he promised || mileven

| 8 |

"mike?" eleven called out for the 30th time. she had looked everywhere for him, but she couldn't find him.

as she walked by the candy aisle she noticed something on the ground, so she squatted down and picked it up.
it was a $5 bill and some candy. she ran up to mike's mom as fast as she could.

"oh, hey, eleven! have you seen mike anywhere? i think we've got everything we need." she smiled.

eleven frowned and handed her the $5 bill. mike's mom looked vaguely confused.

"mike's." eleven said.

"oh," mike's mom looked at the money. "and where is mike?"

eleven shrugged. mike's mom bit her lip and walked around the store, calling mike's name.  she even looked outside of the store, and in the mini marts around it, but she still had no clue where mike was.

her heart was racing. she had almost lost her son once, she couldn't lose him again. it also wasn't common for mike to wonder. she walked over to the front counter, where nancy was leaned up against, laughing and talking with the cashier.

"um excuse me." mike's mom interrupted their conversation.

"hi there. how can i help you?" he smiled.

"could i possibly look at the security footage?" she asked in a worried tone. "i-i can't find my son anywhere..."

"i'm sorry, ma'am, but i can only show the footage to the police or someone investigating a crime." he said.

"what do you mean, mom? mike's missing?" nancy cried.

"it's fine, nancy. we'll-we'll find him." her mother reassured her as she walked outside to find a payphone. luckily, there was one near by. she ran to it and put in a couple of coins before typing in joyce byers' number.

it rang a couple of times before she answered. "hello?"

"hi, joyce. it's karen wheeler."

"oh hi, karen! how are you! how's mike?"

"mike.... mike's gone missing. i remember you talking about this police officer that helped you find will, and i was wondering if you could call him and send him over?" her voice was shaky.

"oh my god! that's awful! i'm going to call him right now. i'll keep my eye out for mike." joyce said before she hung up the phone.

when she walked back into the store, eleven and nancy were sitting on the counter while the cashier counted money.

"mike?" el asked.

"we'll find mike, eleven. it's okay, don't worry." karen bit back her tears.

about 5 minutes later, officer jim hopper arrived at the store. it was just him, no other police officers.

"hi, officer. my name is karen wheeler, and i-"

"hi, karen, call me hopper. joyce told me mike is missing... do you have any idea as to where he might have gone?" he asked.

"mike was recently in an accident, and he has a bad case of amnesia, so i don't think he knew where to wonder off to." she frowned.

"mr hopper?" nancy called from across the store,

he walked over. "check the security cameras." nancy suggested.

hopper shrugged. "is it okay if we look at the old security footage?" he asked the cashier.

"sure. from how long ago?" he started setting up a screen.

"around 15 minutes ago." karen said.

once the cashier had set them up, he walked away to help another customer.

hopper, karen, eleven and nancy all crowded in the small area to watch the recording.

hopper clicked a button that showed the front of the store, which was where mike and the candy were.

they all watched as a man approached mike and started to talk to him. they all stopped breathing for a split second when the man took mike's hand and walked outside.

"papa." eleven said softly.

"what? do you know him?" hopper asked.

eleven started to cry as she nodded her head. "bad. papa is bad."

"shit." mumbled karen.

hopper clicked another button that showed the front of the store from the outside. they all watched in horror as the man got into the car with mike and drove away.

"oh my god..." nancy covered her mouth.

"wait." hopper re-winded the video and paused it. he looked closer at the camera and read the license plate. he quickly grabbed a notebook off the counter and copied it onto the paper.

"we'll track the plate and find mike." hopper grunted as he got off the ground and out of the compressed area.

"thank you so much!" karen said.

"but this girl seems to know about the kidnapper... can i talk to her?" he asked.

"she doesn't say much. her vocabulary is very limited." nancy frowned.

"papa is bad. bad. tests. hurt. papa...." eleven mumbled.

"it's okay, kiddo. we will find mike." he told her.

"joyce gave me your number. i'll call you once we've ran the plate." he yelled before he walked out of the door.

eleven's heart hurt. she was furiously mad at papa for taking mike away. she knew he would be back. she knew it. she also knew that she loved mike, and would do anything for him. after all, he promised they would stay together, and she knows mike wheeler never breaks promises. that's why they mean so much to her.

***

next chapter will be 10x more exciting i swear lol