HEARTACHE ( mike wheeler. )

ONE.

HEARTACHE
CHAPTER ONE: NEW CHAMPION IN TOWN
"it's just a night at the arcade, nothing too special"

                   October 28th, 1984.

   Theo groaned as he stretched his body upwards to reach the highest shelf of his closet. Despite the fact that he was already perched on a chair trying to pick up what he had placed so high, he still couldn't reach the box he was trying to get a hold on — which made him regret his choice of hiding. But after what felt like an eternity of trying, Theo finally managed to grab the box, which brought smile to the boy.

   Theo hurried himself off the chair and went to his bed where he set the box in front of him. With excitement and impatience, he finally opens the box and finds the treasure he spent half an hour for. The old shoebox was filled with wrinkled bills that were rewards for the chores he accomplished previous years.

   At the age of 9, Theo had the wonderful idea of putting some money aside to pay for his studies at his dream college, Harvard. After having collected a considerable sum of money — 100 dollars — Theo promised himself not to touch the money ever again until he graduated ; but in case of cataclysmic events, like a zombie apocalypse or more realistically, a Demogorgon attack, Theo was authorized to use the money saved when only faced to a life or death situation —  like the one he was currently facing... well not really.

  "Theo, do you copy? It's me Dustin." A voice came in from his walkie-talkie.

  The curly-haired boy sighed as all excitement and anticipation left his body. He reached for the walkie on his bedside table and brought it to his mouth, "Yeah, I copy."

  "Between Lucas and I, we have a total of six dollars." Dustin said. "How much have you got on your side? Over."

  "Hold on." Theo said, as he put the walkie-talkie on his bed in order to take out a few bills from the box sitting in front of him. He folded the few dollars and put it in his back pocket before grabbing his walkie. "I have five dollars. Over."

  "Where did you get all that money from?" Dustin asked, sounding almost stunned.

  "From a secret place of mine." Theo grinned.

  "From your college funding?"

  Theo stayed speechless for awhile, somewhat caught off guard. "...Maybe." He replied shortly.

   "I thought you said you could only use the money when faced to a life or death situation." Dustin said.

   "Helping you get Princess Daphne from Lucas is a life or death situation." Theo replied, before changing the subject. "Anyways, enough about me. Have you reached Mike or Will yet?"

  "I was going to call them after you. Over."

  "Well, then let's split the work. You call Will and I call Mike."

  "Why do I always get to ca-"

  Without wasting time, Theo started switching through channels trying to reach Mike's frequency. At this time of the day, Theo knew what frequency Mike was using.

  "Mike, do you copy?"

  "Yeah, I copy." Mike replied.

  Frequency 110.7 was the frequency Mike spent his time on. Nobody knew why, but some said that he would sometimes hop on the frequency to try to contact El. Even though that was just words, Theo was sure that it was true and would sometimes do the same thing, thinking that it would help find El quicker as two.