[oneshots.]

haunting.

this is inspired by Bruno Mars's song.happens somewhere in between 1983 and 1984;El is locked like an animal in her cage in Hopper's cabin.Michael decides to try again tonight. Au.
—✨—

Mike sighs as he drops his heavy bag on the dusty,carpeted floor,crashing down on the old leather couch before turning on the golden lights of his basement,the reassuring light instantly invading the room.He lets out a sigh mixed of annoyance and fatigue,pushing his puffy hair back with the palm of his hand as he stares at the ceiling.Another meaningless day spent;other useless hours passing at this ridiculous wooden desk,gazing each thirty seconds at the clock,stupidly eyeing the door's window,hoping that something,anything,would ever happen,in this stupid life.Everything was stupid to him,now.Stupid homework his maths teacher assigned.Stupid pudding that always remind him of that.Stupid bike that reminded him of her.

He tries to "drop it",like his friends tell him to.Drop it,Mike.She's gone.She's not coming back.He tries to.He tries to stop hallucinating about her delicate face each time he spots some pale blonde hair.He tries to not stare at the mustard colored large tee she left on the ground,the night they found her.He tries not to give his sister nostalgic looks each time she uses her blush makeup brush.Trust him,Mike tries.

But she's simply everywhere.

She follows him through his nightmares,crying out for his name.She begs him to help her as she turns into black butterflies.He still hears her small giggles in his dreams and the sound of her mind cracking some bones.He still feels the touch of her lips against his as-

" MICHAEL ! DID YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK?!"

The young teenager lets out a small sigh as he gets up and slams his basement's door,in a loud enough noise for his mother to understand that was absolutely not the time to remind him to do his homework or eat some fruit or whatever shit she tried to tell him to keep him "healthy".He wanted to tell her that it was not how it worked,but she wouldn't understand.Because Michael was sure that his mother never fell in love.The word is heavy for a thirteen years old boy,still growing up.The adults will tell him to enjoy his youth and not to take relationships seriously,to have some "fun",but all he could see was her.At the corner of the street.The figure of her eerie body flying away,calling for him.He chases her for hours and hours,and when he reaches out in order to touch her arm,her hair,whatever Mike can touch to indicate him that she's physically present,

She fades away.

Through his fingers,like sand.How many times Will found him on his knees,begging for her to return between two pained sobs,bitter tears running down his milky cheeks,the rain pouring over his soft curls? How many times did he called her name randomly out in class after dozing off on his desk,waking up from one of these terrible illusions? How many time did he fought with that dickhead who absolutely wanted the number sign eleven on the back of his basketball tank top? Mike scoffed bitterly at these painful memories.He also was a kid with a tattoo,now.She left her signature on his mind,in his heart,letting him praying on the ground and trembling in his lonely nights,leaving him throwing his guts out in the bathroom after a heart taking nightmare,his body sweaty and boiling?

He felt like he was going crazy.Mike was starting to question his sanity.It had now been practically more than a year and it seems like it was just yesterday.He can remember each of her touch,her words;he can recall how she faded off,leaving him alone in this cruel world.His friends tried to support him,to help him out of it.But he was trapped in this loop of guilt,of anxieties,insecurities.He was only thirteen;he should be spending his quarters at the arcade with an entire smile and not a half one.He should be playing Dungeons and Dragons with his closest friends until they passed out on the creaking table.Not having his mom proposing him to see a psychiatrist.Not spending entire sleepless night.Not waking up every morning and not being able to hold his tears back.Not looking at this stupid blanket fort under the furniture,where she had slept the only nights they got to see each other.