chapter nine:
tara henderson
NIGHT TIME
WOODS
"ARE WE THERE YET?"
tara complained.
"no. if we were there, we would of stopped. do you see us stopping?" dustin responded in a annoyed voice.
act like you don't care, dustin.
"who hurt you?"
sam said while she made a face from dustin's tone
of voice.
"no one."
"you don't have to give me attitude. i just asked a question." tara responded.
"yeah, a dumb question."
"awww, is it past dusty buns bedtime? someone's a little cranky." tara jokes, earning chuckles from everyone.
"yeah, what's with you today? you been giving tara attitude this entire day." lucas asked dustin.
"nothing, she's been annoying."
"liar."
steve mumbled.
"steveee." dustin whined. "say one more word and i am telling everyone here your secret."
"no."
steve answered quick.
"ohh." tara smiled. "what's your secret?" she smirked at steve.
"nothing. there's no secret. right, henderson?"
steve looks at dustin to back him up.
"if there's no secret, then why are you getting red?"
lucas asked.
"i'm not getting red."
steve shook his head.
"kids don't lie, steve."
sam joined.
max noticed steve's face get a lot more redder when sam spoke. then she put one, and one together and quickly figured out steve's secret. but she decided to joke around and scare steve.
"i know your secret."
max spoked.
steve quickly turned his head towards
the red hair girl. "no you don't." steve quickly spoke. "you told her?!" steve yelled at dustin.
"so there is a secret."
tara spoke.
"no." dustin said before looking back at steve. "i didn't tell her! why would i tell a stranger your secret!"
dustin yelled back, flashing his light towards max.
max scoffed. "a stranger?"
tara shoved dustin.
"she isn't a stranger, you idiot!" she yelled.
"if you guys don't shut the hell up. cats won't be the only thing the demogorgan is gonna have for dinner!" sam yelled which made lucas stand in front of dustin.
"wait...cat?" lucas started. "dart ate a cat?"
"no, what? no."
dustin nervously spoke.
"what are you talking about? you told
me he ate mews." steve joined.
"dart ate news?!"
tara spoke.
"mews? who's mews?"
max questioned.
"it's dustin's cat."
steve responded.
"steve!"
"which is now a dead cat."
sam said.
"sam!"
"i knew it! you kept him!"
lucas spoked.
"no!"
"no? but, you said you kept dart because you wanted to impress tara with it." steve blurted out.
"steve!"
dustin yelled.
"you wanted to impress me?"
tara asked. it made her heart flutter, dustin wanted to impress me! she thought. questionable choice to impress someone, but he wanted to impress me?! tara's mind was going crazy.
"no! i kept him because he missed me and he wanted to come back home!" dustin responded.
"bullshit! and bullshit!"
lucas responded.
"i didn't know he was a demogorgan, okay?"
"oh, so now you admit it?"
"guys, who cares? we have to go.
max joined.
"i care! you put the party in jeopardy! you broke the rule of law! and it's all your fault too!"
lucas said, pointing to tara.
tara scoffed. "mine? how is it my fault?"
"if it wasn't for you, dustin wouldn't have accepted dart back and we wouldn't be in this mess!"
the sound of screeching was heard from a distance. the only ones that heard it were steve and sam since the kids were busy arguing. they both flash their light forward.
the demogorgans began screeching from a
distance again.
"hey, guys."
sam spoke.
"just say you like her!"
max yelled.
"i don't!"
"stop lying!"
lucas yelled.
"i am not!"
"GUYS!"
steve yelled loud making the
kids silent.
the screeching continues which made steve walk ahead of the others. "you stay behind them." steve ordered to sam which she did. he was holding his bat as he began walking with the kids behind him but max.
"no, no, no. guys! why are you headed towards the sound?" max questioned. she looks at sam. "why are you letting them walk towards it?"
"you'll be okay. just follow them."
sam assured her as she holds her bat. the boys flash the light following the sound, stopping on a hill.
"i don't see them."
dustin said.
lucas pulls out his binoculars to see closer.
"it's the lab...they were going back home."
▣ ▣ ▣ ▣
"WHY ARE THE LIGHTS OFF?"
jonathan said as him and nancy arrive to the gates of the lab, but no light was on.
"maybe it's closed?"
nancy responded.
"what security took the night off?"
"i don't think so."
jonathan closed the drivers door heading inside the security booth. he presses the button to open the gates, but it wasn't working. he tried turning it on with the electricity box, but no power.
"it's not working?"
"no. the power's off."
jonathan responded.
nancy began hearing the sound of bushes moving.
"jonathan?"
"what?"
"i think there's something in the woods."
nancy walked towards the sound with jonathan behind her, but he stopped her. "nancy, stay back." they see a flash of lights in the woods.
"hello?"
jonathan called out.
"is that jonathan?"
"no, it's sherlock holmes, idiot."
"who's there?!"
jonathan called out. "who's there?!"
the light got closer revealing steve
and the kids.
"steve?"
nancy and jonathan said in sync.
"nancy?"
steve said.
jonathan saw sam appear behind the group. "sam?"
"jonathan?"
sam called.
"what are you doing here?"
nancy questioned.
"what are you doing here?
steve asked back.
"we're looking for mike and will."
"they're not in there, are they?"
sam asked.
jonathan and nancy began to questioned now that sam brought it to their attention. "we're not...sure." nancy responded.
"why?" jonathan asked.
the sound of demogorgans screeching became louder, now that they were closer to the lab. getting everyone's attention.
the group began chattering talking about the last time they had seen mike and will. when the lights of the lab turned on getting nancy's attention.
"the power's back."
jonathan ran to the security booth to get the gates to open, but yet again, they won't open. jonathan kept on pressing the button, but nothing would happen.
"let me try." sam joined in to help jonathan, but jonathan won't move away.
"no."
"i said move out of the way, john!"
sam yelled causing him to step back.
sam pressed the same button that jonathan originally pressed. "that's the button i was pressing, dumbass." he said slapping her head.
"i know what i'm doing, john." she sternly spoke as she continued pressing the button. "pinche botón! you know what..." sam began kicking the button with her feet.
pinché botón : stupid button
"you're gonna break it!"
jonathan tried stopping her, but she held back.
"no i am not!"
sam kept on kicking it until the gate open by itself...well, bob was the one that opened it.
sam smirked and gave jonathan the cockiest smile.
"i win." he chuckles and shoves sam playfully.
"you guys wait here while we go check."
jonathan suggested.
"i'm coming with you."
nancy said.
"you guys better come back alive."
tara spoke.
jonathan and nancy got in their car driving to the lab as the others wait at the entrance. sam walked out the security booth to stand next to steve.
"i'm sorry we got you involve into this mess."
sam apologized.
"it's alright. it was my choice to help you guys."
he softly smiled.
that god damn smile.
"i think you should thank me for saving your ass back at the junkyard."
"thank you? you should thank me for swinging my bat at the demogorgan before you became dinner." sam joked.
steve chuckled. "thank you for saving me back there." he placed his hand on top of hers as she hold the bat. sam looked down and back at him which he was already looking at her. sam could melt while looking into his eyes.
"guys?"
max called.
the couple broke away and looked at what max was looking. two cars came out zooming on the road as they honk their horns. it was jonathan and nancy plus hopper's car.
"get out of the way!"
tara moved everyone out as jonathan's car zoomed pass them. then, hoppers car stopped next to them.
"let's go."
hopper spoke
▣ ▣ ▣ ▣
THE BYERS HOME was silent once everyone walked in. joyce was grieving from bob's passing, the kids finding out will isn't okay. hopper worried about el and axel since he hasn't seen them with the others. as well as sam and tara worried about them too.
"when was the last time you've
seen my brother?" sam asked.
"couple days ago...you?"
hopper responded.
"couple days ago."
"i'm sure axel and el are okay."
tara assured her sister.
after everything they told each other, from almost being attacked by demogorgans at the junkyard to trying to escape from the demogorgans at the lab. only left sam to think about the bad outcome. everyone went through a close to death moment. what if axel and el are in danger?
sam doesn't say a word and walks to jonathan's room. she walked around his bed and just flunk onto the ground and began letting her tears fall down.
she heard the sound of tissues being pulled from
a box. she opened her eyes and looks besides her. steve was holding out tissues for her. she sends him a soft smile and accepts them, wiping her tears away.
"you don't have to be here."
"i know. but i had a feeling that you needed
some company..." steve sat next to sam. "you okay?" he said placing his hand on her knee in a comfort way.
"yeah..." she bit her lip, preventing herself from crying until steve pulled her into his arms as she started to let everything out in her tears. "come here."
"i'm not okay."
she bawled.
"i know."
his voice was soft.
sam wrapped his arms around him and sobbed
on him. "everything is a mess. i'm a mess. my parents died, my sister almost died and i don't know if my brother is alive right now. i've just been hiding in this dark place pretending everything is okay when it's not."
he listens.
"i feel like i am not good enough. i'm not being the older sister, tara deserves. i been making it hard for axel to be a single parent to two sisters. i got drunk and let a random guy kiss me. i feel disgusted about myself. i miss my mom and dad. i miss us. i miss how life use to be before this mess. i wanna be happy again, but when i try to something bad has to happen..." she lifts her head up to look at steve. "it's like the universe doesn't want me happy."
"you deserve to be happy. don't think you're a crazy person for having feelings. we all have them and it's okay to feel that way. don't put yourself down over someone's actions. billy had no right to disrespect you while you were unconscious. it hurts me to see you like this and think about yourself like that, but it hurts me more knowing i was the one who caused all of this. i promised as kids i wouldn't hurt you and i broke that promise. if i hadn't hurt you, you wouldn't talk about yourself this way."
"you're so sweet..." she softly said. "but, don't put the blame on yourself. it's all on me, i just don't know how to deal with this pain. i took the wrong turn and drank all my pain away. but it just made it worse. you can't be blaming yourself for what happened. you need to drop that. not everything is your fault, steve."
steve sighed.
"i know..."
the words stuck to him because when things happen, he would always puts the blame on himself when it was never his fault. he needed to hear those words.
not everything is your fault, steve.
"let's make a promise. i promise i will find some help and cope with my pain in a healthier way. if you stop blaming yourself over everything." sam stuck out her pinky.
steve intertwined his pinky to hers.
"i promise." he softly spoke.
they both looked out the window from where they were sitting and sam laid her head on his shoulder, and sat there enjoying the silence.
"i miss this."
steve spoke.
he really did. he missed being with her everyday, he missed talking to her everyday, but he had to destroy that. he destroyed a beautiful heart, he promised he wouldn't break.
the door slams open.
"sorry to ruin your moment, but we need everyone at the table." mike spoke.
▣ ▣ ▣ ▣
MIKE GRABBED THE DRAWINGS WILL HAD DRAWN BEFORE. "the shadow monster." dustin pointed out.
"it got will that day on the field. the doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him." mike explained.
"and so this virus, it's connecting him
to the tunnels? max questioned.
"to the tunnels, monsters, the upside down, everything. that's how the demo dogs found out will was at the lab."
tara joined.
"woah. slow down. slow down."
steve said trying to keep you with all this information.
"okay so, the shadow monsters inside everything. and if the vines feel something like pain, then so does will."
mike explained.
"and so does dart."
lucas joined.
"yeah. like what mr. clarke taught
us. the hive mind."
"hive mind?"
steve questioned.
"it's a collective consciousness. it's a super-organism."
dustin responded.
"and this is the thing that controls everything. it's the brain." mike said, pointing at the mind flayer will had drawn.
"like the mind flayer." sam spoke.
everyone nodded their heads in agreement and lucas snapped his fingers, but max and steve.
"the what?"
"what?"
sam runs to the living room for dustin's backpack. she empty's out the backpack and grabs the book on dungeons and dragons. she flips through the pages till she finds the page on the mind flayer.
"that's the mind flayer."
sam points to the picture on the book and the picture on will's drawings.
"what the hell is that?"
hopper asked.
"it's a monster from an unknown dimension. it's so ancient that it doesn't even know it's true home."
tara explained.
"it ensalces races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."
sam finished the explanation.
"oh my god, none of this is real. this is a kids' game."
hopper said not believing a word the girls and kids are saying.
"no, it's a manual."
dustin corrected.
"and it's not for kids. why do you think i am always with the kids during their campaign? it's only for teens from eighteen and up. i have to supervise while they play." sam explained.
"unless you know something that we don't. this
is the best metaphor-"
lucas interrupts dustin.
"analogy."
"analogy? that's what you're worried about? fine! an analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is!"
dustin yelled.
"okay so, this mind flamer thing-"
"flayer. mind flayer."
tara corrected nancy.
nancy sighs and looks at sam. she just shrugs her shoulders. "what does it want?"
"to conquer us, basically."
dustin said. "it believes it's the master race."
"like the...like the germans?"
steve stammered between his words.
"steve...that was the nazis."
sam spoke.
"yeah, yeah, yeah. the nazis."
"uh...if the nazis were from another dimension, totally. uh, it views other races like us as inferior to itself."
dustin said.
"it wants to spread, take over other dimensions." mike added.
"we are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." lucas spoke.
"that's great. that's great. that's
really greet, jesus!" steve runs his hand through his hair. "so you're saying we're going to die, if we don't stop these creatures?"
"pretty much."
tara responded.
"jeez..."
"okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything..." nancy looks at the page. "then if we kill it..."
"we kill everything it controls."
mike finished nancy's sentence.
"we win."
"theoretically."
"alright great, so how do you kill this thing? shoot it with fireballs or something?" hopper takes a look of the book.
dustin chuckles. "no, no, no fire- no fireballs. uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because..." he stammers. "because zombies, you know, they don't have brains and the mind flayer, it...it...it likes brains." dustin noticed hoppers unpleasant look on his face as he closed the book. "it's just a game. it's a game." dustin spoke.
"what the hell are we doing here?"
hopper said as he slammed the book.
"i thought we were waiting for your military backup?"
tara questioned.
"we are!"
"how are they gonna stop this?"
mike asked. "you can't just shoot this with guns."
"you don't know that! we don't know anything!"
hopper yelled.
"we know it's already killed everybody
in that lab." mike said.
"and we know the monsters are gonna molt again."
lucas added.
"and we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town." dustin included.
"they're right..."
everyone turns to look at joyce standing by
the hallway.
"we have to kill it." joyce spoke. "i want to kill it."
"me too."
"i-"
"me too, joyce, okay?"
hopper said. "but how do we do that? we don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."
"no..." sam spoke. "but he does." she walked towards will with mike behind her.
"if anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's will. he's connected to it. he'll know its weakness."
mike added.
▣ ▣ ▣ ▣
EVERYONE BEGAN PREPARING THE SHED FOR WILL. so they'll be able to find out how to kill the mind flayer. everyone was collecting parts to cover over the shed, so the demogorgans wouldn't find will easily.
dustin, lucas, tara and max were in charge of finding scraps of trash to cover the shed.
"hey." dustin started. "i'm sorry about dart and all. i guess, i just thought that he was my friend and he'd help me impress the girl that i like. but i was wrong, i think it just gave tara a reason to not like me." he finished.
lucas felt bad for his best friend. tara was the first girl and only girl dustin has ever had a crush on. he just didn't know how to tell her because he's afraid that a pretty girl would reject him and he'd just make himself a fool.
"hey man, it's okay. i would of thought dart was a normal pet too and about tara...you don't need some slug that turned into a demo dog just to impress tara. she likes you just the way you are. you don't even have to try to impress her. she already likes you." lucas smiled.
dustin's heart fluttered of joy. she likes me. he thinks to himself.
"she does?"
lucas turns to look at tara who was already looking at dustin, but she looked away once their eyes met.
"go talk to her, man. this is your chance to get
the girl of your dreams." lucas encouraged his best friend.
"only if you ask out max to the snowball dance."
dustin smirked.
"i will."
dustin walks to tara who was collecting trash with max. once max saw him coming, she took that as her cue to leave and join lucas on the other side. there was a moment of silence between the two kids. both not knowing who will talk first.
"i'm sorry for being an asshole to you for the past couple of days. i didn't mean to say those mean words to you. i just wanted you to know you aren't annoying..."
"it's okay."
"it's not, i've been mean to you. i just didn't know how to act in front a pretty girl like you...i thought if i acted like i didn't care about you or anything you said, it would make you go crazy and want to be with me."
tara didn't know what to say.
just do it dustin. just say it.
"tara?"
"yeah?..."
she responded.
"i like you."
tara felt her heart beat so fast when those words came out of dustin's mouth. the boy of my dreams likes me. she thinks to herself.
"dustin."
"yeah?"
he asks.
"i like you too."
she admits looking at his eyes squint from how big
he is smiling. which made her smile too.
"i'm glad you feel the same way, miss tara henderson."
dustin spoke with a fancy accent as they both giggled.
sam overheard tara confessing to dustin her feelings which made her so happy for her sister. as long her sister was happy, so was she. she looks towards the shed and sees nancy and steve coming out of the shed laughing together. her heart sank. they're back together, she thought. steve looked towards the house seeing sam already looking at them with sadness in her eyes. once their eyes met, she went back inside the byer's home.
"damn it."
he mumbled.
▣ ▣ ▣ ▣
THE HOUSE WAS SILENT as everyone waited for a word on will. max and lucas talked about their plan, but max was worried their plan might not work out. dustin and tara already planning their official date at the summer camp they're going to register this summer. sam trying to stay away from steve. she had her back turned away from him as she flipped through dustin's dungeons and dragons manual. steve swinging his bat around and taking quick glances at sam who hasn't turned to look at him at all for the past couple of minutes.
the back door opens where hooper grabs a piece of paper and pen writing a morse code.
"what happened?"
sam said, quickly getting up to walk to the table.
"i think he's talking, just not with words."
hopper responded.
. . . . . .____.
"what is that?"
steve questioned.
"morse code."
everyone said in sync.
H-E-R-E
"here."
they said in sync.
"will's still in there. he's talking to us."
hopper said.
jonathan grabs his radio and a caset tape of their favorite song as it plays. he explains to will about their song as will taps his finger against his chair while hopper sends over the message to the kids and teens. they began writing down the morse code as they look through a pamphlet to identify the letters.
C.
mike began telling will one of his memories
with him, receiving another tap against the chair from will.
L.
O.
mike continued explaining to will how he saved them during their campaign of dungeons and dragons. yet again, receiving another code from the will.
S.
joyce began telling will about another memory they had of a little girl crying, and to make her feel better. will gave her his tonka truck.
E.
G.
joyce continued and received a last code
from will.
A.
T.
E.
everyone gathered around nancy as they read the words will send over to them.
CLOSE GATE
the phone began to ring which startled everyone, including will...dustin ran over to stop the phone from ringing. but, it started to ring again.
"shut the hell up!"
sam yelled as she grabbed the whole phone, pulling it out of the wall. she slams it on ground and jumps on top of it, breaking it in pieces. while everyone was shocked from how strong sam was, to able to pull the whole phone out of a wall.
"do you think he heard that?"
max asked.
"it's just a phone. it could be
anywhere...right?" steve responded.
the sound of a demogorgan screeching caught everyone's attention. they ran to the living room as the kids peaked through the window.
"oh that's not good."
dustin and tara said in sync.
"hey! hey, get away from the windows!"
hopper yelled out as he walked with two guns. "can you use this?" he holds out a shotgun to jonathan.
"what?"
"can you use this?"
hopper said again.
"um-"
"give it to me."
sam blurted out, hopper without hesitation tossed the shotgun to sam as she reloads it pointing it towards the window. tara grabbed sam's baseball bat ready to swing while dustin stood behind steve, max stayed behind sam as lucas prepared his slingshot. nancy holding a pistol she pulled from her bag as jonathan and joyce stayed behind, and mike holding a...trophy. hopper and sam pointing their guns towards the window ready to pull the trigger.
"where are they?"
nancy asked.
they heard a loud thud and growling coming from the window by the kitchen. everyone quickly aiming towards that window as everyone gasped.
"what are they doing?"
nancy said in a shaky voice.
the leaves crumbled from the bushes. everyone preparing for the worst. the demogorgan snarled outside the window in the living room. everyone quickly aiming toward the window again.
"come. out. you mother fucker."
sam whispered, aiming towards the window.
multiple demogorgans growled and screeched. loud crashes were heard outside. but the screeching abruptly stops making the whole house and outside go dead silent. a demogorgan comes crashing through window as everyone screamed. everyone backed away, but hopper. he gets closer to it with his rifle still aiming towards it making sure it's actually dead.
"holy shit."
dustin blurt out.
"is it dead?"
max asked.
hopper kicks it with his feet lightly, but no reaction from the demogorgan.
"are we allowed to enter someone's
house freely?"
"we know the people who live here."
they all heard chattering coming from outside. sam instantly recognizing one of the voices as her shoulders relaxed and fell downwards from the relief.
the lock on the doors began to turn on itself as everyone aimed towards the door for precaution. once the locks unlock on its own, the door slowly opens.
el entering the home with axel and scott
behind her...
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
season two is coming to an end. only one more chapter left to post and that's a wrap for the year. season three is so close to being done and ready to post on january! and season four is in the makes right now ;) also, keep in mind the last few chapters and the next one are long ones because i wanted to add certain scenes and made up scenes for the chapters...
finally dustin and tara confess their feelings towards each other. they're so cute 💙
do we think sam and steve will happen? 🤔
be sure to follow my tik tok where i make small edits about my chapters or my book in general.
@ unlessitsmrsreid01