Steve's Girl

Chapter 23 : The Fight

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw it. It opened its mouth and chased me. It mocked me and it hunted me. 

There was a knock on the door and I jumped. 

"Sofie honey. Are you awake?"

"Yeah Mom. I'm here." 

"I have to go do something with Hopper. I need you to stay here until your brother gets back."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

"Bye, I love you Sof."

"I love you too Mom."

I heard her depart from my door. I waited until I was sure she had left the house to get up and change into my clothes for the day. I rushed to my bedside table and pciked up the phone. I dialed the Wheeler's number.

Ring

Ring 

Ring

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. Wheeler! It's Sofie."

"How are you Sofie? It's good to hear you."

"I'm okay. I actually had a question. Is Nancy there by any chance?"

"I think she's upstairs. I could call her down if you'd like."

"No, it's fine. Can you just let her know that I called? That would mean a lot."

"Of course, Honey! Say hi to your mom for me." 

"I will. Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler."

I put the phone down. I left my room and made my way out to the living room. Mom and Hopper had left some mugs of coffee and a dirty plate on the table, and I made sure I washed it all. 

I was sitting on the couch staring into the abyss when I heard a car pull into the driveway. 

I sat up and slowly walked to look out the window. I pulled the curtain back and saw that it was Jonathan and Nancy. I sighed in relief and pulled open the front door. 

"Where have you been?" I asked Jonathan in disbelief.

I was anxious and afraid all night, and I needed some company but he never came home.

"I'm sorry, Sofie. It's my fault. I asked him to stay with me." Nancy said. 

"It's fine. You're here now and that's what matters."

"Nancy wants to try something."

"What is it?"

"We think we know how to draw the monster out." Nancy confirmed. 

After explaining their crazy plan to me, we were in the car on our way to an army and hunting surplus store. 

As we were driving down the street from our house back into town, I saw a van driving back in the direction of our house. It was a white van that looked familiar. I felt uneasy thinking about it, but I let it go. 

Once we made it to the store, we got a basket and started filling it with everything we thought we could possibly need. Gasoline, rope, lighters, mallets, nails and bear traps. We brought our overflowing basket to the cashier. Nancy and I started unpacking everything from the basket and putting it on the counter. The cashier was looking at us like we were insane. 

"And I'll have four boxes of the .38s." Jonathan said once we finished putting everything on the counter. 

The cashier walked back a few steps and got the boxes. Placing them on the counter with everything else