Struggles (Harringrove)

let me out

Tw//Small mentioning of abuse towards the end

He walked to his locker and again found Tommy. Steve ignored him and acted like he didn't see him. He opened his locker and tossed everything he didn't need in it then shut it. Right after he did Tommy grabbed Steve by his hair. Steve yelped. Tommy dragged Steve across the school. Everyone stood and laughed as they saw Steve struggling to get out of Tommy's grasp. He was yelling and his scalp started to burn.

Tommy stopped at a closet. The rest of Tommy's goons were there. They opened the closet. "Hope you aren't scared of the dark Harrington" Tommy said, tossing Steve into the closet before it quickly shut. Steve stood up and tried to open the door but it was locked from the outside. "Let me out!" Steve yelled. He heard Tommy and the others laugh then heard their footsteps run off.

Steve kept yelling and banging on the door. Eventually he gave up and just sat down. Surely one of the janitors would find him eventually. He just sat in the corner of the closet as tears welled up in his eyes. He didn't like the dark all too much, he always slept with a small light on. He wondered if the group was looking for him.

                             ~Meanwhile~

Billy and the others waited outside. They assumed Steve was just talking to his art teacher, he did that when he wanted to know some more about the project they were working on. But then they saw the art teacher walk outside.

"Maybe he's at his locker" Dustin said. They all walked back inside. They went to Steve's locker but he wasn't there either. Then they saw Tommy and the rest of the team try to run out the door. Billy had a feeling they did something. And apparently So did Jonathan because he grabbed Tommy by his shirt collar.

"Where the hell is Steve" Jonathan asked. "I don't know, I saw him run off earlier" Tommy said. He was obviously lying. "Which way" Jonathan asked. "That way now let me go freak" Tommy said,pointing from the direction they came from. Jonathan let him go. They all left. "Let's search the whole place, I don't trust him" Jonathan said.

They all split up to search. They all had a walkie talkie for some reason, Billy didn't know why they needed it if one of them found Steve then they could just go find the others. Billy went the way that Tommy said he saw Steve run. Billy figured Tommy was lying. They all agreed to meet back by the front in 10 minutes.

10 minutes go by and they all meet up at the front. Still no Steve. "Where could he be, there's no way he's in one of the classrooms all the teachers left" Lucas said. "Maybe he just went home" Will said. "He would've waited for us, and he rode here with Me he would've had to wait" Billy said. "Guys look" Nancy said, picking up a key from the floor where jonathan had grabbed Tommy. "That's a janitors key, why would Tommy have had that" Dustin said.

             ~Back with our poor Stevie boy~

Steve was sobbing in the closet. He was scared. He didn't like the dark. He was scared that if he was alone it would take him. The demogorgon, the same way it took Will and Barb and all those others. He was sitting in a ball on the floor rocking back and forth. Surely Billy and the rest of them were looking for him. If he just waited maybe someone would find him.

            ~And back with the group again~

Billy grabbed the key. "This can open any door in the school that's what they use to get into the classrooms to clean them" Mike said. "Maybe they locked him in a classroom" Will said. "All the classrooms can be unlocked from the inside he would've ran out by now" Nancy said.

"Janitors closet, they only lock from the outside" Max said. "Let's go check there's 5 in the school,should be easy to find him" El said quietly. They went around the school checking the different janitors closets. Each one with no Steve.

While they were walking to the last one they heard loud sobs. "Steve?" Billy called out, walking closer to the closet. "Billy!" Steve yelled from the closet. Billy ran and unlocked the closet then swung the door open. Steve immediately jumped out to hug him. He still had tears streaming down his face.

"It's okay I got you" Billy said, hugging Steve tightly. They broke away from each other. "Did they hurt you" Billy asked,checking Steve over for any new injuries. "A little, Tommy dragged me here by my hair and I hit the wall pretty hard when he tossed me in here but they didn't hit me or anything" Steve said. Billy's face flushed red with anger.

"I'm gonna kill those assholes tomorrow" Billy said. "It's fine Billy I don't really mind" Steve said. He didn't like Tommy but he didn't want Billy to hurt him because if he got his hands on Tommy he would actually kill him. "Stevie you can't keep letting them treat you like this, it's not okay and it's not normal" Billy said, grabbing Steve's hand and walking with him and the rest of the group.

"I know it's not but I already said, if I do anything that means I'm protecting or standing up for myself that'll give them more of a reason to hurt me" Steve said. "And as I already said,they don't have a reason in the first place, if you stand up for yourself and do it continuously then eventually they'll realize that you're not gonna be easy to pick on anymore" Billy said.

"Tommy doesn't quit, he'll just beat me up more until I shut up or can't protect myself anymore, trust me I tried at first and it didn't end well and what am I supposed to do against the whole team, yeah I'm decently built but so are all of them and I can't take them all on by myself" Steve said. He had a scar on his arm from Tommy. Tommy hit him with a piece of wood and it split his arm open, that was the last time he tried to protect himself. He learned it was best to just shut up and let Tommy do it. When he was quiet he didn't have as bad injuries as he did when he stood up for himself.

"That's when you come get me, I can and will take them all on if I have to, I'm just tired of seeing them pick on you and hurt you" Billy said. They walked outside and piled into the cars. Apparently the kids were staying over again. "Are your guys parents okay with this?" Steve asked. "Mine probably aren't but I don't care" Max said. "You really should head home and ask or at least call" Steve said. "I don't wanna go back home" Max said. "I'll stop by and tell him later kid, if anything I'll say that you're having a girls night with Jane" Billy said.

"Thanks Billy,you really don't have to, I don't want him to hurt you" Max said. Wait what. Who was he and why would he hurt Billy,Steve thought. "What" Steve said. "Our dad, well my dad her stepdad, he's an asshole, gets mad when either of us have free will, I always take the blame so she doesn't get hurt,he hits me and yells at us a lot but I've never let him lay a finger on max and I never will for as long as I'm there" Billy said.

That was sweet,not the whole you know, abuse part but how Billy was protecting Max. Steve knew Billy cared about max even though he wouldn't openly show it. But he never knew that was the reason. Or maybe one of the reasons. Guess they both had struggles that they didn't previously tell each other.