Strange Love / Steve Harrington

Chapter 12: Road Trip

Clara stood in the kitchen of her home, cleaning dirty dishes when she noticed a masked figure outside the window. She thought it was the boys playing tricks on her so she brushed it off. She continued cleaning dishes when she heard the boys behind her squabbling.

"Dustin! Why'd you do that?" Lucas questioned the curly haired boy.

"I didn't know what to do!"

She looked away from the group of boys heading towards the front door and back at the window. The masked figure was still there. That definitely wasn't one of the boys. All of them just walked out.

Clara grabbed one of the clean knives from the sink and headed towards the back door of the home. She swung open the back door, getting ready to attack someone, seeing no one in the backyard. She took a few steps outside cautiously, looking at her surroundings carefully. "Whoever that is, I've seen Halloween, I know how to gut you like a pig."

Suddenly, Clara felt a sharp pain in her back. She gasped at the feeling and turned back slowly. She saw the masked man who tilted his head towards her, watching her pain.

She tried using the knife she held in her hand but the man caught her by the wrist. "This is your fault."

Clara felt the crimson red liquid drip down her back. "What?"

"You're the reason he's dead!"

"No!"

"He's dead because of you!"

Clara cupped her hands over her ears, trying to block out the noise. "Stop it!"

The man grabbed her by both of her wrists and threw her body into the house's wall. She fell back first, causing the knife to get jammed farther into her back. She looked down at her stomach to see the end of the blade running through her lower abdomen.

Clara's vision got blurred and darkened, making her collapse to the ground.

Clara gasped as she woke up from her nightmare. The nightmares became a new thing a few months ago since she stopped drinking as much as she used to. She sighed in relief that the nightmare was over, going back to bed, right after.

...

Later in the morning, Clara sat with her family at the table, eating breakfast. Clara took a bite out of her toast before looking to Nancy. Her sister looked nervous about what was ahead for her. Clara gave her a comforting nod before they both heard the sound of toast emerging from the toaster.

"Do you like those grapes, Holly?" Mike asked his younger sister.

Nancy got out of her chair and made her way over to the kitchen counter, where the toaster was. "Hey mom, I was thinking about staying at Stacy's tonight? We're gonna have a girl's night. Romantic comedies, do our nails, gossip..."

Karen smiled at her daughter. "Sure! That sounds like fun."

Nancy sat back down at the table with her family, slightly smirking at Clara.

After they are breakfast, Clara and Nancy made their way outside where Jonathan was. He sat in his car, waiting for the two. Nancy was ready for the trip but Clara wasn't.

Nancy was about to hop into the car when she stopped and looked back at her sister. "Aren't you coming?"

"No." Clara shook her head lightly. "I have to keep track of things back here. I have to protect the boys."

Nancy nodded her head sadly at her sister's words. Before leaving, she wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her in for a hug. Clara was appalled at what Nancy did but slowly hugged back.

The two were close when they were younger but they drifted apart as they got older. They did still love each other and would do anything for one another but things were different.

The two girls let go of each other, not making Jonathan wait too long. Nancy hopped into the car quickly before Jonathan started to drive away. Clara waved to her sister and gave her a soft smile as she watched the car drive away.

...

"Clara!"

Clara heard her name called by her mother from her room. She was reading "The Mist" by Stephen King for an essay to get another reaction out of her English teacher. She placed her book down on her bed before walking out of her room. As she walked down the set of stairs, she noticed her younger friend, Dustin Henderson at the door.

"Dustin?"

Ted stepped away from the door, letting his daughter take over. She ran up to the door, holding it open while she spoke with the boy. "What's up?"

"I need your help with something." Dustin admitted. "Do you still have that medieval sword?"

"Hell yeah." Clara beamed. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a familiar boy walking out of his car with a bouquet of roses. "Steve?"

Dustin turned to see Steve while Clara grabbed her coat and went upstairs to get her sword.