𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 | stranger things

sixteen

a/n - guys this is 3837 words, i hope
you're okay with a longer chapter 😭

Eleven had returned. It turned out that she had been alive the entire time. She'd been living with Chief Hopper, who insisted that she wasn't allowed to see Mike for her own safety.

Wren rubbed her temple at the sound of Mike's yelling coming from the other room. He was such a selfish, whiny little brat. If he really cared about Eleven – and Wren didn't think that he did since they were only 13 and not emotionally mature enough for adult relationships – then he would understand that it wasn't safe for her. Even Wren understood this, and she wasn't even friends with the girl.

"Is El always that cold to new people?" Max asked as she and Wren swept up the glass on the floor from the broken window. When she had introduced herself, Eleven had walked on past her to greet Mrs. Byers instead.

"I don't know." Wren shrugged, her eyes following her twin brother as he paced around the living room. "I don't really know her. She's the boys' friend."

"Mike, would you just stop already?!" Lucas snapped. "Honestly, you're starting to act like Wren."

"Rude!" Wren huffed, her jaw clenching as she glared up at him.

"Jesus, no wonder you don't like him," Max muttered.

"I loathe all of my brother's friends," Wren grumbled. "And I loathe my brother."

"Wren, come on, I'm sure you don't mean that."

"Oh, I mean it, all right." Wren took the dustpan full of broken glass and carried it into the kitchen. She looked through the cabinets for a plastic container that she could put them in. She taped the lid shut with some duct tape before throwing it away. She scribbled a quick note to Mrs. Byers, which read:

I didn't want any stray cats or dogs getting cut from the glass, so I threw them away in a tupperware container. I'll replace it for you when I get my allowance.
                        - Wren

When she went back into the living room, Steve was speaking with the other kids about being on the bench. Her brows furrowed in confusion. This wasn't a sports game.

"Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh . . . there's nothing we can do."

"That's not entirely true," Dustin argued against Steve's statement. "I mean, these demodogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"So, if we get their attention . . . " Lucas said, catching on.

"Maybe we can draw them from the lab," Max finished.

"And bring them here?" Wren frowned deeply. She shook her head. "No way! We've already died, like . . . twice tonight!"

"Wren, you're so selfish!" Mike snapped. "We need to lure the demodogs away so that El has a clear path to the gate!"

"I'm being selfish?" Wren scoffed. "You're the douchebag who thinks that your needs in a relationship are more important than Eleven's safety! If anything, you're the selfish one, you annoying little—"

"Both of you, shut up!" Steve yelled. Wren flinched at the loudness of his voice, shuffling closer to Dustin. The boy made a move to pat her back, but she slapped his hand away, mouthing don't touch. "Wren is right. We all die if those demodogs come here."

Mike suddenly gasped. "I got it!" He walked out of the room and into the kitchen, the others following behind him. He knelt down in front of the drawn-out map on the fridge, pointing to a location. "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel, so . . . " He walked to another part of the map where all the tunnels met. "Here, right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire—"