029.

                                    

                                          
NOVEMBER 4TH, 1984
📍the woods
21:02 PM
the group of five walked through the woods, attempting to follow dart and the other demogorgons.
"you're positive that was dart?" lucas asked his friend.
"yes," dustin sighed. "he had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."
"he was tiny two days ago," max remarked.
"well, he's molted three times already," dustin said in response. 
"malted?" steve repeated.
"molted," josie corrected from beside him. "he shed his skin to make room for growth," she explained.
"like hornworms," dustin added. 
"when's he gonna molt again?" max wondered.
"it's gotta be soon," the boy answered. "and when he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. so will his friends."
"yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," steve stated.
"wait, a cat?" lucas hissed, as dustin turned to glare at steve. "dart ate a cat?"
"no, what? no," dustin denied. 
"what are you talking about? he ate mews," steve said casually, making josie sigh at his stupidity.
"mews? who's mews?" max questioned, her eyebrows furrowed. 
josie tried to elbow steve in the side to get him to shut up, but he clearly didn't get the hint. "it's dustin's cat."
"steve!" dustin exclaimed. 
"i knew it! you kept him!" lucas scoffed. 
"no! no.. no, i... no.. he missed me. he wanted to come home," dustin said, trying to defend himself. "i didn't know he was a demogorgon, okay?"
"oh, so now you admit it?"
"guys, who cares? we have to go," max chimed in. 
"i care!" lucas screamed. "you put the party in jeopardy. you broke the rule of law!"
"so did you!" dustin replied, pointing his flashlight in max's face. "you told a stranger the truth!"
"a stranger?" max scoffed. 
as the three kids continued arguing, steve turned to josie. "were we ever that irritating?"
she shrugged. "probably."
steve smiled, before a screeching noise in the distance averted his attention. he began walking closer towards the sound, and josie followed. 
"hey, guys!" steve called back to the group. "guys!"
he gestured towards the direction in which the sound was coming from and the two boys caught up with him, as they began to walk through the woods again.
max waited behind, hollering, "hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?"
"come on," josie smiled at her. "gotta keep up."