𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 ~ (ᴍɪᴋᴇ ᴡʜᴇᴇʟᴇʀ)

.13.

"Five!" Mike shouted as he and Dustin scoured the forest for their missing friend - Eleven staying home as not to be noticed.

"Fi!" He tried again, hearing a twig snapping in the distance, "Hey, stop, did you hear that?" The pair waited a moment before shouting her name again - only stopping when the familiar, but dreaded, faces of their bullies showed up.

"Hey, there, frogface," Troy teased, bearing a switchblade in his hand, "Toothless."

"Shit! Run, Mike!" Dustin instructed, dropping his bike and pulling him along - the other boys following closely behind. The boys were putting a good distance between them until they were cornered at the quarry. As a meagre defence, Mike picked up the closest rock, while Dustin did the same with a twig.

"Stay back!" Mike warned, "Don't come any closer!" Acting purely on fear alone, Mike threw the rock at Troy's friend, missing horribly while Dustin attempted to attack Troy with his stick - only for him to end up in a headlock, the blade to his throat.

"Get off!" Dustin screamed, "Get off of me!"

"Let him go!" Mike pleaded but Troy didn't cower, "Stay back or I cut him!"

"What do you want?"

"I want to know how you did it!" Troy returned.

"How I did what?" Mike, confused, inquired.

"I know you did something to me," Still Troy kept a tight hold on Dustin, "Some nerdy science shit made me do that."

"You mean piss your pants?" Mike commented, earning a snarl from Troy.

"Our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind," Dustin told them, proudly.

"Shut up!" His friend butted in.

"I think I should save toothless here a trip to the dentists," He said as Dustin continued to resistance against the knife, "Help him lose all his baby teeth."

Mike panicked, looking at the nearing blade to his friend and screeched, "Let him go! Let him go!"

"I'll let him go, sure," Troy purposed, "But first... it's your turn."

"My turn to what?"

"Wet yourself," He smiled menacingly, "Jump."

"Jump or toothless here gets an early trip the dentist."

"Stop!" Dustin cried, "No!"

"I'll cut him right now!" He threatened, ignoring the concerned looks he was getting from his friend.

"Alright, hold on," Mike told them, stepping towards the cliff, "Hold on!"

"Mike, don't," Dustin begged, "I don't need my baby teeth." But Mike ignored him, along with Troy's friend and edged closer to the drop.

"Dentists office opens in..."

"five..."

"four..."

"three," Troy counted, while Dustin continued to plead with him.

"Two..."

Mike was one step away from the cliff and shuddered - was he really going to do this? Would this really be it?

"One..."

And with that the boy jumped, shocking everyone present. "Mike!" All three of them rushed over to the edge, where they were surprised that instead of falling, Mike was suspended in the air by what looked like ash. The broken-up rock guided him up, before dropping him back at the top and dissipating. Mike looked to the boys, flabbergasted before turning his head to see the one person he was searching for.

Poisoned with anger, Five stormed up the hill, ignoring the dripping blood and pushed one of the boys to the ground before breaking the others arm.

"Go," She told them, ignoring how Troy screamed over his arm.

Of course, the two boys struggled away, while Dustin shouted, "Yeah, that's right. You better run! She's our friend and she's crazy! You come back and she'll kill you, you sons a bitches! She'll kill you, you hear me?!"

By the time he had finished, Five had dropped to the floor from exhaustion - Mike running to her as soon as she did.

"Five? Fi? You okay?" He fussed, kneeling beside her.

"I'm sorry," Five cried.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" He asked.

"The gate... me and Eleven... we opened it," the girl struggled to say, "I'm the monster."

"No, Five, you're not the monster," Mike assured, "You saved me. Do you understand? You saved me." The boys helped the girl onto her knees before encapsulating her with a hug. "You saved me."