DIANE

Early Evening

The sun was only just begin to sink in the sky, colouring the sparse clouds brilliant cotton candy hues. In desperation to distract herself from thinking about anything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, she had decided to clean the car in the garage. Hüsker Dü's newest album Everything Falls Apart was blasting through her small headphones. She had turned it up to maximum volume, hoping the sound waves would just scramble her brain. So far, even their aggressive tunes hadn't even been able to fully dominate her thoughts.

No matter how hard she scrubbed every nook and cranny of this car, it wasn't washing away the grime she felt from her actions. She stomped her feet instinctively, trying to stave away the dropping temperatures. Her hands were red from the nipping cold. It still wasn't enough to completely rip her focus away.

The familiar roaring sound of a Camaro hit her heart and she felt her breath stop. He probably thought this was going to be a regular thing now. After all, she had apparently thrown herself at him yesterday. She scrubbed the car harder with the soaking sponge, refusing to look up, even as she heard his boots hit the driveway pebbles and the car door slam shut.

He didn't say anything. Every second that passed had her heightening anticipation turning up a few notches into pure frustration. The wait was agonising and she couldn't ignore him any longer.

"What do you want?" Diane snapped at him, refusing to look up from her car cleaning activity save for a quick glance his way.

"You have my jacket." He answered breezily.

Well she certainly didn't remember that either. Her mind began piercing in last night without wanting to. It was probably crumbled somewhere in a corner. "Where is it?"

"Did you move it?"

"How would I do that when I don't even know where it is?" She spat out through clenched teeth.

"You really don't remember shit." He acknowledged, though he didn't seem surprised by her black-out. Of course she didn't remember. After all, it was him that had filled her in on her missing memories just a few hours earlier. The gravel crunched as he ambled over to her.

Angry tears brimmed over her eyes as she kept staring at the car door. Clutching the sponge harder she began to re-clean the car with force. "Yeah, well, I don't think I want to remember."

A long, hard silence followed. She had nothing else to say, but she knew she should just release the sponge and find his stupid jacket. Then he'd leave and she could curl up in a ball of regret. Just the moment she had seen his stupid blue Camaro had her stomach tying itself into knots. At this point it had turned into a stomach ache.

Billy knew, had even teased her about it earlier. He knew it meant something to her. And now she couldn't even remember it. Before a stray tear threatened to run down her cheek she hastily wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"We didn't fuck, alright. Just stop the fuckin' tears." He snapped at her, already finding the paper carton in his pocket.

Diane looked up, stunned. "What?"

"You heard me, Dobler." He exhaled sharply. The smoke billowed in the frigid air.

His words came as such a shock she didn't have anything to say - again - as she processed his confession. "But- "

"B-b-but, why would you do something like that?" He mimicked her, and then he looked past her and into the forest. "You think being with me is your worst nightmare come true; can't help you were black-out drunk."

Blood began to flow back into her hand as she eased her grip on the soapy sponge. "You lied to me."

He breathed a laugh, shoving his cigarette free hand in his pocket. His exposed hand was already tinged red from the cold. "I barely did anything. You were nearly all the way there with your little scenario. Your imagination seemed a little . . . out of whack after swappin' spit with him."

The venomous shift in her tone told her all she needed to know. He was talking about Steve. "We just talked you know."

She didn't know why she was defending what had happened between her and Steve to Billy, but the words came out anyway.

The ghost of a sneer remained on his lips, but he appeared to relax a fraction.

While he appeared to be deflating, she was just winding up.

"You told me we slept together." Slowly the tense knot in her stomach was easing its vice tight grip. She felt like she could breathe again.

"Did I?" He looked back at her, eyes cool.

Instantly she replied the entire exchange in the hallway. Carol had told her they had slept together. Billy . . .

Billy actually hadn't. "But you said I enjoyed it."

"Yeah, you were slobbering all over me." He crossed his arms.

"Oh." Was all she could respond with. So, they kissed. But they hadn't done more. She exhaled in relief. For a brief moment she mulled over this rapid shift from this mornings news. So he had insinuated that they had had sex. But only after she had looked at him in horror. That wasn't the nicest thing to do and-

Her lips parted in shock. He had just admitted that the idea of her being repulsed by him was a hurtful notion. Not directly, but he had. Diane struggled to keep the small smile threatening to pull her lips upwards from becoming visible. Billy Hargrove wasn't all the invincible, was he. She can't believe he would get that triggered over that. He had come in like a hurricane to shake up Hawkins, and something as small and stupid as that had him acting out. How was he simultaneously larger than life and yet focused on such minuscule details?

Billy Hargrove was an enigma.

Still, his actions weren't justified. They settled into an awkward silence. He had just been mean back because she had started it. Not on purpose, but she had. Not that she was going to forgive him completely, his response had still been cruel. But she was nearly too relieved to care. Nothing had happened between them.

Well. Except for that kiss.

I don't slobber. She wanted to protest. Except, well, she couldn't really remember anything. Her cheeks heated up in embarrassment.

"Well now everyone thinks I'm a whore."

His palm thumped over his heart. "Oh no, will the cow-shit collectin' farmers of Hawkins come after you with their pitchforks? Will the stay-at-home moms clutch their pearls?"

"Tell everyone nothing happened." It was something he had to do. He had to make things right again.

Billy didn't seem convinced as he raised a dark eyebrow. "Why do you care so much anyway, I thought you were rushing to get out of this dump in a few months anyway."

"It's the principle." Diane cried.

"Never said anything about us anyway." Was his way of dodging the responsibility.

"Keeping silent is basically the same thing as agreeing it happened."

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not spending my time convincing some hicks about you trying to leech yourself to my neck instead of dragging me to bed. It's semantics, Dobler."

It wasn't semantics. They were two different things. Pressing her lips together she momentarily retreated into her mind. Even her kiss was something she had wanted to be romantic with someone who she cared about, and who cared for her. But the thought of Billy wasn't making her as angry or defeated as she thought she would've felt. Instead she just felt neutral. And she wasn't quite sure how to address that fact, so she decided she just wouldn't be thinking much about it at all. There was also the fact she couldn't remember the kiss, and she wasn't quite sure if she really wanted too. Technically, she could still get a do-over.

But it was semantics. This was Hawkins High. Steve was right, rumours just needed a spark to turn into an explosion. There was no putting this back in the bottle. And that meant Billy Hargrove was right too, and that frustrated her more than it should've.

It was then that Billy seemed to actually look at her car, and then he whistled in awe. He stared at the car, approaching it cautiously like it was a wild stallion. But in his mind, it probably was. "Don't tell me this is your car."

She supposed this was his way of brokering an uneasy peace between them. He hadn't demanded his jacket back yet.

"It's not my car."

He whirled around, eyes wide. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. You got this and you just walk everywhere? You don't deserve her." His fingers trailed the hood of the car.

In response she tipped her head to the side. She never understood the obsession with cars. And Billy, of course, threw an insult her way when he could. Her next words were ones she knew always launched men into entire monologues. But they spilt out between loose lips anyway, "It's just a car."

He stared at her like she had sprouted two heads. "This is a BMW M3. One of the best damn race-cars out there. It even has a catalytic converter."

"Do you want me to continue staring at you like I understand nothing, or do you want me to pretend those words make sense?"

He rolled his eyes. "Give me the keys, I'm taking her out for a spin. She deserves to be treated right."

"Do you . . . want me to leave you two alone so you and my genderless car can have a moment?"

His hand motioned for the keys.

"No."

"Diane." His voice had grown sweet, and as he took small steps towards her, his fingers trailed over the hood of the car. He may have been going for sweet but he looked more like a predator about to go in for the kill.

"The car insurance is family members only. And you need to learn to take no for an answer." Technically the car was hers, but she used it so little it was still basically her parents. Diane was absolutely resolute in the fact that her parents car was going to remain firmly in that garage. Billy could try all of his usual tricks, but he was beginning to wear out his nonexistent welcome.

"Then you drive." He argued with a superficial smile that was supposed to persuade her. He only seemed to have two modes with her: convince her with threats or convince her with saccharine sweet charm.

"I'm not interested." She answered promptly. "And I have . . . stuff . . . to do. Like study for an English Lit exam."

"You don't have your license yet." He admonished, completely disregarding what she had actually said.

"I do have my license," she protested, "Driving just makes me nervous."

Damn. She was beginning to engage him with arguments. She needed to circle right back around to just shutting him down. Silently debating whether it would be rude to directly ask him to just get the hell off her lawn she decided that no, it really wasn't. He was still an asshole for insinuating something had happened between them, especially now that the entirety of the school believed it too.

An engine interrupted the debate and she looked behind him. That was strange, a van was pulling up the driveway. Except there was no one that was supposed to be doing any work on their house.

Inside the white van was a woman and man with blue onesie outfits, reminiscent of hazmat outfits. The van pulled up right in front of the two teens. On the side, painted in blue it said: Department of Energy. She had seen several in the past year; it looked like a new initiative from the government. They were probably expanding their business in Hawkins and neighbouring towns.

They hopped out with small, formal smiles on their faces. Both of them walked in sync over to her and Billy. The woman was older, with white hair and sunken wrinkles. The man was clearly younger, perhaps in his thirties, with a gentle face.

"Hi there, I'm Judith Rhode. This is my colleague Rob Sussman." Both of them shook hands with teens; Judith's hand was particularly leathery. "We're from the Department of Energy here in Hawkins."

As if everyone by now didn't know about the national department right on the outskirts of town. The running joke in Hawkins was that the lights were on in the facility but no one was there. With the exception of her parents, who basically weren't ever even in Hawkins, there wasn't one person in the town she could recount for that actually worked there.

"Oh, um, nothing has been scheduled for today, I don't think. Or maybe my parents told me and I forgot."

Judith gave a watery smile. "This isn't a meeting, we were just wondering if we could ask you a few questions. The both of you."

Yeah, right, like she wanted Billy around answering any questions. Her parents always told her professionalism was the measure of your worth, and the Californian next to her would definitely not be able to do that. And then there'd be whispers about the Doblers in the office and by the water-cooler and she'd be to blame. "Well Billy was actually just leaving, so . . ."

"Depends," Billy said, pretending Diane had never spoken as his eyes bore into the older woman's, "if it's any questions on those beautiful brown eyes of yours, I'll be more than happy to participate."

Diane's eyebrows shot up at his blatant flirting. But the look of appraisal Judith gave Billy told her that the older woman was falling for it. "We're here on official business . . ."

"Billy." He supplemented, the tip of his tongue skimming over the tip of his teeth in a languid manner.

Rob began wandering a little around the parking lot, peaking into the garage first curiously. Diane kept an eye on him.

"I'm Diane." She supplemented, though she didn't think the woman was all that interested in her.

Judith pulled her eyes from the youthful teenage boy in front of her. She didn't look nearly as pleasantly at Diane. "There's been some power outages across Hawkins recently, and we suspect it's due to some animals in the area unfortunately chewing through some of the wires."

Billy leaned against the car, tilting his body just enough that he was in closer proximity to Judith. "Bet you had a lot of angry Hawkins residents. But you strike me as the kind of woman who handles these types of things with grace."

In her opinion, Hargrove was laying it on a little too thick. But this woman didn't seem to share that sentiment. But there weren't many handsome eighteen year olds who had his confidence and charm. Especially not many who would brazenly flirt with a women that looked two be three times his senior. Maybe when Diane was her age she'd also be flattered too, but she doubted it.

"Have you seen any type of large animals recently? A staff member at your high school said there had been something around the school, would you know anything about that?"

Diane bit her lip. The thuds as it threw itself against the gym door echoed through her mind as clearly as if she were right there now.

"During school hours?" Billy asked, face twisted in concern.

"Why would that matter?" Rob barked over his shoulder. He was at the edge of the house, peaking around and into the swathe of forest that began downhill.

"Mr. Sussman, getting a good education is our patriotic duty. I would hate to know any fine, young Hawkins mind missed something."

Rob didn't need to be looking this way for Diane to know his eyes had rolled into the back of his head in disdain for Billy's words that bordered on sardonic.

"It was after school hours apparently." Said Judith.

Something tugged at Diane's mind at her words. The energy employee had come here to ask general questions on apparent power-line outages, yet she spoke as if she knew of a specific event that had already occurred, like she just wanted confirmation. In response she shifted on her feet, growing uncertain with the line of questioning.

"Well I didn't see anything. But of course I wouldn't ever break the rules such as entering the Hawkins High building after hours. Would you, Diane?" He asked.

This was it. She had one chance to solidify her allegiance to the government. Her government. The one her parents even worked for. All she'd have to do was spill everything to them. About how they really were in the school after-hours, but that was only because a monster was chasing them, and it most definitely was not natural. But again, her mouth wasn't cooperating with her and she remained silent. It only seemed to increase Judith's persistence.

"The last reported citing was nearby here, just two days ago." Judith said, looking over at her colleague who had trailed closer to his colleague.

"Yup. It was two days ago." Rob confirmed with his thick Midwestern accent. Those employees really did come from everywhere but Hawkins itself. Slowly, Rob was inching towards the front porch.

Two days ago was exactly the day the monster had tried to attack them at school. She knew she should tell them, about whatever it was that they had seen, except something was holding her back. Diane glanced at Billy.

He didn't seem like he was going to tell them about the creature they had seen either. His words came back about not trusting the police. Then he did the complete opposite of everything he had been throwing at the two employees so far. Slowly he began nodding. "Actually, hold on. I think . . . but no. It couldn't be."

Like a switch both of the employees perked up; Rob stopped and turned around, ambling closer to Billy. "Please, anything at all you may have seen."

"There was something. When I was driving a few nights ago I swore I saw something near Hawkins Elementary School, right near the forest. Walked weird."

Judith was nodding enthusiastically. "Anything else?"

"Sort of looked like a deer, but walkin' real funny. 'Course, it was dark and the animal was far away. You think it's deer eating through the wires?" He asked, hand on his hip. For someone who had made it clear he didn't care for the town he had forcibly been relocated to, he sure was good at acting concerned for even the power lines of the town.

"Sure, rabid animal are capable of a lot." Rob had previously been looking around the corner of the house out into the forest, but had slowly made his way back to his colleague.

"If you remember anything else or see anything else, call us, will you?" Judith asked.

"Oh I don't know. It's real dark and I'm not always payin' attention to what's out there. But I guess I can do that. You can just give me your number; I never forget to call a beautiful woman." He wetted his bottom lip.

"Yeah how 'bout my business card instead, kid?" Rob asked, whipping out a small card. Diane snorted in amusement.

Billy pulled it out of his outstretched fingers. Even though she already had the departments number, but these two didn't seem concerned with the fact her parents worked there at all. In fact, it barely seemed to register for them at all. They were much more concerned with this animal.

"We just have a hard time recollecting if we missed out on anything." Diane finally said. Whether or not to tell them the truth was something she was still struggling with. Maybe she would call them.

"Of course. It would just be a shame if it came back, after all." Judith said.

Diane stiffened immediately. The woman's words echoed her only just two days earlier. The knowledge over when Diane and Billy had run into the animal. After school hours. They had known both of them were there then.

And that line Judith had just said.

What if it comes back?

They had heard their conversation in the kitchen. Somehow, they had been there. They knew.

Diane didn't know how yet. But these employees knew things, more than they were letting on. Why were they lying? What did they know about this monster? A chill went up her spine as the severity of the situation hit. Professional employees from the mysterious Energy building were pursuing this as well, and it was serious enough to create a cover story for.

"Mr. Sussman," Billy turned to him, "Why do you think a deer is busy eating through power lines when it could be electrocuted to death?"

"When animals go rabid, it's hard to predict their behaviour, son." Rob said with tight smile that threatened to break the skin on his chapped lips.

Billy stiffened at his comment and seemed to struggle with reigning himself in. The man was being condescending, and she didn't think she'd care at all if Billy decided to get into it with an adult. But this was her property, and they worked in the same department her parents did. It would be embarrassing if either blew a fuse now.

She placed a hand on Billy's arm. "Well Mr. Sussman we promise we'll give a call if we see anything. Is that alright?"

Rob sighed. "You got our number too?"

"Certainly. It's even on our corkscrew board in the kitchen."

"Fine." He sighed again, inching his way to the car.

Judith nodded, and then focused on Billy with an enchanted smile. "Thank you for your all your help."

"No, Judith, thank you."

Diane was about to lose her eyesight with the force that her eyes rolled back into her head. She had no words for him right now.

They watched the van take off, neither saying anything until the van was out of sight.

"I can't believe you cooperated with them that easy." She grumbled. For someone who went on about how not to trust the justice figures in the community, he didn't appear to have any qualms cooperating when it came down to it. But that should have been the smart thing to do, like she should've done when they had asked.

"And what did I tell them?"

"You told them about what we had seen."

"A deer with a weird limp is really what we saw?" He lit another cigarette, the last in his carton.

"It's not completely off the mark, is it."

"They already know what they're lookin' for. First they tell us they don't know what it is, and then all of a sudden they know for a fact that thing was rabid? Government's always full of shit."

She opened her mouth to retort before closing it in surprise. Even she hadn't picked up on that. She wanted to argue that he was wrong, the government wasn't always full of shit. Her parents worked for the government, and they were good people. The government was there to help the people, that was their job. But before she could reply he was already talking about, voice sharp.

"Just telling them what they're expecting to hear. People like that are all the same. Tell them sweet nothings and they won't go searching for anything."

Diane shook her head and turned sharply on her heel. She went straight inside of the house. And promptly began tearing apart her living room. When her parents had too much red wine they always went on about Russian spies and microphones. Maybe they had been right the entire time. Or maybe they were wrong, and she could prove that there was nothing there. That Billy was wrong, and they weren't just asking questions they didn't already know the answer to.

But, she never had seen those employees before. And they hadn't seemed to care much about her parents even though they probably worked together.

Couch pillows went flying. The rug became skewed as she dragged it partially to the side. Paintings and photographs went carefully onto the floor after the back of the frames were thoroughly inspected. Her fingers ran under tables and chairs. Still, there was nothing. Even the curtains didn't go unchecked. The living room was beginning to look like the aftermath of a hurricane.

For a good, long minute Billy appeared non-plussed. "Before I asked what in the fuck is going on, where's my jacket?"

After putting down the other lamp she strode over to the other side of the room and threw his bundled up leather jacket at him. He caught it with one hand. Then unravelled the sleeve where the blood had been.

Her head whipped around. The entire room was upturned. Where was it? Doubt began pulling at her. She didn't even really know what an implanted microphone would actually look like. And this wasn't a spy movie, there wasn't any real reason to put one in her house.

Billy gave a nod of satisfaction; the blood splatters had completely disappeared.

Maybe there was a microphone was on the kitchen. She paused. What was she doing? This was insane, and her response had been triggered by paranoia. Sure, the situation was weird enough to be considered a coincidence. But that didn't mean there were anything. She should just stop looking.

A thin layer of sweat had accumulated on her forehead and she wiped it away hastily with the back of her hand.

The fireplace. She hadn't looked there. Everywhere else, but not there.

Her fingers began skimming the edges, and then she ducked her head inside, looking up. Squinting she began to use her fingers too to guide her up the chimney.

"Fuck." She whispered. There it was. A small lump, and then the wire that connected it, running right up the chimney.

They had two fireplaces, one located in the dining room. The one here was just decorative. It was the perfect place to put a microphone without having to worry about it being found. They had known the entire time that both her and Billy knew about the demon dog creature. At least, enough to warrant a light questioning.

"The hell are you doing searching in the f-"

"I was looking for the car keys." She interrupted sharply. He had explained that he had told the Energy Department employees what they wanted to hear. Well, she could play that game too. They didn't know she knew about their microphone. But first she just needed to process everything.

"And the k-"

"You wanted to take it for a spin, right?" She said. Loudly. Standing up she strode over to him, navigating through the now haphazard room.

"You just decided to have a change of heart?"

"If you don't want to drive with me, I'll go alone."

He thought about that deal for a moment with narrowed eyes as he scrutinised her. But it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

"That's what I thought." She said, brushing past him. Standing on the porch she looked over her shoulder. "You coming or not, Hargrove?"

After a pause his lip curled and he shrugged a shoulder, stepping over the threshold. Diane shut the door behind her while he walked to the car.

"I'm driving." Diane said, manoeuvring past him to open the car door.

She expected him to put up a fight, but he held up his hands in mock-surrender and strode over to the other side.

The engine roared to life, startling her. Clutching the steering wheel she took a deep breathe, and pressed down on the peddle. "For the record, I'm still angry at you."

The car jumped a few feet, and then picked up speed as she drove out of the winding driveway. They needed to get out of here. And she needed to find out why her house had been bugged.