𝐊𝐄𝐘𝐒

Dead but Alive

Second to last chapter.(This chapter consists of flashbacks to previous books in the series)❤️

•Mike POV•
As soon as the nurse said that, I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I felt El's panicked eyes dart towards me. She shook her head, keeping her eyes locked on me. I looked down at her, not really sure what to say to her. Her eyes closed briefly, new tears falling down her face.

"I-I can't, Mike." She said. When she said that, something triggered in my mind, almost as if everything I needed to say in this moment had been locked away since the day I met her.

We waited outside El's door, leaning against the wall. We held our knees and sat in silence, looking at each other when the crying got louder. Eventually when the crying stopped, we could hear slight mumbles coming from inside the room.

"What is she saying?" Dustin asked. We cracked the door open slowly so that she wouldn't notice. She was sitting on her bed, looking at her wrist where the 011 was printed and slightly shaking.

"Experiment....useless experiment..." she continued repeating the words to herself until she broke down crying again. I couldn't take it. I pushed through the door and ran over to the bed.

"Mike I-" she started before I cut her off by kissing her. I heard the boys gasp behind me but I didn't care. I just needed her to be happy.

"You aren't, nor will you ever be useless." I said before pulling her in and hugging her. We stood and the boys came and surrounded us in a massive embrace. I needed to keep my promise. I needed to keep her safe.

"Yes you can." I said nodding at her vigorously, tears forming in my eyes. She shook her head, choking back her own tears.

"No. I-I'm just usele-"

"No! Stop! You are... everything. Not just to me but to everyone around you!" I said at a slightly hushed tone. Her eyebrows raised slightly at my sudden confession. I sighed, sitting forward as I placed my hands on her cheeks.

"You have been calling yourself useless since I can remember. That stops today. You are not an object, El, you're a person. My wife! Now please, trust me now when I say... that you are everything." I said, still quiet, the nurse tuning in to our conversation but not saying anything.

She looked up at me nervously, my hands still on her cheeks as her eyes searched my face. She hesitated, but nodded before leaning in to kiss me gently. When she pulled away, I felt myself flashing back to middle school, and high school, and everything in between. Her eyes, innocent but deeply scarred. In the woods when I found her. At the school when she vanished. In the lab when we saved her. At the Snowball in the closet. Under the cherry blossom tree in the park. Across the room during history class. When I proposed. She never changed, she was always the same perfect El to me.

"I love you." I said. She nodded again, not looking at me, but holding my hand and bracing herself for what she was about to experience.

Suddenly, my hand was being squeezed until I couldn't feel it and El was screaming, her eyes glued shut. I couldn't see straight, I felt like I was going to pass out right there. She was in so much pain. She suddenly took a long breath, exhaling before dropping her shoulders tiredly. The grip on my hand loosened and she looked up at me, tears blurring my vision. A new scream echoed throughout the room. It was our baby.

Tears began falling down my cheeks, my vision clearing as I looked to El who was also crying and looking at the foot of the bed where the nurse was holding wrapping the baby up in a little blanket. I felt her hand grab for mine again, still not looking at me.

"Mike-" She breathed out, more tears falling down her cheeks as the nurse brought the baby to El. She handed it to her, El gently holding the baby, her hands still shaking.

"She's a very healthy baby, I can already tell she's gonna be a fighter." The nurse said, smiling down at El. We both froze, looking at eachother before turning back to the nurse.

"S-she?" I said, the nurse nodding in reply before walking away. I looked down at El, more tears blurring my sight before I quickly wiped them away, my eyes moving slowly to the baby.

The crying had faded, the baby now asleep in El's arms. Tired was an understatement for how El looked in that moment. She looked almost dead, but alive at the same time, a smile still present on her face. I kissed the top of her head, wrapping an arm around her and smiling.

Suddenly, the door creaked open.

Um yea this book is almost over lol.
-Ava