»She's so Mean, by Matchbox Twenty«
0:00 ─〇───── 3:52
⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻
"𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑒𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃."
≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡
I bury myself in a book to escape this shitty reality. This life is a nightmare, I want to pretend I have a different one for a while. Dustin came home very late from school and has been locked up in his room. I don't think much of it and stay curled up in bed with the comforter over my head and a flashlight in hand. I rest the book on my lap and imagine myself in the main character's shoes.
"Y/N!" Dustin screams from my open doorway.
Startled, I shout and toss the blanket off of myself. "DUSTIN. WHAT?!"
"I need to show you something," he says calmly, motioning for me to follow him. I roll my eyes. This boy is going to give me a stroke before I'm twenty. I reluctantly crawl out of bed and follow him to his bedroom. He looms over his turtle's tank, but his turtle is wandering around on the carpet.
I peek into the tank to see what my brother is looking at. A slug-like creature that makes ungodly sounds and smells like a sewer. "What is that thing? Why is it so ugly?"
"Don't call D'Artagnan ugly!" Dustin scolds.
I raise my brow at him. "You named it?" I ask, leaning against the tank a bit.
"Yeah. Dart, for short,"
Dart screeches up at us. "Ew," I complain. "What are you going to do with it?"
"Raise it, turn it into NASA, I'm not sure yet," Dustin says. "this is the scientific discovery of the century. I'm going to be famous!"
"From a fat slug?"
"An interdimensional fat slug," Dustin corrects. "we think it came from the Upside Down,"
"You... what?" I utter. "Dustin, you have to kill it if it came from there,"
"No! He's not hurting anyone!"
"Not right now, but you don't know for sure that it won't,"
"Dart is my friend. He's harmless," Dustin persists.
I sigh deeply. "Dustin, you haven't seen what's in that place. Not a damn good thing comes out of it. We have to kill it,"
"No!" Dustin says, storming out of the room.
I follow behind him, continuing my lecture. "The Upside Down is a dark dimension, you can't keep things from it in our world,"
"You don't know everything!" Dustin argues from the living room.
"You don't either!" I aver.
"Quit bossing me around!" Dustin whines. "I'm not a little kid anymore,"
"I'm trying to protect you, Dustin! You have no idea what--"
Glass shatters from Dustin's bedroom, making me shut my mouth quickly. Hissing, growling, and screeching follow. Dustin and I race into his bedroom to investigate. We find the turtle tank Dustin put Dart in shattered open, with the creature nowhere to be found.
"Shit," Dustin vocalizes.
"Kids, I'm home!" Mom announces from the front door.
"Double shit," I add. "Find that thing, I'll distract mom."
I leave the bedroom, closing the door behind me. I pace down the hall to greet her. "Hey, mom,"
"Hey, sweetie. Where's your brother?" she smiles, hanging her coat on a rack by the door.
"Homework. He should be done soon," I lie.
"What's he working on?"
"Science project,"
She beams. "Our little genius," she gushes, moving past me and into the kitchen.
I fake a smile, masking how terrified I am. I shadow her, watching from a distance as she begins boiling water for tea. "Oh, speaking of Dustin! The Snowball is coming up this December, I got a letter in the mail that they're looking for volunteer chaperones,"
"Okay...?" I mumble, unsure of what she's getting at.
Mom gives me a grimacing smile, and I suddenly understand.
"Oh, shit... do I have to?"
"Language. And yes, I'd like you to keep an eye on Dusty. Make sure he doesn't get his itty-bitty heart broke," she chirps.
"Dustin doesn't have a heart or a soul, mother," I joke. "besides, heartbreak is a part of growing up. Rite of passage, if you will,"
Mom opens a cinnamon and spice teabag, steeping it in a sunflower yellow mug full of piping hot water. "Come on Honey, do it for me, please?" she pouts, jutting her lower lip out.
I groan, flailing my arms to the side theatrically. "Ugh, fine,"
"Mews? Mews? Where are you, buddy?" Dustin calls, frantically searching around the house. He approaches us in the kitchen. "Have you guys seen Mews? I think he got out,"
Mom gasps. "Oh, no! Our baby doesn't do well in the cold!"
"Y/N and I will check around the house. Mom, could you check outside?" Dustin speaks up.
Mom doesn't say another word, throwing her coat back on and hobbling outside. I look down at Dustin and fold my arms.
"Where did you hide the cat?"
My younger brother doesn't respond, instead, he grabs my wrist and forcefully drags me down the hallway. He practically shoves me into his bedroom, accompanied by me cursing him out for pushing me too hard. Dustin leads me to the corner of his room, pulling out a chair.
Dart has doubled in size pretty much instantly, and he's eating something...
I stare at the tufts of long white fur mixed with guts and fresh, bright red blood.
"Oh my fucking God... is that...?"
"...Mews," Dustin confirms solemnly.
Dart looks up from his feast, right at me. The creature lets out a blood-curdling screech, its face opening up in a flower-like pattern.
"Fuck, out, now!" I command, grabbing my baby brother by the back of his shirt.
The monster tries to follow us out the door. Without thinking about it, I force the chair Dart was hiding under with his meal flies towards us, smacking Dart just as I close the door. Startled, I slam the door and hold my body against it. I hear the chair continue to drag towards us, breaking against the force of the door.
"My chair!" Dustin whines.
"Bigger problems right now, Dusty," I remind while panting.
"Right, like the fact that you're losing control again," Dustin chimes in.
I shake my head. "I had it under control." I lie.
≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡
Dustin's a fantastic liar. I'm not sure if I should be proud of him or interrogate him about what he's lied to me about. Mom buys my brother's fabricated story, that Mr. Mckorkle saw Mews wandering around Loch Nora. She leaves to go get him. We watch her car leave the driveway.
Initiate panic mode.
Dustin does everything in his power to get ahold of the Party while I brainstorm how to catch Dart somewhere he can't get out. Using my power still exhausts me, and as much as I hate to admit it, Dustin's right. I have hardly any control. It's as if I can only manage to use it when in a situation where I'll die if I don't. A survival mechanism.
We decide the basement is our only option. We'll lock Dart down there, then go for help. Hopper, Joyce, the Party... someone has to be reachable. Strength in numbers, unfortunately.
I finish duct-taping pillows to Dustin's midsection and leaving a trail of bologna to the basement entrance outside.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" I ask Dustin.
"Definitely not," he admits.
I sigh. "Well, at least you're honest,"
"Let's go over the plan. I'll lure Dart out, you'll throw him in and hold the door closed. I'll lock it,"
"Then we clean up and get help." I finish, slipping a hockey helmet over my head. We bonk our protected foreheads together, amping ourselves up.
I sneak towards Dustin's bedroom door, listening in for any sound.
"Alright, Dart, breakfast time!' Dustin summons the beast. I quickly slide the door open, and we bolt down the hallway. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod," Dustin says, wobbling down the hall.
"Shitshitshitshit," I squeal, pushing Dustin to go faster. We make it out the back door and make a dash towards the garden shed where we plan to take cover.
We hunker down, watching through the slats of aged wood. Dart crawls out of the house, now resembling the size and structure of a small dog. I watch it slurp up the flabby slices of meat I laid out.
"Gross," I whisper.
The noise attracts Dart's attention, and he turns to look right at me.
"Oh, shit."
I react purely on the instinct to protect myself and my brother. I burst out of the shed, reaching a hand out toward the Demogorgon. An invisible force shoves Dart aggressively backward and into the cellar. The heavy doors slam closed behind. Dustin thinks quickly, chaining up the handles to the entrance.
My head pounds, my legs feel weak, and I feel blood dripping down my nose.
"That was so cool!" Dustin cheers.
My chest heaves. I feel like I'm going to pass out. There's no time to be feeling that way, though. I go inside to clean up the blood while Dustin buries Mews. I've got a soft spot for animals, and I can't look at our mangled cat again. Just thinking about the image burned into my head makes me teary-eyed.
"I can't get ahold of anyone," Dustin tells me as I pour the bloody mop bucket water I was using down the bathtub drain.
"What now, then?"
"The Wheelers. Someone's got to be there. Mike, Will, Nancy... someone..."
I nod hesitantly. I'm not ready to speak to Nancy yet, but I really don't have a choice. This situation is far direr than petty drama and boys.
I finish bleaching out the tub while Dustin tries a final time to get ahold of Hopper. One of his guns would be extremely comforting right now.
I briefly think of Eleven. Where did she go... if she didn't die? What if she did, and I'm going mad?
What if she didn't... and she's hiding from us for some reason.
Whatever the case may be, it would be extremely comforting to have her around right now.
≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡
"I can't believe we walked all the way here for nothing," I complain from the Wheeler's front lawn.
"Maybe, not for nothing..." Dustin says. I look up from the dead grass and watch a familiar maroon BMW pull up to the curb. Steve steps out, mumbling to himself quietly and messing with his hair.
"You've gotta be kidding me." I deadpan, addressing whatever messed up God or foreseer that put me in this humorous situation. "Why me?"
Steve holds a bouquet of roses in his hands, not looking up from his feet as he continues to talk to himself.
"Steve!" Dustin alerts.
I grimace. Crap, there's no time to hide.
Steve looks up. Our eyes lock onto one another like magnets. Similarly to magnets, the force is almost impossible to pull away from.
"Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" Dustin asks.
"W-what..? No..." Steve mumbles distractedly.
Dustin rips the roses from Steve's hands.
"Hey!" Steve shouts, finally breaking eye contact with me.
I take a deep breath, trying to soothe my nausea.
"Nancy isn't home," Dustin says, stomping towards Steve's car.
"Where is she?" Steve inquires.
I'm not sure why, but the question hurts my heart a bit.
"It doesn't matter. We have bigger problems than your love life," Dustin says, getting into the passenger seat. "Y/N, come on! Steve, you still have that bat?"
"What bat?"
"The one with the nails?" I speak up, approaching the car.
"Why?"
"We'll explain on the way," I say, getting into the back seat.
"Let's go," Dustin urges.
"Now?"
"YES, NOW!"
≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡
"Wait a sec. How big?" Steve asks in the dark of the car.
"First, it was like this," Dustin says, gesturing with his hands. "Now it's like this,"
"I swear to God, dude, this better not be some lizard or some shit--"
"It's not a lizard!" I rebuke. Steve glances at me through the rearview mirror.
"How do you know?" Steve asks, still skeptical.
"Its face opened up, and it ate our cat!" Dustin shouts.
For the first time since I've met him, Steve is silent.
We pull into the driveway. Steve grabs his bat, and Dustin makes sure I'm good to go in case things do go south and I have to use my powers. I reluctantly agreed, knowing that if it came to protecting them or myself, I'd choose them.
"I don't hear anything," Steve observes, poking at the cellar doors.
"He's in there. Threw him in myself," I say, wrapping my arms around myself. I debate going inside to grab a jacket but realize there's not really any time to do so. I instead try not to focus on the bitter cold.
"I swear to God, if this is some Halloween prank--"
"Shut up, Steve," I snap. It comes out harsher than intended. "are you going to help us or not?" I look up at him. He looks down at me, eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenched. What are you thinking? I ponder. Why couldn't my superpower have been reading minds? Steve stares at me for an uncomfortable time. I squeeze myself tighter.
"Give me the key," Steve tells Dustin. Dustin hands over the key for the lock on the doors. I hold the flashlight for them as they heave the heavy doors open.
"I'll stay up here, in case he tries to escape..." Dustin says meekly. I look at him and roll my eyes, standing from my crouched position. I nod at Steve and then at the black chasm that awaits us.
"Alright, let's go," I say.
Steve raises a brow. "I thought you didn't need my protection," he practically whispers.
"I don't. But I never said anything about you not needing mine." I reply.
Steve goes first into the basement, with me close behind him. An overwhelming sense of dread fills me, and I find myself standing a little closer to Steve than I'd care to admit. Steve turns on the light in the basement, looking down at something on the floor. He lifts it with his bat.
A slimy, rancid-smelling layer of... skin?
"Oh, shit..." I mutter.
"What?" Steve asks.
"He got bigger..." I say, looking around for the thing. If it's bigger, surely I'd have seen it by now, right? I scan the room fearfully. My blood runs cold when I notice the gaping hole in the far corner of the room. "Steve..." I say, tugging on his jacket to get his attention. He turns, giving me his attention. I point to the hole where the Demogorgon has clearly escaped. "He got out."