mike's heart went five hundred miles per hour, as him and the other kids stood alongside each other, each holding an object from the room as a weapon, terrified as they stared, eyes wide open, at the door that creaked open. chief hopper was gripping his gun, aiming it directly at the door. everyone was completely silent, and just as hopper went to pull the trigger back, he put the gun down, as the brown eyed girl walked into the room, her hair slicked back, wearing an old black jacket.
"eleven," mike barely whispered to himself, as his vision went blurry as tears began to form in his brown eyes. "mike," eleven gently smiled, and mike smiled back. mike walked towards her in a fast speed, "eleven," he said again, louder, wrapping his arms around her and buried his neck into her shoulder. "mike," eleven breathed, heavily as she wrapped her arms around him, tightly. "i never gave up on you," he said, gasping.
eleven's grip on him gently tightened, tears starting to rush down her red cheeks, smudging her black eyeliner. mike pulled away, holding eleven's hand, wiping his tears away with the sleeve of his sweater. "i called you, every night.. every night, for-" he was cut off by eleven, as she smiled sadly. "three hundred and fifty three days," she said. "i heard." mike's eyes widened, "why didn't you tell me you were okay? that you were safe?"
"because i wouldn't let her." hopper cut in, moving towards the pair. mike moved back, confused. "the hell is this, where've you been?" hopper said, gently, and wrapped one arm around eleven, holding the gun in the other. "where have you been?" eleven demanded back, frowning. she buried her face into his chest, tears once again forming as mike piped up.
"you've been hiding her." he said, frustrated, mad and confused. he stepped forward, "you've been hiding her this whole time,!" he shouted, angrily. he pushed hopper back, roughly. "hey!," hopper said, grabbing the collar of mike's shirt. "let's talk. alone." he grumbled, and mike ripped his hand away, walking into the closet room. hopper followed, slamming the door.
eleven gulped, wiping her eyes and nose, blood going across her wrist. she looked up to lucas and dustin, half smiling.
meanwhile, in the other room, mike was absolutely pissed. "protecting her?," he exclaimed, shouting loudly. "protecting her!" he repeated, louder. hopper sighed loudly, "listen kid, listen to me. the more people know about her, the more danger she's in, and the more danger you and your family are in-"
"oh what? so i should be thanking you now?," mike shouted, frustratingly, waving his arms around. "i'm not asking you to thank me!" hopper shouted, "i'm asking you to try and understand." he said, softly. mike was even more pissed, "well i don't! i don't understand,!" mike shouted back. hopper glared at him, "that's fine! that's fine! just don't blame her," he said. "she's upset enough as it already is."
"i don't blame her, i blame you! i blame you!" mike screamed, pointing to the wall that separated him and hopper from the others. "that's okay kid, that's okay," hopper said, frustrated as he turned around. "no! nothing about this is okay,!" mike shouted, nothing about this is okay!-" he started pushing and shoving hopper. "oh, jeez!" hopper shouted.
"you're a stupid, disgusting, lying piece of shit!" mike screamed, still punching and pushing hopper against the door. "okay! all right, stop it!" hopper shouted. "liar! liar! liar!" mike screamed at hopper, his voice breaking as he started crying. "liar, l- liar,!" hopper hugged the younger boy, as he sobbed gently in his arms. "you're okay kid." hopper said, "you're okay, i'm sorry, kid."
back out in the other room, eleven was in a group hug with dustin and lucas. "we missed you," they said, gently. "i missed you, too." eleven said, softly, worrying about mike. "we talked about you pretty much everyday," dustin said, smiling. they pulled away, and eleven stared at dustin for a second, before reaching her hand out and touching his pearly white teeth.
"teeth." she said, gently. "what?" dustin asked, confused. "you have teeth," eleven said, again. "oh." dustin smiled, "you like these pearls? grrr," he smiled. eleven stood still, and lucas shook his head. "eleven?" piped up a young red headed girl from behind. "hey, um.. i'm max." she said, smiling. "i've heard a lot about you." eleven stared at the girl, remembering her face. skating with finn.
this was the girl who was with mike that day in the gym. she gasped, softly, and walked past her, bowing her head, as she hugged joyce, tightly. joyce teared up. "hey, hey sweetheart," she said, her voice breaking. "hey.." she said again, softly pulling away, smiling. "can i see him?" eleven asked, gently. joyce sighed, and nodded. she lead her to the room at the end of the hall, opening the door. will was asleep, laying on the bed.
eleven sniffled. "i know." she said. "i saw." joyce looked up at eleven, "what else did you see,?" she asked, gently. eleven stood up slowly and walked over to the table, where the morse code letters of 'close gate' were. "you opened this before, right?" joyce asked, gently. eleven nodded, softly. "yes."
she wiped a bit of blood from her nose, as the others started to gather in the room by now, standing in the doorway slowly, trying to make sense of the conversation the two girls were having. joyce looked up, interested. "d- do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" joyce asked, softly. eleven looked at joyce softly, looking away, sadly.
"yes," she replied, whispering, and she stood up, walking out of the room, sighing. joyce sat still on the edge of her son's bed, holding his small hand. "hang in there, will." she said, letting go of his hand, and stood up, looking at the others that had gathered in the room. "we have a plan." she said, softly, as she started telling them what would happen that night.
