A Stranger Story

Miss You Already

                                                                                     El's POV:

     I miss him. All of them. A lot. At least Hop- Dad had given me the day I can see them again. 341 days. I will count them down every day. The man that took over the bad place told Dad that I would be able to see everyone and go to school with Mike after 365 days. But I just miss them so much. I still talk to all of the boys on the supercom whenever I want, there are no restrictions against this. But just talking to them can't ever beat seeing them again. I miss Mike the most. Will barely ever talks anymore, he tells me, but when he does, he sends " unfathomable gratitude " to me. Sounds like Will is bananas. Mike is always saying how much he misses me, and I tell him about all of the people that I visit. I like to visit Kali too. I never say anything, but I need to know that she is okay.

     Nothing ever happens here. Nothing. At least I can eat all the eggos I want. Well, not really. Hop- Dad wants me to limit my eggo-eating marathons. I would give anything to get to hear and see Dustin and Lucas bicker again. I wanted to talk to Kali too, but I was afraid of what might happen. She had to be mad at me for leaving her, but that wasn't the life for me. I sighed heavily for about the billionth time. All those mouthbreathers got to roam the world as they pleased, but I was stuck here. For 341 days longer. I could hardly wait.

     All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. It wasn't the secret knock I had with Hop- Dad, it was different. And different hands too. This person was weaker. I started to panic. How did they find me? Could it be Papa? Were they going to take me back? Hurt me? I ran into my room and hid under the covers. There was another knock on the window. My window. It was slid open slowly, and a figure emerged from the curtains. I started to shake. Then came a voice. It was quiet and calm. " El? " I immediately knew who it was. I pulled the covers back. "Mike!" I stood up and we embraced in a warm hug. It had been so long since I'd hugged Mike. I started to cry quietly. It felt so good, to hug him and I couldn't pull away for a minute. I grinned ear to ear after pulling away. " How did you get here? How did you know? What? You found me! " My mind was jumbled with thoughts but I was just so happy to see him again that I couldn't form sentences. My tears were streaked all over my face. They were of joy. He kept blinking back tears, but I knew that if he stopped resisting, he would look just like me.

     We sat down and he explained how he found me. Jonathan had told him that they had saved Will in that cabin in the woods, so he just kept looking everyday to find me, and then he did, and entered, knowing I just had to be here. We talked and talked for what had to have been at least  60 minutes. He updated me on everything that had happened to everyone, and how Max had joined the party, and he was still vaguely angry about it. I was told about Will and how he was always alone and scared. He kept having those flashbacks, although they were of no harm anymore.

     It felt so nice to be able to talk to someone other than Hopper for a while. I tried to tell him of things that happened here, but then I realized that nothing ever happened here. Soon, I realized, he had to leave. It wouldn't be long before Dad would come home. When I told his this, his eyes welled up with tears. " I don't want to leave you El. I can't leave you. " I told him that I didn't want to leave him either. It made my heart break to see him sad. He gave me a hug goodbye. I gave him a kiss on the cheek before he left. After he closed the window, I whispered "Miss you already."