The Vanishing of
Will Byers

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"I'll be back around right to pick you up after the swim meet, okay?" Tiffany looked to her sister briefly, before her reflection from the rearview mirror caught her attention, making her reflexively fix her lipstick.

"I think I might get a ride from Will...if that's okay," Mallory's voice was timid, just as it had been lately at any mention of the Byer's boy.

Tiffany's eyebrow peaked as she noticed the crimson that was flooding her younger sister's cheeks. Instead of playfully teasing the younger girl, as she loved to do, she sighed and waved her off. "I get it, you're too cool to catch a ride from your big sis," she shrugged. She continued as Mallory's mouth swung open to defend herself. "Don't be home late, you know Mom gets paranoid when you ride at night."

"Mom's not even home," Mallory reminded her.

Rolling her eyes, Tiffany reached over and opened her sister's door. "Fine, I get paranoid. Get out." She tried to maintain a straight face, but it cracked at the sight of her sister's grin she wore while getting out slamming the door behind her. She rushed into the Wheeler's house, where Mike, Dustin, Will and Lucas ushered her in quickly.

Mallory was the complete opposite of Tiffany. Tom-boy would be an understatement for the younger sibling. Sloppy braids and the first outfit she could find was her go to, whereas Tiffany was obsessed with making sure she looked the best, even though she saw no competition.

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Tiffany walked through the doors of the indoor swimming pool with her arm looped in Carol Perkins'.

"Remind me why we have to come to these stupid things?" Carol huffed. She tiptoed around the overflow of water that was already present, fearful of getting her high-tops wet.

"Because our boyfriends decided to be on the swim team," Tiffany muttered, drudging into the stands were people were slowly piling in.

Carol sat down with a huff, folding her jacket aggressively in her lap. "So is Nancy's and she's not here."

"That's because she gets as red as a tomato when she sees Steve in a speedo," she snickered.

Carol joined her in laughter, before pointing to the Harrington boy who had just walked out onto the diving board. "Can you blame her? I mean...wow."

The girls erupted in giggles, dragging Steve's attention towards them. His eyes landed on the empty seat next to Carol, making his face fall slightly. Tiffany noticed, but just as usual, she had to be the one to drag him out of the slump. She cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled "nice package, Harrington!"

Carol gripped her sides from laughing so hard, while Tiffany earned a couple of distasteful looks from a few of the older audience members. However, she felt accomplished when the sadness on her friend's face shifted into a look of pure amusement. 'You're dead,' he mouthed, not bothering to hide his laughter.

A cat call from the direction of the locker room stole her attention from Steve and planted it on her boyfriend, Jack. Tiffany blew him a kiss and he pretended to catch it and drop it down the front of his speedo.

"You guys are disgusting," Carol scoffed, gagging.

Tiffany waved her off, smiling as Jack weaved through the stands to get to her and plant a kiss on her lips. There was no hesitation in Tiffany kissing him back, but they were quickly cut off by the sound of a whistle blowing from near the pool. "Meyer, this isn't social hour!"

Jack rolled his eyes, still facing his girlfriend. "Don't miss me too much," he smirked.

"Never do," she shrugged, winking as he backed down the rows to prepare for the meet.

Slowly but surely, the stands packed full. There wasn't a seat left open when the first race started, as Hawkins was known to show up and show out.

Jack, being as cocky as he was, nearly got into a fight with one of the students he came in second place to in his race, which put a damper on his mood for the rest of the meet and afterwards. He stalked out of the locker room with Steve and Tommy Hagan not far behind him. Tommy was giving Steve shit for Nancy not showing up. "I told you, man, after that first meet, there's no way she's coming back."

"Whatever," Steve muttered, clearly not impressed with the conversation. "She's studying."

"Don't be such a dick, Tommy." Tiffany looked at him through slitted eyes.

Before Tommy had a chance to bark back a reply, Jack interrupted their exchange. "You coming over tonight?" He didn't make eye contact with her, seeming rather distracted.

"Mom's out of town, so I have to get home to Mal," she frowned.

"Stop by and tell her to go hand out with her weird boyfriend, that Byers kid," he shrugged the excuse off.

Tommy shuddered dramatically. "He's going to be just as freaky as his brother."

"Probably worse," Steve chimed in.

Tiffany glared at the three of them before turning to walk off. "Fucking assholes," she muttered under her breath.

"Tiff, wait." Jack grabbed her arm and spun her back to face him. "Come on. Come over for a little while." He dropped his hands to her waist and pulled her close.

"I can't," she insisted.

Clearly not the answer he was wanting, Jack took a step back, rolling his eyes. "Whatever." He brushed past her towards the door to the parking lot without another word.

Tommy and Carol were already on their way outside as well, barely able to keep their hands off of each other as it was, and left her standing there with Steve. They walked in silence until they made it to the parking lot. Their friends were long gone, leaving Tiffany to lean against her car and glare at Steve in place of them all.

"Why are you mad at me?"

"Because you're an asshole too," she scoffed. She reached for the doorhandles, eyes widening as it didn't open. "Shit," she hissed, pulling at it repeatedly. "Fucking foreign cars!" She couldn't help but curse the Lancia luxury car, as she stepped away and slammed her hand down on the hood. Steve stepped towards the door, trying for herself. "Really?"

His shoulders slacked. "Do you have a spare, or something?"

"At home," she muttered. Without a word, she turned away and started for the road, prepared to walk.

Steve narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What're you going to do, walk?"

"That's the plan."

"Let me give you a ride," he insisted. "You can pick up your key and I'll bring you back."

Being as stubborn as she was, she was fully prepared to argue with Steve to prove a point, but she knew it was getting late and her sister would be expecting her soon. "Fine, but you're still an asshole."

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The ride to the West residence was awkwardly silent. The two had known each other for most of their lives and were best friends, even, until sophomore year, but they hadn't been alone together for quite sometime. "I'll be right back," she said quietly, climbing out of the passenger seat of the car.

She was pleased to find the door was locked, as that meant her sister was at least mindful enough to keep herself safe.

The lights were off through the house, leading Tiffany to believe her sister had come in and gone straight to bed. Trying to keep quiet, she opened the drawer in the spare set of keys were.

Just as she tiptoed towards the front door, something was tugging at her to check in her sister's room. "I'll just let her know where I'm going," she spoke aloud to herself, almost trying to convince herself of something.

Tiffany's stomach dropped when she cracked open the bedroom door and saw Mallory's bed still made, just as it had been when they left for school that morning. "Mal?" She swung the door open, but there was no sign of her.

She made a beeline for the bathroom, hoping to hear the shower running, but when she opened the door, there were no signs of life. "Shit," she huffed. The house was empty.

Returning to the drawer she'd gotten the keys from, she fumbled through her mother's contact book with shaky hands until she reached the number for the Wheeler's. Nearly dropping the phone from her hands, she quickly dialed them up.

"Hello?" Karen Wheeler's kind voice spoke softly through the phone.

"M-Mrs. Wheeler, this is Tiffany West-," she was struggling to keep her cool. "Is there any chance my sister is still there?"

"No, sweetie, she left with Will about an hour ago," her cheerful tone fell at the question. "Maybe she stopped off at the Byers," she tried to sound hopeful. "I'm sure she'll turn up."

"Thanks Mrs. Wheeler," Tiffany said impatiently, slamming the phone back down. Optimism wasn't what she needed at that moment.

She flipped back through the book to find Byers, but before she could dial it, the front door opened. Tiffany turned quickly on her heels, hoping to see her sister standing in the entrance, but she frowned at the sight of Steve. "What's the hold up," he asked impatiently, leaning against the door frame.

"I don't know where my sister is," she shouted, running a hand through her hair. "She left the Wheeler's an hour ago and she should be—she should've made it home by now."

Steve's eyes widened and he removed himself from the door frame and started towards Tiffany. "Maybe she's...maybe she's at Byers' house or somethin'," he offered.

She ignored him, resuming her call. The line rang and rang, but no answer. "Damn it!" She yelled, slamming the phone back down. "Take me back to my car," she ordered, rushing past him. Her mind was racing through all the possible scenarios of what could've happened to her sister, which only made her move quicker.

Steve was hot on her trail. "Whoa, Tiff, just relax." He could quickly see those were not the words he needed to say, so he quickly continued. "Hey, look, we'll drive around and look for her, okay? No point in wasting time driving back to the school."

She wanted to object, but he was right—there really wasn't any time to spare, if something really did happen. She took her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded, as she lowered herself into the car.

They started by tracing the path from the Wheeler's house all the way back to the West house, to no avail. The lights were out at the Byers', which concerned Tiffany even more. They even went as far as mapping out other, longer routes they could've taken, as well as driving past the other kids' houses to see if they'd gone through there.

Three in the morning was slowly encroaching and Tiffany was frazzled by that point. Steve tried his best to comfort her, but he was growing frustrated himself. "Maybe that freaky lab was calling to him," Steve scoffed, officially running out of ideas. "Maybe his family escaped from there and they caught him."

Tiffany was a mere moment away from punching him, but then she realized that was one of the only places they hadn't looked. "Go!"

Steve slammed on the gas and spun around to the direction of Hawkins Lab. When Will's fallen bike came into view, Tiffany's heart sank. She didn't give the car a chance to come to a full stop before she jumped out and ran towards the bicycle. "Mallory!" She called into the darkness.

"Tiff!" Steve's voice grabbed her attention from the ditch.

"Oh, God," she whispered. "Please, please, God." She said this silent prayer as she slowly approached the area Steve was hunched over.

"Mallory?" Tiffany knelt down beside her sister. She could barely make out her body lying there, crumpled in the fetal position. "Mal." She reached down and touched her shoulder, making the young girl flinch away.

She looked up to her older sister with wide, horror-filled eyes. "Tiffany," she breathed, realizing she wasn't dreaming, she launched herself into her sister's arms and started to sob. "Where's Will?"

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Steve drove them back to their house, all of them in silence. Tiffany and Steve had no idea the horror that Mallory had seen and she wasn't even sure if she'd really seen it, or if a concussion was oncoming.

Mallory didn't speak to either of them, as she walked towards her room and slammed the door behind her. They spend an extra hour after finding Mallory to search for Will, but nothing came of it. The sun was rising and Tiffany knew that she would be lucky if she got even an hour of sleep before school, which was useless. "Thank you," she told Steve, looking at the floor. "I mean, you didn't have to stay out all night, helping me look. That was very un-Steve of you."

All Steve could manage, initially, was a nod. "You don't have to thank me," he shrugged. Truthfully he was almost as relieved as Tiffany was. He remembered how close he'd been to both of the West girls—he'd never want anything to happen to either of them, even if it meant staying out all night for them. "I can, uh, I can run home and shower and come back to get you for school, since your car is still there. I-if you're going, of course."

Tiffany shook her head. "No, it's fine," she assured him. "I'll call Jack in a bit. Besides, you have to pick up Nancy."

Steve wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep, but Nancy had momentarily slipped his mind. "Right, right. I should probably get to that."

Tiffany nodded. When he didn't immediately leave, she returned to her normal demeanor, even if just for a second. "Are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day, Harrington?" She snapped, gesturing towards the door.

Her sudden switch in attitude made Steve flinch slightly, but she got her message through and walked back through the front door. Tiffany closed it behind him and pressed her back to the cool wood. She took in a deep breath and shakily released it, trying in all of her power not to cry tears of relief for her sister and fear for Will.

Despite having every reason to stay home and recuperate, she knew it would do no good. She'd much rather resume her normal routine and not have to explain to everyone the events from the night before.

As she went to pick up the phone to call Jack, Mallory's door knob jiggled before opening to allow her to walk through, fully dressed. Clearly avoiding issues was not in the West blood. "Are you...are you okay?" Mallory nodded, grabbing an apple off of the counter. "Are you really going to school? You can skip—I won't tell Mom."

"I need to know if Will is okay," she murmured, focusing in on the fruit. Something was on her mind—something she wasn't ready to talk to Tiffany about.

Tiffany pursed her lips into a straight line and gave a small nod, as she rung Jack's number.

"Yeah?" His voice came over the phone after a couple of rings.

"Hey, babe, any chance we could get a ride this morning?"