Tʜᴇ Sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ Sʜᴇ's Kᴇᴘᴛ | Mɪʟᴇᴠᴇɴ (Sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ Tʜɪɴɢs)

◇Chapter 007◇

"Hopper, I'm telling you something is wrong." Mike placed his hands on the counter and looked at Hopper.

"Okay, so tell me again what happened." Hopper lit a cigarette and looked at Mike.

Mike sighed. "I left for a few minutes to get her some water cause she had a headache, and when I came back, she had her eyes closed and she was shaking." He ran his fingers through his hair. "It took me time to wake her up, and when she did, she told me she saw the Upside Down."

Hopper tapped the end of his cigarette on an ashtray. "And what happened after? You said something about her eyes, didn't you?"

Mike nodded. "I-I dont know if what I saw was real or not, but her eyes looked lighter than normal." He sat down on a chair next to Hopper. "Her eyes looked cold and almost green and blue..."

"This reminds me a lot of what happened to your friend, the Byers boy," Hopper admitted, earning a nervous look from Mike. "She has a scar and a bruise on her arm, right?"

He nodded and looked down at his lap. "She keeps saying that nothing happened to her in the lab but I don't know." Mike looked up at Hopper, an idea forming in his head. "Do you think there's something she isnt telling us?"

"I don't know kid. We have to try talking to her again." Hopper placed his cigarette in the ashtray. "Where is she, anyways?"

"She said she wasn't feeling good, so she's taking a nap in my room right now," Mike replied and took a shaky breath. "Should we wake her up?"

"No," Hopper said, standing up. "I want to see this bruise and scar you were talking about."

He and Mike somewhat silently walked upstairs and into Mike's room. El was asleep on Mike's bed, the blanket pushed off of her. Hopper knelt on the floor and took her arm gently and rolled up her sleeve, revealing the faded bruise, scar and slightly dark veins on her wrists.

Hopper looked at her arm and ran his finger over the bruise, making El shift in her sleep. El's eyes moved slightly underneath her eyelids, indicating that she was having a dream.

He looked at the scar on her forearm. "It almost looks like a needle went into her skin," Hopper said as he looked over the scar. "That wouldn't explain the bruise though, but it's a possibility."

Mike's eyes widened but he nodded slightly, still in disbelief that El hadn't told him anything. "She kept saying that nothing happened though..." They told eachother everything. Friends and boyfriends and girlfriends don't lie... right?

Hopper ran his fingers across the scar. Her body jolted and she sat up, her eyes wide. "What are you doing?" She quickly rolled down her sleeve and looked at Hopper with cold eyes. "Why are you here?"

"I called him over El," Mike said gently and took her hand in his. She slowly relaxed from his touch. "Remember I said that we would talk to him about what happened earlier?"

El shook her head. "No, I'm okay. I'm perfectly fine." She rubbed the scar on her arm nervously as the cold gaze in her eyes began to fade.

"El, remember what happened ea-" Mike began.

"No," El insisted, coldness tinged her voice. "I am okay." Her voice softened slightly. "I promise."

Mike nodded absent-mindlessly, a hint of suspision on his face. That cold tinge on her voice reminded him someone. A past memory...

"El, kid, look at me," Hopper instructed and put a hand on El's shoulder. She looked at him and his eyes widened slightly.

Mike was right. Her eyes were lighter, almost green. The warmth in her eyes looked as if to be fading and replaced by unusual coldness.

"Hey kid, can you sleep here tonight? I have an... Investigation that I have to do, okay?"

El smiled and nodded. "Okay." She said, trying to hide the excitement in her voice.

Hopper grabbed his hat and began walking downstairs, Mike and El following. As Hopper opened the door, he mumbled to Mike, "Somethings wrong. You were right."

Mike nodded nervously and closed the door. Mike wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, looking at her features, trying to find anything else that looked different.

"What?" El asked curiously as her arms slowly wrapped around his neck, and tilted her head.

"You're just really pretty El, I missed you a lot," he replied quickly, trying to ignore the slightly change in her eye color.

"I missed you too, but I'm home now... And I'm okay," she mumbled and pressed a soft kiss against his lips, earning a slight smile from him and another kiss in response.

"How about we go into the basement and watch a movie? I can make some eggos," Mike offered and kissed her forehead.

El nodded and hugged him tightly. A cold feeling had spread through her heart, and she was wanting his warmth. A strange sensation lingered in the back of her head, but a strange voice kept telling her that she was okay, and she believed that she was.

Hawkins Lab

Hopper walked inside the building, gun in hand. He walked in a room to see a metal table with black straps and a nearly empty bottle of red and purple liquid on a counter. The leftover liquid in the bottle glowed slightly, reminding Hopper of the slime in the Upside Down.

Hopper began walking around the lab, looking for anyone. A trail of blood was spread across the floor from where Brenner was shot. He was alive.

"Where is that son of a bitch?" Hopper muttered as he walked through the supposedly empty lab.