A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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Ryan and Steve walked along the train tracks in the dark, the kids sticking close to them. Steve held his bat in one hand, Ryan's hand in the other, all while she carried her gun by her side. They had no idea where they were going, just that Dart and his fellow demogorgans had taken off in the direction of the tracks. So far, they hadn't seen or heard a thing.
Lucas kicked a rock down the path, "Are you sure it was Dart?"
"Yes," Dustin nodded. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"But he was tiny two days ago." Max said, still trying to wrap her mind around what she had just seen.
"He's molted three times already since then."
Steve scrunched his nose in confusion, "Malted?"
"Molted," Ryan corrected. "He shed his skin to get bigger."
"Oh, gross." He muttered as she hid a laugh, squeezing his hand.
"Well," Max moved to stand closer to Ryan, looking over at Dustin. "When will he molt again?"
"It's gotta be soon," Dustin answered with a sigh. "And when he does, he'll be fully grown or pretty close to it."
"Yeah," Steve agreed. "And he's going to eat a lot more than just cats."
"Wait, cats?" Lucas exclaimed, jumping in front of Dustin to keep him from walking any further, which brought the entire group to a halt. "Dart ate a cat?"
"What?" Dustin said nervously, his voice higher than usual. It was how Ryan could always tell when he was lying. He was immensely bad at it. "No."
"What are you talking about? He ate Mews." Steve said, completely missing the vibe of the group. Ryan elbowed him in the ribs lightly, which just made him look at her in confusion, "What?"
Max glanced at Ryan and Steve before looking back at Dustin, just as confused as Steve was, but for a completely different reason, "Who's Mews?"
"It's Dustin's cat." Steve answered. Ryan sighed, shaking her head. "What? It is."
"Steve!" Dustin exclaimed loudly.
"I knew it!" Lucas shouted, hitting Dustin's arm. "You kept him!"
Ryan glanced over at Steve, "This is what I was trying to warn you about. We're gonna be here forever."
"I didn't know he was a demogorgan!" Dustin exclaimed defensively. "Ryan already yelled at me about this!"
"Good!" Lucas shouted back. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"
"SO DID YOU!"
"What did I do?"
"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin exclaimed, shining his flashlight in Max's face.
