Unhinged | S. Harrington| B. Hargrove | Stranger Things

Monster Hunting

"Even if you do?" Dustin questioned.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."

"Then what?"

"Then you just wait until...uh..until you feel it."

"Feel what?"

This wasn't going well. Charlie was starting to get pissed off.

"It's before the storm, you know. You can't see it, but you feel it." Steve's eyes shifts to Charlie. "Like an electricity."

Charlie pointedly doesn't meet his eyes.

"Like the electromagnetic field, when the clouds..." Dustin began and Charlie snorted.

"No no no no. Like... Like a sexaul electricity."

This time Charlie groaned audibly.

"He's twelve." Charlie said to Steve.

Steve shrugged it off.

"When you feel that, you make your move."

"That's when you kiss her?" Dustin asked.

Charlie yelled a quick no.

"Woah woah, slow down Romeo. Okay some girls, they want you to be aggressive."

"And Nancy?" Dustin asked.

"She's different." Steve said watching Charlie carefully. The Hopper boy had a faraway look.

"Look Dustin," Charlie started.
"Not to contradict King Steve's Greta advice on how to woo girls. But if you really like this girl, you're gonna have to show it."

Steve scoffed but Dustin listened. They stopped walking.

"If you care about someone, you need to show. Not just girls, anyone. People need to know they are loved. It could save them, sometimes it could even save their life. Think about it."

Charlie then kept walking without looking back. He kept a considerable distance, entirely blocking out the conversation between the other two.

Steve looked at Charlie longingly. He was mad at him but seeing him so vulnerable and drained made Steve's heart clench. Charlie on the other hand was numb. Besides the constant pain in his whole body he couldn't feel anything else. There was no regret of losing Steve to a misunderstanding. He thought it was better for Steve of he didn't get involved in all the chaos Charlie brought with himself.

"Fabregé Oraganics." Steve said and Charlie glanced back.
"Use the shampoo and the conditioner when your hair is damp not wet. You do four puffs of Farrah Fawcett spray."

"Farrah Fawcett spray?"

"Yeah and if you tell anyone I told you this, your ass is grass." Steve warned.

"You're dead, Henderson. You understand?"

Dustin nodded. Charlie suppressed a smile, his eyes softening.

They walked a distance and the three decided to take a break. Charlie leaned against a tree. A heat was rising in his body.
He was sweating and his head started to grow dizzy. His head hit the tree with a thud. Steve glanced at him.

"Hey, you okay?" He walked up to the boy.

Charlie couldn't answer. His vision kept blurring in and out. He swayed in his feet and Steve held his waist to keep him steady. The taller boy clenched Steve's jacket in his fist. The sharp pain in his head gave way to more blurry and flashing images.

Will.
Hospital.
Vines.
Fire.

Someone was burning the vine with fire and Will was screaming. Will's screams echoed in his ears.