Chapter 18- The Day Before Christmas

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*Mike*

Mike gazed at the beautiful necklace that would soon belong to his true love.

It had a gold chain with two tiny linked hearts.

   He wanted to get her something more, but he could only afford so much.

  He snapped the case closed and wrapped it up.

   He checked his clock.

   10:30 pm, December 23rd, 1984.

*Eleven*

   Max slept over that night, and helped El get ready for tomorrow.

   "El, the wrapping looks fine."

   El inspected it closely. they had gotten it wrapped at the store, and it was virtually perfect, but El had a knack for finding the most tiny of mistakes.

    El rolled her eyes, "tomorrow is my first Christmas, I need this to be perfect."

   The frame was made of marble and had a rosy gold trim around the edge.

  She had also taken their picture from the Snow Ball to Jonathan to make it match the frame's size.

  "Well, I've gotta go home, It's my first Christmas here too."

   "Okay, I'll see you here tomorrow with the others?"

  "Okay, tell Mike I said hi."

   El nodded and watched as her friend departed from the room.

  El looked into the mirror before choosing what clothes to wear.

  5-3-4 am, December 24th, 1984.

   She went for a pair of jeans and before getting dressed, slipped into Mike's room.

   She looked over at him to make sure he was still sleeping.

   Mike was laying on his side under his covers, snoring softly.

  El chuckled softly and walked to where he had his clothes laid out.

  Aha!

  El held up Mike's Hawkins AV t-shirt.

  Right before she opened the door, she heard Mike start stirring.

   "Mike?" El whispered.

   The only reply she got was a whimper coming from Mike again.

  She dropped the shirt and kneeled at his bedside. "Mike? Can you hear me? It's El." She shook him gently, "wake up."

  His eyes opened slightly and turned in El's direction, before he reached out to hug her.

   El wrapped her arms around him and felt him start shaking with sobs.

   She climbed up next to him under the covers, "shhh, its okay, its okay- I'm here."

   Mike stayed with his arms wrapped around her and tears wetting her sweatshirt.

   She ran the fingers of one hand through the back of his hair, while rubbing his back gently with the other.

  When it seemed like Mike had calmed down a bit, El asked, "why were you crying?"

   "I had a nightmare..."

   "About what?"

    "During the time I didn't see you, I was pretty depressed," Mike rested his head on her shoulder.

   "Nancy told me."

   "So, I had a nightmare, that the day I found you, Halloween, I wasn't taken to the upside down, I was taken to the lab."

   "What's so bad about the lab, its out of business now?" El said leaning against the backboard of his bed after releasing herself from the embrace.

   "They did experiments on me, like they did you," Mike said his voice shaking, leaning against the backboard as well.

   "Oh."

   "Then it made me think of how long you were there, being tortured by those monsters," Mike's eyes watered, "they could've killed you, I wouldn't have ever met you- I wouldn't have ever loved you."

   She turned on her side and put her head against the pillow, "I love you so much."

   He copied her movements, "I love you more."

   "Friends don't lie, Mike." She smiled and pressed her forehead against his.

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Imma tell yall a bit about me:

I'm 12 and I live in New York.

I have 2 cats, Chloe and Oreo.

I am obsessed with Stranger Things, Shadowhunters, and Riverdale.

I do musicals with my BFF Peyton.

Im OBSESSED with Noah Schnapp.

I met this really nice British guy named Will in NYC today, I got really excited (his name was Will, get it 😉)

So yeah.

(Ik I'm cringy)

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