Your Strongest Paladin

The Stress

HIHI HI!!!
So this is my first fic i am very excited :3!! Please be gentle with me as this is in fact my first fic LOL! Critiques are welcomed <3!

No specific CW for this one besides maybe distancing from loved ones??

March 1st 1986
12 days until California.
——————————————————

Mike couldn't sleep. This wasn't a surprise really, he had a hard time finding sleep every night recently.
Though he knew in the back of his mind it was avoidance, he wasn't gonna admit that. The nightmares may have been driving him a little insane.
But it's nothing he can't handle. He's fine.

Though, Taking a quick look at his clock wouldn't hurt..

His head whips to the familiar bedside table. Mentally praying the clock will read any time before 12:00 AM.

It reads 3:15 AM.

It feels like his eye-bags are literally sinking into his skull after seeing that number.
He groans, dragging his hands down his cheeks, pulling at the familiar freckled skin as the groan trickles out.
Normally he'd be up wallowing, doing anything to occupy his mind while the night wastes away. But tonight was different.

His motivation had been dwindling for months, he knew that much. And he thought it was just english for a little while. He didn't think it would matter too much if he just scribbled away on some scratch paper, or did whatever else instead of listening to Mrs.Gabel's lectures on their next book report. He did regret not paying attention a little bit though when he had to present absolutely nothing to his class yesterday. She knew 15 seconds after he started talking about the hobbit and its historically groundbreaking impact on literature that he had no idea what he was doing.
Apparently he had to have done about 3 weeks worth of research on the outliers in preparation for an oral presentation. He found himself not really caring all that much that he was in trouble, or that he was having similar issues in his other classes. Though remembering the embarrassment of walking back into class with a detention slip still made his cheeks burn.
What Mrs.Gabel had said to him still had his mind reeling.

And not in a good way.

————————-————————-————————-——-

"Michael. I think it might Benefit you to start seeing Mrs.Kelly." She said firmly, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. She seemed serious. What the fuck was she talking about?

"The school shrink!? Look Mrs. Gabel, I get that I didn't do this dumb report, and it's worth a large part of my grade. But does that really warrant you to refer me to seeing the school shr-... therapist?" He tried to hide his annoyance, but it was pretty difficult to repress. Especially considering how Mike was fine.
He's faced worse than not doing some stupid assignment. Surely she could see that.

"Micheal, It's not about the report. Of course this is going to make a huge mark on your grade. You're not getting away from that punishment Wheeler.
But... I'm concerned."

Mike could feel his annoyance festering into irritation.

She continued, "You've been coming into class... distracted. You look exhausted all the time, and your grades have been slipping since January. I checked your transcript, you've had perfect marks since kindergarten Micheal. You're brilliant. And somethings wrong."

Mike was not liking this conversation.

Why was she so concerned with his grades? What did him losing focus for a bit have to do with something being wrong. There was absolutely nothing that she needed to know about. Nothing at all.

"Mrs.Gabel I'm fine. So what if I didn't read up on your damn book. Who're you to care? It's not any of your fucking business on why I do or don't do things.
And if me choosing not to have perfect marks in your stupid class bothers you that much, then maybe you're the one with the god damn problem." He snaps, feeling the lingerance of a burning anger escape his lips.
Besides, he wouldn't even have the time to read her stupid book. Dad had him running the stupid track team every night he wasn't doing hellfire. He doesn't even know Mike's a part of the club, let alone about his GRADES. He never wanted to sign up for being the track teams manager but it was the only way he could make an excuse for being out in the evenings.

Mrs.Gabel's silver eyes twitched.

All of that anger mike held, suddenlv dissolved into fear.

"Mr. Wheeler. I think we may be making that appointment with Mrs.Kelly non-negotiable. Now, also your detention. Get back into my classroom.
NOW" Mrs.Gabel furiously wrangled a pink slip out from her fleeces pocket, then she wrote out what Mike presumed would be the next 2 weeks of his life before school.

Michael Wheeler, was not looking forward to starting his dentition tomorrow.

————-————-————-————-————-——————

He still had no idea what could possibly be so drastic about ONE assignment. But even then, as much as he let his anger get the best of him, he knew she was right. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but english wasn't the only place his heart wasn't at.
He'd stopped writing letters back to El midway through January. Even though he had stopped writing to her, she hadn't stopped writing to him.
Their calls on cerebro went from daily to biweekly.
He wasn't attending church with his family on
Sundays anymore as of February. Ted and Karen Wheeler were less than happy about that.

And as of 2 weeks ago.

He found himself stumped on writing out new ideas for his big campaign.
The one he had started as soon as Will and Eleven left for Lenora.

He's frustrated.

The most dreadful of it all though, was the newest addition.
Starting as of last week.
The one thing, Michael Wheeler, couldn't find any explanation for.

The nightmares.

And the ticking of a clock that rang through his ears every night he closed his eyes to go to
sleep.