far too young to die ✰ m.w.

CHAPTER FIVE

After spending another night in the basement of the Wheeler home, the teens knew they needed to inform Hopper and Joyce of what they had discovered as soon as possible. The only problem was, they didn't know where either of the adults were. They had tried calling the numbers of both Hopper's cabin and the Byers residence, but no one picked up at either house. This left Eleven to try to find them, starting with Hopper.

"I found him," she said after a few quiet moments.

"Where is he?" Max asked her.

"Woods."

"Woods?" Lucas repeated.

"What's he doing in the woods?" Emily questioned.

"He's with your mom," Eleven said.

"My mom?" Will and Emily said.

"What's he doing with Mom?" Will asked.

"I don't know!" Emily responded.

"Ill... annoy," Eleven said. "They're going to Ill-annoy."

Before anyone could question what this meant, there was knocking on the basement door and then Mrs. Wheeler's voice saying, "Mike! Breakfast!"

"Not now, Mom!" Mike yelled back before turning to Eleven, who was taking off her blindfold. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state? The state of Illinois?"

Eleven shrugged and repeated, "Ill-annoy."

"I'll take that as a yes," Emily said, standing up from her seat next to Will and approaching Eleven, holding her hand out for her. "Come on." Eleven took her hand and Emily helped her up off of the couch and then motioned to Max to come with them to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Emily used a wet cloth to clean the blood from Eleven's face that had dripped from her nose while she had been using her powers. Reflected in the mirror, Eleven could see the bruise on her neck that had formed when Billy had nearly choked her to death. She lifted her hand up to it and just barely grazed it with her fingertips, catching the attention of Max and Emily, who frowned when they saw the bruise.

"Does it still hurt?" Max asked Eleven.

"Only when I talk," Eleven answered.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike, then. 'Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' You'd be in constant pain."

The girls laughed, Emily nodding in agreement, until they fell silent in order to better hear the boys talking about them outside of the closed door.

"What are they still doing in there?" Mike questioned.

"I don't know," Lucas replied; it sounded as if he was talking with a mouthful of food. "Girls just like hanging out in bathrooms."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"They're conspiring against me."

"That's what you're concerned about right now?" Will asked. He was clearly fed up with his friends only ever talking about their girlfriends.