Chapter Twenty-One
Shadow Monster
Veronica walked briskly to her locker as the warning bell for the last period of class rang out. A heavy puff of frustration passed through her lips as she was finally able to get the combination right and open the small metal door. Around her, the rest of the student body talked loudly amongst each other as they walked to class. Ever since she'd come back to school after her appointment at the lab, Veronica was feeling that her day was only getting worse and drawing on slower and slower. There was also a headache at the back of her head that was increasing with a thrilling echoing noise.
The final bell rang making Veronica curse under her breath as she grabbed the final books needed for her class. But the last thing she expected as she closed her locker door was to see a looming figure standing over her. Veronica jumped back and cursed loudly as she stared back up into the blue eyes gleaming down at her. It took only a few seconds to realize it was the same person from the party before.
"Well...well, well...look what we have here." He smirked, his eyes scanning over her body slowly and making her body shutter with a shiver.
"Uh..." Veronica's dark eyes darted along the hallway to see that she was nearly alone, making her stomach twist more. "C-Can I help you?"
Billy shrugged his shoulders, taking a smaller step forward, cornering her more against the wall of lockers. "I don't know, sweetheart. Maybe you can? Didn't see much of you after our little talk at the party."
Veronica chuckled nervously, "I don't think there would've been much more for me to say."
Billy's eyes squinted for a moment before his smirk only grew a little wider. "Now why don't you let me decide that."
Billy took another step forward and quickly Veronica was hit with a force that made her chest tighten. It was like smoke surrounded her all of a sudden making it hard for her to breathe. The negative force surrounding Billy was enough to make her nearly fall back from it.
"C-Can you back up...please?" Veronica spoke softly, her brown eyes looking up towards him as his body seemed to press against hers, his cologne adding to the suffocating factor.
"Don't wanna get to know each other? Come on?" Billy reached out and gently touched her arm, causing her to flinch back again.
"Hey!" a voice sounded from the other end of the hall, causing Billy to jump back away from her, looking over to see Steve heading at them.
Billy watched Steve and only chuckled as she watched Harrington rush toward them. "What are you doing?"
"Just talking to a fellow student, Harrington...something wrong with that?" The end of Billy's sentence left a slight threat hanging in the air between them.
Veronica took a few deep breaths that let the suffocating feeling lift from her chest. Steve's eyes darted over Billy's shoulder to her and saw the slightly scared look in her eyes. But he wasn't sure if Billy was the cause or something else.
"Think you have a class to get to, don't you?" Steve spoke with more firm authority in his voice.
Billy looked over his shoulder toward Veronica before shaking his head and chuckling deeply and heading down the hallway, and soon, out of sight. Steve took a few steps at Veronica and watched as she seemed to sag with relief against her locker.
"Thank you for that," She panted softly, "I-I felt like I couldn't breathe with him standing over me."
"Of course, of course." Steve nodded, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. His eyes scanned over her face as if to make sure for himself that she was ok. "That guy is a real jackass."
Veronica hummed softly and nodded her head in agreement. "Can we get out of her now? Actually? I'm not really in the mood for the rest of class, I don't know about you."
Steve looked down at her for a moment before slowly nodding his head, "Yeah, yeah. Let's go."
Veronica opened her locker back up and placed her things back inside before grabbing her bag and a few of her other things. The two of them walked out the front doors of Hawkins High and headed to Steve's car before leaving. It seemed the moment she was out of the confined walls of the school, Veronica felt she was able to relax a little more. The thrilling noise no longer echoed within her mind, making her headache grow. The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, exception of the radio playing, as Steve drove through the back roads of Hawkins.
"...and it was hard walking down those hallways...it's like...even with things looking different and being painted over. I-I can still see everything there. I can still feel...everything that Papa made me do." Veronica spoke, looking down at her sneakers, toying with the shoelace as she spoke. Steve sat beside her, tentatively listening as she spoke. The two of them drive out to Skull Rock again. "And Hopper didn't want me to go originally, and I was against it too...but also who else is going to be able to give me answers?"
"Is it worth going through all that though?" Steve asked, his voice soft and filled with concern,
"I've been through worse sadly," Veronica sighed and looked up into his eyes, "Hopper being there helped a little."
"Is it weird? Knowing your dad now?"
Veronica shook her head slowly, "I don't really remember my other father, honestly. Just bad stuff. I don't even remember my mom...not really. So having Hopper feels like I have a second chance."
Steve nodded his head, smiling slightly. "My parents aren't ever around. My father is always on some business trip, but we all know it's him using those trips as an excuse to cheat on my mom. And she leaves for vacations to ignore that fact, along with her teenage son."
Veronica frowns, "Y-You're parents leave you all alone?"
Steve frowned and nods his head, "It's better than hearing them scream at each other all the time at least, but still..."
Steve looked off toward the water and shrugged his shoulders slightly, letting a silence fall between the two of them. Veronica frowned more before reaching over and gently grabbing his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, before holding it. Steve sat frozen for a moment before relaxing under her comforting touch.
"I'm sorry...y-you've been through worse than me, and you're the one comforting me." Steve chuckled to cover up the sadness he felt hanging on his shoulders.
"Steve," He looked to her, his eyes softening slightly, "Stop kicking the way that you feel to the side. You're doing it now, and you did it with Nancy. I'm seeing a pattern,"
Steve chuckled with false humor, nodding his head, and sending his brown tresses bouncing around his head. Steve moved and tightened his fingers through hers, bringing their conjoined hands to his lap. Veronica closed her eyes for a moment and sat in the silence, and it wasn't long till a warm safe feeling spread across his body. Soon the anxiety and sadness that was once sitting heavy in his chest was gone.
"What the..." Steve speaks softly, before looking over to Veronica the moment he hears a small sniffle. She gives a gentle smile, with a drop of blood smeared against the side of her hand. "D-did you?"
"Can read people remember," She smirked "Can change how they feel too."
"Shit," Steve spoke "It...It doesn't hurt you does it?"
Veronica shook her head, "Drains me a little if I use my powers too much, but never hurts me. It feels nice to use them...haven't since Eleven's been gone."
"No word on her?"
Veronica shakes her head and frowns slightly, "I try and listen for her through the static on either the radio or television, but nothing happens...I...I miss her and just wanna know that she's safe."
Steve moved closer to her, feeling that holding her hand wasn't enough to comfort her. Instead brought her smaller frame against his. She leaned into his hold and sighed softly.
"I'm sure if she could, El would let you know that she's ok." Steve spoke softly, "Seems we're both needing someone to lean on,"
Veronica smiled slightly, "Seems so. Can we get closer to the water? Maybe move on from the sad conversation topic?"
Steve smiled brightly down at her and nodded his head, moving to stand at the top of Skull Rock, the two of them moving down and heading closer to Lover's Lake.
"What do you mean you've never seen Halloween?" Steve spoke with an astonished look on his face, eyes wide as he looked at her.
"What part of I grew up in a lab don't you get, Harrington?" Veronica laughed lightly.
"I-I thought they wouldn't be so cruel to not show you guys movies." Steve shook his head
"Also not showing murderous horror movies to a room full of kids," Veronica laughed and shook her head,
"No Star Wars?"
"No." She laughed a little harder, grabbing another rock from the pier deck they stood on to skip across the lake.
"Oh, my god. That's it. We're going to my house and we're having a movie night this weekend...we've gotta get you caught up on some things." Steve shook his head, placing his hand on his waist. "I don't even wanna know the type of music you're into."
"Just mostly listen to what Jonathan listen's to...or Joyce." Veronica blushed slightly as she heard the groan Steve let out.
"I don't even wanna know...you're gonna break my heart, Hopper." Veronica looked down shyly before turning her eyes back out to the water. Steve turned to head back down away from the pier. "Why don't we get out of here? Go get some food?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm starving" Veronica laughed before turning around, but quickly seeing that Steve was no longer in front of her.
Her body stopped quickly and felt like a bucket of ice was dumped down over her, sending a chill through her entire body. Her brown eyes looked around and was able to see that she no longer stood on the pier at Lover's Lake – at least not the version in Hawkins. The small debris floated in the air in front of her like snow, along with the thrilling noise growing louder and louder around her. Veronica whimpered softly as she turned back to look over the lake, only to see that it was dried up.
"Steve!?" Veronica called out, her voice echoing through the trees, "Steve!?"
A large whooshing noise caught her attention and looked to the end of the lake at her left and saw a tall monster start to form in front of her. Suddenly, Veronica felt like she couldn't move as it moved closer and closer to her. Almost like a dark cloud within the sky it loomed over her and soon felt like it was suddenly all around her.
Steve started up the path that lead up the hill to where his car was parked, but after a few moments, noticed that Veronica wasn't following. He stopped, confused, before turning around to look back to the pier. Veronica stood with her back to Steve, staring out into the water. But her body was still and completely stiff.
"Veronica? You coming?" Steve called out, taking the short distance back down, "Come on...we gotta go."
She didn't move. There was a stiff and eerie silence that fell over the two of them that made Steve's stomach churn. He walked along the pier with his feet sounding against the worn down wood, before gently reaching forward to grab her shoulder. But the last thing he expected was the scene in front of him. Veronica stood still, her head tilted back slightly, with the whites of her eyes showing. Her eyes fluttered slightly as they rolled to the back of her head.
"Veronica! Ronnie!?" Steve shouted, placing both hands on her shoulders, shaking them slightly, to snap her out of it.
But it seemed no matter how loud Steve called for her, or how hard he shook her shoulders, nothing was snapping her out of her trance. Steve reached a hand up and caressed her cheek, continuing to call her name over and over, as he slapped against her cheeks.
"Ronnie, this isn't funny...come on, wake up...wake up..."
For a moment it all stopped, and Steve stood there for a moment holding his breath, till her eyes opened and were only white. Her face was stoic of any emotion as she blankly stared back at him. It shocked Steve enough to cause him to stumble back slightly before her eyes closed again just as quickly as they opened. Steve could feel his heart hammering within his chest as he waited for something to change, for something to happen. But when her eyes opened again, wide with fear, and normal once again – Steve moved quickly to her, bring his arms around her shaking frame.
"Hey, hey...I've got you." Steve spoke as her knees buckled slightly, wrapping his arm around her waist, and holding her against his chest. Her breaths coming out rushed and panicked, "I've got you, you're ok."
"Steve...Steve..." Veronica continued to repeat as she clung to him tightly. Flashes of the Upside Down still playing within her mind every time she blinked them closed, along with the tall monster that loomed over her.
AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I want to say thank you for all the reviews the last few have gotten, it's really been encouraging and helpful! I wanted this chapter to be more about Ronnie and Steve, really build on their friendship before it progresses more – which I'm sure you're catching on is gonna move faster the deeper into Season 2 we get into. What do you think happened to Ronnie at the end there?