SEE YOU LATER | stranger things

THE SPY

“Um… They’re like any other animal species, so, yes,” Dustin replied, but even he didn’t sound too sure.

Andrew shared his sentiments. “It’s from a different dimension.”

“Okay, so not like any other animal species,” Dustin corrected himself, but he hurried to add, “Look, all I know is that Dart is growing and he could turn into an actual Demogorgon any moment.”

“Great,” Andrew leant back in the backseat, placing his hands on his knees, tapping his fingers with a small sigh. “Perfect, really.”

“Wait a sec,” Steve suddenly said into the silence that had fallen over the three of them. He turned his head briefly to Dustin as the smaller boy settled himself forward in his seat again. “How big?”

Dustin put a small space between his thumb and forefinger. “First it was like that.” He then held up his two hands with at least a foot or two of space between them. “Now he’s like this.”

“I swear to God, man, it’s just some little lizard, okay?” Steve shook his head with a disbelieving scoff.

“So it’s not a creature from a different dimension?” Andrew questioned, leaning forward again.

“No, it is,” Dustin assured him, turning his head back to Steve. “It’s not a lizard.”

“How do you know?” Steve asked, giving Andrew an amused look through the rearview mirror.

“How do I know if it’s not?”

Andrew leaned even further forward, his head sticking into the front of the car. “Yeah, what if it’s not a creature from a different dimension?”

“I’m pretty sure it is because his face opened up and he ate my cat!” Dustin yelled over the two boy’s constant questions. Steve’s amused expression dropped immediately, Andrew’s eyes widened in shock. The silence filled the car, only being interrupted by Queen still blaring out of the speakers.

Steve pulled the car into Dustin’s driveway, all three of them getting out and going back to the trunk. Steve opened it up, tossing the keys to Dustin, who clumsily caught them. He got out the nail bat he’d kept back there for a whole year now and Dustin lent them both a flashlight.

The three boys walked in silence down the hill from Dustin’s house, the boy’s storm shelter hidden behind a couple trees. It kept it discreet from any passing cars, which meant if they had to take out this creature, they probably wouldn’t be questioned by any passer’s by. Andrew honestly wouldn’t know what he could say if someone actually asked what they were doing. He barely knew how he fit into all of this.

Walking up to the doors of the storm shelter, Steve stared down at them, waiting a moment. But the storm shelter sounded completely empty. “I don’t hear shit.”

“He’s in there,” Dustin assured him, making sure to keep himself a fair distance from the doors. Andrew got the idea that he should probably do the same.

Steve seemed nonplussed by the whole situation, taking a glance over at the other two before taking another small step closer to the storm shelter. Reaching out his bat, he lightly tapped the top of it against the metal, the sound letting out a low, hollow clink. Nothing happened. Steve stuck his tongue into the side and then threw down the bat on the doors, the bang echoing through the night, nearly sending Andrew backwards over his own feet. Yet again, nothing happened.

“Alright, listen, kid,” Steve spoke up, the irritation pinning his eyebrows closer together. He shone his flashlight into Dustin’s eyes, causing the boy to shut them closed, nearly blinded by it. “I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you’re dead.”