TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE
—
the final search party. troy had decided to go to the past few, but he always kept to the back, thankful it was dark outside, to hide his various bruises gifted to him from his uncle, after he snuck into the lab.
troy looked at himself in the mirror, and frowned at what he saw. he had a cut on his lip, and a black eye. he threw on a hat, and hoped no one would care to look at him, or ask him why he was wearing a hat, in the middle of the night. he knew he was accountable for mike's disappearance. he watched him leave. if they didn't find him today, he would have to deal with the abuse from his uncle, and tell authorities what he had seen. he knew something the others didn't.
his uncle— his uncle meant to do what he did to mike. he saw a boy filled with potential, and a boy who could easily be tricked into testing out the portal, and being smart enough to figure it out. troy hated him for it. and he let it happen.
he kissed his mother's forehead as he left the house, she was sitting on the couch, watching the news. "be home by midnight." she hollered after him, but he was gone.
as he pulled into his uncle's laboratory, he caught a glimpse of max laughing with will and dustin, and lucas seemed to be telling a story. he loved how her red hair glimmered in the moonlight, and he hated how he had been forced to treat them all.
he jogged up to the front doors of the laboratories, and as he went to put his hand to the door, he heard a blood-curdling scream. no, two. his heartbeat intensified as he threw open the doors, and ran to the room where mike had disappeared, followed by max, lucas, dustin, and will. the lights were flickering, and his hat had fallen off. they looked at him- horrified, and he wondered what they could possibly be thinking. he shook his head, and opened the door, audibly gasping.
what he saw inside was astonishing.
it was mike. however, it wasn't just him. somehow, he had managed to bring back- bring back a girl! and, a dog?
mike slowly stood up, trying to regain his balance, and he held the hand of the brunette girl he had brought back. she, somehow, stood up, and dusted off her dress.
"well, you must be troy." she said, with a million-dollar smile.
