𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑬𝑬𝑵

❛ Yeah, I think I love her. ❜

❦

Hopper shakes Malia's shoulders roughly, causing her to shoot up into a sitting position on the sofa in the cabin.

Last night, Steve and Malia split up once he kindly dropped her off at home, but instead of stumbling into her own house, she walked miles through the dark night to the cabin and collapsed on the couch with a loud groan. Eleven, who was extremely surprised to see Malia in her drunken state, just stood in her room's doorway, watching the girl slowly fade asleep.

"Jesus christ, Hop!" Malia gasps, clutching her chest, and that's when she glances down at her body, noticing that underneath the blanket she wrapped herself in, she is still dressed in her devil halloween costume, "Shit."

"Shit indeed," He hums, "You do know you have a room here?"

She tilts her head, "What?"

He motions towards the ladder resting on the outside Eleven's room wall, "It's up there. Eleven and I helped set up your bed."

"So, you gave me a room and didn't bother telling me?" She chuckles, "Thanks, though. I might be crashing here slightly more often."

"Why's that?" He throws off his jacket, beginning to walk into the kitchen.

She leans back on the sofa, covering her face with her hands, "Thomas is annoyed at me, and Mum is starting to slowly disappear. The house is like a ghost town."

He nods, pulling the ego out of the fridge and laying the box down on the counter before garbing other ingredients, "Feel free to stay here as much as you want." When she stands opposite him, he laughs, "Are you hungover, kid?"

She blows air into her cheeks, groaning again as her head pounds, "Maybe."

"So that's a yes," He rolls his eyes, "Sit down, I'll get you something for your head."

She sends him a faint smile, slipping down into her seat at the small dining table, pulling her dress further down her thighs with a grumble.

Placing down a glass of water and a single tablet in front of her, Hopper pats her shoulder. Without even bothering to ask what the pill is, she throws it into her mouth and uses the water to swallows.

"Thanks," She says gently, squeezing her eyes shut.

He places down another plate in the middle of the table before walking over to Eleven's room to wake her up. Malia opens her eye slowly, her mouth practically salivating at the sight. It's a tower of eggos, squished together with marshmallow fluff with sprinkles and hershey's chocolate placed on top.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Malia says, when Eleven slides into the seat at the side of her.

Eleven glances over at her, "You're sleepyhead."

"Damn," Malia purses her lips, "You saw me last night, huh?"

Eleven nods, but doesn't say another word when Hopper begins to cut the eggo tower into thirds. As much as Malia is starving, she shakes her head, waving her hand in front of him.

"I don't want any," She mumbles, "You two can half it. I'll think I'll throw up everything if I have a single bite of that."

Shrugging, Eleven jabs her fork at the heap of sugar and begins to munch on a quarter of an Eggo, while Hopper laughs, licking the marshmallow fluff off the knife.

"Mmmm." He licks his lips, "Know the great thing about it? It's only 8'000 calories."

Malia gawks at him with an open mouth while Eleven just stares at him in confusion, still not grasping the concept of calories. Malia shakes her head at Hopper, and her eyes fall to a cable running along the wooden boards and into Eleven's room.

"You visited him again last night?" Malia questions, tilting her head.

Eleven swallows, "He says he needs me."

Hopper's eyebrows cinch together, "Want me to go check on him?" She shakes her head in reply and he sighs, "I know that you miss him, alright? But it's too dangerous. You're the last thing he needs right now. You're gonna see him. Soon. And not just in that head of yours. You're gonna see him in real life. I feel like I'm making progress with these people."

After carefully watching him speak, Eleven a leans forward across the table slightly, "Friend's don't lie."

Malia sips her water, sitting back in her chair with widened eyes and pursed lips.

"You say 'soon' on day 21. You say 'soon' on day 205." She tilts her head angrily, "You now say 'soon' on day 326?"

Hopper's jaws drops and his gaze snaps over to Malia, who shakes her head, asking him not involve her in their argument. Hopper sighs, "What is this? You counting the days now like you're some kind of prisoner?"

"When is 'soon'?"

"Soon is when. . . it's not dangerous."

"When?" She snaps, folding her arms on the table.

"I don't know." He shrugs.

"On day 600?"

"I don't know," He snarls.

"Day 700? On day 800?" Eleven throws her arms up in the air before slamming her palms against the surface, "I need to see him. Tell me!" She jerks her head up, sending the mountain of eggos go flying into Hopper's lap and he lets out a shout of shock and shoots up in a hurry.

"Jesus christ," Malia mumbles, pushing her chair slightly further away from the table, not wanting to be the target for the next attack.

Eleven stands up, her hands curled into fists at her side, "Friends don't lie!" She yells, before storming to her bedroom.

"Eleven—" Malia calls, but as she hears the young girl scream into her pillow, she stops herself and turns her attention to Hopper, "You should at least let her write a letter to him or something. She needs him, Hop. Otherwise she's going to go much further than sending eggos into your lap."

Hopper rolls his jaw, throwing his work jacket over his shoulder and sliding his van keys off the counter, "You're coming with me to the station."

Her face drops, and she slowly stands up, "What? Why?"

"You think I haven't heard about you getting into a fight Carol Perkins last night?" He scoffs, shaking his head, and pushing her out of the door and onto the outside porch while he locks the door behind them.

❦

Panting, Steve's eyes fall on the bleachers, hoping to find Malia sat on them, but she's nowhere to be seen. Last night, just before dropping her off, he told her about how he would be challenging Billy Hargrove to a basketball match. Smirking, Malia claimed she would want to be there to see it and Steve couldn't have been happier.

Nancy had never been particularly bothered in watching any kind of sport, even if he was the one playing it. But when he notices the absence of Malia on the half folded bleachers, his face falls further.

"Who you looking for, Harrington?" Billy come sup behind him, whispering in his ear while he attempts to reach the ball, "Malia? It's just too bad that she was in the boy's toilet thirty minutes ago begging for me."

At his words, Steve's jaw clenches and he whirls around, shoving his palms roughly against Billy's chest and sending him stumbling along the floor.

"Shut your mouth," He hisses, pointing a harsh finger at the brown haired boy, "And Malia isn't even at school today."

"Oh, I know," Billy laughs, causing the friends around him to chuckle as well.

Just as Steve opens his mouth to shout an insult, his name is yelled across the hall by a person he really didn't want to talk to for a while. Slowly he turns, his eyes landing Nancy while she clutches her books and stands in the doorway, motioning for him to talk.

Rolling his jaw, Steve and Nancy make their way down the small gap between the gym block and the main school, the girl's running team sprinting past.

Steve throws a towel over his shoulder before crossing his arms, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" She breaths, "Where were you this morning? I missed first period."

"I figured Jonathan would take you," He shrugs.

"Wha— what are you talking about?" Her eyebrows furrow while she stares at him in confusion.

He scoffs, looking away from her for a split second, "Jesus, you really can't handle your alcohol. Uh. . . You remember going to Tina's party last night, right?" He asks, watching as she nods slowly, "And then what?"

"I remember dancing, and. . . spilling some punch." She purses her lips, "You got mad at me because I was drunk. . . and then you took me home."

He licks his lips, shaking his head, "No, see, that's where your mind gets a little bit fuzzy," He sighs, "That was your other boyfriend. That was— that was Jonathan."

Her mouth drops, "I don't understand."

"It's pretty simply, Nancy. You were just telling it like it is," He shrugs.

"What?"

"Apparently," He shifts his weight onto his other leg, "Uh. . . we killed Barb and I don't care, 'cause I'm bullshit, and our whole," He motions between them both, "our whole relationship is bullshit. I mean, pretty much everything, including Malia, is just bullshit, bullshit, bullshit." He throws his arms into the air, "Oh yeah, also, you don't love me."

"I was drunk, Steve." Nancy argues, "I don't remember any of that."

"So that makes everything that you said. . . It's what? Just bullshit, too?" He snaps.

"Yes!"

"Well, then tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"That you love me. You never say you love me, Nancy." He bites his lip, "Even Malia says it more than you and now I'm starting to realise how much of an idiot I am for picking you over her. She's always been by my side; helping me, making me laugh, and I love her for it."

Nancy's expression slowly drops further, and she manages to catch her books before they slip out of her grip. She looks at him in astonishment and he stares back, his nostrils slightly flared and his chest pumping up and down.

"You— you love her?" She whispers.

The gym door flies open, and a boy runs out, skidding to a stop once he spots Steve, "Harrington!" He calls, "Dude, we need you, man. That douchebag's killing us. Let's go!"

"Alright!" Steve yells, waving the boy away before going back to glance at Nancy, who's looking up at him with cinched eyebrows, "Yeah," He nods, answering her previous question, "Yeah. I think I love her." He opens his mouth to say more, but decides against it and turns on his heel, making his way back inside the gym, leaving a stunned Nancy outside.

❦

After spending the whole day in the police station, Malia steps through the doors of Hawkin's Middle School. Instead of being wrapped in the disgusting red halloween costume, she's finally in a pair of jeans and a simple jumper that she's fairly sure belongs to Thomas, but he's still refusing to utter a single word to her, so she doesn't care.

The only reason Malia is at the Middle School is because Dustin had screamed down the tiny radio he'd given her. He begged for her to help them search for something they'd lost. After several minutes of arguing, Malia agreed, having nothing better to do.

A small boy slams into her body and she stumbles back slightly, catching him before he takes them both crashing to the ground.

"Will?" She gasps.

"Mal— Malia?" He breaths out, "Hi."

"Hey," She begins to continue her walk down the corridor, and he jogs to her side, "So what am I looking for exactly?"

"A small slimy monster."

Eyes growing wide, Malia refrains from swearing harshly, "Sorry, what? A small slimy monster? Where from?"

"Where do you think?" He purses his lips, "Dustin has been looking after it. It's basically his pet now. He calls it Dart."

Running her hands over her face, Malia groans at the stupidity of the other boy. Her eyes scan each corner they past, and she tries each door handle but the majority of classrooms are locked, that is until she reaches the boys toilet.

She pushes her way in, holding the door open for Will to follow.

"You shouldn't be in here," He mutters.

Chuckling, she pushes open a cubicle door before moving onto the next, "This isn't my first time. Steve used to drag me in here for private conversations when we were children. He was a strange child."

Will slowly pushes open the end cubicle door, his body stilling when his eyes lay on an object in the corner. Malia moves to stand behind him, her face screwing up at the sight.

"It's a small slimy monster alright," Malia shudders.

Shakily, Will brings the radio to his lips, "Guys. . . Malia and I found him."

"Where?" Dustin rushes.

"In the bathroom by Mr Salerno's," Will replies quietly.

"Copy that," Mike confirmed

Dropping the radio back down, Will tries to smile at the creature, "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Suddenly, a loud screech erupts from Dart's mouth, causing Malia to jump back and her back to slam against the wall while Will drops his radio in horror and sprints out of the room. Squeezing her eyes shut, Malia takes a deep breath before pushing away from the wall.

She trudges out into the hallway.

Her eyes widen in terror and her head whips back in forth down the dark hallway. Vines litter the ground, walls, and ceilings, black smoke radiating off them while small dust particles float around in the air.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Malia begins to slowly make her way towards the doors she previously entered by. But as a large cloud of pitch black smoke rolls around the corner and an alarming rate, she lets out a shrill scream before sprinting away as fast as possible.

She can feel it behind her and the hallways seem to go on forever and ever. Roughly, she slams her shoulder into a pair of double doors before running through them into the school field. That's when she sees Will sprinting in front of her in the same direction.

"WILL!" Malia yells, but it echoes back in her ears.

He comes to a sudden stop, as if he heard her, before turning around and staring up at the sky directly above Malia's body.  She's sent stumbling by a force and she twists her body around, watching the smoke creature loom over Hawkin's Middle School while she lays flat on her back on the field.

"Holy shit. Holy shit." She curses quietly.

From a few metres behind her, she heard Will's faint voice roar, "Go away! GO AWAY!"

He repeats the same phrase over and over again until eventually he's silenced by the dust encasing him in a blanket. Malia watches in horror, screaming at the top her lungs, until the same thing happens to her.

And before she has a second to think, her mind has gone blank and all she can see is darkness.

_______________
authors note.

are people still reading this book? lmao