ACE OF HEARTS
CHAPTER FOUR: THAT AIN'T
NO LIZARD, DUSTIN
"THE CASE OF PHINEAS GAGE is one of the great medical curiosities of all time," Mr.Clarke spoke to the class as he stood in front of the projector. "Phineas was a railroad worker in 1848 who had a nightmarish accident. A large iron rod was driven completely through his head."
Drawing a thick black line through the picture of the scull, Mr.Clarke gazed out at the class, "Phineas miraculously survived. He seemed fine. And physically yes, he was."
"But his injury resulted in a complete change in his personality. So much so, that his friends that knew him started referring to him as 'no longer Gage'."
Leaning her body next to Mike, Cassie whispered closely, "Have you heard from Dustin?"
Shifting his gaze to Cassie, Mike softly shook his head, "No, but he'd have to be missing due to something important. He never misses this class."
Placing her lips together, Cassie nodded — falling back into thought.
Interrupting Mr.Clarke — and waking Cassie up from her daze — a figure burst through the door, causing all eyes to shoot up to Dustin Henderson.
"I'm so sorry, Mr.Clarke," Dustin spoke, shuffling to his seat next to his five friends. "Really, I'm so sorry, please continue with the class."
Turning to the five friends, Dustin whispered, "We have to meet. All of us. At lunch, AV Club."
"Why?" Mike whispered, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I have something that you won't believe," Dustin replied, causing the group to turn back and face the front of the classroom.
Turning to the back of the class, Dustin faced Max, mouthing the words, "AV Club, lunch."
"Dustin!" Mr.Clarke snapped, sending Dustin a warning glare.
"Yes my lord,"
Cassie let out a giggle.
"Would you care to join the class now?"
"Please, yes,"
Mr.Clarke shook his head, reminding the boy, "The case of Phineas Gage,"
"Phineas Gage," Dustin repeated, grabbing a notebook from his backpack.
"Page 104,"
"104," Dustin repeated.
"Focus,"
"Focusing," Dustin spoke.
Cassie turned her head, taking a quick glance down at Dustin's backpack — furrowing her eyebrows as she spotted Dustin's ghost trap from Halloween buried inside. A chitter came from the box, causing Dustin to quickly zip his backpack shut.
Shaking her head slightly, Cassie shifted her gaze back to the front of the classroom — crossing her arms and slouching in her chair.
As Mr.Clarke continued the lesson, Cassie couldn't help but wonder what the hell Dustin had gotten himself into, and what ghastly thing they would have to do to fix it.
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"His name is d'Artagnan," Dustin spoke, opening the case to which a slimy creature rested.
Shifting his hands, Dustin carefully grasped the creature into his palms and held it close to his face. Beaming, he looked at the group, "Cute, right?"
"It's cuter than Mike, if that says anything," Cassie joked, causing Mike to playfully elbow her. "You know I'm kidding."
"We can call him Dart — for short," Dustin continued.
Max scoffed, her face contorting as she studied the slimy creature on Dustin's hand, "And he was in your trash?"
"Forging for food," Dustin spoke, his eyes lighting up as he gazed at Max. "You wanna hold him?"
Max's eyes widened as she frantically shook her head in protest, "No, no, no."
"He doesn't bite-"
"I don't want to," said Max, only to have Dustin place the thing in her hands. Scoffing in disgust, Max turned, "Oh, God, he's slimy!"
Passing the creature to Lucas, he formed the same face of disgust, "Ugh, it's like a living booger!"
As Will held the creature, he immediately passed it to Mike. Unlike the rest of the group, Mike held the creature gently and studied its features, "What is he?"
Dustin smiled, "My question exactly."
When Mike held it up to Cassie, she sternly put a finger up to him, "Don't you dare, Wheeler."
Smirking, Mike ignored Cassie's protest and set the creature in her hands, causing her to let out a small squeal.
"Ew! Get it off, get it off!" Cassie squeaked, quickly handing it back to Dustin as the group burst out into laughter.
"Looks like you aren't as fearless as you're put out to be, Cassie," Mike spoke as Cassie shivered in disgust.
"I've never been fond of slimy things," Cassie explained, hugging her arms to her chest.
"That's true," said Lucas, a slight smirk forming on his face. "I remember when we dissected frogs two years ago and you threw up on Stacey."
Rolling her eyes, Cassie tried to hide her blush of embarrassment, "Definitely not one of my proudest moments. But, it was fun seeing Stacey so freaked out."
"What do you think she would do if she saw this lizard thing?" asked Max.
Cassie shook her head, "Now I'm not a reptile expert, but I'm pretty sure that that ain't no lizard, Dustin."
Bending down to his backpack, Dustin grabbed the books and placed them on the table, "You're right, Cass. At first I thought it was some type of pollywog. But, then, I noticed that they are aquatic — Dart isn't."
"Maybe it's like a mutated kinda thing," Cassie suggested, but Dustin only shook his head.
"It couldn't be," he spoke. "There are only two species of pollywogs that are non-aquatic, and they are far away from here."
"So if it's not a pollywog or a reptile..." Lucas trailed.
"Then I've discovered a new species!" Dustin beamed.
Snapping the group out of conversation, the school bell sounded — signaling the end of fifth period.
"We gotta show him to Mr.Clarke," Lucas spoke as the group filed into the hallway.
"No," Dustin whined. "What if he steals my discovery?"
"He's not gonna steal your discovery," Mike assured the boy.
"You know, I think I'm going to call it Dustonious pollywogus," said Dustin, smiling to himself, then turning to Max. "What do you think?"
"I think you're an idiot," Max spoke, causing Cassie to laugh slightly.
Dustin shook his head, "You know, when I become rich and famous for this one day, don't come back to me saying, 'Oh my god, Dustin, I'm so sorry for being mean to you back in 8th grade, oh my god'."
"There's no way I would ever say that," Max argued.
After a final laugh, the group split apart — continuing onto their next classes. As Cassie entered Mrs.Walters English class, she noticed that Will wasn't in his normal seat in the front.
Instead, he sat in the back, frozen in thought. Pushing through the groups of students at their desks, Cassie made her way to the back of the class and took a seat next to him, "Hey, Will, what's up?"
Jumping slightly, Will looked at Cassie for a moment before responding, "Sorry, I'm just a little tired today."
Lifting up an eyebrow, Cassie studied the boy before answering, "Are you sure? You don't look so good."
"Yeah," said Will, a smile appearing on his face.
"Okay," said Cassie, returning the smile as the teacher appeared and started the lesson.
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After the last bell rang, Cassie shut her locker closed and headed towards Mr.Clarke's classroom, where the group would present Dustin's newly found species.
Humming as she walked, the girl nearly made it to the classroom before her arm was grabbed and pulled towards the lockers.
Letting out a gasp, Cassie faced Mike and Will, whose facial expressions weren't considerably good ones. Furrowing her brows, Cassie asked, "What is it?"
"It's about D'Artagnon," Mike spoke, his hand still grasped around Cassie's forearm. "It's the demogorgan."
Letting out a laugh, Cassie spoke, "Ha! Right! You're funny, Mike. For real, though, we should be heading over there."
Holding her arm tighter, Mike narrowed his eyes and spoke sternly, "Cass, I'm serious."
Searching his eyes for any sign of humor, Cassie's eyes widened, "Wait...you mean.."
"He is here," Will spoke, his eyes frozen as if they were made of stone.
Meeting each other's gaze, Mike and Cassie immediately raced towards Mr.Clarke's classroom — Will trailing just behind them.
Bursting through the door, Mike grabbed the box and yelled, "Stop! I'm sorry, Mr. Clarke. It was just a stupid prank."
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Dustin.
Grabbing Dustin's forearm, Cassie muttered sternly, "We need to go. Right now."
Without question, the rest of the group chased after Mike, who led them into the AV Club room. Well, everyone except for Max.
As the girl banged on the door, she shouted, "Hello? Hello! Guys, come on! Can I come in yet?"
"No!" Mike shouted from the other side of the door.
Turning to the group, Mike asked, "What if when Will was stuck in the Upside Down, he somehow acquired True Sight?"
"What's True Sight?" asked Lucas.
"It gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane," Dustin explained.
"English, please," Cassie spoke.
Mike sighed, "Maybe these episodes that Will keeps having aren't really flashbacks at all. Maybe they're real. Maybe Will can see into the Upside Down."
"So...that would mean..." Lucas trailed off.
"That Dustin's stupid slimy thing is from the Upside Down," Cassie finished, Dustin sending her a small glare causing her to sigh. "Sorry, Dart is from the Upside Down."
"Shouldn't we tell someone?" asked Lucas.
Cassie nodded her head sarcastically, exclaiming, "I think that's an excellent idea, Lucas! Why don't we report it on the local news while we're at it so everyone sees that we have a pet from another dimension!"
"Jesus," Lucas spoke, slightly taken aback by Cassie's sudden outburst.
"Sorry," Cassie muttered, rubbing her head. "This is all just a lot to take in right now."
"Honestly, I think we should tell Hopper," Mike spoke, causing Cassie to meet his eyes.
Cassie nodded, "That sounds a little better,"
"No," Dustin protested. "If we take him to Hopper, he's just as good as dead."
A loud screeching sound interrupted the argument, causing each of the group members to take a few steps back — Mike quickly reaching his arm out in front of Cassie.
As the box shook violently, Mike reached out and grabbed a piece of equipment. Dustin noticed this and shouted, "Don't hurt him!"
"Only if he attacks," said Mike, fixing his eyes on the box with one hand clenched on the equipment and the other placed before Cassie for protection.
"Just open it already!" Lucas shouted, causing Dustin to reach forward and open the box.
Just as the doors unlatched, Dart appeared — his body size now three times larger than he was before. As the creature crawled out, he squirmed a bit before pushing out two back legs along with a pool of liquid. Letting out a gasp, Cassie yelled, "Holy shit!"
Mike took this as an opportunity to launch the equipment onto the creature. But, just as it was about to hit Dart, Dustin yelled, "No!"
This caused the creature to slip away. Shaking her head, Cassie breathed, "Its okay, guys. It can't get out."
Then, as if the gods were punishing her, the door swung open, revealing Max and a paper clip. Dart took this opportunity to slip out of the room, racing out of view.
"Goddamnit!" shouted Mike, storming out of the room and Dustin tripped over Max. "You let him escape!"
Following just behind Mike, Cassie watched the creature quickly slip down the hall and out of view. Looking up at Mike, Cassie spoke, "Lets go find the son of a bitch."
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double update + rlly long chapter
lol what's good