𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑚𝑎

Chapter 1- The Vanishing and Appearance

Mike's POV

I remember like it was yesterday . The day I met her. I think I knew all along really. That she was different to all the other girls. She wasn't like any of the other women I'd ever known. She wasn't as relaxed as my mother, she wasn't as stupid as my sister, she wasn't nearly as shallow as all the girls at school. I'd never experienced emotions like these. She made me feel things that were...different.

Now I have labels for these feelings, but before, I just thought i was crazy and weird. I didn't realise everyone felt these things at least once in their life. I will only feel this emotion once. For one girl and one girl only. Eleven.

I remember how stressed and panicked we all were, storming through the forest in full The Hobbit Getup. I don't know where we thought we'd get, the town's police was already hunting down Will, and if they hadn't found him yet, there was very little chance that we would. But it didn't matter. I think it was two things that made us look for him, made us leave our beds in the dead of the night, in the freezing cold weather, made our hearts start racing like jungle drums. I think one was obvious, we wanted to find our friend. We loved him and it wouldn't be very friendlike to sit in bed dreaming about a parallel reality with him in it, but to instead go out there, find that reality and draw him away from it.

Of course that was all theoretical at the time. We didn't realise there really was a completely opposite reality out there, with things more dangerous than most dream about, targeting our innocent, kind-hearted, Will.

I think our other motive was merely adventure. We were the sort of kids who would read about this sort of thing all the time, and I think as heartbreaking as it was to have lost Will, it sort of excited us. It excited us to have a chance at breaking out of our reputation. To show the world what we were really capable of. To have fun, for once. Not the normal kid fun, board games, walkie-talkies used for dumb reasons, the sort of fun that we all secretly craved. The book fun.

We thought we'd found him. We saw a looming shadow in the distance. I felt their bodies tense up. Mine did too. But then I saw the most beautiful, exquisite, curious face I'd ever laid eyes upon. I had to bring her with me.

Eleven's POV:

My day had been long. The longest ever. I had narrowly escaped the lab, whilst being hunted down by Papa and his friends. I'd made a friend, Benny, who had been murdered carelessly. I'd ran through the forest all night, searching for a sign of life. I was sweating from head to toe, adrenaline pumping through me. I was odd looking, buzz cut, huge, curious eyes, a small girl engulfed in an orange shirt that fit me more like a dress. I hate to remember that that must have been Mike's first sight of me. But it didn't matter. He looked past the dodgy appearance and saw what was underneath. A vulnerable, emotional child who needed someone to love her. And that's what he did, exactly. I remember how much I was despised at first. There were nights when Mike would go out that I would wish I was back in the lab. I hated being alone in that tent in his basement, left alone to ponder over my tragic childhood. But I hated it even more when Dustin and Lucas would come and call me names and shout at me. No matter what they said, whether it was true or not, Mike would forgive me. He would understand, or at least try to. Nothing I could do would be wrong in his eyes, even when it really truly was.