𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 Dustin proceeded to explain how he managed to stumble upon Dart, also known as, D'artagnan, and how he might actually be a mini Demogorgon. We then put a considerable amount of effort into cleaning Dustin's blood-stained carpets, but it got too late and we decided to continue in the morning. We also made a plan to trick our mom, so that Dustin and I could continue cleaning and trap Dart without an issue.
This morning, I let out a sigh while gazing out of the window, observing my mother as she saunters about our front yard, waving around a cat toy and calling out for Mews. I feel a pang of guilt in my chest, but I quickly reassure myself that lying to her is for the best.
As I notice my mother heading back towards the house, I turn to face my brother who stands by the phone, giving him a quick thumbs up. Dustin grabs the phone off the wall, performing his part of the plan. I sink onto our yellow sofa, turning the tv on with a click, acting as casual as possible.
"Dusty, (Y/n), you're sure she's not in either of your rooms?" Our mother asks desperately as she enters through the front door, closing it behind her.
Dustin extends his index finger towards our mother and silently signals her to wait until he is finished on the phone. When she looks in my direction, I shake my head, giving her a sympathetic look, before averting my attention back to the tv.
"Uh huh. Thank you so much, Mr. McCorkle. Thank you so much. You are a true lifesaver." Dustin says into the phone even though there's no one on the other side, "Alright, this was great. Thank you, alright. Have a good one. Bye-bye now. Alright, you too." Dustin finishes, placing the phone back onto the wall.
"Alright, great news." He says, turning to us with a slight grin.
"They found her?" Our mom responds and she looks like she's almost crying.
"No. But they saw her wandering around Loch Nora." Dustin explains, carefully walking towards our mother.
"How did the poor baby get all the way out there?" Our mom cries, reaching towards Dustin before grabbing his forearms.
"I don't know, lost I guess." Dustin says softly, "But they're gonna look for her."
"And we'll stay here, just in case they call again." I pipe in, standing from my spot on the couch, walking over to calm our mom down.
"And you're gonna go help look? Yeah? Yeah?" Dustin asks, and our mother nods before pulling the boy into a tight hug, "Give me a hug, give me a hug." He says comfortingly in her arms.
"Go get her." I rub my mom's shoulder as she pulls away from Dustin, and heads back towards the front door.
"You're gonna find her, alright?" Dustin says.
"Okay." Our mother replies, grabbing her stuff.
"We can find her." Dustin says, sending our mom a thumbs up.
"We can find her." Our mom chokes out, smiling slightly at the two of us.
"We love you." I say softly, blowing her a kiss.
"I love you guys." She responds as she walks out the door.
"We love you." Dustin says this time.
"Oh, I love you." Our mom says one last time.
"Alright, go, alright." Dustin, ushers her out the door.
After our mother finally exits the house, we both exhale with relief and exchange a quick glance before averting our attention to the next phase of our plan. Dustin goes outside to unlock the cellar door at the back of the house and I grab package of bologna from the fridge, trailing the slices throughout the house to lure Dart outside. As an additional precaution, we then grab Dustin's old hockey equipment, an extra layer of protection against the creature.
I stand outside by the cellar, alert and ready, wielding my hockey stick high. As I wait for Dustin to come out of the house with Dart following behind.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Dustin emerges from the house, with his hockey pads making him run weirdly.
"What happened?" I question, confusion evident in my tone as I lower my hickey stick.
Dustin doesn't answer. He runs continues running towards our shed and I quickly follow behind him. I slam the door closed, locking it, and Dustin and I stand there breathing heavily as we wait for Dart.
"Come on, come on." Dustin whispers to himself as he peeks out of the wooden shed, "I know you're hungry."
I come up next to my brother, also peeking out of the shed. The two of us let out simultaneous gasps when we see Dart emerge from our house.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes." My brother whispers from his spot beside me.
We watch as Dart takes the bait and follows the trail of bologna towards the cellar.
"It's working." I whisper, turning to face my brother.
Dart creeps towards the cellar before whipping his head around to face us. Dustin and I both let out quiet gasps before we press out backs against the wall, hoping Dart is oblivious to our presence.
"Shit." Dustin whispers as Dart gets closer and closer to the shed.
I exchange a quick look with my sibling to offer him an affirmative nod, knowing what we have to do. Dustin then abruptly swings the shed door open, startling Dart and causing the creature to dash towards the cellar. Dustin swiftly hits Dart into the cellar and I hastily shut the door tight, quickly securing the exit with a lock to prevent Dart's potential escape.
Dart lets out a couple loud screeches in anger.
"I'm sorry. You ate our cat."
|☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆|
Together, Dustin and I finish shoveling dirt into the grave we dug for Mews' body. My brother has been trying to get in contact with the party but so far, we've had no such luck.
"Guys, this is Dustin again." My brother says into his mic, "Does anyone copy? This is a code red. I repeat, a code red!"
After no response Dustin and I head back inside to rummage through the cabinet located beneath the sink. We hope to find more cleaning supplies do that we can resume cleaning his carpet.
"I really need someone to pick up here." Dustin says slightly irritated, "Hopper's MIA, and I've got a code red. Code red!"
After locating the right supplies, the two of us journey into Dustin's room, where we resume scrubbing the carpet and chair to remove the blood stains. Dustin remains committed to search for our friends, but still, no response.
"Alright, it's Dustin again." My brother sighs as he scrubs the floor alongside me, "Seriously I have a code red."
"Could you please shut up?" Erica, Lucas's sister responds through the other end of the walkie-talkie.
"Erica? Erica, is Lucas there?" Dustin asks, as we finally finish cleaning his carpet, "Where is he?"
"Don't know. Don't care." Erica replies sassily.
"Is he with Mike?" Dustin stutters out, desperate to find his friends.
"Like I said, I don't know and I don't care." Erica repeats through the radio.
"Please tell him it's super important. Please tell him that I have a code—"
"Code red?" Erica cuts Dustin off, annoyed.
"Yep, code red. Exactly." My brother nods and glances at me.
"Mhm. I got a code for you instead." Erica replies, "It's called code shut your mouth." That's all we hear before the line goes dead, leaving static to fill the air.
"Erica?" Dustin stammers out.
"Damn, she just hung up on you." I chuckle slightly at me brother's annoyed expression.
After tidying up and storing away the used cleaning supplies, Dustin and I ultimately decide to ride our bikes to Mike's house in search of assistance.
When we show up at the door, Dustin proceeds to ring the doorbell an obnoxious amount of times. Eventually, Mr. Wheeler answers the door, as he stands there with an air of annoyance and his hand placed on his hip, his expression full of impatience.
"Your line has been busy for over two hours, Mr. Wheeler." My brother says simply, "Do you realize this?" Dustin asks.
"Oh, I do realize." Mr. Wheeler replies glancing between the two of us.
"Is Mike home?" Dustin asks, glancing around Mr. Wheeler's shoulder into the house.
"No." He says simply, shaking his head.
"No? Well, where the hell is he?" Dustin asks, confused.
"Karen, where's our son?!" Mr. Wheeler calls into the house, looking over his left shoulder.
"Will's!" I hear Mrs. Wheeler yell from across the house.
"Will's." Mr. Wheeler replies, attempting to shut the door before my brother lets out a sigh.
"No one's picking up there." Dustin says defeatedly.
"Nancy. Where's Nancy?" I ask, thinking of my friend, who I haven't heard from since yesterday.
"Karen, where's Nancy?!" Mr. Wheeler calls into the house again.
"Ally's!" Mrs. Wheelers yells, clearly annoyed with her husband.
"Ally's." Mr. Wheeler says simply, turning towards us, "Our children don't live see anymore. You didn't know that?" He adds sarcastically and I roll my eyes.
"Seriously?" Dustin replies, irritated.
"Am I done here?" Mr. Wheelers asks, glancing between both of us one last time.
"Son of a bitch. You're really no help at all, you know that?" Dustin responds, before the two of us walk down the steps, away from the door.
"Hey, language." I hear Mr. Wheeler say before closing the door.
I shove my hands into my pockets as me and Dustin walk away from the Wheeler's house. We grab our bicycles and proceed down the side walk. Before we make it any further, I notice that Steve's maroon car has just parked on the side of the road. I swiftly seize a hold of Dustin's jacket and tug on his shoulder, gesturing towards Steve's car.
As Steve emerges from his car, my gaze follows his every movement, watching his actions. The quick running of his hand through his messy hair and the mumbling of words to himself. My eyes settle upon the bouquet of flowers in his hand, causing my heart to sink a little.
He's here for Nancy.
"Listen, I've been thinking." Steve murmurs, still not noticing me or Dustin, "I love you, I'm sorry."
My stomach drops.
"I'm sorry. What the hell am I sorry for?" I hear Steve say before Dustin and I approach him.
"Steve." My brother calls out, grabbing the boy's attention who looks between me and my brother confused, "Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" Dustin says, referring to the flowers Steve is holding.
"No...?" Steve says hesitantly, glancing at the flowers in hand.
"Good." Dustin replies before snatching the flowers and running towards Steve's car, leaving me alone with Steve.
"Hey. What the hell? Hey!" Steve yells after my brother, confused and irritated.
"Nancy isn't home." I mumble, looking at my shoes.
"Oh. Where is she?" Steve asks, awkwardly, tension in the air.
"It doesn't matter!" Dustin answers before I get the chance to, "We have bigger problems than your love life." My brother adds, glancing between Steve and I before opening the car door.
"Do you still have that bat?" Dustin asks, his hand on the door.
"Bat? What bat?" Steve asks, glancing back at me before turning his attention back to my brother.
"The one with the nails." Dustin says as if it's obvious.
"Why?" Steve responds confused.
"I'll explain it on the way." Dustin says before climbing into the passenger side of the car.
Steve briefly turns his head in my direction and I meet his gaze, offering a weak smile. The gesture seems to confuse Steve further, as he tilts his head to one side with sad eyes.
"Hey." Steve says quietly and reaches out before I quickly walk past him, not wanting to deal with the talk we need to have.
I swiftly approach the vehicle, casting my brother a warning look. He immediately opens the backseat door and jumps inside while I slide into the passenger seat.
Steve follows closely behind, sliding into the driver's seat and starting the engine. I notice Steve turn to look at me, his gaze full of concern, yet I direct my gaze out the window. I don't fail to notice Dustin's puzzled look as he observes our interaction. I remain silent continue to observe the passing sights, the weight of the unsaid words hanging heavily between us.
|☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆|
The car is still silent after Dustin explained our whole situation. Hammer to Fall plays through the radio in Steve's car, not helping with the awkwardness in the air.
Here we stand or here we fall.
History won't care at all.
"Wait a sec," Steve breaks the silence glancing through the rear view mirror at my brother, "How big?"
"First it was like that," Dustin shows Steve using his fingers, "Now he's like this." Dustin puts his hands up, showing how much Dart grew.
"I swear to god, man," Steve sighs, "It's just some little lizard, okay?" He adds before glancing at me again.
"It's not a lizard." My brother replies firmly.
"How do you know?" Steve replies with the shake of his hand.
"How do I know if it's not a lizard?" Dustin retaliates as he narrows his eyes.
"How do you know if it's not just a lizard?" Steve says louder this time, getting annoyed.
"Because it's face opened up and he ate our cat." I say irritated at the two boys, finally turning to face Steve.
Steve's eyes widen in shock.
"It ate Mews?"
|☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆|
Author's Note
Hello! Thank you for all your support! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter (Y/n) and Steve will talk more and like stuff will happen. I'm honestly not really sure what, but it'll be good, I promise! :)