✓ | THE CAPTIVE , ᵈᵘˢᵗᶦⁿ ʰᵉⁿᵈᵉʳˢᵒⁿ

06 | Voices Fill My Head

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TWELVE SNUGGLED DEEPER INTO THE BLANKET AS HE HEARD STATIC from the walkie-talkie El was holding. Twelve slightly flinched, his eyes moving violently under his closed lids, his breathing turning heavy all of this going unnoticed by Eleven.

The boy gasped waking up with wide eyes, sitting up and looking around frantically at the unfamiliar scenery before his blue eyes landed on Eleven causing him to sigh in relief. Twelve then groaned in pain as his muscles became sore.

The downside of mimicking someone's powers without physical contact is that Twelve feels unbearable pain for hours, days at the max. But when he has contact with someone it may drain the other person faster, so Twelve would rather deal with the pain than tire someone else.

The young boy had grown somewhat used to feeling the pain after the continuous torture Papa put him through but sometimes Twelve couldn't help but whimper when he feels the pain spread throughout his body.

Twelve grabbed his plushie that was tangled in the blanket he made the plushie use, "Good morning Ben." he said softly, smiling as he looked into the stuffed animal's eyes before he looked towards the girl next to him as she fiddled with Mike's walkie talkie she found.

Eleven turned her head slightly to the side, seeing the boy wither in pain, silently wishing Five were here since he was always better at calming the boy down.

Twelve caught her look of concern and nodded his head slightly in reassurance, but both their heads snap up at the sound of footsteps coming towards the fort.

The blanket covering the inside of the fort was flipped up revealing Mike, who smiled at the two, glancing at the radio in the girl's hands.

"Hey, you found my supercomm. Pretty cool, huh? I talk to my friends with it. Mostly Lucas cause he lives so close. Signals pretty weak." Mike chuckles, shrugging.

Twelve looked at the boy curiously, wondering when the other two boys from last night were going to come back like he said they would.

Mike glanced between the two before sighing, digging in his jacket pocket pulling out a waffle and a cup of pudding. "Got your breakfast. Sorry, Levi, we didn't have any more eggos, so...i got you the next best thing." Mike smiled softly at the boy who took the cup of the gooey substance.

Mike pulled a spoon out his other pocket, "I'm pretty sure Dustin won't be mad if you eat his stash."

Twelve looked down at the cup of goo in his hand, furrowing his brows and looking at Mike weirdly.

This looks disgusting. he thought as he pulled the lid off the cup, grabbing the spoon out of Mike's hand, and cautiously took a bite of the goo.

Twelve's eyes lightened as he tasted the sweetness of the gooey food, looking towards Mike who was watching amused before looking towards Eleven who was staring at him with the same expression, already done with her waffle.

Mike shook his head, sighing. "Okay this is gonna sound weird...but I just need you to go out there," Mike said, pointing to the door in the basement that leads outside, Twelve and Eleven share a look before turning to the raven-haired boy.

"Then go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer and you'll tell her you're lost and that you need help. But whatever you do, you can't tell her about last night or that you know me, understand?"

Twelve took a bite of his pudding, looking towards Ben who sat on his lap nodding at the octopus, then looked at Eleven who shared a look of uncertainty.

"Really it's no big deal. We'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom, she'll know who to call." Mike smiled.

Twelve somehow felt hurt by this though being his emotional self he started overthinking. Like did Mike not want us here? Were we that bad? Maybe we were bad, Twelve thought, I mean he did kill those agents at the diner.

Stop thinking like that! A voice yelled, echoing through his head.

Sorry, Twelve sighed.

"No," Eleven stated.

Mike furrowed his brows. "No?"

Eleven shook her head, scooting closer to Twelve. "No."

"No...you don't want my mom to get help?"

Eleven just looked up at the boy and shook her head pursing her lips, before looking at the radio in her lap.

Mike thought for a second, glancing at Twelve who looked very distressed, "You're in trouble, aren't you?"

Twelve glanced up from Ben hearing those words looking towards El, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Who...who are you in trouble with?"

Twelve looks back at Ben sadly, remembering the things that happened at the lab. The pain. The fear.

It's okay...you just have to wait...he's coming. soon.

"Bad," El whispers, staring into space.

"Bad? Bad people?" Mike leaned closer, feeling protective of the two as Eleven nodded her head. "They want to hurt you? The bad people?"

Eleven doesn't respond she just lifts her hand in a gun form, aiming it at her head, then at Twelve's head sighing as the curly-haired boy flinches when he catches sight at the shape then points it straight at Mike's as his eyes widened.

"Understand?" El raised an eyebrow, grabbing one of Twelve's trembling hands.

Twelve jumped, and the three kids' heads snap to look at the stairs as they hear a woman's loud voice. "Michael, where are you? We're going to be late!"

Mike sighed, looking at the two again, "All right, I'll be back. You two stay here okay?" he said, dropping the sheet to cover the opening of the fort.

The two sighed as they heard Mike's footsteps climb the stairs. Twelve's face scrunches in pain as he flips the sheet back up, Eleven gently but firmly grabs the boy's arm, "He said stay." El stated, looking into the boy's glassy eyes.

They gotta go! Leave now!....you have to go...I'm going to find a way back to you...trust me. All the voices of the three people he left behind rang in his head scarring him.

"Twelve." El snapped the boy from his daze, the boy shook his head closing his eyes briefly before dropping the sheet and sitting next to Eleven.

I have to stay...I should have stayed the first time Twelve thought bitterly.

You and Five would have died. the voice sassily replied.

At least I'd still be with him.

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A/N) Who do you think is behind the voice that Twelve keeps hearing? I'll give you a hint...it's not El...but it's someone or something close.

I hope you're enjoying this book, tbh this is the only story I feel confident about so... yeah!

I love you, and remember you are a beautiful/handsome human!!