{The Monster, Part II/The Bathtub, Part I}

A/N [from 2019] Sorry for the delay folks! I didn't mean to wait so long to update this story, but I moved back to school and have been kind of busy. To make up for my absence, I've got two chapters to upload today! Hooray! Vote, Comment, and answer the Question of the Day: Who's worse, Carol or Tommy H.?

The next morning at breakfast, Mrs. Henderson got an important phone call.

"I have to go to work," she said, flustered. She grabbed her purse and her keys and turned to her kids. "You two, listen carefully—stay here. This town is turning into a nightmare and I want you far from it. Got it?"

"Got it," Alice and Dustin chorused.

When the door shut behind Mrs. Henderson, Dustin turned to Alice.

"Well, I guess we have to stay home," he said. "Want to watch Star Wars?"

Alice gave him a look.

"You're kidding."

"Of course I'm kidding!" Dustin said. "Mike and I are going to apologize to Lucas and find Eleven. I'm not sitting here all day."

"Oh, good," Alice said. She stood and took off her bathrobe. She was already fully dressed, wearing a purple sundress and a jean jacket. "I'm meeting with my birth mom at the park at 11. Don't have time for Star Wars."

She grabbed her backpack and zipped it up, heading towards the front door.

"Wait," Dustin said.

Alice turned to him.

"What is it, Dusty?"

"Be careful, okay?"

Alice grinned.

"I'm always careful, you know me—"

"Alice," Dustin said, giving her a hard look. "I'm being serious. Don't turn this into one of your jokes or sarcastic punchlines."

"Dustin," Alice said, fidgeting with her jacket sleeves, "you're scaring me."

"Good!" Dustin said. "You should be scared."

He took a deep breath.

"Look," he said, "the world is a scary place. I know you like to look for the best in people, but not everyone is good like you."

"What are you talking about?" Alice said, exasperated.

"I don't want you to get taken by the Bad Men!" Dustin said. "I hate to echo Mom, but this could be a trap."

Alice sighed.

"I know," she said. "But I have to know."

Dustin nodded.

"Just watch yourself, okay?" he said. "Come back safe."

The look in Dustin's eyes was one Alice had never seen before. He was truly, genuinely afraid.

"Okay," Alice said. She grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up to calm his nerves.

Dustin didn't look appeased by the gesture. 

"I hope you find the answer you're looking for," Dustin added.

Alice fake-saluted him and closed the door behind her.

💵 💵 💵

Alice waited on the park bench for an excruciatingly long time.

She kept checking her calculator watch, wondering if she had been tricked. Maybe Tommy H. had prank called after all.

I knew I should've left the warning in the ad, Alice thought.

She got so distracted thinking of different ways to pummel Tommy, she didn't look up until a voice said, "Excuse me, are you Alice?"

Alice shot her head toward the voice.

A woman stood to the side of her holding a briefcase. She was short, and with dark, wavy, chin-length hair. She had the same color eyes as Alice and similar freckles on her cheeks.

"Yes! Hi!" Alice said, standing quickly. "I'm Alice, I'm the one who wrote the ad in the paper. Are you Rebecca Piper?"

The woman nodded curtly. She sat on the bench, and Alice sat down again next to her.

"I'm so glad you saw my ad," Alice continued, picking at her nails. "I wasn't sure it would work—"

"You need to stop looking for her."

Alice froze, and cleared her throat.

"Um, excuse me?"

"I'm not your mom," Rebecca continued. "She sent me. She needs you to leave her alone."

Alice's heart clenched.

"Oh, okay," Alice said. "Any particular reason...why?"

"It was a closed adoption for a reason," Rebecca said sharply. She looked Alice right in the eye, making the girl shrivel from the inside out. "She's very sorry, but she can't be in contact with you."

Alice's plan for a perfect mother-daughter reunion was falling apart at the seams.

Tears pricked at the corner of Alice's eyes. Her throat felt dry.

"If she doesn't want to know me," she said hoarsely, "then why did you respond to the ad in the first place?"

"To give you this," Rebecca said.

She clicked open the briefcase and handed Alice a fat envelope. Alice opened it; inside was a rather large wad of cash.

"What's this?" Alice said, frowning.

"Compensation," Rebecca said, closing her briefcase and standing up. "Your mother does feel sorry that she can't be a part of your life, but hopes this will make up for it. It's enough for four years' tuition at some of the finest colleges in the country, so you can get far, far away from Hawkins."

She stuck out a hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

This all felt like a cruel joke. Alice didn't know what to do except shake Rebecca's hand and say, "Sure."

Rebecca nodded curtly, turned on her heel, and left.

💰💰💰

Alice rode her bike faster than she ever had before, ABBA blasting through her Walkman. It wasn't safe to bike and listen to music, but Alice didn't give two shits.

She replayed the weird interaction in the park over and over in her mind. Rebecca had been so aloof, so cold. She basically told Alice to fuck off, because her own birth mother was too cowardly or impatient to do it herself, and gave her an envelope full of money.

The money wasn't a bad thing, but it couldn't replace meeting her biological mom.

Fuck her, Alice thought. And fuck this money.

She planned on blowing it all in one day at the Fair Mart. She was going to be a wasteful teenager, and spend the money on soda, candy, chips, and—

Smack! The front tire of Alice's bike hit a large rock on the sidewalk, causing her to fly over her handlebars. She hit the asphalt hard, skinning and scratching up her legs all the way to her knees. If she hadn't been wearing a jacket, her arms would've had the same fate.

"Agh!" Alice cried out, watching the blood trickle from the new wounds.

Since she was having trouble with her power last night at the junkyard, she wondered if it would ever even come back. Sure enough, the bleeding on her legs slowed to a stop, cuts already beginning to clot. The same familiar warmth she felt when she burned her hand on the stove caused the skin of her legs to imperceptibly glow, which she would've been able to see clearer if she was in a dark room.

Alice watched, mesmerized, as the scratches slowly scabbed over. Blood from her nose dripped into her mouth and, in less than two minutes, it was like she'd never even crashed her bike.

Except for the fact that her Walkman got crushed in her pocket during the fall. The mixtape she was listening to was defunct and her headphones were busted.

"Shit," Alice said with a grimace. She inspected the damage, wishing there was some way to fix it, but it seemed hopeless.

She shakily stood, stuffing the Walkman in her backpack and wheeling her bike the last few miles to the Fair Mart on the edge of town.

The journey took longer than necessary because the front wheel of her bike was bent out of shape. When she finally made it to the convenience store, she inwardly groaned when she saw the crowd outside—Steve and Carol.

Steve was sitting on the trunk of his car, head down. Carol was ranting about something, but when she noticed Alice wheeling her bike up the Fair Mart drive, she smirked.

"Hey, Annie!" she said in a sing-songy tone.

"Fuck off, Carol," Alice said breezing past her and heading toward the bike rack.

"Damn, Alley-Cat!" Carol said, pretending to be insulted. "Claws are out today."

"Be quiet, Carol," Steve said harshly, snapping his head up. His face was cut up and bloody.

"Whoa!" Alice said, frowning. "Steve, are you okay?"

"He got in a fight with Byers," Carol explained, "because he and Nancy are—"

"I'm fine," Steve cut in. "If you couldn't tell, I lost. Miserably." His eyes scanned Alice's face. "Are you okay, Al?"

Alice furrowed her brow.

"What? I'm fine."

"You look like you've been crying," Steve said, "and your bike is fucked up."

"Oh. Yeah," Alice said. She glanced at the front tire. "I crashed my bike—it's no big deal, though."

Before Steve could respond, Tommy burst out of the Fair Mart with a Coke can and a bottle of aspirin.

"Hey, Annie," he said. "You missed quite the showdown by The Hawk."

"I can tell," Alice said disdainfully. "Now, if you'll excuse me—"

"What the hell is this?" Carol blurted out. Alice hadn't realized she left her backpack partially unzipped after the crash. The envelope from her birth mother was poking out, and Carol snatched it out to inspect it.

"Carol, give that back—"

"Holy shit!" Tommy said, taking the envelope from Carol and glancing inside. "Alice, who's your sugar daddy?"

"Shut up, Tommy," Alice said angrily, trying to take the money back from him. Tommy and Carol played keep away, tossing the money envelope back and forth and laughing maniacally.

"I'm not judging you, Annie," Tommy said. "Whatever you're doing—and whoever you're doing it for—it's obviously worth it."

"Is this how Nancy got with Byers?" Carol added, holding the envelope high above Alice's head. "Through some sort of pervy service—"

"Carol, for once in your life, shut your damn mouth!" Steve exploded, jumping off the trunk of his car and taking the envelope from her.

Carol and Tommy looked shocked.

"What's your problem, man?" Tommy asked, laughing as if this was some kind of joke.

"You're both assholes, that's my problem!" Steve yelled. "What has Alice ever done to either of you?"

Alice was just as shocked as Tommy and Carol to see Steve stick up for her.

"Are you serious right now?" Tommy asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, I'm serious," Steve said. "You shouldn't pick on her so much—and you shouldn't have done that to Nancy."

"Done what?"

"You know what!"

"You mean call her out for what she really is?" Tommy shot back. "I don't remember you asking me to stop."

"I should've put that spray paint right down your throat," Steve snapped, threateningly stepping closer to Tommy.

"Whoa, chill," Alice said, stepping between the two boys. "Steve, I don't think you can take another beating right now."

"Neither of you ever cared about her," Steve ranted, ignoring Alice's advice. "You never even liked her because she's not miserable like you two. People like Nancy and Alice actually care about other people."

"The slut with the heart of gold," Carol mocked.

"I told you to watch your mouth!"

"I don't know what's gotten into you man, but don't talk to her that way!" Tommy growled.

Alice didn't know what to do. This fight was a long time coming, but she felt like she was intruding on something personal. She continued to stand between the boys, her defective bike at her feet.

"Get out of my face," Steve snarled.

"Or what? You gonna fight me now, too?" Tommy taunted. "Because you couldn't take Jonathan Byers so I wouldn't recommend that."

Steve stepped back, not in the mood to get the shit beat out of him for the second time that day.

"What's happened to you?" Carol asked with a scoff. "Sticking up for dorks like Annie here? And sluts like Nancy—"

"Don't act so high and mighty about fidelity, Carol," Alice quipped. "The whole school knows about your fling with Tommy L. last summer."

Carol turned as white as a sheet. Tommy H. turned as red as a fire truck.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Tommy asked, clenching his fists.

"Nothing!" Carol said quickly, glaring daggers at Alice. "She's delusional. Doesn't know what she's talking about."

Tommy and Carol began to bicker back and forth, and Steve turned to Alice.

"Need a ride?" he asked quietly, gesturing to the dented wheel.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "That'd be great, if you don't mind."

She carried her bike to his trunk and he helped her lift it inside. The two of them ignored Tommy and Carol when they started taunting them; they got in the car and drove away, leaving Hawkins' worst behind.

{Edited July 7, 2020; Reposted October 19, 2024}