𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖇𝖑𝖊𝖒𝖘●mileven

00●𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢

00●prologue

At age eight, Mike Wheeler was a surprisingly well known person in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. Everyone liked the small boy: his dark hair and eyes impossible to resist, his cheerful attitude to everyone and everything freeing in its own way, the way he could talk for hours about anything so endearing to the adults, the way he was always touching someone as if he wanted to make sure they were actually there, whether it was an arm around the shoulder or a hand on an elbow. Nobody could resist giving him anything he asked for, so when he asked his Mum, Karen Wheeler (the poor dear, losing Ted to something like that), to redo an old treehouse he had found deep in the woods, she automatically said yes, telling people it would keep him happy and out of her hair (the real reason? she couldn't say no to him. Nobody could).

By the next week, he had a new treehouse to play in. By the end of the month, he was spending hours each day there just writing ideas for a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. He had become obsessed with it ever since his cousin, Charlie, had come over and explained it to him. Despite not having any proper, close friends, Mike only had to ask someone and they would do anything for him (except probably jump off a cliff, but Mike was never going to ask that of someone, he was too sweet). Therefore, anytime he wanted to play D&D or play tag in the woods he only had to ask some of the closer friends, such as Sammy or Josh, who were twins that lived at the end of his road.

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"Hi! Do you live here?

"Um, yeah...?"

"Cool! I haven't seen you before, have I? You don't look familiar at all."

"No, I don't go out much. My mama works at a secret project, so nobody's meant to know we live here."

!Don't you go to school though?"

"No, my Aunt teaches me. She's really smart."

"Would you like to be my friend?"

"Um, sure?"

"Great! I have a treehouse in the woods, if you would like to come and play with me?"

"Let me ask my Aunt first."

"Okay"

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By age nine he was spending all his free time there, and I mean ALL his free time. School finishes at two thirty-five? By two fifty he was at the Treehouse. Clubs over at three forty-five? He was at the Treehouse by four o'clock. On the weekends, breakfast eaten by seven o'clock? Cycling to the Treehouse by five past. Dinner Ready at eight? Nancy had to almost literally drag him back.

One day in August Nancy was sitting on her bed, chatting to her long-time best friend, Barbara 'Barb' Holland, when her mother called up the stairs to go get Mike in from the treehouse. Personally she thought it was great that he was out the house so much. It meant that she could do almost anything she wanted with her mother was at work most the time, as Karen had dived into it once her husband, Ted Wheeler had gone missing a year ago. The local gossip mill had been on that story for months, each idea more unlikely than the rest.

The only downside was that she had to the one responsible to drag back home, which was especially hard when he was in the middle of writing a particularly interesting D&D campaign. She hung up the phone with a quick 'Bye, I have to go pick up Mike. See you tomorrow?'. Once she had reached the Treehouse, she called up to him, waiting ten minutes before climbing up, ready to drag him out if need be.

When she reached the top of the rope ladder, she climbed into the treehouse, calling Mike's name. When he didn't answer, she walked into the actual room and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. She looked through the piles of cushions, hoping he had buried himself in them, she checked under the little desk, in the small kitchen they had added, in all the cupboards. When she couldn't find him anywhere, she raced home.

"Mum! Mikes not at the treehouse!" It echoed emptily throughout the too-big house.

"What do you mean you can't find Mike?" The answer came from Karen's office, round the back of the house. Rushing there, she answered back. "I mean I can't find him anywhere near his tree!"

"What?! Are you sure?"

"Yes, I checked."

"Okay, Okay... I'll call the Chief."

Karen rushed over to the phone that was on the wall next to the kitchen, dialling the police station as fast as possible. She knew the Chief of Police, Jim Hopper, would help with a missing child case. His daughter, Sarah had died a couple of years ago due to cancer and he tried to help as much as possible on cases to do with children, knowing the pain of losing a child.

●●●

"Aunt Becky, please can he stay over, please!"

"I'll be good, I promise!"

"Fine...But you have to call your mum to make sure she doesn't worry okay?"

"Yes!! Of course!"

"Yay! I'll get the blankets yeah?"

"Yeah, and I'll get the food."

●●●

"And you're absolutely sure that he's not in the woods?"

"Well, we've been looking for an hour and we still haven't found him so I'm pretty sure he's not here!"

"Okay, don't worry, there's a search party looking for him now."

"Thank you."

Jim Hopper placed the phone down, leaning back in his chair. Mike Wheeler had apparently gone missing this afternoon. He had been in the woods that afternoon but when Nancy Wheeler, the older Wheeler sibling, had gone out to get him he was nowhere to be seen. It had been an hour and a half since he had gotten that phone call and he had sent out a search party as soon as possible. They had searched all of the woods, the quarry, the cliffs, all his friends houses and there was still no sign of him. Hopper was holding out hop that he had just wandered off somewhere in the woods and couldn't find his way back.

He was still sitting there at eight o'clock the next morning when his phone started ringing again. Closing his eyes, he silently prayed it wasn't Mrs Wheeler, as, yes her kid was missing, but honestly, calling very fifteen minutes was wasting time and slowing down the whole process. Picking it up, he answered.

●●●

"Hello, Chief Hopper here, how can I help you?"

"Hi, Chief!"

"Hey kid, where are you? We've been looking for you?"

"Sorry, I was supposed to call Mum last night but I fell asleep and now she's not answering."

"Okay kid, where are you?"

"I'm at my friends house. Could you tell my mum that I'm staying here again tonight please?"

"Sure kid, but make sure you at least come back for lunch, you hear me?"

"Yes Chief! Thank you!"

●●●

He was going have to have a word that kid tomorrow, he thought. A very stern word.