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HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1983.
THERESA WAS NOT EXACTLY leavingSteve's house yet.
She still had some investigating to do.
The image of what she had seen two nights ago still burned strong in her mind, and she needed to figure out what it is.
Tess considered herself to be a levelheaded girl. Even if many others did not. But she still did not think she was so crazy to the point of seeing demonic figures pushing through the ceiling of people's houses.
"Tess?"
The girl blinked, realizing she was still standing at Steve's doorway.
"Are you okay?" he asked, frowning a bit.
Theresa opened her mouth, hesitated, then inhaled sharply and said, "The night I came here. To study. You– you didn't see anything weird?"
Steve slowly shook his head, recalling at once Theresa's scream from that night. He had not even had time to question it. What had she seen?
"...No," he replied slowly, "did you?"
She contemplated. "I guess I might have been seeing things. Who knew, I'm scared of the dark."
Tess smiled briefly and turned, abruptly exiting the room.
"Tess, wait!" Steve followed right behind her, reaching out and gently grabbing her shoulder.
She closed her eyes momentarily, turning to face him.
"Yeah, Steve?" Her tone came off annoyed.
He looked into her eyes, as much as she would let him anyway.
"You know you can tell me the truth, right? I'm not gonna not believe you."
Tess squinted for a moment, drawing her lips in as she looked up at Steve. There was something different about Steve than most other guys she had fooled around with. Theresa had never exactly been in this situation, but Steve seemed strangely... caring.
"Like I said, I think I was just imagining things. I'll see you tomorrow at school."
Theresa had almost said it, almost told him exactly what she had seen that night. But then the normal Tess slapped her in the face and told her to shut up.
She made it out to her car and started up the engine, looking over at Steve's house one last time.
What was it about him that made her start to feel vulnerable?
