it was much too deep of a voice to be a woman yet much too soft to be a man's.
"Jonathan, Is that you? It's Mrs. Wheeler speaking. Is mom home?"
The silence that followed was deafening. The only noises that could be heard were supposedly Jonathan's stifled breaths and the static between phone lines.
"Jonathan?"
"Y-yeah she's here." He stuttered.
"Can I talk to her?"
"I'll go get her, hang on a moment."
The silence that lasted a minute or two had Karen worried. Then she heard footsteps; a good sign, hopefully.
"Hello?" Came the familiar voice through the receiver.
" Hi . Hi, Joyce."
"Karen? Oh my goodness, hey ."
"Before you worry yourself about anything; Will is here."
"Oh, he is? Gosh, I- well, I just can't thank you enough. Oh, I hope my baby's okay."
"He's good now, he's good. He's with Mike."
"Oh, that's great. I'm just- I'm so sorry for all this. I'll be there to pick him up tomorrow."
"No, no. Don't worry about it. He can stay as long as he wants." Karen took a long pause, listening to Joyce's suppressed sobs as she started tearing up herself. "He deserves it… he's a good kid."
"He is. He is. He's such a good b oy. He didn't- he didn't-" Joyce then broke into an awful wail.
"It's alright. I know." Karen was trying to offer all the comfort one could through a telephone line.
"Thank you so much, you don't know how much it means to me, Karen."
"It's alright, Joyce. Everything is going to be alright." She repeated.
"Okay well- thank you again. I'll let you know if I'll be able to pick him up after school tomorrow or not."
"You mean… if it's safe at home for him or not?" Karen instantly regretted asking.
"...Yeah, exactly." Joyce sighed.
"Goodness, I'm- I'm so sorry," Karen paused. "If there is anything else I can do… I'm only a phone call away. I mean it."
"You're a good friend. The best, really."
"No worries… But- what about Jonathan, is he holding up?"
"He's okay. I insisted he go to sleep at a friend's but- he wants to stay at home."
"He's a real Mama's Boy, that one, huh?"
"Mhm. They're both such good boys… I don't know what I did to deserve them." Joyce sniffed.
"You deserve the world, Joyce. I don't know why you settled for anything less." Karen replied, the 'less' being in reference to Lonnie. She hoped Joyce caught on to that.
"Thank you, Karen. I should get going now… I should be cleaning up and such. Good night."
"'Night. Keep me up to date."
"Of course."
The line went silent and Karen felt a sort of unexplainable emptiness inside. She then glanced over at her husband, seeking something from him but he was still fast asleep in his chair.