{The Gate, Part II}

About a month later, Alice's life was back to normal—as normal as it could be, that is.

Dr. Owens's serum had reversed the corruption of her powers. She could heal again (and accidentally hit people with mini heat blasts, but she was working on fixing that).

Steve and Nancy had officially ended things, but it was on good terms. Nancy and Alice had patched up their friendship as well; Barb's funeral, as sad as it was, was a chance to heal and finally move past the trauma.

Alice finished fall semester strong, and she and her friends had lots of plans for Christmas Break. What she was most excited for was the Hawkins Middle Snow Ball.

"Alley Cat!" Mrs. Henderson called on the night in question. "Could you get the door, please?"

"You got it!" she said, racing down the hall and smirking as she opened the front door.

"Mr. Farrah Fawcett!" Alice said. "Your protégé is almost ready."

"Hey, Al," Steve said, stepping into the house. "Nice dress."

"Why, thank you." Alice gave a little twirl. "Even chaperones-slash-DJs have to look their best."

She had initially declined on being a chaperone when Mr. Clarke asked her, but he then reminded her chaperones get paid $10 an hour. He also told her she could be the dance DJ—an offer she couldn't refuse.

Her dress was sky blue with a poofy skirt that went to her knees. She kind of looked ridiculous and knew it, but Alice didn't care.

"Oh, hello Steve!" Mrs. Henderson said, carrying their new cat Tews into the living room.

"Hi, Mrs. Henderson."

"Dusty! Your ride is here!" Mrs. Henderson called towards the bathroom.

"ALMOST READY!" Dustin shouted back.

Alice sighed.

"Wow, Steve," she said, wiggling her eyebrows, "you're turning him into a tiny you. He's going to be in there, staring at his reflection for hours, practicing his pick up lines in the mirror—"

"Hey," Steve protested, "I don't do that!"

Alice gave him a look.

"Okay, I don't do that, anymore."

Alice snickered.

"That's what I thought."

Dustin emerged from the bathroom, his curly hair about a foot off of his head.

"Hey, looking good!" Steve said, grinning and shooting him a thumbs-up. "I see you took my advice."

Dustin nodded.

"4 puffs, when it's damp," Dustin chorused, "not wet."

"Oh, I need pictures!" Mrs. Henderson said, grabbing her camera. "Dusty, stand by the fireplace. Oh, you look so dashing!"

"Sooo dashing," Alice echoed in a high-pitched squeal.

"Shut up!" Dustin muttered to Alice through his big grin.

"Now, Alice, get in there!" Mrs. Henderson pushed her daughter toward the fireplace.

"Geez, fine!" 

Alice stood next to Dustin, and they smiled while their mom snapped a billion photos.

"Mom, that's plenty," Dustin said, starting to head towards the front door where Steve was standing with an amused grin on his face.

"Steve!" Mrs. Henderson said, turning to him. "Let's get a photo of you and Alice!"

Alice's face flushed.

"Mom!" she hissed. "He doesn't want to take any pictures. Right?"

Mrs. Henderson dismissively waved away Alice's comment.

"That's ridiculous!" she said. "Of course he does, right?"

Both Henderson women stared Steve down. He gulped.

"Uh...."

"Go on, Steve," Dustin whispered. "Just one—or my mom will never let it go."

Steve relented.

"Okay, fine."

He joined Alice by the fireplace. They stood next to each other awkwardly, about three feet apart.

"Alice, you aren't in frame," Mrs. Henderson chided.

Alice scooted a centimeter closer to Steve.

Mrs. Henderson sighed.

"Still not in frame."

She stepped two steps closer to Steve. They were both in frame, but there was still a gap between them.

"Son of a bitch," Dustin said. "You guys look stupid. Hold on—"

Dustin took charge, pushing Steve and Alice so close together their shoulders were touching. He then grabbed Steve's left arm and forcibly wrapped it around Alice's shoulder.

Both teens blushed furiously while Mrs. Henderson cooed, "Oh, how lovely!"

Click, click, click went the family camera.

Alice realized two things while she and Steve were in close proximity. One, his cologne smelled really, really good. Two, it felt really nice having his arm around her...

Alice quickly snapped out of it. No, she wasn't falling for Steve. He was Nancy's ex-boyfriend! There was probably a rule against that in some unwritten girl code.

Steve, however, was having some revelations of his own. Alice was really funny, and pretty, and even when she was teasing him about his Farrah Fawcett spray, he couldn't help but feel something warm in his chest. Not exactly the sexual electricity he had been telling Dustin about, but something in that ballpark...

"Mom, that's enough," Alice said after a minute, pushing away from Steve. Her cheeks were tinted pink. "You're going to run out of film."

Steve cleared his throat.

"Yeah, we should probably go," he said. "Don't want Dustin and Al to be late."

Mrs. Henderson waved and said, "Have a good time!" while the trio headed towards Steve's car.

"Shotgun!" Dustin said, heading towards the front seat.

"You're so juvenile," Alice said, rolling her eyes. But she didn't protest. Instead, she slid into the backseat, which seemed to be her assigned seat anytime she, Steve, and Dustin went anywhere.

"Let me play my mixtape," Alice demanded as they started their drive. "It'll get my hyped up for DJ duties."

"I can't believe Mr. Clarke is putting you in charge of music," Dustin said as he pushed the cassette into the car's dashboard. "If you play Queen the whole time..."

"I won't!" she said defensively. "I'm going to throw in some Wham! too. I've gotta get you all dancing."

"Steve, are you sure you don't want to chaperone?" Dustin asked. "Mr. Clarke said he had enough of a budget to pay one more."

"Thanks, bud, but I'm good," he said. "Turn it up, I love this song."

The chords of Total Eclipse of the Heart echoed through the car. The three teens sang along, animatedly acting out the words.

By the time they got to the school, they were laughing and having a good time. Dustin began picking at his fingernails as Steve pulled up.

"All right buddy," Steve said, clapping Dustin on the back. "Here we are. Remember, once you get in there—"

"Pretend like I don't care," Dustin said.

"You don't care," echoed Steve.

"But don't be a pompous asshole," Alice added. "Be respectful yet aloof if you really want to drive the ladies crazy."

"Respectful, yet aloof," Dustin repeated. "Got it."

"There you go," Steve said with a grin. "You're learning, my friend. You're learning."

Dustin grinned back, but hesitated before opening his car door.

"Dusty, it's going to be fine," Alice said. "And if the dance sucks, I'll blow off DJ duties and take you to the roller rink."

"But it's not going to suck," Steve corrected. "You look great, okay? And you're going to go in there, look like a million bucks, and you're going to slay 'em dead."

Dustin nodded, pumping himself up.

"Like a lion!" he said. He proceeded to purr, showing off his new pearls.

Alice and Steve cringed and shared a look.

"Yeah, don't do that, okay?" Alice said.

Dustin's face fell.

"Okay," he said.

"Good luck!" Steve said. "Have fun! And don't do anything I wouldn't do. Or anything I would do, for that matter. Just have a good time."

"Thanks for the ride, Steve," Alice said, patting his shoulder—and then feeling awkward and quickly removing her hand. "You're a good...pal."

"Oh, um, thanks?"

She left the car in a tizzy, shouting at Dustin to "Wait up!" Steve watched the siblings rush inside the middle school gym, smiling fondly.

He looked past where they were talking to Mr. Clarke and saw Nancy serving punch. His heart clenched, but seeing her didn't sting as much as it had before. She was with Jonathan now, and that was okay.

Steve watched Alice give Nancy a quick hug before running to the turntables and putting on a new record—no doubt something fast and danceable. He looked away and drove out of the parking lot, thinking about how happy Nancy looked.

Maybe Steve could be happy, too.

🎶 🎶 🎶 

That night, after Steve dropped the Henderson siblings back off at home, Alice slept fitfully.

Nightmares raged in her mind. Her subconscious seemed determined to make her as disturbed as possible, showing images of Bob and Barb and Mews torn to pieces.

Alice woke up sweating, steaming, skin hot to the touch.

"Bad dreams?"

Alice gasped and clutched her chest. Sitting on her nightstand was a tiny brown hare.

"Fuck," Alice groaned. "I'm still sleeping."

The hare's ears flicked and pointed in two different directions. "Something bigger is coming."

Alice frowned. "What?"

"The fight isn't over," the hare said mournfully. "You have 224 days."

"What?" Alice said, furrowing her brow. "224 days until...?"

"Until you die."

Alice's heartbeat quickened.

"Shut the hell up," she told the hare. "You aren't real. This is a dream!"

"Is it?" he asked.

Without another word, the hare hopped off the nightstand and out her window.

These nightmares would continue for days, weeks, months. Every night a different rabbit came to Alice's room, all of them omens and bringers of bad news.

Whether these rabbits were real or imagined...well, that's a story for another time. x

{Posted December 5th, 2019}

{Edited July 12, 2020; Republished January 22, 2025}

A/N [from 2019] This brings season 2 to a close!

Sorry I love to include batshit crazy cliffhangers to make y'all freak out. I love drama, what can I say?!

QOTD: Who is better, Santa or the Easter Bunny?