"you know will? did you see him? last night? on the road?" rory said, hope evident in her voice. but before el could answer a car pulled into the driveway. rory's mom was home.
"we gotta go." rory took el's hand and led her out of her bedroom and started to go out the hallway and into the shed, but her mom was already unlocking the door, she pulled eleven back into her room and opened her wardrobe.
"in here, i'll be right back, okay?" rory said, panic laced in her words. "please you have to get in here or my mom, she'll find you. do you understand? i won't let her find you, i promise."
"promise?" el asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.
"it means something that you can't break," rory explained quickly, panicked that her mom would hear her. "ever."
"rory? is that you?" joyce called out, hearing her daughter's voice. rory cursed under her breath.
"yeah, mom, i'll be out in a minute okay? i'm just get-getting dressed." rory said, stumbling on her words, trying to stop her mom from coming in her room.
"okay, sweetie." her mother responded, placing the heavy bags of shopping she had just purchased down on the kitchen table.
eleven tiptoed into the closet, fear painted on her face as rory shut the door. her breathing thickened and she sunk to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees. she closed her eyes and was back in the lab, being dragged down the echoing halls by two uniformed guards. she called out for her papa, who watched as she was dragged away, helpless.
they threw her into a room, the size of a small closet and shut the door. eleven scrambled to her feet and pounded on the door, still calling out for her papa. tears ran down her cheeks as her voice became hoarse and she walked to the corner of the room, then collapsed to the ground. when she opened her eyes, she was back in rory byers' closet, tears rolling down her face.
"why are you home from school so early?" joyce inquired, looking her daughter straight in the eyes.
"i didn't go, i didn't feel good, i woke up and my head hurt real bad, and my throat was all scratchy and i wanted to tell you but the last time i told you i was sick you made me go to school anyway, and-" rory said, the lie rolling off her tongue as guilt flooded her stomach.
joyce saw right through rory's lie but knew the girl was afraid for her brother,
"honey, it's okay to be worried about will- i-i am too, but don't feel as if you have to hide anything from me, i know i've been distant but i'm just so scared and there was a phone call..." joyce trailed off, her voice shaky.
rory nodded sympathetically, she hadn't been there when her mother needed her most.
she got up from the couch and returned to her room as her mom yelled out that she was going to get a new telephone. rory exhaled in relief, then rushed to her room, remembering the girl hidden in her closet.
el cradled her legs as she cried, looking up at rory with tears pouring down her face. rory dropped to her knees. "rory." the girl sobbed out her name.
"is everything okay?" rory asked, concerned for the girl who looked as if she had been hurt. she nodded at rory.
"are you sure?" el nodded again, and gave a small smile.
"promise."
~
after school, the boys rushed to rory's house. lucas didn't hide his dislike for the girl rory had taken in, he was convinced she was from someplace like penhurst and needed to go back.
"are you out of your mind?" he exclaimed, disapproving of rory bringing the girl to her house. he stared at el, who had one of rory's favourite blankets over her crossed legs.
"just listen to me." rory said, fed up with lucas' tone and negative attitude.
"are you out of your mind?" he repeated, throwing his arms into the air.
"she knows about will!" rory yelled at him. he lowered his hands, shocked at her outburst. rory rarely yelled.
"what do you mean she knows about will?" dustin stepped forward, peering at the girl with confusion.
"she pointed at him, at this picture," rory grabbed the photo."she knew he was missing, i could tell."
rory was almost pleading the boys to believe, to let el stay with them. el and rory had grown fond of each other and didn't want to say goodbye yet.
"you could tell?" lucas said, unamused.
"just think about it," rory fired back, frustrated at her friend. "do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on mirkwood, the same place where will disappeared.
"that is weird." dustin agreed with rory, hoping that lucas would eventually agree if everyone else did.
"you know what i think is weird? she's got a freaky tattoo on her wrist, she's got a buzzed head and a shit vocabulary, she's probably escaped from a mental hospital and has people coming after her, who will then come after us if they know she's with us," lucas ranted."we're taking her to your mom and she'll send her back to penhurst or wherever she came from."
rory thought back to the dream el had told her about and sat down next to the girl. eleven shifted to face her.
"the dream you told me about, the bad men coming, are the bad men real?" rory asked, hoping she had pieced things together wrong.
the group watched as el nodded her head and spoke one word, "papa."
VIV'S THOUGHTS: i really wanna write a book for each season but here are the problems i face:
season 2: el and rory are separated so there won't be a lot of them together until the last few chapters
season 3: i'm not sure how and if i want to have the fight between them like the fight between mike and el
season 4: i can't make jopper happen :((
lmk if you have any suggestions until then!!
YOU ARE READING
cardigan𓏲
Fanfic"ʸᵒᵘ ᵈʳᵉʷ ˢᵗᵃʳˢ ᵃʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ ᵐʸ ˢᶜᵃʳˢ" rory has never felt so alone since her twin brother, will went missing but when her and her friends stumble upon a girl with strange powers in the woods, everything changes. rory and el become closer and closer, but...
