The first rule of murder is to never go back to the scene of the crime. And that is exactly what Steve and I are doing. Heading to the scene of the crime. Except, we didn't murder anyone. We just want to wash away the harsh things that were spray painted about Nancy. We arrive at the Hawk Theater to see a man scrubbing off the graffiti above the door. "Need a hand?" Steve offers, looking up at the old man on the ladders with a rag in his hand.

He pauses for a minute, looking at the two of us. "Did you two have something to do with this?" He questions us. We both look at each other and wait for the other one to talk first.

Steve sighs and looks back up at the man. "I just... I wanna help," Steve explains, looking through his good eye. The man climbs down off the ladder, handing Steve the rag. "All yours," the man tells him. Steve hands me his jacket, climbing up the ladder. "Young lady, if you follow me, you can get a clean bucket of soapy water." I follow the man inside, leaving Steve with one of the workers, holding the bottom of the ladder. I fetch a bucket for Steve, filling it up with hot water.

"You know, the word 'slut' is a derogatory word to use for a young lady," the man tells me, handing me a bottle of dish soap. "I assume you must be Nancy."

"No, I'm her friend," I explain, opening the bottle of dish soap. "Or at least, I thought I was. She's Steve's girlfriend." I point out the door so he knows for sure who I am talking about.

"Ah, you're jealous, no?" He asks me like he knows what he is talking about. I furrow my brows at the man. "Sorry, my bad." He laughs, holding his hands up. "You find him attractive?" He continues trying to guess my story.

"I guess so. A little. I don't know," I say, trying to think about it. "I mean, he's like my brother, we've been best friends for years. It's hard to think about him as more than a friend."

"Did he get into that fight for you?" He questions me and I shake my head. If only. "With you?"

"Oh God, no!" I shake my head, laughing at the thought of kicking his ass. "The closest I ever got to beating him in a fight, he had a broken leg and I kicked away his crutches, but he still beat me."

I pick up the bucket and carry it outside, following closely behind. He puts his hand on the push pad of the door but stops to turn to me. "I can tell he is a kind and loving person. Stick around for a while. You'll eventually see what I'm seeing." With that, he opens the door, taking the bucket from me and passing it up to Steve.

***

"I can't believe that took us all afternoon!" I sigh, finally climbing back into Steve's car. He closes the door and looks at me in disbelief. "What?"

"Us?" He questions, pointing between the two of us. "You stood there the whole time, watching me!"

"Hey!" I cut in, holding my hand up. "I kept buying you popcorn!" I defend myself, holding up an almost empty popcorn bucket. "And I don't want you to pay me back for them like Tommy would've done."

"Wow, how considerate," Steve jokingly mocks me. I screw my face up at him and he puts his hand on my thigh, sending shivers through my body. "I'm only joking, Liz." We sit in a thoughtful silence for around ten minutes and Steve turns the ignition of the car on. "We're going to Jonathan's place."

"What?" I question, getting worried about Steve's intentions. "Why? Please don't start anything."

"I want to apologize to him," Steve explains, beginning to drive in the direction of the Byer's residence. "I've messed up, big time, Liz. I want you to stay in the car in case anything happens again, but if something does, I need you to call the cops."

"How would I do that without going into the house?" I ask him, waving my hands around. "Do I look like I come with a landline installed?"

"Shit," Steve curses as he pulls into Jonathan's driveway. "I don't know. Just... Just come with me but stay back." Steve is getting panicked. He runs up to the door and pounds on it, loudly. "Jonathan?" He knocks on the door again. "Are you there, man? It's... It's Steve! Listen, I just wanna talk." He continues to bang on the door until we hear the chain and bolt slide across. The door opens a crack, just enough for a head to fit through the door.

"Steve?" I look up to see Nancy at the door. What is she doing here?

"Hey. Nancy? What?" Steve says, breathing slightly quicker than normal due to knocking on the door and shouting so much.

"You need to leave," she tells him

"He's not trying to start anything, okay?" I explain, pushing Steve to the side a bit so I can talk to Nancy properly.

"I don't care about that," Nancy shakes her head, an urgent tone laced in her words. "You both need to leave."

"No, no, no, listen," Steve rushes out, trying to get through the door. "I - I messed up!" He says hitting the door with the palm of his hand. "Okay? I messed up. I messed up, okay?" Steve urges. "Really. Please. I just want to make things right. Okay? Please... Pl-" he cuts himself off and pauses. "Hey, what happened to your hand?" Steve questions, motioning to the hand with a bandage on. He grabs her wrist, gently to examine the bandage. "Is that blood?"

Nancy snatches her hand out of Steve's, trying to hide it. "Nothing," Nancy rushes out. "It was an accident.

"What's going on?" I push her, but she looks me dead in the eyes and says the same thing again. "Nothing."

"Wait a sec," Steve says, trying to get past the door. "Did he do this to you?" Nancy tries her best to keep Steve from pushing past her and convince him that Jonathan didn't do it, but she just fails. "Nancy, let me in." He eventually pushes past her, falling forward when he does.

"No, no!" Nancy yells. "No, Steve!" I follow them into the house to reveal something that looks either like a psychotic's lair or some kinky stuff I don't want to be a part of. On the table, there is a bat, with nails poking out of every inch of it, guns, lighters, gasoline.

"What is-" Steve cuts himself off to let everything in his surroundings sink in. "What the f-" Jonathan grabs us both and tries to push us back out the door, but Steve fights back.

"No, you both need to leave, now!" Jonathan states, pushing us away. Steve protests but Jonathan grabs his shirt and points at him. "Listen to me, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to get out of here."

"What is that smell?" Steve questions, trying to look over Jonathan's shoulder. "Is that... Is that gasoline?!"

"Liz, Steve, get out!" Nancy yells at us, pointing a shotgun in our faces.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I yell, holding my hands up. "What!"

"What is going on?!" Steve shouts at Nancy, keeping his hand above his waist.

"You have five seconds to get out of here!" Nancy threatens, pulling back the trigger.

"Okay, is this a joke?!" Steve bellows. "Stop! Put the gun down!"

"I'm doing this for you," she defends herself. The Christmas lights, strung from the ceiling, reaching across the room loads of time, begin flickering, making the room go from dim to light to dim to light.

Steve begins to protest and tells Nancy to put down the gun, but Jonathan's alarmed face keeps me from listening. "Nancy." He calls her name, but she ignores, beginning to countdown. "Nancy! Nancy! The lights! It's here."

"Wait, what's here?" I question, getting panicked.

"Where is it?" Nancy asks, looking around the room, aiming the gun into random space.

"Where is what?!" Steve yells, getting even more panicked than me. "Woah! Easy with that!" He shouts, motioning to the gun. I grasp onto Steve's waist, getting scared.

"Where is it?!" Nancy asks another time, looking at Jonathan, also roaming around the room, holding a weapon. "I don't know," he replies. "I don't see it!"

"Where is what?!" Steve barks, putting his arm over me to give me comfort. "Hello? Will someone please explain what the hell is going-" The roof in the corner of the room starts collapsing, making everyone jump out of their skin. I clutch onto Steve as he clutches onto me. Nancy starts shooting at the creature coming out of the ceiling as it roars.

"No!" Jonathan yells, grabbing her waist and pulling her away. "Go! Go! Run! Go! Get out of here!" Steve and I follow them, Jonathan grabbing Steve's jacket and pulling us with him. We run down the corridor and Nancy and Jonathan jump. "Jump!" Steve and I do as he says, looking down at the floor to see a bear trap. Steve cries out curse words as his jumps over it. We go into the end bedroom, slamming the door shut behind us.

"Jesus!" Steve screams, holding his chest. We were no longer clinging onto one another - we had become separated when we were running away from the faceless monster. "Jesus! What the hell was that?!" Steve yells. "What the hell was that?!"

Jonathan and Nancy turn around to face Steve. "Shut up!" They say in unison. They turn back to the door, Nancy pointing the gun at it. Jonathan has the nailed bat in one hand and a lighter in the other - the flame dancing around with Jonathan's shaky hand. We all stand in silence, staring at the door and listening to the screeches of the monster, just down the corridor. "What's it doing?" Nancy asks Jonathan.

"I don't know," Jonathan says, shaking his head. The electricity jolts and all the lights in the house stop flickering.

Nancy and Jonathan look at each other, trying to work out what is happening. "Do you hear anything?" Nancy asks Jonathan, still looking at the door. Jonathan closes the lighter and replies with a simple, "No." As the lights have stopped flickering, I've noticed a chair in front of the door, with a yellow smiley face yoyo on the back of it.

Jonathan reluctantly opens the door, slowly making his way out of the bedroom I assume is his, holding the bat up by his right shoulder. Nancy follows out, holding the gun, close to her chest. Steve and I slowly follow, with no weapons to defend ourselves. We all carefully make our way into the living room and look around. Steve starts pacing the room, muttering inaudible things to himself. "This is crazy," he says a little louder, looking at me and nodding his head. He continues to say those three words multiple times, getting louder and louder each time before shouting.

Steve jumps to the phone and begins dialing a number - no doubt the cops. Nancy speeds up to him, snatching the phone from his hands and ripping it from the hanger. "What are you doing?!" I yell. "Are you crazy?!"

"It's going to come back!" Nancy shouts back at me, then turning to Steve. "So you need to leave. The both of you. Right now."

"Screw this, Steve," I shake my head, heading towards the door. "Steve, we're leaving. I'm not dying, tonight!" He nods his head and rushes out of the door, running to his car. He scrambles to get the keys in, dropping them on the floor in panic. The electricity begins pulsating, again and Steve looks up, just as he gets the car doors open. "Steve," I say in a warning tone. "Don't you dare. I don't want to die, Steve. Come on, let's just go!" Steve looks at me, then back at the house.

"Don't follow me," he tells me before heading back to the house. I scoff, following him. He turns around and yells at me. "I said don't follow me! You're not getting hurt because of me!" Steve runs in, slamming the door shut behind him. The light continues to flicker, getting more and more violent each second. I hear gunshots so I run inside to try and help. I walk through the door to see Steve hitting the monster with the bat Jonathan was just holding and pushing it further and further back with each hit. He gets it down the corridor we had run down just minutes before, getting it caught in the bear trap.

"It's in the trap!" Jonathan shouts to Nancy. The monster struggles to get out of the trap. "It's stuck!"

"Jonathan, now!" Nancy yells, throwing him the lighter. He opens it up and throws it down the corridor, making in engulfed in flames. I grab onto Steve and use him as a shield for the hot temperature, burning my face.

"I told you to stay in the car!" He shouts at me, covering his face with his arm.

"You really want to have this conversation right now?" I yell back at him, facing him forward so he could break the hot temperature for me. The flames die down and smoke is all that's left in the corridor. I cough into my elbow as I feel the smoke traveling into my lungs. The smoke dies down and nothing can be seen in the corridor, just a patch of soot from where the fire was. "Where'd it go?" I ask.

"No," Jonathan sighs, looking down the corridor. "It has to be dead. It has to be." We look at the bear trap left on the floor to see a little bit of flesh sizzling on the metal clamp. The Christmas lights begin to light up, one by one, starting from the bottom of the corridor, coming towards us at a steady pace. We take a few steps back and it stops in one place. The lights start again but light up in a path towards the door. "Mom," Jonathan whispers. "Is that you? Mom." We open the door and see a light in the street, flickering.

"Where is it going?" Nancy questions, looking at the light.

"I don't think that's the monster," Jonathan shakes his head, also looking at the light.

***

A few hours have gone by since the incident at the Byer's residence and I've been filled in on a lot of the crazy stuff that's been happening in this town. Turns out, there's this place called the Upside Down. Nancy's brother and his friends found a girl called Eleven when they were looking for Will in the woods. On the topic of Will, he's apparently not dead. I'm in the hospital, now, with a collection of people, waiting for Will to wake up.

The monster we encountered is called the Demogorgon. It takes people to the Upside Down to kill them. Will was taken by the Demogorgon and he was in the Upside Down this whole time. Barbara was taken by the Demogorgon, too, but she wasn't so lucky. She was killed. Eleven has telekinesis powers, meaning she could sort of be in both places at once and she helped find Will and get him back home safe. Eleven got rid of the Demogorgon but also died in some way by doing so.

I am sat in a chair in the room outside where Will is staying, with Steve's arm draped across my shoulders. We haven't said a word since being back at the house. We're both pretty shaken up about it. I look up at Steve and sigh. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" He says in a hushed tone, looking back down at me. "If you mean coming back into the house, it actually flattered me," Steve explains. "It means you really do have a heart and I have a spot in there."

"Steve, you'll always have a place in my heart, you're my best friend," I tell him. He nods his head, smiling, placing a kiss on the top of my head. It just comes to me. All of a sudden, everything begins to make sense. I care about Steve Harrington, and a lot more than just friends. He isn't just my best friend. I wouldn't get so wound up about him being with Nancy. I wouldn't choose him over my best friends every single time. "Steve, can we talk outside?" I ask him, without filtering what I was about to say. He nods his head, standing up.

"Do you want to go get a coffee?" He questions me. "The canteen is just around the corner." I nod my head and he leads me out to the canteen. He orders a coffee for the two of us and when it is ready, we both sit at a table in the cold room. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

I take a sip of my coffee, trying to muster up as much courage to tell him what's on my mind. "So, for a while, you can probably tell that I've been..." I pause, trying to find the right word. "Different." Steve nods his head for me to continue, concentration plastered on his features, listening to every word I am saying. That makes it even harder to get out what I want. "I guess what I want to say is that I care about you a lot."

Steve's expression softens. He reaches his hand over the table and nudges my arm. "You know that I already know that," Steve laughs, softly, smiling at me. I take another sip from my coffee before swallowing the big lump in my throat.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my rapid heartbeat. "I care about you a lot more than I should," I elaborate. Steve stiffens up, slowly taking his arm off the table. His face is hit with a wave of confusion, changing his expression. "In a life and death situation, if it came down to it, I would most likely choose you over literally anyone on this planet. And that scares me."

Steve sits in silence, shifting around a little bit. He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come. He tries again, this time succeeding. "I - I don't know what you're suggesting," Steve admits, gripping his coffee cup.

I sigh, feeling my cheeks get hot and flushed. "Steve, I think I like you more than friends," I tell him, getting it off my chest. He sits in silence, trying to look anywhere else but my eyes. "But I'm not totally sure about it, but I thought I would tell you because you're my best friend." He still stays silent, avoiding eye contact. I nod my head in understanding. "And you don't feel the same way because you love Nancy," I answer for him, making him look at me in a heartbeat. He still doesn't say anything. I nod my head again, standing up, leaving Steve sat on his own. "This was a mistake, I'm sorry."