Silence. They were met with silence, and for the briefest moment, Demona thought they might’ve been in the clear. Maybe someone had hit a telephone pole while drunk, or maybe there was some freak accident at the power plant. Maybe the chittering was just their imaginations getting to them, considering they were both deemed creative people. But Demona was grasping at straws trying to find a reason they were safe. She had never wanted anyone to be in any danger, especially not Eddie of all people, and especially not right after she had finally found her chance to talk to him. They had too much to discuss, and if this wasn’t some sort of alcohol-induced fever dream, there was a solid chance they wouldn’t get that chance.

Demona was so focused on the door, though, that she didn’t even notice the wall behind her. It wasn’t until the lights flashed on that she finally tore her gaze away from the doorway, glancing upwards slightly before back to the door. The lights strobing caught her off guard, though, and as she started to turn around, Eddie backed into her, making the blonde stumble slightly until she hit the doorframe with a gentle ‘thud’. The only damage, however, came from her finally laying eyes on the creature in front of them. It was exactly as she had remembered, and that night with Steve and Max was suddenly back at the front of her mind. She had barely made it out of that situation as it was, but now, she didn’t have her friends to back her up.

What she did have, however, was an idea.

Eyes snapping over to the baseball bat resting against her dresser, Demona looked up at Eddie, then back to the creature. She had to be quick if she wanted to do anything to help, and taking a deep breath to steady herself, she shouted just as it opened its mouth to scream back at them.

“RUN!!” Rather than running to the front door as she had told Eddie to do, however, Demona ran for the baseball bat filled with nails resting against her dresser. It had been a ‘gift’ from Steve after that night, and apparently had been his weapon of choice against the monsters. He didn’t want to look at it after the memories it brought him, but for Demona, it was the perfect item to protect her home against all kinds of intruders – including the one standing in her bedroom.

The moment her hands touched it, the demogorgon tried to scurry at Eddie, likely smelling the blood all over him. It didn’t have time to reach him, though, before Demona was swinging the bat against the creature’s ribcage with all of her strength, sending it tumbling to the side against her bed. It cracked the wooden frame, but that could be replaced later. Eddie could never be replaced, no matter how much time had passed between them, and she wasn’t about to let this monster take him from her.