mercy ; peter ballard

23. little dark age

march 29, 1986

bea's car followed closely behind the big, yellow pizza van through the woods. she still didn't understand why there was a pizza van the mix, but at this point, anything was possible. beatrice drove will and eleven and the van had jonathan, mike, nancy, and arygle. will sat in the passenger seat next to bea and eleven sat in the back. it was the best attempt at keeping her hidden.

"where are we?" bea asked, craning her neck to see past the van. an old cabin came into view.

"home," eleven answered.

everyone loaded out of the vehicles and headed towards the cabin, sounds of birds filled the seemingly empty forest. eleven hesitated, staring behind for a moment. she missed hopper so badly. she wanted to tell him about the girls at school, about max, about bea, about how hard it has been without him. she exhaled before taking steps forward.

jonathan opened the creaky door. "oh jesus," he sighed, looking around.

the cabin looked as if a tornado had hit it. five times in a row. then mother nature decided to take a shit on it.

"holy shit," mike blurted out. "this place is a total disaster."

"yeah," jonathan answered, looking up. he points at a giant gash in the roof. "well, that's a bit of a problem."

"i can probably fix that," bea shrugged.

"i get we have to hide supergirl and all but this isn't exactly the fortress of solitude, man," argyle added on. "it's more like a fortress of grodiness."

bea picks up a half eaten waffle off the floor of what once was the living room. "pizza boy has a point."

bea throws it in the garbage can in the kitchen area. nancy puts her jacket down on a table. "come on, guys, seriously. i've seen mike's room look worse than this."

argyle looks at mike, "ah, brutal, dude."

beatrice had never really talked to the wheeler boy, but she couldn't deny he gave off asshole vibes at times. max had told her about him a few times and she was very skeptical of him.

she missed max. she was basically the daughter she never had. she wondered if she would ever come back. she thought back to the trip to the hospital earlier that day. eleven and bea were in her headspace. but she wasn't there. they screamed for her, but she was no where to be found. where was she?

nancy turned on the tap in the kitchen. to their luck, the water still ran. "ah! see? water still works!" she opened up a cabinet, spotting cleaning supplies. she took out the bin of cleaning supplies, dropping it on the table. "and voilà! cleaning supplies."

beatrice pulled a broom from beside the sink. "mike, think fast."

"what?" he said, furrowing his eyebrows. she threw the broom to mike, who flinched as he caught it. "got it!"

mike and will began sweeping. beatrice attempted to cover hole in the roof. she reached a hand to a fallen bookshelf, breaking it down and using it to mend the wood planks on the roof. she turns around, proud of her work, to see will and mike staring at her.