The Side Ways [mileven]

chapter 9 - the exposed

Third person's point of view...

She was at the school.

After being rained on in her sleep, having to travel through the rain to get dry, getting to talk to Mike but then having Mike leave, then having the same thing happen except vice versa, Eleven thought nothing could necessarily get any worse, could they?

So, that night after she had talked to Mike (and Dustin) on the intercom, she decided to take off to the school again, being it was the safest place she knew. Though Eleven didn't know specifically what building were made out of, she could easily tell that the school was built in a stronger way than Will or Mike's house was. She figured that night she could sleep in the school and then wait until the morning to thoroughly explore it, which was exactly what she did. So, the next morning after sleeping in a hallway of lockers, she stood up and began to wander.

The first two rooms she found were bathrooms, she could tell. Although, one of the bathrooms had weird...things in them, and she couldn't really make out their purpose. Not caring anymore, she moved along to some of the next rooms.

The next room that Eleven walked into was quite big, she examined. It was like two of Mike's living room put together. It had small tables that were connected to chairs by metal poles. There was also a black board at the front of the room, as well as a table that was much bigger than the smaller ones throughout the room. The black board was written on with white and it showed shapes and words that Eleven couldn't read or understand. Because of this, she traveled along to more rooms down this hallway of the school.

Eleven checked every room up and back down the hall, and she noticed that they all looked the same, except maybe one was smaller than another or one had different objects in them.

When El came to the end of the hall, there were door that came into a room she recognized. She had been here a few times before, none of the times on the best terms, exactly.

"Will was an exceptional student and I wonderful friend to all of us. It's impossible to express the hole his loss will leave in our community. I'd like to introduce you to Sandy Sloane. She's a local grief counselor from the church over in Jonesboro, but before she comes up here I just want those who are having trouble dealing with this..."

The voice faded. All Eleven could then hear was Mike complaining about everyone in the gym. Her gaze followed Mike's and Lucas's. She looked and saw who they were staring at. Eleven could feel herself grow angry. "Mouthbreather.." she whispered. Mike froze in shock, not expecting her to pick up the phrase he had used to describe the two boys who tormented him and his friends. He looked at Eleven and there eyes met each other's before Eleven looked back down in her lap.

Before any time at all, a loud bell was heard. It shocked El at first, but she went and followed Mike, anyways. Little did El know that she was in for a sigh.

"Hey," Mike began to call out to the two boys. "Hey, Troy," Mike said again. The boys ignored him still. "Hey, Troy," Mike said again. That finally got their attention. They slowly turned around to face Mike. "Yo-You think this is funny?" Mike asked the two boys, upset that they were mocking his friend.

"What'd you say, Wheeler?" Troy asked. Eleven was next to Mike. Not directly, but she was certainly there. Lucas and Dustin were lore towards the back of the crowd, watching from afar.

"I-I saw you guys laughing over there," Mike began, looking back at the general area of where they were sitting. "And I think that's a real messed up thing to do." Mike finished. "Didn't you listen to the counselor, Wheeler? Grief shows itself in funny ways," said the other boy whom Eleven didn't know the name of. "Besides, what's there to be sad about, anyways? Will's in fairy land now, right? Flying around with all the other little fairies, all happy and gay," Troy said, putting emphasis on the word 'gay.' Him and his friend laughed while Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were full of rage and annoyance.