Complicated • Stranger Things

14 - The Spy

Dustin and I had just finished explaining our situation to Steve. He sat in silence for a few minutes, processing the information.

"Wait a sec. How big?" Steve asked.

"First it was like that." Dustin held his fingers a few inches apart.

"Now he's like this." I held my hands about a foot apart.

"I swear to God, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Steve tried to reason, causing me to roll my eyes.

"It's not a lizard," Dustin argued.

"How do you know?" Steve questioned.

"How do I know if it's not a lizard?" Dustin challenged, sitting forward in his seat.

"Yeah, how do you know it's not just a lizard?" Steve started raising his voice.

"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat." That sure shut Steve up.

We were silent again until we pulled in front of Dustin's house. The three of us got out of the car and Steve went to open his trunk and grabbed his bat, which if you think about it, is technically my bat.

Dustin led us to the cellar doors and Steve shined a flashlight at them while we all stood there in silence.

"I don't hear shit," Steve stated.

"He's in there," Dustin replied.

Steve looked back at us before taking a hesitant step towards the doors and tapping them with the bat. When there was no sound from inside, he hit the doors harder. There was still nothing.

"Alright, listen, kid." Steve turned and shined the flashlight in Dustin's face. "I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead."

"It's not," Dustin said.

"Alright?" Steve asked.

"It's not a prank. If you don't believe us then why don't you open the doors and go down there yourself." I said as I stepped forward and hit the flashlight to the side so it wasn't shining in Dustin's face anymore.

"Okay. You got a key for this thing?" Steve asked, glancing down at the cellar.

Dustin handed him the key and held the flashlight while Steve opened the doors. Once the doors were open, Dustin shined the light down the stairs while the three of us looked down into the cellar.

"Let me see that." Steve took the flashlight and pointed it farther down so we could see into the cellar.

"He must be farther down there," Dustin stated. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape."

Steve looked up at Dustin for a moment before scoffing and looking back into the cellar. Steve stood up and looked back at me.

"You coming?" he asked. I looked at the cellar and remembered the monster that was trapped down there.

"Nope. I'm good." I said, shuddering. Steve just shook his head before heading down the stairs.

"You think he'll make it?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know. He's not the brightest. It could bite him and he'd still think it was 'just a lizard.'" I stated and Dustin just shrugged.

We stood in silence for a minute or so, and when we didn't hear anything from Steve, we started to get anxious.

"Steve?" Dusting called. "Steve, what's going on down there?"

The two of us started slowly inching towards the cellar doors when a light suddenly shined up at us, causing us both to jump back. When I saw that I was just Steve, I sighed in relief.