ISN'T SHE LOVELY ━ steve harrington

𝖛. the thing

chapter five,

the thing.

         THE NEXT DAY, Marleen woke up thanking God that it was Saturday. The previous day had been way too emotional for Marleen to handle and may have overreacted in front of none other than Steve Harrington. But anyway, it's not like she likes Steve. Of course not.

She spent half of her morning helping Dean around the house and the other half in her bedroom listening to old records left by her dad. It was around five PM that the doorbell rang several times.

Annoyed with whoever was on the other side of the door, Marleen stomped down the stairs and opened the door angrily.

Right there in front of her were Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington. The unimaginable duo looked at her with both determination and confusion.

"Marleen, hi!" Dustin practically yelled.

"Hi?"

Dustin ignored her. "We need the nailed bat." He demanded.

Marleen frowned at the mention of the weapon, she was missing something. "What? Why?"

Dustin let out an annoyed sigh, "Jesus. You two are so useless." Once again ignoring Marleen's offended cursing, Dustin continued. "Steve said you stole the bat from him."

Marleen turned to see the older boy, who was even more confused than her, and frowned at him. "Okay, wow. I did not steal it. You gave it to me."

"I did not!" Steve yelled. "I let you borrow it, you said you'll give it back..." He paused dramatically, "That was half a year ago."

"I don't care what happened!" Dustin shrieked. "Do you have it?"

"Yes."

Dustin let out an exasperated sigh, "Okay. We need it."

"Whatever you're doing... I'm going with you."

━

         And that's how Marleen ended up in Steve Harrington's car for the second that week. Queen is blasting softly through the speakers as Dustin explained why they're going to his house.

"Wait a sec," Steve piped up. "how big?"

From the back seat, Dustin leaned forward and began explaining.

"First it was like that-" He said, showing them the size of it with his hands. "Now he's like this," Dustin separated his arms like the size of a cat.

"Fuck."

Ignoring Marleen, Steve glanced at Dustin. "I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?"

"It's not a lizard!" Dustin retorted.

"How do you know?"

Dustin looked between both teens, incredulous. "How do I know it's not a lizard?" He asked sarcastically.

"How do you know it's not a lizard?" Steve and Marleen asked at the same time. Steve was louder than her.

"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat."

That made Marleen and Steve shut up. This was so fucked up.

Not long after the discussion, they arrived at the Hendersons' house. Grabbing the bat from the trunk, Marleen began following Dustin into the house before Steve snatched the bat out of her hands.

"Hey!" Marleen shrieked.

Steve ignored her.

The trio stopped in front of a cellar where Dustin claimed the thing was.

Steve leaned over the door. "I don't hear shit."

"Since when do you have super hearing, Superman?" Marleen quipped annoyed.

Steve turned around to face Marleen, ready to bite back before Dustin addressed him.

"He's in there."

Steve processed to bang the cellar's door twice.

"All right, listen, kid. I swear if this is just a Halloween prank..." Steve turned to Dustin, shining the flashlight on the kid's face. "You're dead."

"It's not!" Dustin screamed. "It's not a prank."

At that, Steve and Dustin began bickering.

But the seriousness in Dustin's voice made Marleen grow nervous. She had played with the Party (which they insisted on being called) a couple of times and Dustin was always a joker, he was rarely serious, which made Marleen believe that something was really wrong.

"Okay..." Marleen whispered, hyping herself up just as Dustin unlocked the lock.

She exhaled, opening the door completely and entering first.

"Richards!" Steve shouted behind her, following.

The cellar was dark, with only Steve's flashlight to light the way, and the air felt moist. Particles of dust could be seen making Marleen's nose twitch.

"Is it a bad time to say I'm allergic to dust?" She whispered, eyes forward.

"Yes. Definitely. A hundred percent."

The duo kept walking until they were in the middle of the cellar. Steve turned on the light (which was just a single lightbulb) and saw it.

"Holy fuck. Oh my god..." Marleen said.

The thing had changed skins. And the old skin was in front of them.

Steve leaned over then and grabbed it with the tip of the bat, eyeing it with disgust. Just as he raised it to eye level, another thing caught their attention. There was a hole in the wall, where the thing probably escaped.

"Fuck," Both teens said, at the same time.

Marleen crouched and began inspecting the hole just as Steve went to tell Dustin. She heard vaguely Dustin swearing at the sight of the skin and as Steve lighted the hole, she turned to see his reaction.

"Oh, shit." He repeated.

Both boys crouched beside Marleen, watching the opening with Steve lighting it to see better.

"No way," Dustin said. "No way."

"We're fucked, boys." Marleen added with a sigh.

Things just got more complicated.

an

(not edited)

the trio is here!!
i'm so excited to write Dustin and Marleen, they're going to be iconic.

thank you for reading!!