"Seek" - Part Three

Part Three

            Ah, c’mon! It’s Halloween?! I knew that kid had no right to keep me cooped up in that ship of hers!

            Needless to say, Hellboy wasn’t pleased once he saw the date on a newspaper stand in the town of Hawkins. Halloween was the only time when he could step out and be himself, without scaring any women or children. Everyone would just think his own genetic exterior was nothing more than a Halloween costume.

            And that turned out to be just the case, as he passed by many Hawkins citizens.

            He received compliments from some younger residents, ridiculed by some of the older ones, and criticized by one old lady. “You hooligans and your worshipping Satan,” she said. “I will pray for you tonight, poor soul.”

            “Whatever, lady,” Hellboy’s only response was.

            He soaked it all in, grinning from ear-to-ear, until he got more attention than he wanted – particularly from the local authorities.

            A truck marked with “Hawkins Police Dept.” on the side doors pulled in right beside Hellboy and parked there. Its driver, Hawkins’ chief of police, firmly stepped out and approached the half-demon.

            “Is there a problem, officer?” he asked the police chief, whose name he learned was “Hopper” from the nametag clipped on his right shirt pocket.

            “Don’t get cute, son,” Hopper scolded. “That costume is inappropriate enough.”

            “Inappropriate?!” Hellboy bafflingly blurted. “It’s freakin’ Halloween!”

            “You think this is funny?” Hopper derided. “You know well Halloween’s been called off, on account of that missing kid.”

            Hellboy failed to realize it until that second, but there was a noticeable lack of festive decorations or even sales on costumes throughout the town. He was the only one there who seemed to have been “celebrating” the day.

            Adding fuel to the fire, Hopper scathingly asked, “Aren’t you a little old to be trick-or-treating anyway?” He didn’t allow Hellboy enough time to respond. “Go home,” he ordered. “Take off that ridiculous costume before I decide not to let you off with a warning.”

            And like that, he hopped back into his truck and drove away.

            It boggled Hellboy’s mind as to how one missing boy could have caused an entire town to cancel a special day like Halloween.

            “Chief’s gotta be on the sauce again, if he thinks that costume’s ‘ridiculous’.”

            Hellboy noticed a freckled teenager standing behind him, with his redheaded girlfriend clinging onto him.

            “You think it’s cool?” Hellboy inquired of the teen.

            “I think it’s awesome,” he answered. “You should totally wear it to the Halloween bash happenin’ tonight at Steve Harrington’s place.”

            “Whadda ‘bout the ban on Halloween?” Hellboy asked.

            “Who cares about some kid that probably got diced up by his insane brother?” the boy’s redheaded girlfriend said. “Tonight’s the night to get trashed!”

            Jonathan Byers was the name Si learned to be of the brother of the missing boy, Will. She rode with him back to his house in the most rural part of Hawkins. Before they entered, Jonathan stopped for a moment to give Si a warning:

            “You might see some weird stuff in there. It’s been a difficult couple of days.”

            Si was not perturbed whatsoever. “I’ve seen my share of disturbing things,” she professed. “You won’t have to worry about me.”

            Taking her word for it, Jonathan led her into an interior rigged with dozens of Christmas lights. Si could hear Jonathan gasp at the unsettling scene. “It’s gotten much worse over the last few hours,” he noted.

            A manic woman emerged from the kitchen, saying to Jonathan, “I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve found a way to communicate with him.”

            “Mom,” a visibly distraught Jonathan addressed the woman, who turned out to have been Joyce Byers. “What’re you doin’? What is all of this?”

            Joyce took them into the living room.

            One of the walls was strung up with Christmas lights and had letters of the alphabet painted below each bulb.

            Jonathan could not take much more.

            Si, on the other hand, was beyond intrigued by Joyce’s arrangement.

            “You said that you’re using all of this to communicate with Will?” Si queried while using her sonic screwdriver to scan over the display.

            “Y-Yes,” Joyce stammered, baffled as to who the strange young woman was.

            “Where is it you think he’s communicating from?” Si continued to pry.

            “I’m sorry, but who are you?” Joyce asked. “Jonathan, is this a friend of yours from school?”

            “No,” Jonathan angrily said, growing more discouraged from Si’s presence in their home. “I thought you were here to help me with my mother. You’re only just encouraging her over all this craziness.”

            “Your mom’s not crazy,” Si told Jonathan. “In fact, she may be onto something.”

            “Onto what?!” Jonathan gallingly exclaimed.

            Ceasing her scan of the living room wall, Si calmly approached Joyce. “Could you try and communicate with Will again for me?”

            Her request made Jonathan groan, his frustrations rising every second.

            Joyce was more than willing to oblige, going to the wall and talking to her unseen son: “Will? Honey? I know you’re there. We’re here for you, and we’re trying whatever we can to help. I…I just need to know you’re still there.”

            For a moment, nothing happened. The lights hadn’t blinked.

            And then they did, randomly spelling out a word above each letter.

            T – I – M – E

            Joyce’s brow furrowed. “Time? Time for what, sweetheart? A-Are you running out of time wherever you are?”

            Again, the lights blinked, spelling a new word.

            L – O – R – D

            Si was stunned to see that Will had spelt “Time Lord,” a term that otherwise baffled Joyce and Jonathan.

            “What does that mean, honey? You have to tell us,” Joyce implored.

            Suddenly, every light in the Byers household blinked rapidly.

            Jonathan could not begin to get a grasp as to what was happening in their once-peaceful home, whereas Joyce was scared half to death.

            “Both of you need to get out of here now,” Si cagily ordered.

            “Why?” Joyce questioned. “What’s going on?!”

            “You just need to leave this second,” Si told her. “Something is trying to break through the dimensional barriers.”

            It sounded insane to the two Byers residents, but they followed through with Si’s command after some hesitation. Once outside their home, Jonathan urged his mother to get in his car, so that the both of them could drive away and perhaps stay at a hotel for the night. Joyce, however, was more determined to do the opposite.

            “We have to get back inside and help that girl,” she insisted.

            “Mom, that girl is crazy,” Jonathan contended. “This whole thing is crazy!”

            “But you saw it! You saw the message Will sent us!”

            “It’s an electrical issue! What’s ‘Time Lord’ supposed to mean?!”

            Their dispute ended with a horrifying scream that resounded from inside their house. Rushing back inside, they found Si no longer there.

            She had disappeared, leaving behind her sonic screwdriver.