It Gets Stranger [Stranger Things x Reader]

forty three

"el, i know you think you have to do this, but you don't." i hear mike say. he's bent over next to eleven.

i look over at max and she rolls her eyes.

"it's just," mike continues, "you've only done this before once. and your mom, she loved you. and wanted you to know what happened. and billy's mind is- is sick, diseased. the mind flayer is in him."

eleven turns to him. "he can't hurt me. not in there."

"we don't know that." mike shakes his head.

eleven scoots closer to him and reaches over to hold his hand. "mike. i need you to trust me."

mike looks over at max and i, who are sitting about 6 feet away from them. max raises her eyebrows at him and he looks back at el.

"yeah. just...be careful." he says before sitting back in his chair.

eleven outs her blindfold on as everyone else gathers back into the room. we sit around her in silence, allowing her to concentrate.

slowly, eleven starts breathing heavy. blood begins to trickle down her nose as she eventually starts whimpering. she looked terrified.

"something's wrong." mike says, sitting up in his chair.

eleven starts shaking and looking around as she continues whimpering. mike slides off his chair and sits on the floor, a few feet away from eleven.

"el, are you okay?" he asks.

she doesn't answer.

"are you okay?" mike asks again.

el takes a deep breath. "i'm okay," she says softly.

"what's going on?" i ask her.

"i'm...on a beach." she says.

"okay, i may be dense," lucas says, "but the last i checked, there weren't any beaches in hawkins."

"what else do you see?" max asks her.

eleven's quiet for a moment. "a woman. she's...pretty. i...i think she's looking at me."

she pauses.

"there's...a boy. it's billy."

"it's california." max says. she looks down. "it's a memory."

"i think i see it." eleven says. "the source."

"where, el? where are you?" max asks.

"steelworks."

jonathan jumps up and runs into the kitchen. a second later, he walks back in with a phone book.

"here. okay, uh, steelworks, steelworks..." he starts flipping through the pages and nancy walks over to him. "here, steel. uh...found it. 6522 cherry oak drive."

"that's close." nancy says.

"el, el, we found it. get out of there." mike says, leaning towards el. "get out!"

blood begins to trickle down both of eleven's nostrils even faster. she starts panting, faster and faster.

suddenly, she tears her blindfold off.

"no!" she shrieks.

mike practically jumps at her and wraps his arms around her. eleven turns to him, grabbing onto him.

"el, you're okay. it's- it's okay." mike says.

eleven closes her eyes and falls deeper into mike's arms, violently sobbing. mike looks up at me and i stare at them, wide eyed.

—

"he said he was building something. that it was all for me." eleven explains.

"building something..." max pauses to think. "is he talking about the flayed?"

"he must be." nancy says.

"so, he's building an army. just like we thought." lucas says.

"yeah, but he's not building this army to spread." mike says, looking around.

"he's building it to stop eleven." will's eyes go wide.

"last year, el closed the gate on him." i start. "i have a feeling that really pissed him off."

"like, royally." lucas agrees.

"and the mind flayer now knows that she's the only thing that can stop him." i continue. "but if she's out of the way-"

"then it's game over." mike says softly.

"he also said he was gonna kill all of you." eleven whispers.

we all look around at one another.

"yeah, well, that's nice." max sighs.

there's a faint screeching noise in the distance followed by the sound of fireworks.

nancy seemed to notice because she walked over to the window. "do you guys hear that?"

i sit up in the couch.

"it's just the fireworks." jonathan says.

"billy..." nancy turns back to us. "when he told you this, it was here, in this room?"

eleven nods.

there's a loud thud in the distance and we all start looking around.

slowly, will begins to lift his hand up to the back of his neck. his eyes go wide.

"he knows we're here."