far too young to die ✰ m.w.

CHAPTER FOUR

"It's not difficult. This is impossible."

The agent stood up suddenly. "There are factions within our government who are working directly against Eleven, who are, in fact, searching for her as we speak. We can't risk contact. If they learned about any of this, it will jeopardize Eleven. And if Eleven is jeopardized, so are your friends. And so is your family."

Their anxiety mounting, Mike's hand moved from Emily's knee to take her hand, and he scoffed and said to the agent, "So, what? We're just supposed to trust that you're the good guys? Whoever you are?"

"We're friends of Owens. Eleven trusted us. Now we're asking the same from you." The teens didn't reply, so the agent moved on, reaching into the inside pocket of her blazer and removing an envelope. "For you." She held it out to Emily, who took it with her free hand.

Emily relieved her hand from Mike's in order to open the envelope. Inside was a folded piece of paper, so Emily unfolded it to read what was written inside in Eleven's handwriting.

Dear Em,

I have gone to become a badass again.

From, El

Emily managed a small smile and a chuckle when she finished the short note, knowing that Eleven was referring to the many times that Emily had reassured her by calling her a badass.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

The Byers' and Mike hardly slept that night, the worry for Eleven and their loved ones in Hawkins being all that they could think about. This was especially true for Emily and Mike, who had put the issues within their relationship on the back burner for the time being and were focusing on getting each other through the current situation. With Joyce gone and Jonathan being rather preoccupied, Emily was able to get away with allowing Mike to sleep with her in her bed that night, which did bring them both a bit of comfort and temporary peace.

The next morning, Emily was sure that it was Amber who kept calling and ringing the doorbell, but agents Harmon and Wallace insisted on being the only ones to answer the phone and the door and were refusing to let the teens have any contact with anyone outside of the house. Emily did feel guilty for leaving her best friend in the dark, but she also knew that it was in Amber's best interest that she have no idea what was going on, so she cooperated.

After a very tense breakfast, the youngest three took refuge in Eleven's bedroom. Mike and Emily sat on the bed, Emily rereading Eleven's note over and over again while Mike held her. Meanwhile, Will was pacing back and forth, ranting to them and fidgeting by throwing a ball at the wall and catching it.

"I-I mean, I just don't think they've actually thought this through," said Will. "If this goes on for a month, o-or months, a-and people can't get ahold of us, they're gonna totally freak out. Meanwhile, Mom's probably having a panic attack already. And then what about Hawkins? That lady's just supposed to keep it 'contained.' Like you can contain any of this without El. I mean..."

"Okay, Will, let's be honest with ourselves for a moment," said Emily, taking her eyes away from the note for the first time in a good while, "the only people that would even notice we're MIA would be Amber and Argyle, and Argyle smokes so much that he'd probably forget about us within a month. And even if anyone else did notice, they wouldn't care. Everyone here hates us, and everyone over in Hawkins is probably too focused on surviving to even think about us." Under her breath, she added, "Not that they'd try to contact us anyway."