The Babysitters: Steve Harrington x Reader

chapter 3

I had that dream again. It was Barb, she was calling out to Nancy and I, begging for help. Then, there was this noise. It was like a growling of some creature, right behind her. Then Barb would scream.

I woke up to my body freezing. I rolled over on my side to see Dustin had stolen all of my blanket and was curled up asleep on his side of the bed. Rolling back over I stared at the ceiling for a while. There was something that knew, Barb was not ok. Maybe she had met the same fate as Will, as devastating as it was to think. I'd like to think that they found each other before Will fell into the quarry. Barb would have known just what to say to keep him from worrying.

I wonder how Joyce and Johnathan were holding up. Johnathan not well, to say the least. My stomach flipped as I thought about the pictures he took of us again. What made him do that? I couldn't think of any reason to make what he did ok.

I sighed and got up out of bed, careful not to wake Dustin up. Things were just getting so confusing these days. My best friend is missing, my little brother just saw his best friend's body pulled out of a lake, said best friend's brother was taking photos of Nancy changing, I know a little girl with telekinesis, you know the list goes on and on.

I grabbed my clothes out of drawer and changed in the bathroom to leave Dustin to sleep in peace. As I stared at myself in the mirror and brushed my teeth, I tried to look for some positives. It got me through dad's death, it would get me through this as well.

I still had Dustin.
I had mom.
The party trusted me.
We were going to figure this out.

I needed to be stronger than this.

I splashed my face with some cold water and walked out.

"Hey, mama," I said as I walked into the living room to see my mom reading the newspaper by a reading lamp. The clock next to her read 5:05. Too early for her to be getting ready for work I suppose.

"Hey sweetie, how's Dusty holding up?" She asked as I sat down next to her and laid my head in her lap.

"He's doing alright I think, he's asleep in my bed currently."

Mom set her newspaper down. "And how are you doing?"

"I mean this isn't really about me right now," I shrugged.

"Y/N, I'm gonna stop you right there sweetheart, just because you weren't Will's best friend perhaps, doesn't mean it doesn't affect you. It's really hard to see the ones you love in pain."

"I know it is mom. That's why I've got to be strong. For Dustin. And for the rest of the boys." And for you.

"You're such a strong kid," Mama said running a hand through my hair. It reminds me of when I was so much younger.

We sit there for a while in comfortable silence. The great thing about mom is that I don't need to tell her everything. Sometimes things are much better left unsaid, and she understands that. While parents like Mrs. Wheeler need to know what's happening in their kid's life constantly, mom doesn't ask too many questions. She's just there if I need her, with wide open arms.

Soon, she needed to get to work, and I rose up off the couch to make myself some cereal. I looked at the clock again. 6:22. About time to wake Dustin up.

I knocked on the door of my room before walking in. Dustin's head rose and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to look at me. "Hey little dude, how are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"Yeah... Hey listen, if you want to stay home today, I could just go to school on my own," I suggested, rubbing his back.