"I swear I didn't see anything! I am so sorry I didn't notice anyone was in there, I promise I'm not some creep." It all just came out and I couldn't stop talking until Jonathan shut me up by putting his hand over my mouth. "Shush. You're fine. I'm not mad or upset, just startled... hey, are you okay? You look a little upset." Finally calming down enough to look at him, I shook my head and spoke. "I just had a nightmare, that's all." I looked down at my hands, not really wanting to go into detail. Continuing to speak, I looked up at my tired-looking friend. "I'm gonna go back to sleep. Or at least try to." I got up and tried to walk back to the mess of blankets on the floor, but Jonathan grabbed my hand before I could get too far. I looked back and gave him a confused look at his sudden motions. "If you want to... I mean if it would make you feel more at ease, you can sleep with me tonight. O-only if you're comfortable with that. You don't have to, but the offer is there." Even in the dim lighting, I can see him blushing from the offer. Standing there for a moment to try and process what the hell had just happened, I silently went to where I was previously sleeping, grabbed a pillow and an extra blanket, and kept walking down the hallway to Jonathan's room. Before reaching his room, I stopped and quietly called down the hallway if he was just gonna stand in the kitchen or if he was going to go back to sleep. The only reply I had gotten was his silhouette walking towards me. The two of us reached his bedroom and I quietly maneuvered to his bed and sat down on the edge of it, he did the same and laid down. I followed suit and tried to give him as much room as possible, but it was difficult as his bed isn't the biggest. Back toward him, I heard him utter a quiet goodnight. "Goodnight, Jonathan," and with that, I closed my eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to an alarm blaring in my ears. I could barely comprehend what was happening until I felt pressure on your body and the quiet returning to the room. Soon after, the feeling of being poked in the ribs became prevalent, and then came the whispering. "Hey, it's time to get up. We have a busy day... Come on get up." He started to get louder with each attempt, failing each time. Groaning, I turned over and poked him to get him to leave me alone. I heard him chuckle and get out of the bed and get out some clothes, assuming he was going to take a shower before school. Finally opening my eyes, I looked around the room to see he had gone to the bathroom, so I took this as your chance to get changed into some new clothes. Opting out of doing my makeup, I opened the door and walked into the living room where my literal other half was still asleep. "Hey dipshit, wake up. You can't sleep all day. We have to help Jonathan put up posters around town." I stood over him and started to lightly slap his face, increasing how hard I was hitting him until he slapped my hand away and sat up groggily. Jonathan walks into the kitchen getting out a good morning while getting out stuff for breakfast. "Alright dick, get up and go get dressed while I help with breakfast." Ezra grabbed his things and made his way to the bathroom. Pulling on my beanie, I walked into the kitchen. "I just wanted to say thank you for letting me bum in your room last night. It helped me to not have another nightmare." He turned from cooking to look at me and opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Joyce coming in with some posters and sitting down at the table, lighting up a cigarette as soon as she was seated. "Alright, mom, breakfast is ready."

I was so busy with my thoughts, that I hadn't realized that Jonathan had finished breakfast and Ezra had come out of the bathroom and sat down at the table. "No, be careful of the posters." She quickly moved the posters out of the way as Jonathan set down her plate of food in front of her. "I can't eat." Jonathan sighed before replying. "I need you to eat for me, mom." Before anyone else could speak, Ezra opened his mouth. "I can eat." He took the plate from in front of Joyce and started to eat it. I slapped him in the back of the head. "Have some restraint. Jesus Christ, that plate wasn't for you." My words had little effect on him because he just kept shoveling the food in his mouth. "It's okay, really. I'm not hungry." That was evidently the end of that because shortly after Jonathan and Joyce were talking over each other about how many copies they needed to make and how much it would cost. I just grabbed myself a small plate and quietly sat down with my food. As soon as I was finished eating, there was a knock at the door. Joyce answered the door after putting out her recent cigarette to show that Hopper was finally giving her an update on the search. "We've been waiting for six hours!" I turned to Ezra and motioned for him to follow me outside, giving them some privacy.

The two of us sat down on the chairs that were right outside of the door. "I know this is out of the blue, but do you think dad misses us?" Taken back by Ezra's sudden question, I turned to him and stared with a blank expression as he continued. "I mean, he abandons his kids and wife to move back to his hometown, which he didn't even like living there, and he doesn't feel anything?" I looked down at my hands that had now started to lightly shake. It was weird to me that our dad hadn't tried to have a relationship with us after he left, especially after he had said that he would call once or twice a week. "I would like to think that dad feels guilty, but in all honesty, I doubt he feels anything but relief. He probably has a new girlfriend half his age just like Jonathan's dad... I think the two of them would have been best friends. What brought this up?" Ezra sighed and looked to the distance, shaking his head before he replied. "I don't know, I guess I have some repressed anger bubbling up over the fact that we grew up without him, and he doesn't give two fucks about us. It doesn't seem fair to me, y'know?" I knew all too well what he was feeling. I had those same feelings for months now, they had surrounded me when I would see kids bonding with their parents. I loved our mom dearly, but she was hardly there, either working or taking care of the necessities around the house. Try as she might to keep the two of us happy, I could tell it was weighing on her heavily. I reached my hand out and patted him on the shoulder, hoping the nonverbal response conveyed that I understood. "We don't need him. He didn't want us, and y'know what, that's his loss. Not only is mom too good for the likes of him, so are we. I don't know how you feel, but he wouldn't have raised us to be decent human beings. I know that the both of us are misfits, but we are good people. We are about each other, and we care about others." If the words weren't coming out of my own mouth, I wouldn't have believed them, but deep down, I knew that I was right. Before Ezra had the chance to respond, Hopper came speeding out of the house, Jonathan soon after. "Hey, Hopper. Hopper! Let me go." The words coming from Jonathan were enough to halt Hopper in his mission. Ezra and I stood up and watched as the disgruntled sheriff turned around to look at the boy. "I'm sorry?" Jonathan takes a breath before giving his response. "To Lonnie's. You know, if Will's there, that means he ran away. And if he sees the cops, he's gonna think he's in trouble. He'll hide. You know... he's good at hiding."

I couldn't stop the confused look that appeared on my face as Jonathan had mentioned the possibility of Will being at their dad's house. Even I knew that Will didn't have much of a relationship with their father, much like me and my twin. It seemed out of character for Will to run away in the first place, even more out of character for him to go to Lonnie's house. Hopper took a couple of steps to where Jonathan was standing and gripped his shoulders. "Yeah? Well, cops are good at finding. Stay here with your mom. She needs you." With those final words, hopper got into his truck and drove off. I walked over to my friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you really think he would have run away? And to your dad's? It doesn't seem like something he would do." Jonathan looks to me and shakes his head and replies. "Not really. But Hopper seems to think that Lonnie has him. He hasn't contacted my mom concerning what happened to Will, and it couldn't hurt to look." Going inside and grabbing my things, I slide into the back of Jonathan's car while Ezra sits in the front, the three of us pulling away from the house and towards the xerox place that Joyce was talking about. It was a quiet ride for the most part, save for the quiet sounds of the Clash playing on the radio. Eventually, we made it to our destination. Ezra and Jonathan both got out, while I opted to stay in the car and wait. Pulling out the book I was reading, I began to immerse myself in the world-building, imagining what it would be like to live in the universe of Lord of the Rings, to go on an adventure.