THE MONSTER IN THE BASEMENT

The night engulfed the streets of Hawkins, the trees calling Emma back to the night she had fled from that sickly white building, now covered in blood. She remembered holding hands with a girl almost erased from her mind, the path to the straw truck etched vividly in her memory. Both little girls, not even concealing their fatigue, made their way to the nearest town, stealing clothes from a kind family. Emma had fallen from the train they sneaked onto, hurting her nape even more. The plan was to get as far away as possible from that place, that lab. But somehow, she was found by a little girl she now called her sister.

"Wait a sec, how big?" Steve's words snapped her back to the present. Dustin answered his question.

"First, it was like this," the kid demonstrated with his hands, forming a small gap. "Now he's like this." He widened the gap significantly.

"I would rather say he's as tall as a Siberian Husky." Lilith argued.

"I swear to God, man, it's probably some lizard, okay?" Steve tried to convince himself.

"Harrington, my sister just told you it's practically as tall as a wolf. How can you still think it's some lizard?" Emma questioned, tired of his denial. Ever since Lilith and Dustin explained about the new species discovery and how it got out of his hands, Steve had been asking stupid questions, possibly due to the thrill running through his body or just because he couldn't grasp it all at first.

"How do you know that?" Harrington faced Emma for a second before focusing back on the road, driving to Henderson's house.

"How do I know that?" Emma frowned, convinced now that Steve was genuinely slow on the uptake. "First, the Varanus, which are a species of big lizards, inhabit swamps, mangroves, and tropical rainforest coastlines. Do you know any place nearby with those characteristics? I don't think so." She continued with her second point. "Second, the kid said it looked more like an amphibian than a lizard, and you still stick to your belief that it's a lizard."

"Well, then how don't you know it's not an amphibian?" Steve questioned back, now staring at Dustin and Lilith.

"How do I know it's not an amphibian?" Neither of the sisters could hold back from dealing with his idiocy.

"Yeah, how do you know it's not just one big amphibian?"

"Because its face opened up and it ate my cat," Dustin blurted out. Silence filled the car. Dustin's face went pale at his own confession, Lilith raised her eyebrows, remembering the picture of the creature eating the cat, and Steve nodded, as if the explanation was sufficient. Emma repeated the words in her head before turning to her sister.

"Did you know about this?" Emma whispered as if discussing something forbidden.

"I did. We went home looking for you," Lilith admitted in a low voice. Emma's eyes widened at the word "we," glancing at Dustin, who was staring worriedly at Steve, before turning back to her sister.

"You told him?" Emma's nerves flared for just a second.

"What? No. No way." Lilith hurriedly denied when the car stopped moving. They had arrived at the house.

Pulling into Dustin's vacant driveway, the car was parked. "Hammer to Fall" by Queen thrummed through the vehicle as the four of them stepped into the night. An isolated road greeted them, accompanied only by streetlights flashing in their eyes. Steve hurried to the trunk of the car, tossing the keys to Dustin. Stretching their legs, the sisters followed to see a bat with nails inside the trunk. Emma pressed her lips into a curious, mischievous grin.

"You always keep that in the car, Harrington?" she squinted.

"My father would have a lot of questions if he found this at home," Steve shrugged.

"I have a lot of questions," Lilith burst out, emphasizing the word "I." Her sister just stared at Steve with squinted eyes and a playful smile.

"What?" Steve barked, tired of the scrutiny.

"Nothing, it just seems to me you're the one closer to being a gangster," she commented, reminding him of the nickname he had given her. Steve rolled his eyes and closed the trunk. Lilith frowned, watching the scene quite out of place. Since when did those two get along? The last time she heard the surname Harrington, it was from Robin's mouth. Robin had gone to their house for help with her French lessons and ended up, as usual, having dinner with the Torres family. The previous week, it seemed to have become her favorite subject, as all she could do was talk about the stupid perfectly brushed-haired boy, and it wasn't anything pretty. Oh, no.

"We don't have time for you two to flirt, we have to extinguish Dart." Dustin reminded.

"Wait, we're not flirting," Steve rushed to clarify. He was in love with Nancy, not Emma. Nancy was the one constantly on his mind, not the blonde beside him. He and Emma couldn't even stand each other for more than two minutes. She was stubborn and nosy, and for some reason, she loved getting on his nerves. There was absolutely no possibility they were flirting.

"So, Dart, huh?" Emma ignored his comment, focusing on the main issue as the kid demanded. It seemed silly to refuse something they both knew wasn't true. For that reason, some people still believed she and her family were part of a gang. Due to that philosophy, there was always less weight on her shoulders than on Mr. Fluffy Hair next to her. "You named that thing?"

"It was his pet..." her sister explained. "For a very short time, but still his pet."

"Oh..." Emma nodded, holding the torch to guide the way to the kid's basement door, really just following Dustin. When the four of them reached a door locked on the ground, silence emerged as a reminder of what they were about to do. Steve leaned closer, trying to sense any life inside, but there were no results.

"I don't hear a thing."

"He's in there," Dustin assured. Starting to doubt the kid's words, Harrington took a step closer and lightly tapped the door, somewhere inside him afraid of any reaction from the supposed creature. No living signals. Holding his breath and biting his tongue, the boy tapped the door harder. Once again, there was no reaction.

"All right, listen, kids," Steve faced the two twelve-year-olds, pointing at them with his torch. "If this is some sort of Halloween prank, I swear to God, you're dead."

"It's not," Lilith interrupted, tired.

"All right?"

"Not a prank," Dustin ensured, squinting at the light in their eyes. "Get it out of our faces," he demanded, uncomfortable. Steve complied, and Emma rolled her eyes at the stupid discussion, focusing back on the basement. The door was made of some sort of metal covered in red, worn paint. Emma brushed her fingers around the rusty chains that locked the creature inside, inspecting the simple old padlock. She deduced that if the kid had lost the key, it wouldn't be too difficult to break it with the bat they had brought.

"You've got a key for this thing?" she asked. The curly-haired boy took the key from his pocket with a smile and handed it to her. In less than a minute, the door was open, revealing a dark, deep hole with rocky stairs leading down. Both Steve and Emma lit the way with their torches, searching for any clue that would lead them to Dart, finding only spiderwebs and dust.

"He must be further down," the kid guessed in a low voice, his knees starting to shake. Lilith gazed at her friend, her eyebrows raised in horror and her foot tapping anxiously. "We'll stay up here in case he tries to..."

"Escape," the brunette completed, her eyes wide. Emma frowned. Even in the scariest situations, her sister would try to make a sarcastic comment to hide her fear. Watching her edge toward panic showed that whatever was down there was truly dangerous, and they should be running instead of confronting it.

Steve looked up at Dustin with disappointment and disbelief. Then he turned to Emma and pointed at her with the torch. "And you, gangster? Are you coming down?" Lilith suddenly touched her sister's shoulder, pulling her away from the hole, fearful something bad could happen to her. Emma balanced herself, still crouched.

"I think I'll stay out here, taking care of the kids." Emma nodded, staring at her sister with comfort, her hand now on her shoulder. "Who knows what could happen to them if we both end up eaten by that creature by going down together?" she commented with humor, gifting Steve a mischievous smile.

"And the solution is me dead rather than both of us, right?" Steve complained.

"I mean..."

"You're telling me I'm the bait," he continued indignantly.

"Pretty much, yeah," Emma affirmed, dusting off her trousers as she got up from the ground.

"Wow," Steve expressed with wide eyes. They were literally pushing him to the wolves. "Guys, how considerate of you, thank you for this honor." The sarcasm in his words could almost be funny if he wasn't about to go down those stairs to confront some sort of giant amphibian.

"Scared, Harrington?" Emma crossed her arms, raising a playful eyebrow.

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed before heading into the darkness with careful steps. It wasn't until his silhouette disappeared completely into the shadows of the basement that silence started to ring through Emma's ears, bringing her back to that night. Both children crawling through that huge canal, melting into the darkness; their gasps tired from the effort; the sparks she was emitting because of the hills... One hand scratching hers woke her from that remote memory. It was her sister.

"You okay?" Lilith questioned, feeling the little electric shock before actually holding her hand.

"Yeah, it's nothing," Emma shook her head, downplaying it. Lilith nodded, her eyebrows furrowed, focused on what could be happening in the basement.

"Steve," Dustin called, breaking the silence after a couple of seconds. He seemed worried. "Steve, what's going on down there?" The absence of a response sent chills through their bodies. Not a single word was said, not a complaint, just silence. Both kids shared a worried look, and Emma decided to step forward. With one foot at the beginning of the rocky stairs, she kept the kids behind her, protective.

"Steve," she called. "You better not have died. I don't want another dead body on my conscience."

"Wait, another?"

"Get down here, you should see this." Instantly, a light flashed in their eyes, making Dustin jump in fright and swallow his questions. On the other hand, Lilith screamed and tripped, trying to keep her balance by leaning on her sister, but they both ended up falling down the stairs.

"Fuck, Lils, you should stop doing this." The blonde cursed, rubbing her head. That fall really hurt.

"Sorry," the girl grinned, getting up from her sister's body and gazing at Steve's puzzled face right in front of her. She looked into his confused brown eyes, then at the torch now pointing at her, and back at his eyes with rancor. "Give me that torch, Mr. Lighthouse. Better stick to your role with the bat." The girl took the torch out of his hands and followed the path deeper into the room with Dustin. Steve frowned and looked at the blonde still on the floor, checking her now bruised knees with a grin.

"Any serious injury?" he asked, showing concern.

Emma glared at him with furrowed eyebrows and wide eyes, letting him see for just a second her hurt. "For a gangster like me?" Then she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Please, this is just a scratch," she ironized. The right corner of Steve's lips lifted in a half-smile.

"Come on," he offered her help, leaning his bat away. Emma stared at his hand with hesitation. This new facet of Harrington was starting to catch her attention. All she knew about Steve Harrington was rumors and memories from high school, especially from Ronnie. Nancy didn't talk much about him every time they were together. And now she was starting to understand what they both saw in him to give him a chance to be in their lives. "I don't bite, I swear." It took her a couple of seconds to accept his hand and get up from the floor. Their bodies inches apart sent a sort of current through their skin, making the air around them heavier than it should be, kind of uncomfortable. But for some reason, their eyes remained locked.

Emma pressed her lips. "Thanks." Steve, frowning even more, nodded. For some reason he couldn't understand, he got lost in her beautiful crystal eyes for too long. It was strange, new, and thrilling, and it would become the reason to deepen him more into that lake he was trying not to drown in.

"What was that thing we needed to see?" Lilith forced the eighteen-year-old boy to focus back on the scene, pointing at him with the torch she had just taken.

"Right." Harrington took his bat again and showed them some clingy shaded skin, hanging right on the nails. Both sisters wrinkled their noses in disgust. It smelled like rotten eggs and bitter broccoli. And Lilith despised broccoli.

Dustin, on his part, stared at the skin as if a problem he thought was finally solved turned out to have the wrong results and he just needed to start the whole process again to discover he put a plus instead of a minus. "Oh, shit." Then, Steve pointed somewhere across the room, asking for someone to shine a light there. Emma rushed to point the torch in that direction. A huge dug hole greeted them from the distance. "Oh, shit!" Dustin approached the hole with a disgusted grin, followed by Lilith, who lit the recent tunnel with curiosity and fright.

"No way," she said in disbelief. The older ones stepped behind them in horror. "And you were saying it was a simple lizard."

Emma glanced at the guy beside her when he was mentioned, recalling how he had previously denied the true nature of the creature that had just dug its way out of the basement. Instead of the tired grin she expected to find, his face turned white with pure terror. She noticed him locking eyes with Dustin, both shivering as if they had seen this before, as if the story was about to repeat. It wasn't the first time she had caught them in a similar situation throughout the night. They knew something. Something they were not telling her or Lilith.

"What's that?" Steve turned to face the blonde. "What are you guys hiding?" She crossed her arms at the gap of silence full of hesitation. Lilith frowned at her sister and turned to her friend, confused. She hadn't even realized the nerves were getting stuck in Dustin's throat until then. "Spill it."

After a couple of minutes trying to hold Emma's inquisitive eyes, Steve was the one to give up and sighed, "You might want to sit down for this."

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Another short chapter, sorry, I have to study for my finals. Have you seen the teasing? Even Dustin noticed already. He's smart. But Lilith? My girl is confused, too much information at the same time, she needs one thing at a time to process. Steve and Emma? Which is anything right now will take her while, not much, but a while.

Also, I have to work on the strong reveal. Like right now after this Emma and Lilith will know the truth about Hawkins, but Steve and Dustin about Emma? Oh, that's gonna be hard. Mostly for her. And I have to think still about their parents plot line, like I have them so stuck. Anyway, hope you like it. Bye<3