chapter five
denial

💗

LILY FEELS A FOOL. She'd gotten into Steve's car with the hope that they'd come to some sort of mutual understanding — she might even say some sort of trust. But she should have known better. Because now, he's taking his little joke even further and he's wasting her time feeding her more lies.

Did Steve really think she was going to believe he was involved in some big government conspiracy involving Hawkins Lab, the missing kid from last year and some sort of alternate dimension? The same alternate dimension which is apparently what is making her pumpkins rot? He's so full of shit. As per usual.

Because now he's saying she's in danger from those scientists from that lab — just because she knew there was something wrong with her pumpkins and the fact that he'd 'accidentally' let slip to her that the people testing them were bad people. She feels like she's in some sort of psychotic kidnapping plan. She also can't believe the stress Steve seems to be putting himself through with this. If this is all a ploy to keep himself out of trouble from poisoning those pumpkins, then maybe he really is starting to go insane.

"Lily, I swear to God, okay, it's all true!" Steve says, his eyes still on the road, his voice loud and shaky. "I know it sounds crazy, okay! I wouldn't even believe it myself if I were you, I would think I'm crazy—"

Lily scoffs.

"—But you have to listen to me—!"

"You really think I'm that stupid?!" Lily interrupts, her tone snarky as she aggressively points to herself. "I got in this car thinking you were going to try and be mature for once in your life and you feed me that crap?!"

"You don't believe me?!" Steve practically yells back. "You don't believe me! Fine, that doesn't mean you're still not in danger and that doesn't mean it'll all go away once you get home."

Lily has no idea where Steve is driving her — but it's certainly not the road he would take if he were to drive her back to her house.

He turns onto Maple Street and her stomach starts to feel funny. She's trying to refrain herself from panicking. It's a road made up of expensive houses and signs put out with the words 'Reagan Bush '84' printed on them — and Lily's nerves start to take over her once she thinks of Steve's rich (asshole) friends.

Was this the end of his big prank? Is Steve going to get out of the car and Lily's going to face Carol and Tommy and who knows else? Are they all going to laugh? Are they going to do something worse?

Would Steve really do that to her? After all this time?

"Steve, where are..?" Lily asks, much more quietly, now. He doesn't reply, and the sickening feeling in her stomach grows.

He eventually pulls up outside of a house Lily doesn't recognise, and grabs his bouquet of flowers he'd previously bought from the supermarket.

It then clicks in her head where they are.

She'd somehow managed to forget in the last few minutes that Steve doesn't have those kind of friends anymore (strictly speaking he doesn't have friends). But he does have Nancy Wheeler. And she must be important to him, if he's driving to her house amongst all this to get her back after their argument. She must be important to him if he's going to fight for her like he didn't fight for Lily.

"If you don't believe me, you can hear it from someone else, and maybe she'll talk some goddamn sense into you," Steve says, opening his car door. Lily will never admit it to herself, but these words sting. He turns back to look at her over his shoulder. "Could you just... stay here for a sec?"

She glares at him as her heart sinks slightly. She wonders if perhaps an ambush from Carol and Tommy and their crew might have been better than having to watch her ex reconcile with a girl he'd so easily replaced her with, before.

A girl who looks nothing like Lily — and she's still not so sure whether to take that as a compliment, or not. Did Steve ever really like her? All those times he told her she was beautiful — was that a lie? Had he just been holding out until he met someone who was more of his type?

Lily doesn't watch Steve walk towards the house with his red roses. She turns away and starts thinking of the closest bus stop that might be able to get her home. She starts to weigh up the odds of her being able to get out of the car, grabbing her groceries and escaping without Steve being able to catch her (she concludes those odds are very thin).

And then, just as Lily starts to consider leaving her groceries behind and making a run for it, she hears voices, and turns her head to see — not Nancy Wheeler — but a much younger boy with curly brown hair and a cap that clashes horribly with his outfit.

"Hey, what the hell? Hey!" Steve calls out as the boy takes Steve's flowers from him and starts to walk towards his car.

"Nancy isn't home," the boy says.

"Where is she?"

"Doesn't matter! We have bigger problems than your love life,"

The boy catches sight of Lily in Steve's passenger seat and frowns slightly in confusion, before opening the door of the backseat.

"Hey, wha—?" Steve starts.

"Do you still have that bat?" The boy continues.

"Bat? What bat?"

"The one with the nails!"

Lily's starting to believe she's in some really confusing, awfully realistic dream — like Alice in Wonderland — because nothing she's hearing right now is making any sense.

"Why?"

"I'll explain it on the way," the boy says, getting in the backseat of Steve's car.

"Now?"

"Now!"

Lily turns around to look at their new passenger, but she's so baffled she doesn't even know what to say. So, he's the first to speak.

"Dustin Henderson," he introduces himself with a toothy grin, holding his hand out for Lily to shake it. She stares at him in astonishment, before shaking it — still unable to find the words to even introduce herself.

Steve gets back into the driver's seat, looking to Lily as though he's about to give some sort of explanation — yet he's unable to find one, also.

They start driving, and Lily switches on the radio to avoid the awkward silence.

"Who's this?" Dustin asks Steve, nodding towards Lily.

"Uh..." Steve begins, glancing sideways at her. Lily stares as she watches him struggle. She can see she is putting a lot of pressure on him as he stutters for an answer. She enjoys it. "This is Lily..."

Dustin seems to be waiting for more.

"...She's my... uh..."

Lily raises an eyebrow.

"...friend,"

The response is so appalling it causes her to let out a laugh.

"No, I am fucking not!" she hollers without thinking, before remembering they now have a child in the car with them. "Sorry," she adds, nodding towards him. He isn't bothered in the slightest.

"So... you guys aren't friends?" he frowns. It's his turn to appear confused.

"No, we're not," Lily replies. Steve remains silent.

"So... is anybody going to tell me what is going on?" Lily then asks, glancing between the two boys. Dustin looks hesitant.

"Yeah, man, what are you doing here? Where are we going? Why are you in my car?" Steve asks.

"Well if you're gonna keep asking questions he's not gonna have the chance to explain," Lily retorts.

"And if you're gonna keep trying to argue, he definitely won't—"

Dustin clears his throat, and the pair fall silent.

"Well... it's..." he says, giving Steve a knowing look. "About last year..."

Lily notices him glance her way nervously.

"Last year?" Steve repeats, watching Dustin through his mirror. "Wha— as in..?" he trails off, not needing to say anything more for Dustin to nod.

Both boys look Lily's way and then back at each other, as if she can't hear or understand a word they're saying. Dustin is obviously uncomfortable explaining his problem whilst Lily's around.

But there's just no way all that stuff Steve had just told her is true... right?

"I mean, fire away, dude, she already knows," Steve says, gesturing to the blonde in his passenger seat. Dustin's eyes widen.

"She knows?!" He says. "How does she know?!"

"I am right here, guys!" Lily eventually speaks up.

"Well... I kinda told her," Steve says.

"Told her?!" Dustin repeats, appalled. "You just told her?! You know this could get you both killed! You know that right?! Are you stupid?! Who else did you—?!"

"Relax! Relax!" Steve shouts. "I had to, alright! She was in danger!"

"I was in danger?" Lily says, unconvinced. "From who? The big government Hawkins Lab baddies who are testing my Dads pumpkins? Yeah, I'm sure they're a real threat... gonna lock me up for life for having some badly kept crops..."

"Hawkins Lab?" Dustin repeats. "Why are they testing your dads pumpkins?" he asks slowly.

"They got poisoned," Lily shrugs.

Dustin exchanges a glance with Steve.

"...Or did they?" he says.

Lily whips her head around and eyes him suspiciously.

"What else could it be?" she asks. "Listen, I'm tired of this stupid game, if you think I'm believing any of this stuff you guys have come up with—"

"It's the truth!" the boys say in unison.

Lily turns back to Steve.

"I want you to drop me home," she says. "I want to get out of this car, take my groceries inside, and forget this ever happened."

"I can't do that," Steve replies.

"Why not?!"

"Because they know you know something's wrong!" Steve raises his voice. "It's kinda my fault, I let slip that they're bad people — I'm sorry — but that's all it takes! They know about every conversation, everywhere — they've got this whole town under their belt! It's why I had to tell you — had to warn you about them—"

"Well, you didn't need to warn me about them! It's pumpkins! What would they have done?! Perhaps I was better off not knowing!"

Steve begins to stutter.

"Steve's right, you can't go back there," Dustin speaks up.

"Oh please, I can literally act like I don't know anything, and your little plan can—"

"No- No, it's not just about the scientists," Dustin interrupts. "If your pumpkin patch has a connection to what I think it does, being anywhere near it... it's dangerous,"

"What do you mean?" Steve asks, immediately.

"Steve... you remember the kind of things that came from that place, don't you?"

Steve's complexion grows slightly pale.

Lily rolls her eyes.

"I swear to God, okay, whatever happened last year — if it is true, which is a fucking long shot — it's probably got nothing to do with what's happening now. Okay? Perhaps Eugene McCorkle really did have a problem with our Pick Your Pumpkin scheme..." Lily says — although, at this rate, she really can't think of any other excuse for what happened to her dad's pumpkin patch. And really, she does know deep down it wasn't Mr McCorkle.

(Maybe she's in denial — but she'll deny that right now, too.)

"No!" Dustin snaps, a hint of panic in his voice. "I know it does! I know it's back."

Steve frowns as his eyes watch the road. He almost looks scared.

"And how do you know?" Lily asks Dustin, still not convinced. "Where's your proof?"

"...In my storm cellar,"

💗

'HAMMER TO FALL' plays on Steve's stereo, and the night sky is beginning to darken once Dustin has finished his explanation of his 'newfound discovery gone wrong'. Long story short, he somehow re-homed a creature from the same dimension Will Byers, the missing kid from last year, apparently ended up in — and now it has escaped. 

(What a crock of shit)

He's currently left the entire car in silence. Lily's starting to feel like she's losing her mind — and she gets the feeling Steve's not far off it, either.

"Wait a sec, how big?" Steve asks.

"First it was like that," Dustin says, measuring out the creature's size with his hands. He pulls them apart, implying it's growth. "Now he's like this,"

"Oh my God, it's probably just some lizard, okay?" Lily says.

"It's not a lizard!" Dustin protests.

"How do you know?" Steve asks.

"How do I know if it's not a lizard?!"

"Yeah, how do you know if it's not just a lizard?!"

"Because his face opened up and he ate my cat!"

Lily sits speechless, with her jaw dropped open. Steve gives him a nod that kind of says 'yeah, that's fair'.

They pull up to what must be Dustin's house, and Steve opens the boot of his car to uncover a baseball bat with nails hammered deeply into it from underneath some sort of blanket that had clearly been placed there to cover it up. Lily's groceries still sit squashed in it's corner.

She thinks of her Dad — he'll be wondering where she is, right now.

"Is that really necessary?" Lily asks, giving Steve's hand crafted weapon a funny look. Seriously, who casually owns something like this?

"Yes, it is," Steve replies, pulling out two flashlights and giving her one.

They walk over to Dustin's storm cellar, which has been chained shut with a lock. The two of them hesitate. Lily's not sure what it is they're supposed to find once the door opens, but the uneasiness of the two boys next to her is enough to make anybody's heart beat a little faster.

"I don't hear shit," Steve says.

"He's in there," Dustin replies.

Steve taps the doors of the cellar slightly, but still the only noise they can make out is the small echo of the clanging metal. He then lifts his bat and brings it down with more force, and the loud clash makes Lily flinch. The nerves are enough to distract her from the fact that this sounds like the most bizarre made-up scenario ever — and she'd be stupid to entertain it, even in the slightest.

Steve shines his flashlight in Dustin's face.

"Alright, listen, kid, I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead—"

"—it's not,"

"Alright?"

"It's not a prank! Get that out of my face,"

"Very brave," Lily mutters sarcastically, folding her arms. "Threatening an eight grader,"

Steve sighs, ignoring her.

"You got a key for this thing?" he asks Dustin.

They open the cellar and crouch down, peering through the darkness. Lily attempts to search for any sign of life, but she's unable to see anything, at this point — even when she shines her flashlight down to the floor.

"He must be further down there," Dustin says. "I'll stay up here in case he tries to... escape..."

Sure.

Lily follows Steve into the cellar, keeping closely behind him as he holds his bat high. The rest of the cellar is engulfed in darkness, and even as she squints her eyes in an attempt to adjust her vision, it's clear that the possibility of catching anything down here would be impossible. She can hardly see a few steps in front of her, let alone a hiding place for an unknown monster from another dimension — not to mention, she still has no idea what it looks like. She can feel her heart beating out of her chest as she raises her flashlight.

She notices out of the corner of her eye, Steve looking over his shoulder and checking on her, every few seconds. Like she's going to suddenly disappear.

He reaches the middle of the cellar and Lily is filled with relief when he switches on the light. She immediately moves away from him — scanning the rest of the room.

And that's when she sees it.

She walks forward a few steps just to be sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her — but they're not. The bottom corner of the room is almost no more — it's missing bricks forming the shape of a gaping hole leading out of the cellar.

Whatever was down here, it's escaped.

She turns back to alert Steve, but it seems as though he's made a discovery of his own as he inspects what looks like a huge cluster of shedded reptile skin on the edge of his bat.

This can't be real. Everything they've told her, everything that's happening, it has to be one huge joke. This stuff does not happen.

"Steve..." Lily manages to choke out, and the boy whips his head in her direction, before his eyes divert to the void in the corner of the cellar.

He slowly walks towards it, a look of horror on his face starting to grow.

"Guys?" Dustin interrupts from above the cellar. "Guys, what's going on down there?"

Steve walks back towards the steps and shines his flashlight up at him.

"Get down here," he says.

Dustin does as he's told. Steve presents him the shedded skin on his bat, and the boy sighs.

"Oh, shit," he says, before turning towards Lily — who's now crouched down in front of the hole shining her flashlight, in an attempt to get a glimpse of anything.

She and Steve both gesture towards the tunnel now created in Dustin's cellar wall.

"Oh, shit!"

The two boys walk over and crouch behind her, peering through.

"No way..." Dustin says. "No way..."

They can't see a thing.

"It... maybe could have been a bear?" Lily says in one last hopeless attempt of denying any of these terrifying, supernatural happenings.

This just can't be real.

Steve sees right through her.

"Stop pretending you don't believe us," he says.

The blonde lets out a shaky sigh. Even she can't convince herself, anymore. It all seems too strange.

And so — for the first time in years — Lily finally admits that Steve Harrington may be right about something.