Cosmic Optimist [1] {STEVE HARRINGTON}

seven.

Chapter 7: The Missing Monster and How To Not Start A Conversation

Steve had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that this 13-year-old was ordering him around and somehow Tali Henderson knew about the strange events of last year that still plague his thoughts from time to time. As he started the car Dustin leaned forward from the back seat, "Okay you need to drive to my house it's on-"

"Milton street, green house. I got it, Henderson," Steve cut him off, turning the car out of the Wheeler house's street.

"Wait, why do you know where my house is?" Dustin asks.

"Because he dropped me off on Halloween," Tali answered from the passenger seat. She turned on the radio but made sure it was on at a low volume so Dustin could tell Steve what was going on. "Hey, you're listening to HCR," she reached over and bumped Steve shoulder, "Nice, Darren's on too, he plays the good stuff".

Dustin looked in between the two of them, shy smiles on both their faces, "You two are friends?"

"Uh,"

"Um,"

The two high schoolers take an awkward glance at each other not really knowing what to call their friendship just yet. "Whatever. We have a code red situation," Dustin brushes off the obvious awkwardness focusing on the issue at hand.

"Meaning?" Steve questions.

"Meaning, I found what I thought was a lizard, but was actually a baby demogorgon,"

"The monsters from last year?" Steve questioned taking a quick look at Tali who sat beside him. She looked a little more on edge instead of her usually cool demeanor, but you can only tell if you look closely enough. Her hands bawled up into a fist and her shoulders tensed.

"Yeah, and it's okay, she knows. His name was Dart," Dustin tells him.

"You named him," Steve raises an eyebrow at the boy through the review mirror

"It was his pet," Tali adds.

Steve's eyes go wide, "You kept it?"

"I didn't know it was a demogorgon. Jesus," Dustin says frustrated that no one seemed to understand him, "Let me explain. I kept him in my room, and he got bigger and ate our cat-"

"Hence the flower for our cats grave," Tali mentions holding the flower up in her hand. Her ring finger slightly pricked from one of the rose's thorns.

"We managed to trap him in the cellar, but we could use your bat because we obviously can't keep him there," Dustin says finishing the explanation. Steve looks out into the road deep in thought. The sun had gone down by then and the road was illuminated only by streetlights.

They sit in silence as Steve tries to comprehend what he was just told, "Wait a sec. how big?"

Dustin leans forward showing the creatures size through hand measures, "First it was like that. Now he's like this."

"I swear to God man, it's just some little lizard, Okay?" Steve told him. He didn't want to believe it that monsters were back in Hawkins, again. They still cloud his thoughts on dark nights like tonight, despite how hard he tries to forget them.

"It's not a lizard," Dustin assures him.

"How do you know?

"How do I know it's not a lizard?" Dustin jeered.

"Yeah, how do you know it's not just a lizard?" Steve demanded, "And then you got your sister into this shit".

Tali rolls her eyes. "I think I would know if it's a lizard, and she's my sister. I wouldn't have told her about it if it wasn't a demogorgon," Dustin fumes in the backseat. Today wasn't his day, if the rest of the party would have just answered their walkies.