Steve couldn't stop thinking about last night at that stupid party. He shouldn't have gone. Or maybe he just should have let Nancy do whatever the hell she wanted. But she was still his friend, and he had only been trying to watch out for her.

You're bullshit.

It wouldn't have hurt so bad if she hadn't been right, he knew that much. But did she really have to bring Johanna into it? She'd told him he was bullshit, that he wasn't even trying. That he was a coward and couldn't even get up the courage to tell his soulmate he'd found her.

He was bullshit.

It had been a few days since Halloween, and Hawkins was coming back down from its high. People at school were talking non-stop about King Steve's replacement, Billy Hargrove, and the fight Harrington had with Nancy.

But I didn't really care. I wasn't much one to gossip, and no one really talked to me, anyways. I sat at work, twiddling my thumbs as I watched the time tick closer and closer to the end of my shift. When it finally hit four, I was shooting out of my chair behind the ticket counter, and running to clock out. Jonathan was still MIA, and Mom had called me earlier saying she wouldn't be able to pick me up because Will was having a bad day. So walking home it was.

When I walked in the front door, I was met with the crunch of paper beneath my foot. Looking around, I saw colored paper trails covering the house.

"What the hell...?"

From Will's room, I could hear his walkie going off.

"Mom? Will?" I called, making my way towards Will's room.

"Code red! This is a code red! Someone come in! Copy!"

It was Dustin. There was no one in Will's room, so I picked up the walkie and hit the button to talk. "Hey, Dustin, what's wrong?"

"Holy shit, Johanna! Thank God! Where's Will?"

"Uhm, I'm not sure. I don't think anyone's home. What's wrong?" She asked.

"I really need your help. No one else is answering, and we've got a big situation on our hands. I'm with Steve Harrington, but-"

"What the hell is Harrington doing with you?"

"You know I can hear you right?" Harrington said in the background as Dustin started to speak again. "I ran into him at Mike's, and no one was answering."

"Ok, what's wrong? What's a code red?"

"I have a monster that might be a Demogorgon in my storm cellar."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

I came peeling into Dustin's driveway on my bike and came to a stop as I saw Dustin and Harrington standing there. Harrington was holding a baseball bat with, was that nails pounded into it?

I got off the bike and flipped the kickstand down. "Uh. I don't know if I wanna know where you got that."

Dustin waved me over, impatient. "Come on, come on! This way."

We started walking around the back of his house when Harrington spoke up.

"Wait a sec, how big?"

"First it was like that," Dustin said, showing us with his hands. "Now he's like this."

"I swear to God, man, it's just some little lizard, okay?" Harrington groaned.

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

"If you don't believe him, why are you here?" I asked.

Harrington waved his arms in exasperation. "It's not that I don't believe him, it's that I don't want to believe him." He turned back to Dustin. "How do you knw it's not just a lizard?"

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

"Shit," I mumbled. "I don't think that's a lizard."

"No shit!" Dustin yelled. We reached the doors to the storm cellar and Harrington bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Alright, listen, kid. I swear if this is some sort of Halloween prank... You're dead." He shone the flashlight in Dustin's face.

"It's not."

"Alright?"

"It's not a prank. Get it out of my face."

"You got a key for this thing?"

Dustin coughed up the key and Harrington leaned down to open it.

"Woah, wait. You're just gonna open it? What if it comes flying out at us?"

Harrington turned to look at me over his shoulder. "How else are we supposed to find out what's down there. Besides," He hefted the bat over his shoulder. "That's what this's for."

I threw my arms up in surrender and took a step back, pulling Dustin with me.

Harrington leaned down and put the key in the lock. Once it was unlocked, he threw the doors open and Dustin stepped forward to shine the flashlight down the steps.

"Let me see that," Harrington said, taking the flashlight from him.

When they didn't see anything, Dustin said, "He must be further down there. I'll stay up here in case he tries to... Escape."

I snorted and Harrington turned slowly to give the younger boy a look that said he was not amused. He stood and made his way down the stairs and out of view. We heard the click of a light, and then silence.

"Steve?" Dustin called, creeping forward. "Steve, what's going on down there?"

Steve popped out, shinning the flashlight up at them, and scaring the shit out of both of us.

"Get down here."

Dustin and I shared a look before cautiously descending the stairs. Once we reached the bottom, Harrington shined the light on what was hanging off the end of his bat.

"Oh, shit," Dustin cursed.

"Is that... Skin?" I asked in disgust. Harrington nodded before sweeping the light over to the far corner, where a giant hole had been dug into the foundation.

"Oh, shit!" Dustin swore again. We crept closer and squatted down to get a better look.

"No way. No way."