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FIVE. NOVEMBER 2ND, 1984
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

There's a knock at Jude's door, and she's awake.

She has to force herself to sit up, a groan bubbling up out of her throat, and brush her tangled locks out of her eyes. There's a bit of sunlight trickling in through her curtains, so she assumes it must be the next morning. She's surprised she was able to sleep through the night in her clothes.

Memories of the afternoon prior are foggy in her brain, so she doesn't think twice when she goes to open the door. If she had, she would have considered the possibility of her mother being on the other side, and pretended to sleep still.

It's not her mother, though. It's actually her father, which is rather weird. Usually her dad was gone for work by now, or holed up in his office. Jude realizes, though, as her eyes rake over him, that he just got home from work. Which means it's still the same day.

"Judith," he's always called her by her full name, like it's some kind of a nickname, "your mom told me what happened. I was hoping we could talk."

Of course she did, Jude fights the urge to reply snarkily. "What's there to talk about? She told me to apologize, and I'm not going to. So if you're here to try to convince me, you--"

"--She told you to apologize?" Bill asks somewhat incredulously. "No, I was going to tell you that you did the right thing. If anyone, and I mean anyone tries to touch my little girl without asking her, then they deserve to have their ass kicked."

Oh. Jude wasn't expecting this kind of a reaction from her father. It's nice, though, to know at least one of her parents is on her side. She just sort of wishes they were both on her side. "Thanks, Dad." She replies in a quiet voice.

Her father tugs on her shoulder and proceeds to envelop her in a hug--which is extremely rare. Jude's pretty sure the last time her dad hugged her was when she woke up in the hospital the year prior. There's something almost off putting about the fact that he's hugging her now, but she's had such an awful day, she's willing to look past her suspicions and just relax in his arms.

She hugs him back, burying her face in his chest. "I was so scared, Dad... I didn't know what to do." She confesses to him, her voice cracking.

"It's okay. You did the right thing. And you're safe now."

Such comforting sentiments sound foreign in her dad's voice.

"Has Quinn come home yet?" Jude asks, and pulls away from the embrace.

Her dad shakes his head. "No. And we tried to call the Byers, but they're not answering their phone. Your mom was hoping you'd go out and try to get him home for dinner."

Ah. This makes much more sense. Her mother sent her father up here to try and talk Jude into doing what they want. Had it been for anything else, she would have immediately turned down the request. They're lucky Quinton is involved.

"I guess so," she sniffles, and reaches up to wipe at her eyes. "I doubt we'll be home by dinner, though," she glances over at her alarm clock to see it's already 5 P.M.

"That's fine. I guess it'll just be your mother and I, then."

"I guess."

She's actually glad she has an excuse to get out of dinner with her parents. There's so much anger built up inside of her that just continues to grow and grow, she's not sure what would happen if she got stuck at a table across from the two of them.

So, she sets out to look for Quinton.

Jude's first stop was the Wheeler house. As far as she was aware, it was basically the designated hangout spot for her brother's friend group, so it made sense he could have ended up there. She just sort of hopes she doesn't run into Nancy Wheeler, though. When she knocks on the door, she's easily able to make out some grumbling on the other side.

"I swear to god if that's you, Henderson--" The door swings open, revealing an older man who Jude recognizes to be Ted Wheeler. He's visibly annoyed, until he realizes it's Jude Monroe standing in front of him. "Oh, hi, Ms. Monroe. Sorry, I thought you were my son's idiot friend. What can I do for you?" He asks her in a monotone voice.

Instinctively, Jude gives him that polite smile she gives every adult in town. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm actually looking for my little brother, Quinn? Is he here?"

The annoyed look briefly returns in his eyes, but he relaxes. "No, he's not. Our kids apparently don't live here anymore, seeing as they're never home." He sucks in a breath. "But maybe that Henderson kid managed to track them down. He was looking for them earlier, too."

Jude nods as she listens. Weird, she thinks. She knows for a fact that they all carry walkie-talkies, so it should be fairly easy for them to get in touch with each other. But to be out actively searching for each other? Going door to door? It's just weird.

The sun starts to set as Jude drives to the Henderson residence. Jude's always liked the sunset--specifically, the last glimpse of light hanging low on the horizon before it slips into darkness. There's something oddly comforting about it to her. But then the darkness envelops the entire sky, and Jude doesn't like that part so much.

It's dark when Jude makes it to Dustin's house. Her favorite, fleeting moment of sunset has passed, leaving the Earth to be wrapped up in the night. It's unnerving, especially with everything else going on. Part of her almost expects Billy Hargrove to leap out from the bushes when she gets out of her car.

What she doesn't expect, though, is to see a familiar BMW parked in front of Dustin's house. But there it sits, in all of its glory. She really hopes it's not his car. She hopes it's a different car. Maybe Dustin's mom recently bought a new car? And for whatever reason, she bought the same car?

Okay, that sounds stupid. It's gotta be him. Which raises the question, though, of what in the world he's doing here?

Ignoring her concerns, she starts to venture across the driveway, and towards the front door. But she stops when she hears some arguing coming from the side of the house, and recognizes one of the voices to be Dustin--thank god he's got such a recognizable voice. She stops and reroutes herself towards the source, hoping maybe she'll find Quinton over there.

Her heart stops when she realizes, however, that Quinton is not here. Instead, it's the person she was afraid to see. For whatever reason, Steve Harrington is here, arguing with Dustin Henderson about something with a baseball bat in his hand. Not any baseball bat, though. No, this one is hammered full of nails.

She pinches her arm. Nothing happens. So, definitely not a dream.

"Alright, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some kind of Halloween prank..." Steve waves a flashlight in front of Dustin's face, causing the younger boy to squint back at him.

"It's not a prank!" Dustin retorts. Then, his eyes dart in Jude's direction, and he screeches when he sees her.

Steve whirls around to face her, dropping the flashlight and raising the baseball bat to take a defensive position. But his eyes fall on Jude, and he relaxes. Well, kind of. "What the hell? You told Jude about this?" He snaps at Dustin, who's scrambled to pick up the flashlight and point it at her.

"What? No! I didn't tell her anything, it must have been Q!" Dustin insists, and Jude has to lift her hand to shield her eyes from the light.

"What are you guys talking about? Tell me what?" She asks, and walks closer to them. "I'm just looking for Quinn, he hasn't been home for two days."

Dustin gives Steve an I-told-you-so look, and the elder glares back at him. "Well, I was looking for him, too. All of my dumbass friends have dropped off the face of the Earth, apparently."

Jude's stomach sinks. "What?! You haven't heard from any of them?" She demands.

"You shouldn't be here," Steve suddenly speaks up, and Jude looks over at him with furrowed eyebrows. "It's just... It's dangerous out here, you know? It's getting dark."

It's not a very convincing excuse. "Well, you guys are here, aren't you? And you've got whatever that is," she gestures to the baseball bat, "so I think I should be fine."

Steve exchanges a look with Dustin, who simply shrugs in response.

"Has Q told you... anything?" The young boy asks, and Jude shakes her head. The realization that her brother has been hiding things from her causes nausea to bubble in her gut. She thought they told each other everything. "Well, maybe we should tell her." Dustin says to Steve.

"What? Absolutely not." Steve immediately shuts the idea down, then looks back at Jude. "You really should just go back home, Jude."

"Not until you tell me what the hell is going on and where my brother is." Jude realizes they're standing in front of the cellar, and that they were probably about to go down there before she showed up. "What's in here?" She asks, looking between them and the cellar.

"Nothing, don't--"

Before Steve gets the chance to stop her, she kneels down and pulls open one of the doors. Behind her, she hears both of them protesting and even feels Steve grab her shoulder to tug her backwards. Based on their reactions, she half expects a bobcat or something to leap out and bite her throat out. But nothing happens.

Steve kneels down next to Jude and opens the other door, keeping his bat at the ready. Their shoulders brush as he leans forward, looking down into the space, and though she's not really sure why, she flinches away from him. He shoots her a confused look, but doesn't say anything.

"He's probably further in there," Dustin says. "I should stay up here, you know, in case he tries to escape."

"Who is he?" Jude looks at him over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed.

Dustin looks to Steve for help, who shrugs in return. "Dartagnan. He's my pet. He was just a pollywog when I found him, but then he kept growing, and then he ate my cat."

"What?!" Jude finally stands and backs away from the cellar. "What do you mean he ate your cat?"

"Um, he ate it? What do you mean, what do I mean?"

"Wait, and you called Steve?"

"Is it really that shocking to see me here?" Steve interrupts.

Jude laughs. "Shocking is an understatement."

"Yeah, well, now you know how I felt when you turned up here, Judy." Steve replies, and grunts as he pushes himself to his feet. "But now you know, if Henderson is telling the truth, then this thing is dangerous. You should stay up here."

"Wait, wait," Jude turns back to Dustin, shaking her head as she tries to process this information, "what does Quinn have to do with this?"

"Well..." Dustin pauses, and it looks like he's having some kind of internal debate with himself. "God, Q is gonna kill me."

"Dustin, don't--"

"So, basically you know how they said Will just got lost for a week last year?" Dustin ignores Steve's warnings, and Steve lets out a frustrated groan. "Well, it's true, kind of. He got lost in another dimension, called the Upside Down. And Quinn, Mike, Lucas and I--well, and also this girl called El--worked together to track him down and stuff. And there was this giant monster that took him that we called a Demogorgon, and we thought it was gone after El killed it, but Will said my pollywog sounded like it or something--"

"You guys were out looking for him and fighting some kind of monster?" Jude isn't very convinced.

"Yes! Steve literally fought it, too, with that bat!" Dustin exclaims, gesturing to the sports equipment.

Suddenly, Jude realizes that's probably the reason Steve was at the hospital that night. Because somehow, he had gotten roped into this whole thing. If all of this is true, though, then how the hell did Jude miss it--?

Oh. That had been only a few weeks after she got out of the hospital. Quinton kept her in the dark on purpose. Instead of coming to his big sister for help, like he always used to do, he left her out of it because he was worried she wouldn't be able to handle it.

"So... So where is Quinn now?" Jude asks, ignoring the heavy feeling in her chest.

"I don't know. Probably off with Will somewhere." Dustin shrugs.

Steve's remained quiet throughout all of this, just gazing down the cellar where this supposed pollywog should be roaming around. "I'm going down there." He announces.

"I'm coming with you!"

Dustin and Steve both look at Jude in surprise. Dustin shines the flashlight in Jude's face again, and she finally snatches it away from him to carry herself.

"Listen, if we can't find Quinton right now, then I'm going to help you guys until we can. I can't just sit around, waiting for him while knowing there's a cat-eating monster from another dimension out there." She tries to persuade them both, though her focus remains mainly on Steve.

He looks unsure, but he doesn't protest this time. He just heaves a defeated sigh and gestures for him to follow him, and then the two of them start their descent into the cellar. Dustin stays true to his word and hangs behind.

"Just so you know... The reason I didn't want to tell you, it's not because I don't trust you or anything. This thing just goes deeper than monsters from other dimensions, you know?" Steve talks to her in a quiet voice, his grip on the bat remaining tight. "Like, there were a bunch of government agents we had to talk to after, who made us swear not to tell another soul about this. Now that you know, you're in danger, too."

Jude nods in understanding. She's still not one hundred percent sure they're telling the truth, but this little confession has her even more convinced. Why would he make all of this up?

They reach the main room of the cellar, and Steve reaches up to turn on a single lightbulb that dangles from the ceiling. While he inspects one side of the room, Jude inspects the other, using the flashlight to enhance her vision. There's something strange in the corner that catches her eye, and she inches forward to investigate it.

"Steve?" She calls out to him, and kneels down to hone in on the object with the flashlight. He's behind her within a few seconds, and it doesn't take long for him to spot it as well.

Using the bat, he lifts up what looks like a pile of slimy, molted skin. And Jude's taken enough biology classes to know what that means: it's grown.

"Shit," Steve mutters under his breath. "Go get Dustin. He needs to see this."

The three of them inspect the cellar further altogether, until they find a hole dug into the brick siding of the space. A great big hole that seems to go on for longer than they can see.

Jude, who's usually not one to curse, mumbles "shit".

"Well, now, what?" Dustin asks once they're all back in his yard.

Steve runs a hand through his (always perfect) hair, while his other hand finds purchase on his hip. "Well, it's not like we can just let that thing run loose around the town. Not when it's clearly getting bigger and bigger. We've gotta lure it out and kill it once and for all."

"You're gonna kill it?" Dustin frowns.

"Didn't you say it killed your cat?" Jude furrows her eyebrows.

"Yeah, but... He was my first scientific discovery... and we bonded over nougat..."

"Nougat?" Steve asks.

"You know, the stuff in Three Musketeers. That's why I named him Dartagnan."

"It still needs to die." Jude agrees with Steve, and Dustin sighs.

"Fine, whatever..."

She turns to face Steve, who appears to be piecing together plans in his head. "Okay... What if we lured it out to the old scrapyard? We could go get a bunch of raw meat from the butcher and make a trail for him, then once we lure him out, I'll kill him." He taps the side of his bat.

Jude nods. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"You are so not coming." Steve laughs, and starts to walk away.

"What?! Yes I am!" Jude shouts after him.

"Let her come, Steve!" Dustin hisses, his signature lisp lacing the edges of his words. "She's involved now, you can't stop it."

Steve glares at him. "And whose fault is that?"

"She's smart, and she's trustworthy! She deserved to know!" Dustin argues back.

"We'll probably hike along the train tracks. Do you even have shoes for that, princess?" Steve turns to tease her.

The nickname immediately nauseates her. "Don't call me that." She snaps. "And yes, I do... Somewhere..."

"Good! So she's coming!" Dustin decides.

Steve huffs a defeated sigh. "Fine. We'll meet back here in the morning. I'll stop at the butcher on the way. Bring good shoes, and... Maybe something you're okay with getting stains on."

Jude does an excited little fist pump, and he smiles at that. Only for a split second, though, before he remembers he's supposed to be annoyed.

"8 A.M.?" She proposes.

"8 A.M." Steve and Dustin agree.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

The lights are on in her father's office when Jude gets home. It's not unusual for her dad to be working late, but Jude still notices this anyway.

She creeps towards the door, deciding to lie and tell him Quinton was sleeping over at the Wheelers' or something so they didn't do any digging and find out what she just found out. It'll be better for them to think he's safe than for them to know the truth: that Jude still isn't totally sure where he is.

When she raises her fist to knock on the door, though, something happens that causes her to freeze.

"...the boy's in the lab? Now?" She hears her father's voice on the other side of the door, and she assumes he must be on a phone call. "Okay... Well, keep me updated. I'd rather we not have a repeat of last time."

Jude jerks her hand away. That was something else Dustin told her: the lab was involved.

Does her dad know already? Does he know about this so-called Demogorgon that kidnapped Will, and wreaked havoc on the city? Is he not only aware, but is he involved?

Could her dad have something to do with Will, and wherever Quinton is currently?

She knocks on the door then gently pushes it open.

Her dad looks up, and covers the speaker of the phone. "Yeah, Jude?" He asks in a hushed voice.

Her throat feels dry. "Um, I just wanted to let you know, Quinn's staying with the Wheelers tonight. He should be home tomorrow." She lies, and it's incredibly obvious that she's lying.

Bill Monroe's too invested in his phone call to notice or care, though. "Okay, that's fine. Good night." He motions for her to leave the room. She flashes him a forced smile then steps out, closing the door behind her.

He's not involved. Right?

Right?

omg... is he involved....? hahahaha. when i remember her dad is actually played by chris evans i laugh bc okay sir. it's giving ransom. anywaysssss STUDE!!!!!! i love them sm. steve wants her so freaking bad btw. and she wants him too she just don't know it yet. ANYWAYS! ENJOY!!!