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Billy’s not there when they get back to the Byers’ house, but Max doesn’t think much of it. All the adrenaline from the night’s events and revelations has left her, and now she’s tired all the way down to her bones.
If anything, she’s grateful Billy’s already left because at least he won’t be starting any more fights or arguments, and Max can just climb into Chief Hopper’s car and get driven home.
She figures Billy must’ve walked home, because when Neil opens the door to their new house on Cherry he doesn’t ask after Billy. Max’ mum rushes past him and wraps her arms around Max, pressing her tight against her chest and admonishing her, telling her she can,
“Never do that again, you hear me, Maxine? You can’t just leave the house without telling anyone where you’re going, oh, god, we were so, so worried, do you understand? You’re grounded, until- until Christmas! God, Max! I thought something horrible had happened to you! You can’t be out this late. You have school in the morning!”
Above her, the Chief telling Neil that Max had been with her new friends at the Byers’ house when Will Byers, yes, the boy who got lost in the woods last year, that’s him, well, he got sick and see, the Chief is friends with his mother so she called him, and he took the kids back to his place and then it all got very confused about who was going to sleep over and who wasn’t, and yes, he understands they were worried and is very sorry, and no, it won’t happen again, now have a good night.
He leaves, and Max is yelled at a little bit more, is hugged tighter, and has her punishment reiterated once more, before she’s allowed to make her way to bed. She’s half expecting Billy to stick his head out of his room and watch smugly, but his bedroom door remains closed. Max thinks it’s a goddamn miracle he’s able to sleep through this.
She brushes her teeth in the tub while the shower spray hits her back, washing off the grime and dust of the tunnels. Then it’s straight to bed where she collapses, too exhausted for any nightmares to find her.
—
She’s shaken awake by her mother only a few hours later.
Max turns on her side and pulls the duvet over her head.
She hears her mother sigh, exasperated, before the duvet is pulled back down.
“None of that now, Maxine,” Susan says. “I’m going to have to drive you to school early, or I’ll be late for work.”
Max groans. She’s too tired for the strangeness of that statement to really register. It takes until she’s standing by the front door and pulling on her jacket, a sandwich sticking out of her mouth, for her brain to turn back on.
She stares at Billy’s still closed bedroom door and blinks. Then she takes her sandwich out of her mouth and turns to her mother, who is in the middle of unlocking the front door.
“Why isn’t Billy driving me to school?”
Max can’t see her face, but she sounds frustrated. “He never came home last night.”
Susan pushes the door open and gestures for her to hurry outside.
Max does so, glancing back at her as they run down to her car. “What?”
Susan throws the driver’s side door open and climbs in, Max quickly following on the passenger side. She’s given her mum’s purse to hold. Susan doesn’t actually reply until she’s pulled out onto the street, and they’re driving just below the speed limit to Hawkins Middle.
“He was going to go on a date when we came home last night and realised you were gone. Neil sent him to look for you, but since he never came home, well. He must’ve decided to go on that date anyway.”
Her mum isn’t one to get angry, especially not at Billy. She usually leaves that to Neil. Max asked her why once, after she’d come to her when Billy had broken one of her toys, and all Susan did was tell Billy to be careful when he played with her in the future. ‘He’s Neil’s kid, and you’re mine,’ she’d said. ‘And one day you’ll be both of ours, but our family is still very new right now.’
Max had understood. They had only been living together for two months, after all.
But Susan sounds angry now.
She glances at Max before turning her eyes back on the road. “You never did see him last night, did you, Max?”
Max thinks about the fight Billy started when she wouldn’t follow him back home, the fight that only ended because Max grabbed a syringe and a nail bat and makes a split second decision.
“No,” she says.
—
“The school called me at work today,” Max hears her mother say the next day.
She’s sat at her desk, doing homework, but the she’d left her bedroom door ajar and she can clearly hear Neil and Susan over the sound of the TV in the living room.
Billy didn’t come home last night either, and he wasn’t there this morning, and Max is honestly starting to freak out a little.
“I didn’t know what to say,” Susan continues. “I felt horrible. Neil… Maybe we should call the police.”
There’s a muted sound that might be Neil scoffing. “Please, Susie,” he says. “It’s a tantrum, that’s all. It’s not the first time he’s refused to come home. He’s hiding out a friend’s house. Maybe he did look for Maxine, maybe he didn’t. Either way, he didn’t find her, and now he’s being too much of a pussy to dare come and face his punishment.”
“He missing school. He always gets himself to school, Neil, even if he doesn’t come home. He doesn’t skip.”
“He knows better,” Neil agrees. “How about this. If he’s not home for dinner, we’ll eat, and then I’ll drive around and look for his car. God knows it’s not hard to miss.”
“Thank you,” Susan says, and then there’s a wet noise that Max realises means they’re kissing.
She makes a disgusted face and tunes them out, focusing back on her homework.
Billy isn’t there for dinner. And he’s still not there by the time they’ve finished and Neil’s fishing out his car keys to go look for him.
Max realises she doesn’t actually know what happened to the Camaro. They got it back to the Byers’ house, but after that? It could still be there, for all Max knows.
She thinks about calling one of the guys and asking, but her mum would hear her, so she doesn’t dare. Instead she sits in the dining room and watches the street, waiting for either Neil or Billy to appear. It starts pouring rain ten minutes in, the fat drops hitting the window and obscuring the view outside.
Neil’s gone for a whole hour. When he comes home, he tells them he didn’t find Billy or his car, and then he turns to Max mum and tells her they’ll call the police in the morning if he’s still not back home.
—
“Billy’s missing,” Max tells the party - or, well, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin, because Will’s been off ‘sick’ while he recovers from being de-possessed - in the science classroom the next day. The rest of their class is still in the cafeteria, eating, and Mr. Clarke hasn’t come in yet. “Was his car still there when you guys left the Byers’?”
“Yeah,” Mike says. “And it was still there yesterday when I went to see Will.”
“My stepdad drove around and looked for him yesterday, but he couldn’t find him. He went to the police station this morning.”
“Shit,” Lucas says.
Dustin shrugs. “Maybe he got eaten? By the demodogs?” he offers, as though that’s somehow helpful.
Max swats at him. “Don’t say that!”
“He’s an asshole!”
“He’s still my brother! He can’t be dead.”
Guilt gnaws at her. Billy hadn’t been there when they came back, and none had speared him a second thought, and maybe Dustin is right, and Billy’s gone and died. It will be their fault if he is dead.
Max feels sick with herself.
“He tried to kill Steve!” Dustin insists.
And sick with her friends, too, if she’s honest.
“Yeah? Well you were yelling at him to kill Billy! Don’t think I didn’t hear, I was right there! What if he is dead, what if- “
“Whoa,” a new, adult, voice says, stopping them in their tracks. They all turn to see Mr. Clarke has stepped into the classroom. He puts his bag down on the desk up front with a low thud and turns to face them, arms crossed over his chest. “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on in here? Max? Dustin? Anyone?”
Max is breathing hard, and her face feels flushed and hot with anger and panic and fear and guilt. She opens her mouth to say something, but instead gags over the sudden lump in her throat and starts crying.
“Oh. Oh, Maxine,” Mr Clarke says. He pushes himself away from the desk and comes to crouch beside her. “What’s wrong?”
“Her step-brother’s missing,” Lucas says.
Max can feel the guys all staring at her. She tries to calm down, she wipes her cheeks and tries to get the tears to stop falling, but more just keep forming.
“How long has he been missing, Max?” Mr. Clarke asks, his voice turned gentle and soothing the way only teachers seem able to.
“He was- He was supposed to go look for me on Saturday, I… I went to go hang out with the guys without telling anyone, and he didn’t- He didn’t come home and he hasn’t come home since and- and- and what if he’s dead? ”
“Oh, Max. I’m sure he isn’t dead.”
“It’s been three days,” Max says. “You can only survive without water for three days. You’re a science teacher, you know that’s true.”
She doesn’t dare look up and see the expression on Mr. Clarke’s face. His voice sounds strained when he repeats, “I’m sure he isn’t dead.”
Max shakes her head with a sob.
“Alright,” Mr. Clarke says, standing up. “I’m going to call your mother and ask her to come pick you up, and-“
“No!” Max says, jumping out of her seat. She wipes her cheeks again. “She’s probably at the police station with my stepdad, I’ll be fine, I promise, I-“
“Okay,” Mr. Clarke says. “How old is your step-brother?”
“Seventeen.”
“Then he probably has a car, right? He might’ve driven somewhere, and-“
“He doesn’t have his car,” Mike interrupts. “It’s outside Will’s house.”
Mr. Clarke frowns. “Why is it-?” Then he stops himself and shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. I’m sure the Chief will be getting a search party together. It’s what we did last year when Will got lost in the woods. I’ll call the police station after school and tell them I’d like to help look, alright?”
Max nods, sniffling, and he claps her on the shoulder.
“We’ll find him.”
—
Jonathan hadn’t expected his Wednesday afternoon to go quite like this.
To be fair, he hadn’t had any big expectations for it either. He’d thought it be pretty much the same as his Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Mum couldn’t stay home from work so she called both him and Will in sick so he could stay and keep watch over Will while he recovers from the latest Upside Down mess.
Whenever he’s not sleeping he’s been lying curled up on the couch, watching movies with Jonathan.
To say he’s shocked when his mum calls him on their new phone to say Billy Hargrove has gone missing and that she’s coming home early because Hopper’s putting together a search party would be an understatement.
Jonathan’s been watching that blue car parked haphazardly outside their house with trepidation. He’s been half expecting to see Billy come charging up to the house, pissed off Will’s friends stole his car and then never got it back to him. He’s been wondering why he hasn’t.
But he’d never expected the other teen to have been missing this whole time.
So. Jonathan thought he’d spend the rest of his afternoon watching movies with Will.
Instead he finds himself walking into the forest behind his house with Nancy, armed with a flashlight, woollen blanket, and thermos filled with hot chocolate, because that’s just the sort of kind person Joyce Byers is.
There are other groups searching as well. Billy and Max’ parents together with some policemen are walking round Lover’s Lake, and apparently some of the jocks and cheerleaders have taken it upon themselves to check the Quarry. Mr. Clarke from Hawkins Middle has been put in charge of Max, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas, and they’re looking for him along the edge of the forest. Hopper and Jonathan’s mum are checking the other end of the forest around Jonathan’s house, and Will has been left in Hopper’s cruiser, where he can keep track of the radio calls from the different search parties.
They’ve been walking for an hour, circling around the woods with no luck, when Jonathan figures it’s time to head back and see if Will has heard something. They pass by Castle Byers and Jonathan stops Nancy. He doubts Billy’s there, since he would’ve heard them calling his name and replied, but he might as well check.
He walks up to the little fort, and he pulls up the blanket serving as a door, and his eyes go wide at the sight that greets him.
“Nancy,” he calls. “I found him. He’s here.”
Billy’s pulled himself up into the furthest corner of the small structure. Jonathan wasn’t aware someone of his size could make themselves look so small.
He’s pulled his legs up to his chest, and he’s hiding his head in between his knees, arms wrapped around his legs. One of the sleeves of his red shirt has been torn off and wrapped tightly around his ankle. His skin’s scratched, some of his knuckles broken and bloody. There are twigs and leaves in his hair, and his jeans are dark with dried mud. His whole body’s shaking.
Beside him, there’s a few of Will’s old books, and a small, dirty plastic cup filled with water. Rain water, Jonathan realises.
“What?!” Nancy says behind Jonathan, and comes running up to stand beside him, bending down so she can look into the fort.
Billy flinches. He lifts his head and they’re greeted by two wide, terrified blue eyes. He’s breathing raggedly, and flicks his panicked gaze from them to the forest behind them.
“What the f-fuck are you doing? Close the door and get in, we have to hide, they’re out there!” he hisses, voice low and scratchy.
Jonathan glances at Nancy. She looks just as confused as he feels.
“Hargrove-“ he starts, but Billy flinches and starts breathing heavier.
“Close the door!”
“Okay, okay.” Jonathan lets go off the blanket and takes Nancy’s hand, pulling her inside with him. It’s a tight squeeze, but they manage it.
Billy’s staring at a small gap between the blanket’s edge and the wood, his shoulders hitched up to his ears. Nancy takes the blanket and pulls it closed, and a little bit of the tension leaves him.
“Billy…” she starts. “What are you scared of? Who’s out here?”
“The fucking m-monsters. And don’t- don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about, I saw that t-thing in your fridge, Byers. And I heard them.” He gets a haunted look on his face. “There were… so many of them. They were running all through the forest. A whole f-fucking herd.”
“Shit,” Jonathan sighs. “Nancy, can you-?”
She nods before he’s even finished, and goes to get out of the fort, when Billy’s hand shoots out and wraps around her leg.
“You can’t go. They could… They could still be out there.”
Nancy’s expression falls. “They’re not, Billy.”
“Don’t! Don’t fucking lie to me, I know what I saw, I f-fucking heard them, I-“
“She’s not lying to you, Billy,” Jonathan says. He reaches out and uncurls Billy’s fingers from Nancy’s leg. “You’re right, there were monsters here. But they’re gone now. I promise you, they’re gone. And I’m gonna tell you everything.”
Out of his peripheral vision, he sees Nancy shoot him a look at that, but he’s too focused on Billy to react.
“But you have to let Nancy go and get us some more help. I know you must be dehydrated and hungry and cold, but is there anything else? What’s up with your leg?”
Billy glances down at his ankle, his shirt sleeve wrapped around it like a makeshift bandage. “I fell. I think it’s broken,” he says, voice small. He’s still shaking.
“Okay,” Jonathan turns to Nancy. “You’ll be alright?”
“Yeah,” she says and nods, before turning around and getting out. They can hear her take off running, dead leaves crunching under her shoes.
Jonathan turns to Billy and holds out the thermos. “Here,” he says. “It’s hot chocolate.”
Billy takes it, but he’s shaking too hard to get the top unscrewed.
Jonathan shakes out the blanket and wraps it around his shoulders before taking the thermos back, opening it and handing it back to Billy. Slowly he tips it back and drinks some.
“Listen, man,” Jonathan says. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but only if you promise you won’t tell anyone at the hospital about the monsters. Actually, don’t mention them to anyone until I’ve explained everything. Nancy will get Chief Hopper, he and my mum went looking for you in-“
“The Chief’s looking for me?”
Jonathan stares at him, shocked. “Yeah. Yeah, Billy. It’s Wednesday, you’ve been missing for three days. Your dad called the station this morning-“
Billy flinches and spills hot chocolate down the front of his shirt.
“Shit, shit, shit, fuck… I was supposed to get Max home, he- He’s gonna be so fucking mad, shit, shit, shit-“
“Hey, hey, okay. Okay, Billy?” Jonathan moves so he’s sitting in front of Billy. “You gotta breathe, okay?”
To Jonathan’s horror, Billy starts to cry. “I c-can’t.”
“You can. I know it feels like you can’t, but you can. You’re panicking. Has this happened before?”
Billy squeezes his eyes shut and nods.
“Okay. Do you know what usually helps you calm down?”
Billy shakes his head and shrugs.
Jonathan’s gut clenches. “Right. I’ll just sit here then, and you try and match my breathing.”
He takes an exaggerated breath in, and lets it out loudly and slowly. It’s not until they can hear running feet and raised voices outside that Billy’s breathing gets somewhere close to normal.
Jonathan turns and goes to pull the blanket back.
“Byers?” he hears Billy whisper behind him. “Thank you.”