Steve Harrington hated to say this but he missed her. He missed the way she chuckled at the stupid things he'd do to get her attention. He missed the way she would mock her brother and his friends but if anyone else were to do it, they would be dead...
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"And it all comes down to you Well, you know that it does, well Lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice. Oh and it lights up the night"
Gypsy By Fleetwood Mac (1982)
Valerie chewed on her nails as she watched her mother shouting for their cat through a window. Turning towards, her brother who sat on the couch looking at the ground with a blank look on his face. "Dust, what the hell are we going to do? Should we call someone? Do any of your friends know anything about lizards? Oh, who am I kidding, that's not a fucking lizard" Just as Valerie finished her confused sentence, her brother shot up and walked towards their phone dialing a number. "Dust! Hey Mama." Valerie collapsed down on the couch as her mother walked back into the house, cat toy in hand.
"Dusty, Vallie, baby, you're sure she's not in your room?" Dustin held up a finger to his mother whilst Valerie sadly shook her head and watched her brother, not knowing what he was doing at all. "Uh-huh. Thank you so much, Mr. McCorkle. Thank you so much. You are a true lifesaver. All right, this was great. Thank you. All right. Have a good one. Bye-bye, now. All right. You, too." Valerie watched with curiosity as her brother talked to someone on the phone before hanging up and giving the two women a huge smile. Valerie had her eyebrows furrowed as she watched her brother's fake smile."All right, great news."
"They found her?" Her mother was almost in tears causing Valerie to jump up and wrap her arms around her as she swayed. "No. But they saw her wandering around Loch Nora." Valerie almost choked on her spit as she looked at Dustin with wide eyes. Were they really going to get away with it? "How did the poor baby get all the way out there?" Claudia turned to Valerie who forced a smile on her face before giving her mother a reply. "I don't know. Lost, I guess." Dustin kept a smile on his face the whole time. "But they're gonna look for her. And Valerie and I will stay here, just in case they call again. And you're gonna go help look? Yeah? Yeah? Give me hug." She watched as the mother and son supported each other until her mother rushed out to go find their deceased cat.
"Did you have to send her on some wild goose chase to Loch Nora?" Valerie asked as her brothers smile turned into a frown and he started scrambling outside. "Yes! We had to get her out of the house so we can deal with Dart and the dead cat." She watched as her brother swung open the cellar doors and rush back inside with her trailing behind him the whole time. Valerie finally calmed down and clapped her hands together. "Alright, what's the plan, my man?" Dustin opened a closet before shoving a mix of different sports equipment into her chest.
"Suit up." The two got into the random sports gear before laying down a trail of ham that led outside to the cellar. Valerie let out an internal sigh, secretly wanting the ham for later. Now, what was she going to put on her sandwich? "Okay, now go wait in the old funhouse." Just Valerie was about to protest, Dustin pointed to a picture of their cat hanging on the wall causing Valerie to remember the scratches surrounding where they found Mews. She did not want to end up like Mews and she had not a clue what they were doing. "You better not get hurt." Valerie quickly retreated to the green painted wooden house before squatting and waiting for her brother to come in her sight. She almost laughed as she watched her brother try to run but only hobble into the house where he shut the door and watched the ham trail intently.
