❁

the boy only increased his advances on her. he seemed to want nothing less than to date her, which made meadow more frustrated than anything. he didn't seem to take no as an answer, and very visibly got only more persistent with each hint or sign of disinterest.

however, billy had somehow become the least of her problems. mews had gone missing, and claudia henderson's main goal in life was to find the cat.

"are you gonna tell me what actually happened?" meadow had asked dustin as soon as their mother had left. what she wasn't expecting was for the boy to hand her safety equipment; knee pads, a football helmet, and a body guard, already wearing a full hockey uniform himself. "dustin, what the hell?"

he put on a hockey mask, finishing his ensemble. "just put it on!!" he yelled, leading meadow outside and to the cellar doors. he opened them, leaving his sister even more confused. before she could yell at him again, dustin ran into the house, preparing a meat trail to the now open cellar doors. "dart is a baby demogorgon. he ate mews."

meadow turned around, confused. "dustin, what the hell?!" he opened his bedroom door, shoving his sister in front of him and frantically whisper-yelling at her to run. "so what now, are we trapping him?" she asked, but dustin silenced her, running into their shed and closing the door behind him.

the siblings watched as dart came out of the house, lured by the meat. he jumped into the trap door of the cellar, and dustin quickly ran out of the shed, closing the door to trap the creature inside. "help me with the lock!" he ordered meadow, who sat on top of the doors to keep them shut, grabbing the lock and clasping it around the bars.

"we are in such deep shit." meadow sighed, looking over at her brother.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

of course meadow had to help dustin clean up the mess he had created. she helped him bury mews, moving on to help him clean up the severe blood stains his carpet.

"we have a code red!" dustin was yelling into his walkie-talkie, but none of his friends seemed to pick up. after over an hour of trying to call his friends, he decided to go to the wheelers home for help.

while meadow would have typically taken her car to drive dustin to his friend's house, the gray and beaten up vehicle was currently getting some much needed repairs (only minor ones, meadow had insisted, to save money). without her car, their fastest mode of transport were their bikes. and so, the henderson siblings rode their bikes to the wheeler household to ask for mike.

mr. wheeler was, as typical, very unhelpful, so meadow frowned as she comfortingly patted her brother's shoulder. "come on, let's just go home and see if any of them pick up later." she told him. dustin nodded sadly, following her back to their discarded bikes.

steve then got out of his car, holding a bouquet of roses in his hand and mumbling to himself. "steve?" meadow and dustin asked in unison, catching his attention. "seriously," meadow said, pointing to the flowers, "you seriously aren't coming here to apologize, are you? she called you bullshit and said she didn't love you!"

he gave her a confused look, shaking his head. "no, uh, your mom said you were on your way here so i was trying to find you-"

meadow's eyebrows raised. "those are for me?" she paused for a second. "why?"

"because you've been really there for me with all of this, and i just-"

dustin ignored their banter, grabbing the roses from the older boy's hands and hopping into the unlocked car. "steve, do you still have the bat?"

"what bat?" he replied.

dustin sent him an annoyed look. "the one with the nails in it!" he spoke as if it was obvious.

steve sent meadow a look that silently asked her what dustin was on about and she shrugged in response, following her brother to the car. "no no no, you're getting in the back." she said to dustin as he tried to sit in the passenger's seat.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

steve gripped the steering wheel, confused. "are either of you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked, looking over at meadow.

"dustin here found himself a pet." she explained, gesturing to her brother. "and, because he's a doofus, the pet is dangerous and potentially world threatening."

he raised a brow, listening as they described dart. "okay, but what if it's just a lizard?"

"it's not!" dustin and meadow said in unison, making steve send them both a look.

"how do you know?" he pressed. "how do you know it's not just a lizard?"

"because it's face opened up and it ate our cat." dustin said, and steve nodded, suddenly believing that it was more dangerous. "he's definitely not a lizard. i think he's a miniature demogorgon."

steve gripped the wheel tighter at the mention of the monster. "man, we are in such deep shit."

the trio pulled up to the henderson's house, and steve was quick to get his bat from out of his trunk. "you were keeping that thing in your trunk?" meadow asked, following the boys to the cellar.

steve opened the cellar doors, shining his flashlight down the stairs. "he must be further down there." dustin said awkwardly. "you go, we'll stay up here in case he tries to.. escape." he suggested, trying to come up with any excuse to not have to venture down the steps. meadow nodded her agreement with his proposal, watching steve shake his head and go down into the cellar.

after the boy had been down there for a minute, dustin and meadow had heard no noise. "steve?" meadow called down, genuinely concerned for the boy. "steve?" she repeated, stepping closer to the stairs. "steve?!" she yelled more urgently, watching as he rounded the corner.

"get down here." he said, meadow and dustin looking at each other before heading down into the dark cellar. the girl shined her flashlight in steve's direction, seeing the shedded skin on the end of his bat.

"he grew again." she spoke, looking up at steve.

he shook his head, gesturing with his flashlight. "that's not all he did."

meadow followed his gaze, seeing an opening in the wall. "shit.." she muttered, moving closer to it. it was then that she noticed the tunnel that followed the opening. dart had escaped. "shit."