𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟
❝ɪᴛ ʜᴜʀᴛs ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴡʜᴇʀᴇ!❞
𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 separate ways, lucas staying at the arcade while arlo went to roam around. when she had gotten home, it was nightfall. she dropped her bike onto the yard, noticing that steve's car wasn't in the driveway. she sighed, wondering where the boy could be. she dug into her bag and took out her walkie, which she had turned off completely when max had joined her in the backroom. she clicked it back on before she raised the antenna. lucas was still at the arcade and mike was still at will's, so she didn't radio them. she tuned the walkie for a few seconds before she pressed the black button and brought it to her mouth.
"dustin, do you copy?" she said into the radio, lifting her fingers from the button as she waited for an answer. all she got back was static. "dustin henderson! do you copy?"
"oh, now you want to answer! how convenient!" dustin's voice came through, annoyance dripping from his tone. arlo rolled her eyes as she brought the supercomm back to her mouth.
"i turned my walkie off to do something important. i'm sorry, okay?" she apologized.
"yeah, whatever." dustin mumbled.
"have you seen my brother?" arlo then questioned.
"yeah, he's right here." dustin replied.
"what? you two are together?" arlo quizzed, her face twisting together in confusion.
"yeah, he's gonna help me with something." dustin answered. "come to think of it, you should come too. you can use. . . you know."
"where are you guys?" arlo asked, knowing what dustin was trying to say.
"we're in his car heading to my place."
"okay. be there in a sec." arlo told him before she pushed her antenna down. she then stuffed her walkie back into her bag. she looked around to make sure that no one was around. she smiled, walking over to her little porch, seeing that there was a shadow in the corner of it since the porch light wasn't on. she looked down, seeing how fast the shadows had cringed onto her body, basically making her disappear. she closed her eyes, thinking of steve.
she then pushed herself back into the shadows completely, no longer seeing the front yard of her house. she still wasn't use to the feeling of shadow traveling. it didn't feel like she was physically traveling through the shadows but was traveling through her consciousness. she moved through the shadow realm fast, heading towards the one shadow that she knew would be in steve's car since it was dark. she appeared in the backseat of steve's car, smiling slightly when she realized that she had did it. she brought her hand up to wipe the blood that had dripped from her nose.
"so why do you need help?" she questioned. this made both dustin and steve jump in the front seat, steve turning the steering wheel to the left, making it swerve slightly.
"jesus christ!" dustin screeched, turning to look back at arlo.
"what's the matter with you?! you can't just be popping out of the shadows like that!" steve scolded, quickly turning the wheel back.
"sorry." arlo mumbled, shifting slightly in the backseat. "but seriously, why do you need help?"
"it's about dart." dustin answered.
"is dart the lizard thing?" steve asked.
"not a lizard." dustin told him.
"you found him?" arlo asked, leaning forward to stick her head between the drivers and passenger seats.
"yeah. . . i found him the day he went missing." dustin replied, sinking into his seat as he avoided arlo's gaze.
"i knew it! i saw your fucking hat move in the bathroom!" arlo exclaimed, hitting him on his shoulder. "but you're still not answering my question."
"look, dart has molted several times since we last saw him." dustin started, turning around so that he would be able to look at both harringtons. "first he was this small. . ." he continued, holding up his pointer and thumb to show how small the inter-dimensional creature was. he then held up both hands and put about a foot of space between them. "now he's this big. he's in my bunker."
"what the fuck, dustin?" arlo whispered, talking in the new found information. silence filled the car as steve sped through the streets of hawkins. arlo silently thanked whoever was in the clouds that the streets were empty.
"wait a sec. how big?" steve asked, breaking the silence.
"first it was like that." dustin started, repeating his actions of holding up his pointer finger and thumb, only putting a little bit of space between them. "now he's like this." he finished, holding up his hands and putting about a foot of space between them.
"i swear to god, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" steve assured.
"it's not a lizard." both dustin and arlo said in unison.
"how do you know?" steve questioned.
"lizards do not become a foot long within three days, steve!" arlo informed.
"dustin, how do you know?" steve repeated, ignoring his sister's yells.
"how do i know if it's not a lizard?" dustin repeated, turning to look at the older boy.
"yeah, how do you know it's just not a lizard?" steve nodded, his voice raising.
"because his face opened up and he ate my cat." dustin answered, steve going silent once he had heard the reply. arlo stuffed herself between the two front seats again, looking solely at dustin.
"dart ate mews?" she asked, her eyebrows raising slightly. dustin looked at her sadly as he nodded his head, knowing how much arlo had loved mews. the harrington girl sat back in her seat, a small frown on face as she took in the new information. the trio pulled up in front of dustin's house, all of them getting out of the car.
steve went to trunk, unlocking it before he threw the keys at dustin. the henderson boy caught them, glaring at the older boy slightly. arlo watched as steve opened up the trunk, grabbing his bat with nails from last year. steve looked at the two younger kids before he slammed the trunk closed. dustin handed arlo steve's car keys, the girl taking them and stuffing them into her jeans pocket as they followed after her brother. they walked to the back of dustin's house, going to the bunker that was a few meters away from the house itself. steve looked at dustin, the curly haired boy nodding at him. steve clicked on the flashlight that dustin had gave him and pointed it to the doors of the bunker, seeing the lock and chains that was around the handles.
"i don't hear shit." steve announced.
"he's in there." dustin reassured. steve looked at him before he held the bat up, bumping it against the doors gently. arlo looked at her brother with narrowed eyebrows, wondering what he thought that was gonna do. he then brought the bat back up before lunging it downward, hitting the doors and making a loud clanging noise.
"all right, listen, kid. i swear, if this is some sort of halloween prank, you're dead." he threatened, turning around to face dustin. he pointed the flashlight in the shorter boy's face, making him shut his eyes.
"halloween was three days ago." arlo reminded, looking at her brother with furrowed eyebrows.
"it's not." dustin told steve, his eyes into slits as he tried to block out the light that was shining in his face.
"all right?" steve asked.
"it's not a prank." dustin repeated. "get it out of my face."
"you got a key for this thing?" steve asked.
dustin nodded, stepping forward as he reached into his jeans pocket. he slapped the flashlight away from his face, earning a stern look from steve. arlo only laughed, watching as dustin bent down to unlock the doors that led into the bunker. the hat wearing boy stepped back, looking at steve with raised eyebrows. steve rolled his eyes, handing the flashlight to his sister before he bent down and pulled the doors opened. arlo stepped forward so that she could point the flashlight into the bunker. she could see perfectly fine in the dark, but steve and dustin couldn't. steve gently took the flashlight away from her, moving it around so that they could see.
"he must be further down there." dustin said, seeing how dustin was nowhere in sight. "i'll stay up here in case he tries to escape. both of the harrington siblings slowly looked at him, shaking their heads before they turned to look back into the bunker.
"i can go." arlo volunteered.
"nope. absolutely not." steve immediately shot down, starting to walk down the stairs. "stay up here with the wuss."
"hey! i am not a wuss!" dustin complained, earning an eye roll from the girl next to him. the both of them watched as steve disappeared into the bunker, waiting for any kind of sound or noise to appear. but when nothing the came, the two party members looked at each other with worried eyes. "steve?" dustin called. "steve, what's going on down there?"
a beam of light appearing on their faces made arlo and dustin flinch, the both of them grabbing onto one another as they jumped back. they looked to see that it was steve, the older boy looking up at them. "get down here." steve told them. they did as told, no questions asked. when they were at the bottom of the stairs, they saw that steve was holding up a coat of shedded skin, it being covered in slime.
"oh, shit." dustin cursed, knowing that dart had molted once again. steve then pointed the flashlight deeper into the bunker, arlo already looking at it. there was an extremely big hole in the wall. "oh, shit!" dustin repeated. the trio stepped closer to it, seeing how the hole led to a tunnel that was dug through the dirt. "no way. no way."
arlo stepped back, feeling an ache coming from inside her. she grunted lowly, bringing her hands up to her stomach. another grunt left her mouth as the pain started to get worse, catching the attention of steve and dustin. they looked at her with worried eyes, noticing the pained expression on her face.
"lo, are you okay?" steve questioned, stepping towards his sister as he held out his hands. instead of answering, arlo collapsed to the floor, pained screams leaving her mouth as she curled into a ball. steve and dustin ran to her, turning her over to see what was going on. "arlo! what's happening? what's wrong?"
the harrington girl continued to scream, tears falling from her eyes. it felt like her body was on fire, everything inside of her felt like it was being burnt. her hands grabbed at her brother's arms, looking up at the boy. "it hurts!"
"where does it hurt? where does it hurt?" steve asked, his voice filled with panicked as he started to pull arlo's bag from her back.
"everywhere! it hurts everywhere!" she answered.
◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸
𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓 𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐃, sucking in a breath. she looked around to see that she was in her own room, making her relax slightly. she looked down to see that she was still in her clothes from yesterday. she climbed out of bed, wincing slightly as she went to her door. she froze, remembering the immense amount of pain that she had felt the previous nice. she left her room and went to steve's seeing that it was empty. "steve! dustin!" she called out, only being met with silence. she walked back into her room and went to her bag, pulling out her supercomm. she pulled the antenna up before she pressed the button on the side. "dustin. do you copy?"
"good, you're awake. you really had us worried, arlo." dustin's voice appeared, making the girl sigh. "how do you feel? does everything still hurt?"
"no, i'm just sore." arlo replied. "where are you guys?"
"we're setting a trap to catch dart at the junkyard. you can meet us there, okay? like, leave right now." dustin told her before the line went to static.
arlo sighed, pushing her antenna down before she placed the supercomm back into her bag. she looked down at the clothes she was wearing, deciding that she needed to take a shower and change into some clean clothes. so that's what she did, cleaning herself off before she changed into some brown corduroy pants, a black shirt, and her converse. she grabbed a hoodie and pulled it over her head before she grabbed her bag and her walkman before she practically ran out the house. she grabbed her bike from the grass and swung her leg over it. she was getting ready to head straight to the junk yard when she thought about max. she started pedaling in the direction of the mayfields, remembering how to get there. music was blasting in her ears as she approached the house, seeing that billy's car was parked on the street. she swung her leg over the bike before she placed the kickstand down. she paused her music and walked up to the front door, ringing the doorbell. she could hear rock music coming from the other side of the door coming to the conclusion that no one had heard her. so she rang the doorbell again. and then again. and again. and then finally, the door opened, revealing maxine mayfield.
the strawberry blonde looked behind her to make sure that billy was distracted. she then stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind her. "what are you doing here?"
"i have proof." arlo replied, earning a confused look from max. "proof that what i told you was real. but we have to hurry."
"what kind of proof?" max questioned.
"all kinds of proof. i - i can't really say anything here or show you, but when we get there, you'll be able to see. i promise." arlo explained. "but once again, we have to leave now."
"i - i can't just leave. when he realizes that i didn't come back in, i'm dead." max mumbled, turning to look at the front door. arlo's jaw clench at the mention of billy hargrove, seeing the fear that appeared in max's eyes at the mention of him. "look, i'll go back inside. you can go around the side of the house and go to my bedroom window. it's the first one. i'll meet you there, okay?"
"yeah." arlo nodded, turning around and walking off the porch. she went to go grab her bike before she did what max had told her, pulling up outside of max's window. she waited patiently, swinging her leg over her bike so that when max joins her they could just take off. the sound of a window sliding open is what caught arlo's attention, the girl turning to look at the window. she saw max looking at her. "come on, hop on. hurry."
max quickly but carefully climbed through the window. arlo scooted up slightly so that max would be able to sit down. "this better be good, cherry." max told arlo as she wrapped her arms around the shorter girl's waist. arlo felt butterflies flutter around in her stomach as she pulled off, pedaling as fast as she could.
◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸
daij speaks!
ANOTHER CHAPTER.
i hope u guys enjoyed 🫶🏼