Chapter Text
Chapter One: The Disappearance of Will Byers
November 1983-
A jangling of keys as the routine of key in lock and turn happened automatically, opening the door to an early morning, sunlit room. The warm wood paneling and a blue-green plaid couch felt warm and inviting after a 12-hour shift at the hospital. There was the smell of coffee and toast wafting from the kitchen, accompanied by a rhythmic tapping sound coming from the kitchen table.
“Morning, kiddo. I’m home.” Emma called to her little brother at the table as she kicked off her shoes. Grateful to finally have them off her heels, which, while chunky and generally comfortable, were killer after so many hours on her feet. Stepping down from the tile near the door onto the maroon carpet in the living room felt heavenly. Emma tossed her hat onto the coffee table, having already taken down her wavy brown hair from its pinned-up nurse-do from the night.
“There’s coffee that’s still hot if you want it,” Steve said, gesturing towards the kitchen, focused, remaining mostly on a bit of homework in front of him. Emma ruffled his hair slightly, enough to annoy him.
“Hey, hey, hey! Watch the hair; I have school soon!” He quickly tried to fix it and block her from doing it again, but Emma only laughed, placing a quick kiss on the top of his head and leaning over to see what he was working on.
“Biology? Got a test coming up?” She squeezed his shoulder before continuing to the kitchen, which had only an island separating them so they could still talk as she gathered her breakfast.
“No, we just had one. I got a C-, though.” Steve knew his sister wasn’t going to yell at him, but he still hated to admit to her that he was barely passing the class.
“Well, I’m off tonight, so we’ll go over it after you get home from school.” Emma sat down at the table with toast and a cup of coffee. “So, plans for the week? You staying here?” Steve nodded
“Yeah, Dad called to say they were staying longer in Atlanta. Guess the deal hasn’t gone through or some shit.” Emma frowned but nodded, understanding.
“Okay. Well, hey, we’ll do something fun since Daniel and I have a rare few days off together. We can rent some movies and order pizza.” Steve looked slightly guilty and turned pink, which didn’t go unnoticed.
“I assume this is where you tell me you do have plans.” Steve nodded sheepishly before admitting,
“Just tomorrow. I’m having some friends over to hang out; that’s it.” Emma smirked
“Let me guess: Tommy H wants a place to drink away from his parents, and you invited Nancy.” Steve’s cheeks reddened, having been fully read like an open book.
“Alright, fine. You don’t want to hang with your cool big sister and brother-in-law, I get it.” Emma winked at him across the table. “Just be safe, okay? No one drinks and drives or has sex without a condom.”
“Emma!” Steve groaned, throwing his head back.
“What?! I’m serious.” Emma defended, taking a bite of toast, then sipped her milky coffee. Leaning back in her chair, unphased by embarrassing her brother, “Nobody wants a little Tommy and Carol running round Hawkins. Not to mention I’m not ready to be an aunt yet, Steven.” She gave him a pointed look over her sip of coffee. Steve shivered at the thought,
“Yeah, that would be an annoying kid, and Nancy isn’t like that, so I think you’re safe.”
“Good, want to be clear, and you know if need-“ Emma started to remind him about the first aid kit that also happened to have extra condoms in it.
“God, please stop, I know, I know. Okay, geez, Mom!” Steve rolled his eyes, hoping to stop his sister from giving sex ed anymore at the breakfast table. Emma now rolled her eyes at his emphasis on calling her “Mom.”
“Whatever, Jerk,” Emma said as she stood up, placing her dish in the sink. “No, need to keep the coffee hot. Daniel’s coming home in a few hours once he makes his way through some dense charting.”
“Sounds like a long night,” Steve commented, noting the stack of medical journals on the table next to his homework.
“Tell me about it. A couple of people have turned up with some strange pulmonary problems that we’ve been trying to diagnose.” Emma frowned; she leaned against the island on the side where the dining table was placed. “Seems more than allergies or asthma but-” Emma trailed off, not sure where to go from there, so she shrugged, indicating she didn’t know. Pushing off from the counter, she walked over to her brother, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
“Be safe, have a good day at school, and I’ll see you tonight,” Emma said, making her way now down the hall towards the bedroom for a mid-day sleep. Steve sighed; he hadn’t actually asked Nancy but hoped she'd say yes, given it was a weekday and she had been all worried about the chem test. He stuffed everything back into his backpack to head to school. With a look at his notebook, he had an idea; smirking, he wrote a quick note to shove in Nancy’s locker, a start to the plan of asking her over on Tuesday.
A blaring beep went off in obnoxious repetition. Emma groaned, smacking at the alarm on her nightstand and, blurry-eyed, saw the flashing red numbers.
“You really should set it to the radio. It’s a much nicer way to wake up.” Emma heard her husband say after the door had creaked open.
“But then I don’t actually wake up,” Emma grumbled, sitting up, her brown hair sticking in every direction in a mix of waves, curls, and hairspray. Daniel chuckled, then padded over to her from his side of the bed and leaned in for a peck on the lips. “How was charting? Anything in the medical library?”
“No, and I’m still waiting on lab results for those spores that woman coughed up. She still doesn’t remember where it could be from, only that she went for her usual walk in the forest.” Daniel said, pulling off his scrub shirt and tossing it in the hamper near the dresser.
“Huh. Maybe a new type of plant?” Emma suggested, and Daniel shrugged before stating he was showering and sleeping for a few hours before thinking anymore. Deciding that it was best to have a simple, hot dinner given the recent cold snap, Emma got up to check the fridge for soup ingredients.
The TV was tuned to the local news channel, playing in the background as Emma stirred spices into a pot on the stove.
“Hey, Em, you hear about this?” Daniel called from his spot on the couch, now awake from his long, post-shift nap. “There’s a missing kid in Hawkins.” His voice softened with sympathy as the news report continued with more details about the disappearance.
“Who?” Emma asked. Having babysat many kids to help pay for school, she wondered whether she knew them.
“Will Byers. You used to watch him as a baby, right?” Emma swallowed hard; she had. Him and Jonathan. It hadn’t been often, but enough that she felt a pang in her heart for the sweet toddler she remembered coloring with. He used to sit at the kitchen table or coffee table with her, babbling about some story that was going on in his picture, and Emma would nod along even when she didn’t fully understand what he was saying.
“Oh god. Yeah, I did. That’s terrible.” She paused her stirring, covering the pot before walking to the living room to watch the screen. The news reporter was standing with a forest in the background that Emma assumed was near the Byer’s home.
“Chief Hopper found his bike, but that’s the only thing they’ve gotten so far,” Daniel explained as the reporter gave out the details for the search that evening. “Man, it’s been cold, and the weather guy said it’s dropping again tonight with possible flurries. Poor kid.”
“We should join the search party, don’t you think?” Emma asked, turning to her husband who nodded in agreement.
“My thoughts exactly.” He stood up to go to the wall phone and call the station. As he passed Emma, who still stared at the TV screen thinking about the Byers boys and how heartbroken and worried Joyce had to be, Daniel placed a quick kiss on his wife’s head.
“It’ll be alright; it’s Hawkins; barely anything happens here.” Daniel tried to comfort which Emma only nodded. Daniel picked up the phone, dialing the police station, letting them know they’d join the search. The front door opened easily as it was unlocked, and Steve, in his usual casual way, waltzed in. Shoes were kicked off and bag tossed on the floor near the door.
“Hi, Em. Hi Dan.” He greeted them through the flurry of activity before heading to his room down the hall.
“Hey, don’t forget we’re going over biology before dinner!” Emma called after him, and a groan greeted him.
“I just left 8 hours of school, Em.” Steve groaned and came back into view, walking over to the kitchen. Yanking open the fridge to pull out the jug of milk and tossed the cap onto the counter.
“We’re going over it before dinner since Dan and I are going on the search party for Will tonight.” Emma explained, folding her arms and leaning against the counter, while giving her brother the ‘don’t you dare’ look as he reached for the jug to drink. Steve set the jug down and pulled a cereal box from the cabinet.
“Oh yeah. I saw Jonathan putting up a poster at school. It was tragic.” Steve said, making his bowl of cereal. Still in school mode, he had forgotten the ‘King Steve’ persona.
“Hey, it is. I used to watch those kids. Come on, you know better than that.” Steve looked over at Emma, seeing her crestfallen expression; he remembered himself a bit.
“Sorry, Emma,” he apologized to his sister, who frowned a bit but nodded, acknowledging the apology.
“We’re meeting the group at the forest line on Cornwallis,” Daniel said, getting off the phone and joining the siblings in the kitchen. “I’m going to check the garage for the big camping flashlights.” Noticing the tension, Daniel looked between the two.
“Everything alright?” he asked, eyeing them.
“Yeah, fine.” Both Steve and Emma replied quickly. Glancing at them again, then to Emma, he said,
“Okay then. We’re meeting at 7 pm.”
“Kinda late, isn’t it?” Emma asked, glancing at the clock on the wall: 3:35 pm
“Well, got to have time to let people know, I guess.” Daniel shrugged, then opened the garage door and stepped through.