❝I think your stupidity is finally starting to rub off on me, Harrington.❞
In which the new girl in town earns a babysitting gig... though she doesn't remember monsters being in the job description.
↳extended summary inside
↳steve harrington x...
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WHEN THE FIRST OF the morning light filtered through Annalise's curtains, it was as though a breath of relief had been brought with it. It barely did anything more than pierce a muzzy blue glow where a crack formed between the fabric and wall, but it was enough.
She had never exactly been scared of the dark — her lamp on the bedside table was kept on all night, upholding a battle against any darkness that would have otherwise consumed the room — but her issue resided with the night itself. Not that she would call it a fear. It was more of a collage of distant memories trying to pound down the door of the room in the back of her mind she had pushed them to. An unwelcome intruder.
Like most of the shitty things in her life, Annalise blamed it all on her mom. It had always been night when she went on her rampages through the house, always after the sun went down when she placed her control into the non-existent hands of alcohol and cigarettes. She had instilled it into Annalise's mind that nothing good came with the night.
It had gotten better over the last few years, and Annalise could even go weeks now without convincing herself she heard the heavy footsteps, the smashing of beer bottles. It was easier to convince herself that she no longer had to fear the peril of night in her own home.
That had evidently changed with the discovery of Dart. Because as she sat on her bed, blankets wrapped around her body tightly as though they could protect her if a danger emerged, she felt just like a child again, awaiting her own demise. It was even worse with a bedroom on the bottom floor, because now she was certain another Demogorgon would smash through the window at any moment. She would be eaten alive, her screams dying alone with her.
She didn't know the exact time that Dustin's first thing meant, but Annalise couldn't take just sitting there and entertaining her morbid thoughts anymore when the clock hit 7 a.m. Every tiny noise, every chirp of a bird pushed her closer to the edge, buzzed her nerves into overdrive until the moment passed and she was left with the leftover tension fluttering around uneasily, only to happen again at another noise. Normally she would have punched anyone in the face if they suggested she get up at such an ungodly hour, but normally there wouldn't be a monster to face later on, and normally closing her eyes wouldn't seem like such a difficult feat.
After soaking in a hot shower, Annalise brushed her teeth and got dressed, grateful her dad must have stayed at a hotel overnight; there had been no sound of a car pulling into the driveway. At least he was out of the way of danger. And now she didn't have to come up with a random excuse about why she would be gone all day. She spent the next few minutes drying her hair, then braided it in the hope it wouldn't get in the way later.
