e l e v e n

Chapter Twenty Four: Mike

    He closed the door. Locked it behind him. He walked into his room and tried to get to something, anything, that would distract him. But there was nothing he could get to in time. He grabbed a pillow from his bed, and slowly sank to the floor, back against the wall. The room was spinning. He was cold. There were sharp, shooting pains in his leg. He slowly drew himself into a ball, pushing his head into the pillow to muffle his sobbs. He closed his eyes, willing this feeling of fear to just go away. But the more he concentrated on it, the worse it got. And then, he was back. It was as vivid as if he were still there. His leg was burning. The flashbacks were so immersive. He had only been there for a very short amount of time, what was this affecting him so much?

Nancy's room was next to Mike's, their walls backed against each other's. She was in her room, on her bed, just reading. Hoping to take her mind off of what had happened. She suddenly began to hear muffled sobs from Mike's room. She threw open her door and ran to Mike's room. She tried to open the door, but she had no luck, he had locked it. Nancy quickly fished a bobby pin out of her bun, and proceeded to pick the lock. When she finally managed to open it, she saw Mike, just sitting there, curled into a ball. He looked so vulnerable and afraid. Nancy rushed to his side. She put her hand on his shoulder gently, and attempted to shake him out of whatever this was.

"Mike?" she said soothingly, "Mike, are you okay?" he wouldn't respond. She started to worry. Nancy quickly headed back to her room, and dialled the Byers house phone.

"Hello?" Johnathan's voice came from the other side of the phone

"Johnathan, this is Nancy." she said urgently "I need you to bring Will over immediately."

"Is everything okay?" Johnathan asked worriedly

"Yes..I mean no..I mean..just bring Will as soon as you can."

Mike and Nancy's parents weren't home, so Will and Johnathan didn't have to worry about talking to them, or explaining their arrival.

"What's going on? Where's Mike? Is he okay?" Will came rushing upstairs, asking as he ran

"See for yourself" Nancy said softly. Will walked into Mike's room, and he saw the boy, curled into a ball, sobbing into a pillow.

"He's been like this for over an hour." Nancy said, softly. Will sat down on the floor next to him, ad tried to talk to him.

"Mike..." he said, with an affirmed tone. "Mike, I know you're there." This went on for another 20 minutes, Will just trying to get Mike to come to his senses. And then finally, he "woke up". Mike began to cry even harder, and threw his arms around Will.

"It was so terrible, like I was there." he whispered to Will "I was so scared. My leg felt like it was on fire."

"The demogorgon didn't bite your leg in any way, did it?" Will asked, suddenly worried

"It...did" Mike replied, who, going off of Will's facial expressions, began looking more and more worried by the second. "Will...what's going on? What's happening?" Mike whispered frantically, a panicked expression on his face as he stared at his best friend

"I'm so sorry." Will said, tears beginning to form in his eyes, "You're turning into one of them."