bathroom stalls » mileven

vingt-deux

• old cover •

"eleven!" he yelled, tears streaming down his face. he was in the woods. it was dark yet somehow clear if that was even possible. "eleven!"

"mike-" a voice fluttered around him.

"el!" he excitedly screamed. she had to be close.

"run." a roar distracted him from the fluttery voice. he turned to meet the eyeless face of the demogorgon. it screeched, raising a clawed hand to his face to scratch him when she appeared.

"run," she powerfully bellowed. mike didn't have to be told twice. he hid behind a tree, watching as she forced the demogorgon down onto its knees.

"alive," mike whispered. "alive, you're alive."

she turned the demogorgon into dust, and the wind carried it away. it swirled around them, eventually falling to the ground.

"eleven?" he dared to ask.

the girl turned around and pulled her hood down to reveal someone who was not eleven. with shoulder-length stick-straight fawn-coloured hair and stormy dark-blue eyes. she was vividly painted in his mind.

"i'm not eleven," the girl fluttered. "i'm your worst enemy." she reached a hand out to him and-

mike gasped, sitting upright in his bed. his heart was pumping quickly. he placed a hand against his racing heart and sighed.

eleven was still gone. maybe dead. probably dead. he slumped back into bed, watching as the sun poked through his window.

recently, it felt like he had been moving on. he didn't want to feel like this, like he was forgetting eleven. yet his mind wasn't tortured over eleven. mike could say her name now without breaking into tears. he wasn't fully okay, but he could think of her. he didn't have to cry every time he heard her name, which was a lot.

he dressed for school, going downstairs and grabbing an apple. lucas, dustin, will, and himself had grown up. they weren't the gangly boys in middle school. they had grown to the top of the food chain.

they were popular. they were loved and adored.

lucas was into football and was the quarterback. he was also a player, finding a new girl each week, each one lasting less than the last. football had ended late in fall, and lucas was looking into another sport.

dustin was into acting and singing. he starred in the fall play and was currently auditioning for the spring musical. he had transferred into the chamber choir, saying that only some freshman were allowed into such a class.

will was will. he was still into science, biology at the moment. he dabbled in technology, and it seemed his new career path would take him into science. will obsessed over the gate and hawkins laboratory. he couldn't let it go. not since eleven had disappeared, presumably died.

will had also come out as gay. the group had expected the school to harass will, but it only made most of the school fall in love with him. some guys were uncomfortable with will and sometimes pushed him around, but the girls didn't have to worry about getting their hearts broken. he was constantly surrounded by girls, which caused the guys to run to will, pleading him to get him a date with some girl.

and as for mike, mike was a heartthrob. he supported his friends and that caused a lot of girls to fall in love with him. he was weightlifting now, even though he was still a weakling on the outside, he had been able to deadlift over 100 pounds.

yet mike never fell out of love. he never stopped loving eleven. he both forgot her and fell deeper into love with her. maybe that was where he went wrong.

maybe his faded and jagged memory of eleven "elizabeth" byers caused him to grow a crush on the new girl.