#STCBC

[rave--reviews]

fruits like cherries or tomatoes. Users appreciate the versatility of the tool, as it eliminates the

ICYMI: Title: The Strawberry Huller: A Handy Tool for Effortless Strawberry Preparation Introduction: Strawberries are a delightful fruit enjoyed by many,... The post fruits like cherries or tomatoes. Users appreciate the versatility of the tool, as it eliminates the appeared first on Rave Reviews. http://dlvr.it/StcBCs

[unsaid-stardust]

Some Things Can’t Be Closed

Chapter 1: Stranger Dreams

Word Count: 1911

Summary: Ten years after Eleven closes the gate, A friend of Holly Wheeler mysteriously disappears sending her on a mission to discover the truth about Hawkins, Indiana. 

Shoutout: Special thanks to @hannahberrie for being amazing and helping me brainstorm the plot for this. Couldn’t have written it without ya, Hannah!!

Holly Wheeler stood in the middle of a dark hallway; Something was calling her- Something hungry for blood. Suddenly, lights flickered above her. Christmas lights. She looked up then and noticed that they were strung up and down the hallway ceiling. One by one, they flickered, creating a path of reds and blues and greens. A voice in the back of her head told her that she should stay put, but she ignored it, her curiosity getting the best of her, she followed the flickering lights.

They lead her to a bedroom where lights continued to flicker off and on. This time, they weren’t Christmas lights, but simple household lights. All different types of lamps flickering one by one in a circular fashion kind of like a merry-go-round. They spun faster and faster and faster until suddenly, they stopped and all was quiet. All except for a low growl coming from the walls.

Holly stood in front of the bare wall; her heart pounding a mile a minute. It began to bubble. The wall. Holly peered closer to it, a shape beginning to form. It moved like a hand-like creature, wiggling to escape. Holly felt the sudden urge to help it. She moved closer to it, the thing from the wall almost bursting the seems of the wallpaper. She held up her trembling hand to touch it, fingertips inches away when suddenly-

“Holly! You’re going to be late for school!” Holly groaned at the sound of her mother’s voice. It was all just a dream. An extremely real dream that seemed more like a memory. Holly sighed heavily. It couldn’t be just a dream. It felt too much like it’s happened before.

“Holly!” Karen cried again. Holly rolled her eyes and threw her covers off of her body. 

“I’m up! I’m up!” She shouted back.  She then forced herself to get out of her warm and cozy bed to get ready for her first day of cold and dreary prison a.k.a Hawkins High School. 

Once she got dressed, Holly headed downstairs for breakfast. The smell of fresh eggs and bacon perfumed the house and she was thankful that her older brother Mike wasn’t there to drizzle her eggs in syrup. She shuddered at the thought. She made the mistake of eating it once and It was totally disgusting.

She reached the kitchen table where her mom already sat and had placed a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon for Holly. 

“Good morning, Holly. Ready for your big day?” She greeted with a smile.

“If you mean, ‘ready to die in prison’ then yes, yes I am,” Holly answered sitting down in her seat.

“Come on, Holly, It won’t be that bad. Nancy and Mike got through it” She explained. Holly rolled her eyes. She hated when her mom mention how easy high school seemed for Nancy and Mike. She’s heard stories and things certainly weren’t easy. 

Nancy had boy troubles and grievances, Mike faced bullies. What would Holly be confronted with? Monstrous teachers?

“Barely,” Holly mumbled under her breath. Karen sighed heavily.

“Holly Wheeler stop being so negative. I promise you will make it through high school with flying colors. Now hurry up and finish your breakfast. You’re going to be late if you don’t leave soon”

After finishing her breakfast, Holly Wheeler grabbed her stupid bike out of the stupid garage and wheeled it out. She called her bike stupid because it used to be Mike’s and it’s completely old and rusted. She hated the thing with a burning passion, but it was much better than walking. 

Not only was it better than walking, her two best friends had similar bikes as well. Rose Gallagher and Ben Stratford. If she didn’t ride her bike, she would be forced to trail behind them like a confused little duckling. Speaking of Rose.

“Still got Mike’s bike, Holls?” the brunette inquired, wheeling up her own bike to Holly’s driveway.

“Unfortunately, but not for long because I’ve been saving up!” Holly answered as the two of them began their route to Hawkins High School. 

“You mean to say you’ve been ‘borrowing’ money from Nancy again” Rose stated.

“That too,” Holly replied. Not saying another word, Rose began to turn the corner onto Mirkwood and Holly suddenly felt something deep in her gut. Mike had always told her to stray away from Mirkwood when she could. He never explained why and though he was annoying as a brother could get, Holly would trust him more than anyone. Holly stopped pedaling.

“What’s up? Why did you stop?” Rose questioned as she pedaled towards Holly.

“This is Mirkwood,” Holly simply said. Rose raised an eyebrow signaling that she was clearly confused.

“Yeah, and?” She asked letting go of her handle bars.

“Well, it just that-Mike always told me to stay away from Mirkwood,” Holly explained reluctantly. She knew that Rose wouldn’t understand why. Holly didn’t even know why. She just had a feeling, one similar to how she felt in her dream, that really should listen to Mike and turn the other way.

“Well Mike’s not here, so he’ll never know that we used it to get to school,” Rose pointed out. She did have a point there. It’s not like Mike would ask her if she took Mirkwood to school. Plus, it was the fastest way to get to Hawkins High School and they were already running late.

“You’re right. We should probably get going anyway,” and with that, the two girls were on their way.

They made it to Hawkins High School with no trouble at all, much to Holly’s surprise. Maybe Mirkwood was just a road after all, she thought after parting ways with Rose. Unfortunately, their lockers were on opposite ends of the halls.

Reaching her locker in no time, Holly turned the dial on her lock and successfully opened her locker. Wasting no time, she reached down to grab her binders for her morning classes. Straightening her back to reach her pencil case on the top shelf, she noticed something moving in her locker mirror. She turned around then and what she saw was truly frightening. 

“Ben! You idiot! You scared me,” Holly shouted as she hit him lightly in the chest. A gleam appeared in his green eyes as he let out a small chuckle.

“Well, hello to you too, Holls” Ben replied with a smirk on his lips. Holly rolled her eyes at him before turning back around to grab her pencil case. 

“What’s got you so on edge today?” He asked her. She paused before closing her locker shut contemplating if she should tell him about her dream. He is her best friend after all, but the last time she told Ben about the dream, he just brushed it off as a simple nightmare and it was definitely much more than that.

“N-nothing just-I had that dream again and it’s kind of freaking me out. It just felt so…real,” Holly explained turning around to face him. Ben looked at her with sympathy and touched her shoulder gently.

“Look, Holls. I know that dreams can be scary and they can feel so real, but just remember that that’s all they are. Dreams. They can’t hurt you ” Ben said. Holly pursed her lips. She appreciated his effort in trying to comfort her, she really did, but she didn’t completely believe him.

“I guess. Thanks, Ben,” She simply responded.

“Anytime,” he answered with a smile. Though she wasn’t exactly comforted, she smiled back at him, and they probably looked a bit like idiots for staring just a bit too long, but then the bell rang telling them that they should get to class and broke their eye contact. 

“We should get to class,” Holly said a little too quickly.

“Right. Off to our first class of hell. You ready?” Ben inquired. Holly shook her head.

“Not really, you?” She responded as they walked down the hallway, though she already knew the answer. 

“Not in the slightest,” He stated immediatley. Holly smiled at the fact that her guess was right and that they thought so much alike. It really shouldn’t make her this happy anymore, they’ve been friends since they were small, but that didn’t seem to matter.

“Well, hey, at least my uncle is our teacher. That should make it a little less dull,” Holly reasoned as the two of them entered their first class of the day; biology.

“Let’s hope so,” Ben said taking a seat in the third row. Holly pursed her lips sliding into a seat in the row next to him when the bell rang and in walked a certain curly head teacher. 

“Good morning, class! I’m Mr. Henderson and I’ll be your biology teacher this semester! Now who’s ready to cut open some frogs?” Holly looked around as she raised her hand confidently to find that only her and Ben were willing to dissect a frog. Other students had disgusted and confused looks on their faces.

“Well, I’m glad some people are ready. Always nice to see you, Holly,” Mr. Henderson states with a wide smile. Holly returned the action as she brought her hand down.

“You too Dustin-uh-Mr. Henderson,” she stuttered. Holly heard a couple soft laughs coming from throughout the room and her cheeks suddenly became warm. This was going to be a long year.

Holly was exhausted by the time school ended and all she wanted to do was go home and crawl onto the couch to take a nap. But, sadly, she couldn’t do that. No, because she had AV Club. 

She wasn’t really into the stuff that happened during AV Club. Not particularly. But, her Uncle, Dustin Henderson, was the supervisor of the club and needed more members in order to keep it running. So, because she loved Dustin more than anything, Holly became a member of the AV Club alongside Ben Stratford.

Rose Gallagher had other obligations, she had claimed. Something about helping her older brother out with some photography project. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Rose? There’s still spots left,” Holly inquired as the three of them stood outside the door to the AV Club.

“I’d love to guys, but I promised i’d help Tyler after school. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Rose waved goodbye then and Holly and Ben made their way into the classroom.

It was 8 O’clock at night when Holly heard the doorbell ring. She was working on her unnecessarily frustrating algebra homework and the doorbell only made her more frustrated.

“Holly, can you come down here, please!” Her mom shouted up the stairs. Holly let out a heavy sigh.

“Just a minute, mom!” She called back before standing up from her desk chair. As she made her way down the stairs, Holly wondered what her mother could possibly want from her, neither of her conclusions coming to the idea that two policemen would be standing at her front door, which was what she found when she stepped on the last stair. 

“I could assure you that my daughter has nothing to do with this” Karen argued with the police. Holly made her way next to her reluctantly before her mom placed a protective arm around her. 

“We understand why you might feel that way, Mrs. Wheeler, but we still need to take her down to the station for questioning,” one of the policemen responded. 

A million questions began to swarm in Holly’s head. She hadn’t done anything that would require the police to come after her. Mike, maybe, but not the police. 

“What’s going on. What do you need me for?” She managed to ask.

“It’s your neighbor, Rose Gallagher. We believe she’s missing,”

[unsaid-stardust]

Some Things Can’t Be Closed

Chapter 2: D’Artagnan II

Word Count: 2,655

Summary: After learning that her best friend Rose is missing, Holly Wheeler is interrogated by the police. There, she and Ben Stratford decide that they should look for Rose on their own.

Chapter Selection: {1}{2}

Holly’s heart pounded faster than ever and she suddenly felt as if she were standing in the middle of a nightmare. Her veins were rushing with too much adrenaline and not the good kind either. It was the kind that only occurred before you had to give a speech in front of thousands of people when you’re not good at speeches or tell someone you love important news that was hard to break or when you’re waiting to be interrogated by the chief of police for the disappearance of your best friend. It was the kind that Holly never imagined having and it was the kind that no one ever should have to imagine having.

Holly’s leg shook mindlessly as she sat in a cold metal folding chair next to Ben. The light above her was dim, reflecting her mood. From the corner of her eye, she could see Ben sitting in his chair, completely calm and collected. 

“Would you stop shaking your leg, Holls?” Ben asked as he reached over to place a hand on her knee. Holly glanced down at his hand, her lips parting for a second before she removed it from her.

“How are you so calm? Rose is missing and we’re about to be interrogated by the police! This isn’t exactly something you should be calm about!” Holly shouted at Ben. He slid down in his chair then, placing both hands into his sweatshirt pocket, making himself comfortable.

“I’m calm because she’s not missing! She’s out there somewhere, we just have to find her!” He responded casually. Holly rolled her eyes. How was the president of the AV Club so smart yet so stupid at the same time? She turned to face him in her chair.

“That’s literally what missing means you moron. Besides, isn’t that police’s job? To find her?” Holly questioned. Before Ben could respond, an unfamiliar voice enters the conversation.

“Yes it is and you shitheads are gonna leave it to us, alright? We don’t need another missing person,” Holly looked up to find a tall and thin cop with, might Holly add, pretty damn good hair. He was chewing gum, mint flavored, Holly guessed, and he wore a pair of black Ray-Ban sunglasses. Holly glanced back at Ben with a raised eyebrow and she could tell that they were both thinking the same thing. This was the Chief of Police in charge of finding Rose?

“Uh, did you just call us ‘shitheads?” Ben inquired as he turned to face the cop.

“And are you wearing sunglasses? Inside?” Holly added. The cop immediatley removed his black sunglasses to reveal his chocolate brown eyes and placed his hands on his hips, his glasses still in his grip at his side.

“Sorry, sorry. Force of habit,” He shrugged as a weak smile formed on his lips. It was silent then, as Holly and Ben stared at the strange cop in front of them and exchanged confused glances. It felt as if minutes passed by before the silence ended to Holly, but in reality, it had only been a few seconds.

Before speaking, the cop grabbed a metal chair from behind the desk and dragged it to where it was placed in front of Holly and Ben. He sat down afterwards, his legs spread apart and back hunched. It was then that Holly was able to see a name tag above his sheriff’s badge that read “Harrington”. Holly squinted her eyes. Harrington. It sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

“So, to begin, when was the last time that you saw Miss Rose Gallagher?” He interrogated to no one in particular, snapping Holly out of her thoughts. 

“After school, before AV Club,” Holly answered, but that wasn't the only voice that sounded in the room. Ben responded to the question at the same time as Holly with a different answer, determination in his voice.

“3:15, right after eighth period,” he stated. The chief shook his head as he pushed his dark hair back. 

“Hey, one at a damn time, alright? I can’t understand you when you’re both talking,” He responded. He pointed at Holly then and she perked up in her chair.

“You, when was the last time you saw Rose,” He inquired.

“Right after school, before AV Club. She declined to come with us to the meeting because she had to help her older brother with some photography project, so she left before us,” Holly explained. 

“She rode home by herself, then?” Harrington questioned. Holly nodded.

“Yes, sir,” She answered. A pang of guilt settled in her stomach then. She shouldn’t have let Rose go by herself. She should have ditched AV Club and rode home with her. Maybe if she had, Rose wouldn’t have been alone, and they wouldn’t be sitting in this room talking about her as if she were some unsolved mystery. 

“Do you know what road she could’ve taken to get home?” Holly’s heart stopped for a minute then. MIrkwood. Mike always told her to stay away from Mirkwood and now she knew why-It wasn’t just a road. A light bulb suddenly went off in Holly’s head. It was all making sense now. Her dream, the one with the Christmas lights and the thing coming out of the wall, it was connected to Mirkwood somehow. Holly could feel it. Something strange was going on in Hawkins, and it was up to Holly to figure it out. Ben was right after all. They needed to find Rose. Not the police or some investigator, but them. Her friends. 

“Mirkwood. She took Mirkwood,” Holly responded immediatley. Harrington sighed as he rubbed his face and sat back in his chair, seemingly defeated by a few simple words.

“Mirkwood, I haven’t heard anyone call it that since-” He trailed off then, not wanting to finish his sentence, but a spark went off in Holly’s head, and she knew how his sentence would end-Mike. That’s why she was familiar with the name Harrington. He was a friend of Mike. Well, maybe not a good friend or anything, but he was close enough to him for Mike to tell stories about him. Stories of defeat and triumph. Morals and ethics. He was a good guy. A good guy that Holly could trust.

“My brother?” She continued for him. The chief stopped. Holly had caught him off guard, she could tell, but he was trying to keep it cool as if it didn't phase him. Let’s just say, that it wasn’t working very well. Holly crossed her arms, waiting for some kind of response and from the corner of her eye, she could see that Ben was waiting too. 

“Right, Your brother. Mike Wheeler. How’s he doing anyway? Still with El?” Harrington questioned. Holly rolled her eyes. He was avoiding talking about Mirkwood and Holly didn’t like that one bit. 

“He’s fine. Still dorky and in love as ever. Now can we get back to Rose please? I’d like to get out of here so I can look for my best friend,” Holly responded. Holly looked over at Ben then and noticed that he looked like a kid in a candy store. His lips were parted into the shape of an “oh” and his eyes were as wide as an owl. Harrington had a similar reaction, but not quite as ecstatic. 

“Yeah, Harrington. Can we speed this up? I’d like to get out there too,” Ben added in. Holly smiled then, thankful for having a friend like Ben. 

“No and you shitheads will not go out and look for Rose. This isn’t some Nancy Drew novel where you two can go sleuthing in the damn woods and look for your friend. We have no clue what we’re up against and we don’t need anymore missing persons in this town, alright? Now when we’re finished here, you’re going to go meet your parents outside and go straight home. Do you understand?” Harrington proclaimed. 

Holly pursed her lips together then. Something was strange about a certain sentence of his and lit another spark in Holly’s brain. ‘We have no clue what we’re up against’, he had said. If it were just another ordinary missing person case, wouldn’t they have some sort an idea of what they were up against? Like  the victim ran away or was taken by a stranger? Unless....it wasn’t just an ordinary missing person case like Holly had suspected.

Holly didn’t respond to Harrington’s question and from the sound of it, neither did Ben. Holly turned to look at him, his jaw clenched and his hands balled up into fists. 

“I said, do you understand?” Harrington repeated. Holly nodded her head.

“Yes, sir,” She and Ben responded. 

“Good. You’re free to go. Your parents are waiting for you outside,” Harrington put his Ray-Bans back on then and moved to open the door for Holly and Ben. Reluctantly, the two made their way out of the interrogation room. 

When they were far enough so that their parents and Harrington couldn’t hear them, Ben gently pulled on Holly’s elbow to grab her attention. 

“You’re not really going to listen to that guy are you? You’re not going to give up on Rose?” He whispered with sincere eyes. 

“Absolutely not. Meet me at my house at 11:30. We’ve got some sleuthing to do” Holly said with a smile. Ben nodded and with that the two made their way to their parents.

Holly snuck out of her bedroom at approximately 11: 25. It was times like these where she was thankful that her parents were divorced because and her siblings were all moved out because she didn���t have a very full house to worry about waking up. 

Creeping down the last stair, Holly made her way to her front door. Once she opened it, she Immediatley, found Ben standing in front of the steps leading up to her front porch next to his bike and holding up two flashlights.

“You ready to find Rose?” He inquired, a smile tugging on his lips. Holly returned the gesture.

“Ready as ever,” 

They rode their bikes to Mirkwood in the cold and dreary midnight air. Deciding that Rose wouldn’t be out in the open road, they dropped their bikes by the woods. Once their feet started to crunch leaves, Ben handed Holly her flashlight. Immediatley, she turned it on, thinking that it would make the atmosphere a bit less eerie, but oddly enough, it only seemed to make it more eerie. 

As they inched further into the woods, Holly inched closer and closer to Ben. She told herself that it wasn’t because she was scared and that she had two very good reasons for staying near Ben. Number one, she didn't want to become another missing person, and number two, she didn’t want Ben to become another missing person.

Curious about how far they had gotten, Holly looked behind her, and suddenly, the flashlight began to shake in her hand as she noticed that she could no longer see the road. They had gotten far into the woods, further than she had planned on going that night. She had a feeling in her gut then, just like she did when her and Rose took Mirkwood before school. It was telling her that they should begin to turn back.

“Ben,” Holly whispered. He kept walking, Holly still at his side, his flashlight lighting the way in front of him.

“Yeah?” he inquired.

“Um, I think we should head back. It’s getting late and we’re not finding any trace of her,” Holly explained quietly. Ben stopped walking and turned to face Holly, pointing the flashlight directly in her eyes.

“Ah, Ben! You idiot!” Holly shouted, squinting her eyes and covering her face. Holly bent down then, trying to recover her eyes.

“Why’d you do that?” She inquired even louder. Ben didn’t respond. Instead, Holly noticed as she stood up, that he seemed to be listening for something.

“Sh-” He hushed her. Holly crossed her arms. No one told Holly Wheeler to hush, especially Ben Stratford. 

“Don;t you tell me to hush! I-” Ben cut her off, placing his arm out in front of her as if to guard her. Holly glanced down at his arm, her heart beginning to beat just a little bit faster. 

“No seriously, shut up-” He whispered, his eyes darting in all sorts of directions. Holly didn't make a sound after that, not because Ben told her to, but because she felt that it was the right thing to do. She noticed then, that Ben seemed to be listening for something, and so she began to listen to it too, and then suddenly she heard it. Leaves crunching in front of them. A low growl sounded, one similar to the thing in the wall in Holly’s dream. Holly froze, slowly gathering enough courage to look up at Ben, fear in his eyes. 

Before she looked at Ben, Holly kept denying her own fear. That stopped now. Her heart pounded faster than ever and her mind was racing with questions never dreamed of having, at least, not until the day she died. Slowly, Holly brought up her flashlight, hands shaking as much as an earthquake and much  to Holly’s horror, something came into view. 

A giant lizard. One that seemed to growl like a beast. It froze in front of them before taking a step back and Holly latched on tightly to Ben’s arm. Suddenly, it’s face opened up, an even louder growl escaping, revealing its bloody mouth housing razor sharp teeth. Holly screamed dropping her flashlight to the ground and released her grip on Ben’s arm before making a dash into the woods behind her.

“Run!” She managed to yell. She continued to run through the dark, leaves crunching beneath her feet. Noticing that she only heard leaves crunching beneath her, Holly looked back, expecting to find a dashing Ben and an evil monster, but to her surprise, she found neither of those things. Holly stopped, her mind going through every bad scenario.

“Ben!” She cried out. No answer. Just the sound of a forest in the nighttime. Holly’s heart began to beat even faster than before, which she didn’t think was possible, and her veins rushed with adrenaline. She breathed heavily then, spinning around in all directions, her hands on her head in frustration, as she searched for any sign of Ben. Nothing. All she heard was nothing. A tear trickled down her cheek. 

“Ben!” She cried out again. Terrible thoughts began to swarm into her mind then. You can’t be dead, you can’t be lost too, that’s not fair, don’t you dare leave me. Suddenly, a voice echoed throughout the forest, breaking Holly’s horrifying thoughts. Ben’s voice.

“Over here!” Holly wiped the tear away from her cheek and a smile crept onto her lips. Without thinking, she made a dash towards where the voice was coming from, her flashlight beginning to heat up in her hand while she ran. Pushing through tree branches and leaves off bushes, Holly realized that she didn’t know what to expect when she found him, but she wasn’t excepting what she found when she got there.

There, on the ground, sat Ben Stratford, flashlight on his lap, evil demon lying on his back in front of him as he scratched its stomach and instead of growling her biting Ben’s head off, it whimpered with content and shook his leg like a cute little puppy would. Holly parted her lips, a million questions running through her mind. What are you doing, how did you, why did you? But before Holly could say any of those questions out loud, Ben looked up at her with those puppy dog eyes of his, the ones that she has trouble saying no to.

“Can we keep him?” Okay. Scratch that. She might be able to say no this time.

[unsaid-stardust]

I lose followers every time I post a new chapter of STCBC lol

[unsaid-stardust]

Some Things Can’t Be Closed

Chapter 3: Isaac Newton

Word Count: 3,195

Summary: Ben convinces Holly to keep Dart II which causes Dustin to become suspicious. 

Chapter Selection: {1} {2} {3}

Holly Wheeler was shivering. She was shivering and it was almost one in the morning and rain had begun to fall slightly. Her teeth were chattering mildly and all she wanted to do was go back home and climb into her warm bed, but unfortunately, she had other plans. Plans that involved a possible-probable demon.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Holly complained before she moved towards Ben’s window. She was never really good at saying the word ‘no’, but anyone with a brain could say no to helping their best friend sneak a demon into their house. And as she struggled to open Ben’s window, Holly wished that she had the power to turn back time. 

“Hey, you always said you wanted a puppy. Newt’s better than a puppy,” Ben responded. Holly felt her lips part as she finally got the window to slide open. Immediatley after, she turned around to face Ben, who was holding the demon, monster-thing in his arms like a baby and waving his finger in front of its face as if it were some precious thing. Holly threw her arms out in front of her, her eyes wide as an owl.

“You named the thing?” She shouted.

“Yeah, it’s short for Newton-Isaac Newton. You like it?” Ben inquired as he continued to play with the demon. Holly didn’t say a thing. Instead, she stood there and stared at her best friend, her arms crossed in front of her. And as she watched him cuddle the monster in his arms, Holly decided that she did in fact like the name he had picked for it, but that’s besides the point.

The point is that what he was doing-getting attached to some creature that they found in the middle of the woods half past midnight-was all too ludicrous. She shouldn’t be that surprised, though, Ben always had been a little crazy, but this? This was just outright insane.

“No, I don’t like it! May I remind you, Ben, that its face opened up to us in the woods and is definitely not a puppy? For all we know, it’s getting ready to eat us whole!” Holly explained. Ben stopped waving his finger and looked at Holly, preparing to respond to her commentary, when the demon suddenly growled and duplicated Ben’s actions, facing his head towards Holly. 

Holly took a step back then, expecting the creature to pounce at her and eat her face off, but it did no such thing. Instead, it simply hissed at her and returned to facing up at Ben, begging to be petted once again like some kind of dog. Ben gave out a small chuckle and smiled in amusement, returning to rubbing the creature’s stomach, but Holly didn’t think it was that funny one bit, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow in disgust.  

“See, Newt’s a total puppy, Holls. You’ve got nothing to worry about” Ben claimed, but in reality, Holly had plenty to worry about. She had already made the mistake of leaving Rose alone, what told her that she should leave Ben alone? Especially with this- this thing in his hands? 

Holly opened her mouth to argue, but her eyes moved towards Ben’s, whose green ones were looking into her blue ones with assurance, and before he even spoke, Holly knew that he was speaking the truth. 

“I’ll be fine, I promise. Just-go home and get some sleep, okay?” He suggested, warmth engulfing his voice. Holly nodded slightly as she let a soft ‘okay’ escape from her lips. She then took a step back to begin her way home as Ben moved towards his window with Newt still in his arms. 

Holly watched as Ben climbed into his bedroom before she hopped back onto her bike. In that moment, he nodded at her, signaling that it was okay for her to leave, and with that, Holly climbed onto her bike and rode off into the night

Holly didn’t hear a thing from Ben throughout the night, an event that didn’t happen often. Usually, the walkie-talkie on her bedside table buzzed with static at least three times a night, no matter the time and while it’s been rather quiet recently with Rose missing and everything, she didn’t except Ben to go silent too.

As she pedaled her way to school that morning, Holly couldn’t help, but picture every horrible thing that could have happened to him. She came up with two possible scenarios. One-he’s trapped in his own closet, unable to escape because of the monstrosity that is Newt and the second one, well, Holly would rather not think about it. 

She began to think even worst thoughts when Ben didn’t show up at her locker like he had the day before. And as she walked swiftly to class, hugging her books in her arms, in hopes of seeing Ben along the way, She felt the blank expression on her faced turn into a frown when he was no where in sight. 

Holly slid into her seat as the bell rang, taking a sideways glance at the empty seat next to her. Ben still wasn’t here-he was late. It’s not like him to be late. She knew she shouldn’t have let him keep Newt, honestly, who in their right mind would let their best friend take in a monster they found in the woods as a pet? 

She pursed her lips then, crossing her fingers at her side. Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay, was all she could chant in her head. Luckily, before Holly could go mad, Dustin started teaching.

“Good morning, everyone. I trust that you all finished last night’s reading on-” The door to the classroom flew open before Dustin could finish his extremely clichè and annoying sentence. Holly flinched at the motion and looked up immediatley letting out a sigh of relief at the sight in front of her. 

Ben. He was here. Newt didn’t eat him after all! But, he looked terrible. Dark circles were placed under his eyes and his typically straightened brown hair was a ruffled mess. His backpack hung halfway off of his shoulder and his right shoelace was untied. 

“Quite an entrance you’ve got there, Mr. Stratford,” Dustin commented with a smile, nodding towards him. Ben stopped in his tracks then and Holly, as well as seemingly the rest of the class, gave him all of her attention. 

“Sorry, Mr. Henderson. It won’t happen again,” Ben explained smoothly, keeping his grip on his backpack. Ben moved to sit down in his seat and that’s when Holly saw it happen-his backpack. It started to squirm. Holly closed her eyes. Please tell me he didn’t. 

As Ben sat down, Holly shot a knowing look towards him and hesitantly, he glanced down at his backpack. It squirmed again then only confirming Holly’s suspicions. Her eyes widened at the sight as Ben looked down at his desk; ignoring Holly’s hostility. She whacked him on the shoulder to grab his attention.

“Are you crazy?” She mouthed. Ben looked at the front of the classroom, where Dustin was still teaching, not looking in their direction, before he turned to face Holly.

“He wouldn’t let me leave him” He whispered before returning his gaze to the front of the room. Holly crossed her arms. This can’t be happening, she thought. Suddenly, things got from bad to worst when the rustling of zippers and fabric sounded beneath them. At that moment, Ben turned back to face her and they exchanged knowing glances. They didn’t even have to look to know where the sound was coming from, but Holly did anyway, and her eyes widened at the sight. 

Ben’s backpack, was beginning to slide around. 

Immediatley, Ben stopped it from moving by using his leg, stopping anyone from noticing, and Holly sat forward in her desk, placing her hands on both sides of her temple, wishing that she was anywhere but where she was. 

“Ben, Holly. Are we interrupting something?” Dustin inquired standing in front of the chalkboard. Holly flinched, sitting back straight in her chair as if nothing was abnormal, and Ben folded his hands under his chin; acting like he had been paying attention the whole time.

“No, Mr. Henderson. Sorry,” Holly replied, careful not to eye Newt. It seemed though, that it didn’t matter where she was looking, because Dustin was eyeing Ben’s backpack anyway, which made Holly’s stomach churn into knots.

“Great,” He started, moving his eyes back to Holly. She squirmed in her seat at the eye contact.

“Then you two should be able to tell me the difference between reptiles and amphibians without a problem,” he continued. Holly looked at Ben, hoping that he would have the answer, because she sure as hell didn’t and if neither of them didn’t have the answer, they were toast. Ben opened his mouth and Holly gripped the sides of her chair.

“Amphibians are typically smooth and wet while Reptiles are more dry and scaly. Also, Amphibians not only are naturally wet, but they spend more time in the water than reptiles do” Ben answered. Holly glanced at Dustin, who seemed as surprised as she was.

“That’s-exactly right, Mr. Stratford. Good job. Now I suggest we get back to today’s topic without further interruptions,” Dustin turned back to face the board then and Holly let out a sigh of relief. They were in the clear now. Well…sort of. Her best friend still decided to bring a possible man-eating demon into class, which they still had a decent amount of time left, but it’s fine. Everything’s fine. 

Holly felt her knee begin to bounce as she tried to pay attention to Dustin. Through the corner of her eye, she could see that Ben was just as anxious as her, tapping his fingers rapidly on top of his desk. Noticing that she hadn’t heard anything from Newt in quite awhile, she told her self that she could begin to calm down, but then she heard it. A growl and not just any growl. It was the same one from her dream with the lights and the thing that came out of the wall. Holly resisted the urge to look at Ben’s backpack, deciding that it would only make matters worst. 

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the bell rang before Dustin could make any comments and Holly thanked the universe for treating her kindly. Before Holly could do or say anything more, Ben shot up from his seat, grabbing his backpack and rushing out of the classroom, leaving Holly behind. 

Not taking it to heart because of the context, Holly quickly followed him, but before she could get very far, Dustin stopped her in her tracks.

“Holly, can I speak to you for a minute” He said. Before turning around to face him, Holly glances at the door, where Ben is waiting outside, and she shrugs her shoulders, mouthing the word ‘sorry’.

“What’s up, Mr. Henderson?” She asked cautiously; a tight grip on the strap of her backpack. He moves to his desk then and leans back against it, one foot resting on top of the other.

“Listen, I know that i’m your teacher and everything, but I’m also a family friend and that comes first. I just-I want you to know that If you’re having trouble with anything, anything at all, you can come to me, okay?” He explained. Holly looked down at the ground. Had word about Rose travelled that quickly? 

Holly didn’t know why, but that bothered her. This was her friend that they were talking about and she was being treated like she was just some headline in a newspaper. She appreciated the thought though, it was nice knowing that she had someone she could trust. 

“Thank you, Dustin. But, I think I’m fine,” Holly replied. Dustin looked at her for a second; 

“Alright, well-If anything changes, you know where to find me. Remember, AV Club is at 3:30 tomorrow,” He said as he began to move back behind his desk. 

“Right, see you then. Bye Mr. Henderson,” And with that, Holly quickly made her way towards Ben, who was waiting for her outside of the classroom. Once she met him, she eyed his backpack, which was still squirming and rustling against his back. 

“Took you long enough. What did he want?” Ben questioned as he held his struggling backpack. Holly noticed looked around then, and noticed passerby watching withs strange eyes. 

“Doesn’t matter. What matters is this” Holly explained; pointing to his squirming backpack. . 

“People are beginning to stare. We have to get out of here,” She continued. Without thinking, she grabbed onto Ben’s elbow and dragged him to the janitor’s closet that she had been eyeing. It was pitch black when they got settled in, immediatley, Holly found the string that led to the lightbulb above them pulling it carefully allowing her to see. And before Holly could do anything, Ben unzipped his backpack.

“Here you go, buddy,” Holly watched with a raised eyebrow, as Ben let Newt crawl out of the backpack, on onto the floor, where he began to sniff around the room. Fearing that Newt will open up its face again and eat her, Holly latched on tightly to Ben’s arm.

“Ben! Are you crazy! Put him back!” Holly shouted. 

“Relax, Holls! He’s totally chill!” Ben explained. Holly didn’t budge, watching Newt carefully as he continued to sniff around the room. Maybe Ben was right. Maybe this demon wasn’t actually a demon at all. It hadn’t eaten Ben’s face off yet, so maybe she could trust this thing? 

Curiosity overtaking her, Holly let go of Ben’s arm and crouched down onto the ground where Newt was. Reluctantly, she held out her hand to the demon allowing Newt to sniff it like a dog would. After a few seconds, it sat obediently in front of Holly, and begged her to be pet. Naturally, she began to scratch where she assumed its ears would be an decided that maybe this demon was okay after all. 

“Okay, okay, Newt is actually kind of cute. But, we still have to get him out of here. He won’t exactly blend in with the other students,” Holly stated as she stood back up in front of Ben.

“Yeah, you’re right. But, there’s no way i could ditch school. My mom’s home, so she would absolutely kill me if she caught me,” Ben explained. Holly looked down at Newt once more. While she didn’t exactly like the thought of carrying a slimy, scaly, monster in her backpack, she was going to have to.

“Well then, I’ll take him! My mom’s at work and I don’t think she would really care if she found out I ditched,” Holly replied as she began to pet Newt once again. Ben raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Holls?” He inquired. 

“No, but it’s the only option we’ve got,” Holly stated with a shrug of her shoulders. With that question out of the way, Holly grabbed her backpack from behind and unzipped it so that Newt could climb in. Surprisingly, he made things very easy. 

“Alright, just be careful, okay? Oh, and if he gets a little fussy, just give him some chocolate. He really loves chocolate,” Ben explained. Holly shook her head as she put her backpack around her shoulders.

“You’re getting way to attached to this thing,” And with that, Holly exited the janitor’s closet, beginning her mission to get a very cute demon out of Hawkins High School. 

Dustin’s P.O.V

Dustin Henderson was in no way, shape, or form, naive-what happened in his first period class today with Holly Wheeler was all too familiar. 

He felt the need to watcher over Holly to begin with, with her being Mike’s little sister and all, but once he heard the news about Rose Gallagher, he knew that he had to really keep an eye on her. 

And that’s why he noticed the demodog in the backpack. He wasn’t exactly sure what was squirming in Ben’s backpack at first. He thought that maybe he was just imagining things, still traumatized from past events. But then he heard the low grow and it immediatley took him back to the year 1984. 

The year when he found Dart. He never told the rest of the party, but ever since the day they left Dart in the Upside Down, he had a fantasy that it had followed Dustin out and it went back to being the sweet little creature that it was. Maybe, that fantasy was finally coming true and he was what was in Ben’s backpack. 

Whatever it was in that backpack, Dustin found himself calling none other than Mike Wheeler for backup. 

“What’s up, Dustin?” A voice questioned from the other line. Luckily, Dustin didn’t have to wait very long for him to pick up. 

“I think your sister’s in some deep shit, man, that’s what’s up” Dustin answered; peeling the bandaid-off immediately. 

“Which sister? Nancy?” Mike inquired. Dustin rolled his eyes. Mike and Nancy always seemed to forget about Holly and Dustin could never figure out exactly why. It could be because there was such a huge age gap between Mike and Holly and Nancy and Holly, but it shouldn't matter. They should still be there for her. 

“No, Holly! Her and her friend Ben are in my first period class and Ben definitely had a demodog in his backpack!” Dustin explained quickly. A sigh was heard from the other line. 

“Dustin, I don’t have time for this,” He complained. Dustin guessed that Mike wouldn’t believe him, but somehow it still caught him off guard. 

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot. You don’t have time because you only have one sister. Sorry, my mistake” Dustin replied with a satisfactory smile. There was silence for a few minutes as Mike contemplated what to say. Finally, there was another sigh before he spoke.

���Fine. I’m sure it’s just your messed up imagination, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll have Nancy talk to her for you. She’s always been better at reaching Holly than me,” Mike stated. 

“That’s what I thought. Call me if you find out anything, alright?” Dustin inquired, playing with the phone cord in his hand. 

“Roger that,” Mike answered. Dustin chuckled. While they were all grown up and no longer used their infamous supercomms, they often found themselves talking on the phone as if they were still those kids that talked to each other in the middle of the night, hiding under their covers. 

“And say ‘hi’ to El for me, would you?” Dustin replied with a smile. 

“Of course. I’ll talk to you later,” Mike hung up the phone then before Dustin could say anything else. Automatically, Dustin put the phone back in the receiver and began to grade his student’s homework assignments. 

He decided to start with Holly Wheeler and while doing so, he hoped that wherever she was, whether it be at her house or at the library studying late, the demodog was nowhere near her.

[unsaid-stardust]

Stranger Things Future Fic 

Ten years after the party thinks they closed the gate for good, a friend of Holly Wheeler mysteriously disappears. Not believing her older siblings when they say that there’s nothing strange about Hawkins, Indiana, Holly sets off on a mission to find her best friend and the truth.