Gasoline(A Stranger Things Story) OCxEleven

Chapter Two:The Weirdo On Maple Street

After I changed into my spare clothes, I sat down on the couch in Mike's basement next to the trembling girl, who was breathing hard, and Mike asked,"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" The girl looked at him. I said,"Hey, you're okay.." She looked at me, confused, and gently touched my face. I froze, a bit freaked out, and Mike asked,"Do you know her?" I said,"I don't- I don't know.. I feel like I do." Dustin asked her,"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Lucas asked,"Did you run away?" Mike asked,"Are you in trouble?" Lucas asked,"Is that blood?" He went to touch the girl, and I slapped his hand. Mike said,"Stop it! You're freaking her out!" Lucas yelled,"She's freaking me out!" Dustin said,"I bet she's deaf." He clapped in her face, and she jerked back in fear."Not deaf." Mike said,"All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared. And cold.." He went over to a clothes basket, and pulled out some clothes, while the girl snuggled into my side, as thunder rumbled. Mike handed her the clothes, and said,"Here, these are clean. Okay?" She slowly took the clothes, and gently laid her head on them for a second. Then, she shoved Mike's jacket off her shoulders, and stood, about to strip in front of all of us. Mike shouted,"No, no!", while Dustin screamed,"Oh my God!", repeatedly. Mike pointed at a door near the stairs. He said,"See, over there? That's the bathroom. Privacy.. Get it?" She looked at him, then at me, then took the clothes, and slowly walked into the bathroom, looking around..

  Mike went to close the door, and she caught it with her hand. Mike asked,"You don't want it closed?" She said,"No." He said,"Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well- How about we keep the door..Just like this?" He closed it about halfway. "Is this better?" She said,"Yes." Mike walked back over to us. I zoned out, while they argued about what to do about the girl, and wondered why she seemed so familiar to me. It was a fuzzy memory that kept coming back to me.. I was in a small room with two girls, playing and drawing with them. And one of the girls- No, it couldn't be the same girl.. Could it? But what was that place we were in? When I snapped out of it, I saw Mike had built a blanket tent, and he handed the girl a yellow bundle. "Here you go, this is my sleeping bag." As Dustin and Lucas left, Mike said,"Hey, I uh, never asked your name.." She rolled up the sleeve on her right arm to reveal the numbers 011. Mike asked,"Is that real?" He went to touch her arm, and she jerked back. Mike said,"Sorry, it's just- I've never seen a kid with a tattoo before. What's it mean? Eleven?" She pointed at herself. He asked,"That's your name?", and she nodded. He said,"Eleven. Okay! My name's Mike, short for Michael, and that's Sarah over there.. Maybe we can call you El. Short for Eleven." She nodded. My right arm started burning, and I said,"Ouch.. What the hell?!" I rolled up my sleeve, and froze, as the numbers 000 lie inked on my skin. Mike looked between me and the girl, and said,"Sarah- You and her both have numbers.."

  I said,"This wasn't there before.. I don't think.. Can I stay here tonight, Mike?" He nodded, and said,"Mom will have a fit if she knows you're here. You can sleep in there with El." I nodded, and he said,"Okay. 'Night, El..'Night, Sarah." Eleven looked at him, and said," 'Night, Mike." I said,"Goodnight, Mike." I crawled inside the blanket tent with Eleven, and Mike shut the blanket door, and I heard him turn the light off and walk upstairs to his room. I laid down next to Eleven, and she looked at me. As thunder rumbled overhead, she flinched, and scooted closer to me. I sighed, and wrapped one arm around her, and closed my eyes, wondering where Will was, and if he was okay, as I drifted off to sleep..

  The next morning, I woke up to find Eleven still asleep, breathing softly, and, as I saw the time on my watch, I said,"Shit! Mom's going to be so mad!" I climbed out of the blanket tent, trying not to wake Eleven up, but she stirred anyway, and opened her eyes. She looked scared for a second, until she saw me.. I told her,"I have to go home now. Okay?" She said,"No." I sighed, and said,"I'll come back later. Mike will take care of you.." After thinking for a second, I reached under my shirt, and pulled out the heart necklace I had gotten for my birthday last year, and pulled it off. I said,"Here.. You can keep this for me. I want you to have it." She flinched, but let me put it on her. I smiled at her, and said,"Bye, El. See you later." She smiled back, and said,"Bye, Sarah.." I raced outside, and hopped on my bike, pedaling as fast as I could. When I got home, I dropped my bike on the porch, and went inside. I tried to sneak by, but Mom and Johnathan were in the kitchen, and they caught me. Mom, looking disheveled and sweaty, asked,"Where were you, Sarah? With Will missing, you stay out all night? Didn't you think that maybe you could go missing too?" I said,"I'm sorry, Mom.. I lost track of time, and stayed over at Mike's house." She covered her face with her hands, then smoked more of her cigarette, and Johnathan said,"All right, Mom, breakfast is ready." He set an omelet down in front of her, and she said,"What?Be careful of the poster!" She moved a poster with a smiling picture of Will on it out of the way, and I saw it was a Missing poster. "Okay, Mom, I need you to eat for me.." Mom said,"Listen. Listen.. The Xerox place opens in like thirty minutes, but I don't want you to go alone." He told her,"I told you I got it, Mom." She said,"So, I'm going to have Karen take you, cause I should be here. We need to make, what, two hundred, three hundred copies? How much is a copy? Ten- Ten cents? If it's ten cents a copy, we..we.."