𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆

13-mind reading

The flock of misfits had piled into the rickety white van as Axel started the engine up, a low grumble coming from the inside of the hood. Holly was sat next to Mike who had a sleeping Beatrice in her lap. His eyes flicked down to her tiny face, cheeks flushed a dark red and eyes scrunched shut as if she were in some sort of great pain.

"Will she be ok?" Holly asked tentatively, carefully eyeing the small figure that was scrunched into a ball in Mike's lap. Mike sighed as Holly's eyes met his, a tear escaping her eye and leaving a streak on her face.

"I think so, yeah." Mike replied, flashing Holly a reassuring smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to relax. She smiled back and nodded.

The van pushed forward onto the road, bouncing and rumbling down it at a pace that was probably way too fast for the old vehicle. But they kept moving anyway.

Nobody said a word, not even little Auggie. Even he could sense the tension that was stabbing at the bubble in between everyone. The silence screamed louder than words, begging for voices, conversation, a song, anything.

The van hit a bump in the road, causing Beatrice to stir in Mike's lap. He placed his hand on her head as he let a small 'shhh' escape his lips, calming her and sending her back into a restless slumber.

She needs to rest. He thought to himself.

It's better than torturing yourself with your own thoughts.

Mike knew how Beatrice felt, even if it wasn't necessarily to the same extent of knowing every fact in the universe. He tortured himself by thinking about Hawkins. By thinking about his friends. By thinking about El.

The more that time went on, the more his heart ached. The more he felt the pain from those 353 days returning to his spirit. He yearned to feel her in his arms, to see her goofy grin, and to hear her laugh so hard that she threw her head backwards and clutched her stomach.

He felt his eyes well with tears as thoughts of her invaded every corner of his mind, until suddenly, he felt a ticking in his brain. Not a sound, more like a feeling. Wait a minute...

His head jerked towards Christopher who was staring right back at Mike with empathy glazed over his eyes. That's when Mike remembered,

Christopher reads minds.

He rolled his eyes, twisting his head in the opposite direction of Christopher as the much older boy left his gaze on the ebony haired boy. Mike prayed that Christopher would just forget about it and move on, even though the mysterious girl back in Hawkins hadn't faded from his mind.

"You don't have to pretend you don't miss her, Mike." Christopher said from where he was sat across from Mike. Mike kept his head in the other direction and bit his lip, struggling to keep his cries from escaping.

"Mike." Christopher whispered. Mike shook his head vigorously, a tear escaping his eye and trailing down his face, followed by another one, then another one.

Before he knew it, all the eyes were on him, tears falling freely and soaking his t-shirt. Axel gazed back at Mike through the mirror, trying to be discreet, and Kali turned her body from the passenger seat, making eye contact with Mike. He stared back before she turned back around, everybody's sad stares slowly drifting away from Mike and facing the floor in sorrow.

Kali stared forward, deep in her own void of thought. She felt sympathy for the boy, and she knew that his mind constantly torturing himself was gonna throw the group off track at some point, and Kali was not going to risk the group getting caught.

She needed to protect them, she just wasn't sure how. Not yet, atleast.

-

hi guys! sorry for slow updates! my internet best friend fluffywheeler came to my state to meet me and she's been here all week, so i've been spending time with her.

i love connecting with you guys! so if you have any questions, feel free to comment them for me!

once again, thank you all for reading! and stay tuned! love you guys!

-ava