Stories From Summer; Stranger Tales From The Summer of '85

21. Hide and Seek in the Forest

21. Hide and Seek in the Forest

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The last time Mike went through Mirkwood, was not only when he first met El - but when they were looking for Will (and the entrance to the Upside Down) back in 1983 - he never took it as a short cut when El went missing.

Mike adored El with everything that he had, and he knew that she had never played 'hide and seek' (something the boys used to play all the time when they were young children and not teenagers tipping into high school), she probably never did when she was a prisoner in the lab, hopefully she will have learnt about it when she began staying the cabin with Hopper.

Mike had explained his idea to the boys and Max (and because it was Max going up to see El the next day - and not one of the boys -  she promised to tell the Telekinetic, and Hopper about their idea).

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Max had El rustling under her bed, looking for something that El had borrowed from Max (most likely a t-shirt to go under her ever-present dungarees, or something like a hair clip), and Max went to go speak to Hopper.

"Chief, can I speak to you for a second?" Max asks, her head poking around the corner, looking at the scary man that looks after El 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

"Sure, kid," Hopper said, looking up from the newspaper he was focusing on, pen in hand (Max presumes he was doing some kind of puzzle, most likely the crossword puzzle from what El has told her).

Max was still stood in the doorway between where El was rooting around in her bedroom to the living room/kitchen/dining room situation - where her focus laid on Chief of Police, El's father (the latter probably being the scarier option than the former) Jim Hopper.

"It was the boys' idea to begin with, and I'm just the messenger - so don't shoot the messenger, because even though I think that this is a good idea-" Max started to ramble, something that was completely out of her character.

"What is it, Mayfield?" Hopper stops her in her tracks, kind of wanting her to get to the point.

She sighed, and looked down at her feet - feeling like she is on trial and Hopper is the judge about to send her down. "The boys and I want to take El to Mirkwood and play hide and seek,"

Hopper sighs, and looks at Max as if to say 'Why didn't you start with that?'

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Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Will were stood on the edge of Mirkwood waiting for Max (and hopefully El, because Max never told them what Hopper said).

They then heard the rolling of smaller wheels, a pair of feet running after the wheels - and the sound of two females laughing got louder as whoever was laughing got closer.

Around the corner first came Max - running like hell on her feet, with El on her heels on Max's skateboard with a wide grin on her face and laughter in her eyes.

Mike's face lit up when he saw his girlfriend coming flying into his eyesight. It doesn't matter how many times he sees his girlfriend, the only girl for him. 

"EL!" Dustin shouted, his arms flying up into the air, smiling happily at the telekinetic. Mike misses El like crazy whenever he is away from her, but the rest of the party do miss her as well (however, not as much as Mike would miss her).

El almost comes tumbling off the skateboard, and Max rushes behind her and stops the skateboard as Mike comes running towards her and catches El as she comes off the skateboard and smiles into her hair.

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Mike was hiding in a bush, as it was Dustin's turn to find the Party. From where Mike was sitting, he could see Lucas hiding behind a tree, and El was hiding up another - he doesn't know how she got up there, but she did.