There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

TWENTY EIGHT

The Pollywog

Dustin crept through the front door, careful not to disturb the two teens in the front room who were passed out on the couch in front of the T.V. Dustin briefly glanced at the screen, recognising the all to familiar titles of Cat's favourite film, 'Grease'. He was careful to step over the empty beer bottles that Catherine had left on the floor, not wanting to disturb his sister and her best friend, the two cuddled up together.

He made it through the room and to the hallway hoping he could head straight to his room. As he walked past the entrance to the living room, Claudia spotted him and jumped up from her seat to greet him.

"Dusty! Dusty, how was it?"

Dustin turned to face his mom and stammered, "How was what?"

Mews the cat walked around the woman's legs before heading into the front room to cuddle up with Catherine.

"'How was what?' The greatest night of the year, of course. I see Catherine had fun." Her head tilted to the room where her eldest was passed out, head resting on Steve's shoulder.

"Oh. Oh, yeah, it was... It was, uh, tubular."

Claudia noticed that Dustin was acting slightly strange. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

"Did something happen?"

"No. What? No."

"Are you constipated again?"

"No. Mom!"

"Okay, you're acting weird."

"I am not acting weird!" Dustin's voiced raised slightly and the two turned their heads towards the front room to see Cat shift slightly in her sleep. They didn't want to accidentally wake her up, both knowing that recently she wasn't sleeping much.

It was then that a thudding came from the trap Dustin carried.

"Whoa!" Dustin cried, trying to keep the box steady while Claudia let out an 'Ah!', taking a step back.

Dustin laughed nervously, looking down at the box. From the other room they could hear Mews begin to hiss at the box.

"Awesome, right? Yeah... I rigged the trap with, uh, a motor to make it look like I caught a ghost." Dustin lied quickly, smiling at his mom. "Just like the movie."

Claudia laughed nervously. "Oh, Dusty."

"Yeah." Dustin laughed.

The two continued to laugh for a moment, hoping to not accidentally wake the sleeping teens. "Funny. Look at that." Dustin pointed to the trap. "Look at that." He walked away down the hall to his room.

When he entered his room, he made sure to close the door behind him, locking it. He held the trap up so it was eye level. "I told you to keep quiet." He carried over to the tank in his room where he kept his pet turtle. "All you had to do was stay still for one minute. One minute." He placed the trap on the desk next to the tank before removing the lid and carefully lifting the turtle out. "Sorry, Yertle. Temporary eviction, buddy." He placed Yertle on the carpet before picking the trap up and opening it, allowing his newly discovered creature to fall into the tank. Dustin bent down to examine the small creature. "What are you, little guy?"