Mileven Stories

Mr. Sandman

Classic 'Mike has a Nightmare' Prompt. Did my best to incorporate light angst followed by much fluff, (because I'm a softie).
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Mike had awoken late that day. From what he assumed, it was probably already noon. When he flipped over to see the other side of the bed, he found that his wife's presence was missing.

Mike knew that whenever she was awake before him that he had two options as to where he could find her.

Option one, his wife would be sitting beside their kitchen island. She would likely already be on Eggo waffle number six and would be approximately thirty pages into whatever new book she had begun reading that morning.

Option two, he would find a note that was hastily written on her yellow stationary explaining that she had gotten antsy and went for a walk to pass time.

He quickly shuffled into the kitchen area and quickly took note of his wife's absence. Immediately after not seeing her there, he went onward to search for a note she had left.

However, his search was cut short when he felt like he was being watched.

He looked back at the entry way of the kitchen and was surprised to see his four party members.

Not that he wasn't excited to see them, he was just really confused. How did they even get in here?

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

The party members all shared a look that left him feeling unsettled. Alls he could think of in that moment was that Eleven wasn't there and they all were. His senses were beginning to heighten as his body internally set off its alarm system.

Before Mike even allowed them to answer his first question, his suspicions led him elsewhere.

"Did you guys see my lovely wife when you came in? Or do you happen to know where she is? She usually leaves notes if she goes somewhere before I wake up to make sure I don't worry."

He watched as the party shared the same look as before, except this time much more concerned.

Will was the first one to slowly approach closer to Mike. He gave his friend a once over before gently questioning him.

"Mike, who are you talking about? Did you meet someone? We're just here for our usual Saturday lunches. It's the five of us, like always."

This confused Mike even more. He didn't often get annoyed with Will, but right now he was driving him towards insanity.

Choosing to ignore the second half of Will's response, Mike went straight to questioning why all of them were pretending as if Eleven didn't exist. As if she wasn't a valuable member of their party.

"What? I'm talking about El. She wasn't here when I woke up. What's going on?"

He watched as Will's eyes turned to glass and he looked down.

The rest of the party members stepped closer to Mike and they now formed a circle around him.

They all shared that same look that was beginning to truly spark Mike's temper before Lucas broke the silence.

"Mike.. Eleven is gone."

This statement snapped Mike's last strand of sanity and set him loose onto his friends.

"What the hell do you mean? This doesn't make any sense! Where's my wife?", Mike exclaimed.

Dustin laid a hand on Mike's shoulder before saying, "buddy, I know it's hard... but it's been ten years since the night the gate was closed. Remember? She did it. She demolished the gate's existence and all has been well since then!"