▸Down Under - Men At Work

T H E V A N I S H I N G O F W I L L B Y E R S

I rocked my head to the beat as Def Leppard's Photograph played from the turntable on my nightstand. I was on my stomach, laying on my bed with Mews curled up next to me taking a nap. As I flipped a page of The Dark Tower: The Gun Slinger, I heard a loud banging on my wall.

"Lower it down, Dawn!" Daniel yelled.

"What? You want me to turn it up louder?" I screamed back. Sitting up, I leaned towards my player and turn the music louder with a grin. There was a slam of a door. Seconds later, my door opened revealing my twin brother.

"Turn it down. I can't think over that loud music." Danny glowered at me. Sighing, he ran a hand through his messy curls. "Please? I'm writing a new song for the band and I need to finish it by tonight."

"Wait, you still haven't finished the song?" I sat up and lowered my music. "How far are you?"

"Almost done, just need to finish the last verse." Danny said, leaning against my door frame with his arms crossed.

"It's PG, right? You know Mom and Dustin go to our shows. And you know that Dusty brings his friends with him, too." I told him.

"Of course it's PG. I don't need a lecture from you." Danny rolled his eyes. "Wait, talking about Dusty, shouldn't he be home by now? Mom should be done cooking dinner."

"He's probably on his way now. I know he mentioned that they were planning on finishing the campaign for D and D tonight at Mike's house." I shrugged.

"Daniel! Dawn! Dinner time, babies!" Mom called from the kitchen. Getting off of my bed, I turned off my music.

"If he isn't back by the time I finish eating, I'm picking him up from the Wheeler's." Danny said before leaving my room. I looked at Mews and rubbed his ear before following after my brother. Mom was serving our plates as I entered the kitchen.

"Dawny, honey, can you check outside to see if you see Dusty?"

"Of course Mom." I smiled, walking towards the front door. Opening it up, I walked outside to see Will Byer speed past our house on his bike. Dustin stopped his bike at the beginning of our neighborhood road.

"I'll take your X-Men 134!" Dustin called out. "Son of a bitch."

"Language, Dustin!" I scolded. Dustin turned to face me, giving me a cheeky smile showing off his two missing teeth. He rode up to our house, jumping off of his bike.

"Hi Dawny." Dustin greeted as he put his bike next to the front door. His hat fell off, causing him to curse while he picked it up and dust off any dirt. I gave him a look causing him to send me another smile. "Sorry. Did Mom finish cooking dinner?"

"She just finished serving our plates. Let's go eat." I smiled down at him, ruffling his hair.

"Hey, hey! Not the curls!" Dustin whined, smacking my hand away. I laughed at his antics. "This is why I wear the hat. You and Danny always mess with my curls. Let my curls be."

"What hat?" Danny suddenly appeared out of no where and snatched Dustin's hat away from him. He ran inside chuckling like a mad man.

"Danny!" Dustin groaned out, chasing after our brother. "Give me my hat back! Mom! Danny took my hat again!"

"Boys! No running in the house!" Mom scolded. "Danny give your brother back his hat."

"Just a regular day here at the Henderson's." I mumbled to myself before walking inside.

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"Hurry up Dawny!" Danny yelled as I stuffed my Walkman with my headphones neatly wrapped beside it into my bag. I double checked to see if my Bon Jovi cassette was in the case. With a satisfied hum, I closed the Walkman and zipped up my backpack.

"I'm coming!" I quickly shrugged on my jean jacket over my Eagles band tee and ran out of my room. Stopping at Dustin's room, which was right across from mine, I peeked in to see him putting his hat on. "Dustin, do you need a ride or are you riding your bike?"

"Riding my bike. The guys and I want to talk about last nights game." Dustin told me, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "And I need to have a talk with Will about cheating on our race last night."

"Alright, let's start heading out or else Danny is going to blow his top." I whispered to my little brother. Dustin chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"You guys have everything you need for school?" Mom asked us, holding Mews in her arm. The orange cat purred as Mom scratched under his chin.

"Yes ma'am." I smiled.

"Your lunches?"

"Yup!" Dustin said as he grabbed his lunch box off of the kitchen counter and put it in his backpack. He quickly grabbed mine and tossed it to me, which I easily caught. Danny came back into the house, giving me an exasperated look.

"C'mon, Dawn. We need to get there on time. Becca, Manda, and Chad are waiting to hear the song." I nodded and went to go out the door when my Mom caught my arm.

"Honey, do you have a pad in your backpack?" Mom loudly whispered. "You know it's almost time for you to start."

"Gross! Mom!" Dustin cringed, as he was walking past me, looking away from the both of us. His nose scrunched up and started to make barfing noises. "Yuck!"

"Mom, really?" Danny groaned out. I rolled my eyes at the two of them.

"Yes, Mom. I have one in my pack. You know I always carry one just in case." I replied.

"I'm leaving. Gosh, this is disgusting." Dustin shook his head, walking out of the door.

"Dusty! Kiss!" Mom stopped him. Letting out a sigh, Dustin quickly ran to Mom and kissed her cheek before running out the door.

"Bye! See you later!"

"Alright, we've gotta go Mom." Danny said, walking over to her and giving her a cheek a kiss. He had to lean down due to his height of 6 feet.

"Okay, Darling. Have a good day at school. I hope the band loves your song." Mom smiled brightly at her eldest child.

"I hope so too."

"Bye, Mom. Have a good day." I kissed her cheek. Mom smiled at me andpecked my forehead.

"Now run along you two, I don't want you to be late for school. Your dad should be home for dinner."

With that being said, I started to walk out the door with Danny right beside me. The wind immediately started to blow my hair behind me when I opened the front door, causing my curls to tangle. Sighing, I grabbed a scrunchie off of my wrist and pulled my hair into a messy ponytail. We walked to our shared white Audi Quattro that Mom had given us for our sixteen birthday.

"I'm driving today." Danny called out, running to the driver's side.

"Yeah, well I didn't feel like driving anyways!" I countered, grumbling under my breath as I got into our white car. Danny beamed at me as he turned the car on and drove out of our driveway.

"We all know you're a bad driver anyways unless Dusty or his friends are in the car with you." Danny told me.

"They're little kids, of course I have to drive safely." I scoffed, leaning my head against the window. "How'd the song come out anyways? Is it ready to be practiced tonight?"

"You bet it is." Danny grinned. "To be honest, I think this is the best song I've ever written."

"Daniel...you say that about every song you write." I chuckled out, shaking my head.

"But this one really is!" Danny said. "Just you watch. Becca will agree with me."

"She's your girlfriend," I rolled my eyes, "of course she will agree with you."

Danny huffed and pushed in the AC/DC cassete. I grinned as Back In Black played and turned the music up.

"'Cause I'm back. Yes, I'm back." I sang, looking at Danny with a cheeky smile.

"Well, I'm back. Yes, I'm back." Danny sang, his voice all raspy. He started rocking his head to the beat.

"Well, I'm back, back. Well, I'm back in black. Yes, I'm back in black." We both belted out.

Danny pulled into the school parking lot and parked next to a black Mitsubishi Starion. Amanda, Chad, and Rebecca were waiting next to Chad's car. Chad had his arm wrapped around Amanda's waist as she leaned into him.

"Bout time you two got here." Chad said as we got out of the car.

"It's not my fault Dawn took forever to get changed." Danny rolled his eyes, closing his door shut.

"I didn't take forever." I shook my head, slinging my pack over my shoulder. Danny gave me a look. "I just slept in."

"Did you finish writing the song?" Rebecca asked, walking to Danny and pecking his lips. Danny smiled down at her and laced his fingers with hers.

"Yeah, I did actually. You guys ready to hear it?"

"Well no shit man!" Chad slapped my brother's back playfully. "Let us at it."

The bell rang causing me to let out a groan. God I hate school. I would rather play my guitar or read than go to school.

"I'll show it to you tonight at band practice. Then we can start practicing it. It should be ready by our next gig."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Amanda nodded.

"Now let's head to our lockers. Mr. Kaminsky will have our heads if we don't have our textbooks for Chem." Becca stated, tugging Danny toward the school doors. We followed after her, already dreading Chemistry.

"Have you guys heard about Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler?" Manda questioned.

"No, what?" Chad looked at his girlfriend in confusion.

"Apperantly they're seeing each other."

"What? No way." Rebecca shook her head in denial. "Like barf me out."

"That's what's everyone is saying!" Amanda defended herself. She looked ahead to see Nancy and Barbra walking to Nancy's locker.

"Gag me with a spoon!" I scrunched up my nose, trying to hide my jealousy. I have had a crush on Steve since the eighth grade that only Danny knew about. "Nancy with Steve? She'd never go out with him...right?"

We all looked at Danny. He was one of Steve's good friends besides Carol and Tommy. Danny has actaully been best friends with Steve since we were all little. Of course, I avoided him like the plaugue because cooties existed at that time. Then Cupid decided to get back at me by making me have this huge crush on Steve.

"Steve usually keeps quiet about the girls he really likes." Danny shrugged, momentailry looking me before looking at Nancy read a note from her locker. "I'll have to ask if he is serious about Nancy or not."

"We should hurry up. Tardy bell should be ringing soon." I mumbled, walking past everyone to my locker.

Unfortunately, my locker was right next to the girls bathroom. Holding back a sigh, I put in my locker combination and opened my door. I quickly grabbed my Chem book and slammed the door shut to see Steve Harrington trying to sneak into the girls restroom.

"Are you trying to sneak into the girls bathroom, Harrington?" I perked an eyebrow at him. Steve jumped at the sound of my voice. He turned to face me with wide eyes.

"Henderson?" Steve sighed in relief, quickly looking around the hallway to see that it was now empty. "Shouldn't you be in Chemistry right now?"

"Shouldn't you be in your class or, I don't know... the boys bathroom instead of sneaking into the girls?" I placed a hand on my hip. Steve went to open his mouth but I cut him off. "Let me guess, Nancy?"

"Whatever Henderson, I've got things to do-"

"Obviously." I rolled my eyes, ignoring the flash of pain I got in my chest.

"And you need to go to class. Can't have you being late because of me." Steve told me. "And stop rolling your eyes. Haven't I told you to stop that. They'll end up falling out of your pretty little head."

Shaking my head, I started to walk away. Steve grumbled a curse under his breath with "Danny's sister" and "too much".

"Eat my shorts, Harrington!" I called out, walking towards my first period.

"Just get to class!" Steve yelled back before going into the girls bathroom. I jogged into Kaminsky's classroom just as the bell rang. I sighed in relief, going towards my seat. Sitting down, I placed my bag on the ground and noticed that the seat next to me was empty.

Of course Nancy Wheeler was with Steve Harrington.

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The last bell of the day was about to ring in a few minutes when the door to Mr. Neel's class opened. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see Principal Garcia with the Chief and two cops behind him.

"Can I see Daniel and Dawn Henderson?" Principal Garcia asked. Danny and I immediately looked at one another in worry.

"What's happening?" Becca leaned forward in her seat and whispered to the both of us.

"I don't know. " Danny replied back.

"O-of course. Daniel, Dawn. You may both go. Homework is on page one twenty three out of your book. Numbers five through ten." Mr. Neel told us.

Licking my lips anxiously, I gathered my things and followed the Chief and Principal Garcia. We were led into the Principal's office.

"Take a seat." Sheriff Hopper order us, waving a hand towards the bench against the wall. Danny and I exchanged uneasy looks, but followed Sheriff Hopper's direction. "Look, I know the two of you are probably very confused and scared. I just have some questions regarding Will Byer."

"Will?" Danny repeated.

"What's wrong with Will?" I asked.

"He wasn't at his house this morning and your brother told us that you," Chief Hopper pointed at me, "saw Will pass by on his bike last night. Is that correct?"

"Yes, but-"

"Explain what happened." Hopper cut me off.

"I, um," I nervously swallowed. "All I saw was Will riding past our house. Dustin said they were doing some sort of race and he lost. Will just continued to go home."

"Nothing else happened?" Hopper pressed on. I shook my head.

"Is Will really missing?" Danny questioned in disbelief.

"We don't know yet. We're hoping he just got lost somewhere and we can find him." Hopper stood up and started to walk towards the door. "I suggest you two go straight home. No band practice. No going out with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Go straight home. Don't try to be heroes tonight. We don't need anymore kids missing on my watch."

▷

Dustin sat quietly at the dinner table, poking at his peas. Mom looked at him worriedly, not knowing what to say. Mews was sitting next to Dustin, meowing up at him.

"You okay, Dusty?" I softly asked. He showed no sign of hearing me as he continued to play with his food. Frowning, I gently placed my hand on his shoulder. He jumped, looking at me with wide eyes. "Hey, are you okay?"

"No...not really." He mumbled out, looking down at his plate once again. Dad frowned, holding Mom's hand to comfort her.

"Do you want to talk about it, bud?" Danny questioned. Dustin shook his head, his eyes starting to water. "Okay. We won't push you to say anything."

"You know we're here if you need to talk, baby." Mom added, her own eyes starting to get all misty at the sight of her youngest. Dustin nodded.

"Hey, umm, c-can you guys play that one song." Dustin's voice cracked as he wiped a stray tear away.

"Yeah, of course. Which song?"

"That weird Australian song."

"Oh, you mean Down Under?" Danny said.

"Yeah, that one. Can you guys play it?" Dustin mumbled.

"Sure thing, Dusty. Just let me go get my turn-"

"No," Dustin grabbed my wrist as I got out of my seat. I looked at him in confusion. "I mean actually play it. Like with your guitar and cajon and singing."

I looked at Danny, Dad, and Mom who eagerly nodded their heads. Danny shot up from his seat and went to grab our cajon drum and guitar. He came back with our instruments and handed mine to me. I took the pick out of the strings and got ready.

"On three? You go first then me?" Danny suggested and I nodded in agreement. "One, two, three."

Both Danny and I started playing our instruments, the familiar tune of the song filling the room. I played the guitar this time while Danny drummed his hand against the cajon.

"Traveling in a fried-out combie." I started to sing, continuing to strum my guitar. "On a hippie trail, head full of zombie."

"I met a strange lady, she made me nervous." Danny playfully wiggled his eyebrows at Dustin. Our little brother cracked a smile. "She took me in and gave me breakfast. And she said-"

"Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover." We both sang together with Dustin joining us in the chorus. Mom looked at us with a smile and a tear rolling down her cheek. She looked over towards Dad and squeezed his arm. He mumbled softly to her, trying his best to soothe her.

After we finished singing and eating our dinner, Mom kissed us good night and went to bed. The three of us started to head to our rooms when Dustin's walkie went off. Furrowing his brows, he ran to his room and pulled the antennae up.

"Dustin?" Mike's voice came from the walkie. "Over."

"Yeah?" Dustin answered.

"Say 'over' when you're done. Over." Mike said.

"Okay...what's wrong? Over."

"Lucas and I have a plan. M-"

"Wait!" Dustin cut off Mike. "My sister and brother are listening in. Over."

"They can't know what I'm about to say. It's top secret. Over." Mike told our little brother.

"Give me a minute. Over." Dustin turned to face us with narrowed eyes. He started to shoo us out.

"Alright you two, out you go. Time for you guys to go to bed." Dustin had his hand on the door, about to slide it close.

"We're older than you. You should be going to bed, mister. It's past your bed time." I perked an eyebrow at him as I crossed my arms.

"Okay, fine. I'll go to bed. After Mike tells me his top secret message." Dustin gave me a toothless smile and was about to close the door when Danny stopped it.

"Don't do anything foolish, Dustin. Will's missing and we don't need you or your other friends gone too. Okay?" Dustin nodded, eyeing the talkie in his hand. Danny sighed and squeezed Dusty's shoulder. "Good night, Dusty. And remember, be smart. I know you are."

"Good night." Dustin went to slide the door shut once again, but I stopped it.

"What, no good night for me?" I teased, holding out my arms for our good night hug.

"I'm a growing man. I'm getting too old for our good night hugs." Dustin whined.

"Right...okay. Fine. I'll just leave you with a good night." I started to walk towards my room. "Good night."

Danny rolled his eyes at us and went to his room, sliding the door shut. I was about to close mine when arms snaked themselves around my waist. Grinning I looked down to see Dustin hugging me.

"Okay, maybe I like our good night hugs." Dustin mumbled out, his face buried in my jacket. "But I'm a growing man-"

"Who is getting too old for our hugs." I finished, hugging him back. "I know. Good night, Dusty."

"Good night, Dawny." Dustin gave me a quick squeeze before running into his room and closing the door.

Okay...so maybe I did some more procrastination today. But hey, in my defense writing a 520 word essay that you have to memorize in order to speak in front of the class..in Spanish, is worth some procrastination. Especially since it isn't due until the 13th.

Anyways, hoped you guys liked this chapter.

much love,
Lux