Risky Business ｡ Stranger Things

30 : Animal House

The house looked to be lost in slumber when Prue finally got home, her hair still damp and smelling of chlorine. Prue could hear the steady hum of the fridge and the swoop and spin of the fans working hard to cool the humid air. She had a smile that wouldn't wane from her night swim with Billy Hargrove as she padded across the linoleum flooring of the kitchen after closing the back door (she always used the back door when coming home after midnight; the hinges squeaked less). She doubted nightmares would find her tonight, for her mind was filled with bliss and cool water. Surely shadow monsters couldn't find their way into her crowded mind tonight. Not tonight for someone else was already there in her thoughts and memories.

With a feather-light heart, Prue started up the stairs, but something caught her eye: a beam of naked orange light creeping along the carpet in the hallway. She leaned backwards, one hand on the handrail, to peer down the hallway. Curiosity burst through her body like wildlife and she slinked down the hallway, eyes stuck on that beam of captivating light. Prue was a moth to a flame. She stayed up on her toes, moving down the hall with a good measure of stealth and the closer she got to the light, the more she wondered why someone was down in the Owens's basement after midnight. The family didn't use the basement for much, only for storage, so there was no logical reason why someone would be down there so late. Prue's curiosity was flaring dangerously as she reached the ajar door, poking her head through the gap.

"No, that won't be necessary..." Sam's voice was quiet on the thick, dusty air and Prue fell to her hands and knees, squeezing through the opening. She couldn't see her father down the wooden stairs, as the basement branched out to the right and she could only hear one side of the conversation. "Look, I can't travel to Morgantown yet. No, nothing out of the ordinary here. No disturbances either." Prue's heart launched, and she pushed herself further through the gap, eager to hear more. She laid one hand on the first step and the wood groaned under the weight, creaking out. She froze, squeezing her eyes shut. There was a pause in her father's conversation and she couldn't be sure if it was a lag in the mysterious conversation or if her father had heard the creak, but Prue didn't dare move a single muscle, her breath captured in her throat. "No sightings of zero-one-one," Sam went on.

Prue's brow creased. "What are you doing, Dad?" she whispered out. Prue knew that her father had regular meeting with Hopper and Eleven but they were just regular health check-ups and to monitor her abilities, so what did this phone call mean? Who was Sam talking to? Was he protecting El from someone? Prue heard her father move, footsteps echoing out. With a clenching stomach and a racing pulse, she scattered through the opening, falling back into the shadows and she hurried to her bedroom. With questions plaguing her mind now, the nightmares of demodogs did find her. They leapt and crawled through a portal from a different world to claw and bite at her with fleshy mouths and black ichor oozing from their skin.

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The sun was drifting high in a cloudless sky as Prue pushed a shopping cart down the confectionery aisle in Bradley's Big Buy the next morning. Since Ronnie had a shift at the pool and Selena was at the Hawkins Post, it was up to Prue to shop for the summer bash. The cart was overstuffed with bags of chips, softs drink for mixing, paper cutlery, fresh fruit for a homemade punch and packets of jelly for Jell-O shots. The Hawkins' supermarket wasn't busy and only mothers with toddlers littered the shop buying the week's groceries. "Dad was down in the basement last night," Prue informed Grey as they idly moved down an aisle. Grey impulsively grabbed at things they didn't need and reluctantly popped them back when Prue shook her head.

"So?" he grumbled, placing a bag of beef jerky back on the shelf.

"We don't use the basement," Prue stressed, directing Grey to snatch up a few boxes of Milk Duds.