𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄 | 𝐬.𝐡.

𝟎𝟗. 𝐀𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦

  "She was screaming for like five minutes when she first saw it," Dustin teased.

  "Alright - that's an exaggeration," Lorelei rolled her eyes.

  "So you were no help at all, Keller?" Steve turned to her for a split second before looking out at the road.

  "I helped," Lorelei snapped under her breath.

  "Sure-" Steve smirked once more, and Lorelei wanted to slap it away from his face.

  "No, she actually did," Dustin defended "she was the one to lock it in the storm cellar. It was pretty badass actually, she just kept swinging at it with a hockey stick."

  Steve whistled under his breath before he turned to Lorelei and his eyes met hers. The smug smirk that had been residing on his face for the past couple of minutes was gone, and now he looked almost - proud of her. They nodded to each other in silence, acknowledging the fact that they were both willing to do whatever they needed to do in order to keep Dustin safe before their eyes separated once more.

  The car was enveloped in silence as Steve drove them to Dustin's house. Everyone was trying to process what was happening - especially Lorelei. She leaned her head against the window with a barely perceptible sigh and her eyelashes fanned her cheeks as she looked out at the moon that was sitting in the night's sky. Her breath fanned against the window, creating a small circle of mist that she wiped away with her jacket sleeve before closing her eyes.

  It must have been around eight already, and Lorelei was running on very little sleep and quite a lot of coffee - an unhealthy amount, most likely. Never in her wildest imaginations would she have believed what was happening if she had not seen it with her own eyes and pinched herself about a thousand times. 

  As a child, Lorelei had never been one to believe in fairy tales - sure, she read them and her eyes would light up when the dashing prince rescued the princess from a terrifying creature. But it didn't take her long to realize that in real life, there were no princes and princesses; not for her anyway. No one would rescue her, so she would have to do it herself. 

  But that fact had never been much cause for much concern, for Lorelei might have read about dragons, witches, and gargoyles - but that was all it was, reading. Illustrations on paper or videos on the television at most. They could not reach her, so they could not hurt her either. But now she discovered that monsters were very much real, and they were living in her town.

  "Keller," Steve's voice called from beside her "we're here."

  It was only with his calling that she noticed the car had come to a full stop, and she turned her head to him with a small nod before walking out of the car. Her hands quickly came to rest within the pockets of her jeans as the frigid air hit her all the once; a stark contrast to the warmth of Steve's car.

  She watched with her tongue pressed to the inside of her cheek as Steve opened the trunk of his red BMW and reached inside for his bat. Her eyes widened slightly, though she tried to play it off, but it was clear that she was uncomfortable when her feet instinctively took a step back. 

  "Do I even want to know what you used that on?" she asked as Steve turned to her, bat in hand.

  It looked as if someone had made it in a haste, probably in preparation to fight something much more frightening than that small creature she had locked in Dustin's storm cellar. There were nails sticking out from every end, but Steve held it over his shoulder as if he were holding something as simple as a backpack and not some deadly weapon.