"Is there a number we can call for you?"
"Do you have cancer?"
"She probably ran away"
"Looking like that?"
You and the boys were standing looking at the scared girl on the couch in Mike's basement. She had brown eyes and her hair was shaved off. She was wearing a large yellow shirt and she kept getting scared by the thunder outside. You couldn't leave her out in the storm, so Mike had the idea to bring her to his house.
"Is that blood?" Lucas asked. He reached down to her shirt where there was a bloodstain but Mike slapped his hand away.
"Stop it, you're freaking her out!"
"She's freaking me out!" he said back.
"I bet she's deaf" Dustin said. He slapped his hands in front of her face and she flinched.
"Not deaf" he shrugged.
"Idiot" you rolled your eyes at him.
"That's enough alright? She's just scared and cold" Mike said.
He went over to a laundry basket and came back with a sweater and sweats which he handed to her. She brought the clothes to her cheek and felt the cloth on her skin, which you and the guys found kinda weird. She then sat up and started to take off her shirt.
"No! No! No!"
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god"
You and Mike reached out and covered her again with her shirt but Lucas and Dustin freaked and turned to not look.
"Jesus" you said.
"That's a bathroom right there, privacy" Mike said.
She went in but she didn't allow Mike to close the door.
"You don't want it closed?"
"No" she said.
"Oh so you can speak" he smiled.
You raised your eyebrows and looked at Lucas and Dustin. Who is this girl?
"How 'bout I leave it just like this? Is that better" he left the door open just about three inches.
"Yes"
As she changed you and the boys were talking about this strange girl.
"This is crazy" you told them.
"At least she can talk" Mike said.
"She said "no" and "yes", your three-year-old sister says more" Lucas said. "There's something seriously wrong with her, like, wrong in the head"
"She just went like..." Dustin threw his arms over his head knocking his cap off, intimidating the girl taking off her shirt.
"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst" you said staring at the bathroom door.
"From where?" Lucas asked you confused.
"The nuthouse in Kerley County" you told him.
"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin asked smiling.
"Bite me"
"That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy" Lucas said.
"Why she went ... " Dustin moved his hand outward agin.
"She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a lunatic" Lucas said.
"Like Michael Myers" you nodded.
"Exactly!"
"So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" Mike asked.
"Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem" Lucas said. "I think we should tell your mom"
"Who's crazy now?" Mike asked.
"How is that crazy?" you asked him.
"'Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?" Mike said. You shrugged.
"So?" Lucas asked.
"Sooo if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom..."
"Our houses become Alcatraz" Dustin said.
"Exactly, we'll never find Will. All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight" Mike started to explain. You raised your eyebrows at him.
"You're letting a girl?" Dustin asked.
"Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will" Mike explained the plan.
You, Dustin, and Lucas started to go up the stairs but stopped to watch Mike helping the strange girl. He set up a big old blanket tent for her.
"You really think she's lunatic?" you asked.
She didn't seem crazy. She probably went through something tragic you thought.
"Wouldn't want her in my house, c'mon Y/N" Lucas said taking you with him up the stairs.
"Mental" Dustin sighed.
(The next day)
You rushed in through the door and froze as the whole class got silent and looked up at you. Mr. Clark stopped presenting his topic and crossed his arms.
"You're late Y/N" he said.
You took out the apple from your mouth. "Yeah sorry the alarm was off by an hour" you said. "Got you one though" you threw him an apple that was in your hand and he caught it.
"Alright, why don't you sit down and pay attention, but next time it's a detention" he said.
You smiled and took another bite of your apple. Mr. Clark really was the best teacher ever.
You went over to your desk besides Dustin and Lucas and sat down.
"Where's Mike?" you whispered to them. His desk was empty and he was never late.
"I'm telling you, his stupid plan failed" Lucas said.
"Jesus, if his mom found out, he'd be in deep shit right about now" you said taking off your jacket.
"Oh man, if Mrs. Wheeler tells my parents..." Dustin said freaking out.
"No way, Mike would never rat us out. All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the looney bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will" Lucas said.
You nodded and tried to focus on the science lesson.
(Time skipped)
After school, you Dustin and Lucas were riding your bikes to Mike's house.
"I bet you she robbed his place and ran out" you said.
"Well that wouldn't be terrible, at least she'd be gone" Lucas said.
"Do you think she'd have anything to do with Will? I mean, we found her right where he went missing, don't you think that's weird?" Dustin said.
You shrugged, "I don't know man, the last thing we need is another problem"
When you got to Mike's house, you saw the strange girl sitting in his bed. She was staying in the basement and now in his bedroom.
"Are you out of your mind?" Lucas asked Mike. .
"Whaddya think?" you muttered to him. It was crazy enough that Mike let a stranger in his house but in his bedroom?
"Listen, she knows about Will" Mike tried to explain.
"What do you mean she knows about Will?" Dustin asked.
"She pointed at him, at his picture. She knew he was missing, I could tell" he said.
"You could tell?" Lucas asked.
"Just think about it, do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood,
the same place where Will disappeared?" Mike asked.
"Yeah we talked about it at school when you weren't with us. Instead you were here babysitting a stranger" you told him.
"But she said bad people are after her, I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will" Mike said. "I think she knows what happened to him"
"Then why doesn't she tell us?" Lucas asked.
You all turned and looked at the girl. You had to admit to yourself she looked kinda pretty.
"Do you know where he is?" Lucas asked but she didn't answer. "Do you know where Will is?" Lucas asked louder, grabbing her by the shoulders.
"Hey, chill" you told him.
"Stop it, you're scaring her!" Mike said. You raised an eyebrow at him, he must really care about this girl.
"She should be scared! If you know where he is, tell us!" Lucas turned from Mike to the girl. But she still didn't say anything. You sighed.
"This is nuts! We have to take her to your mom" Lucas said.
"No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger" Mike said. You furrowed your eyebrows at him.
"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked.
"Her name is Eleven?" Lucas asked.
"El for short" Mike explained.
"Mike, what kind of danger?" you asked him loudly.
"Danger danger" he pointed his hand like a gun to you and then to Lucas but he slapped his hand away.
"No, no, no! We're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom" he said.
Lucas went to the bedroom door and started to open it but it suddenly slammed back shut by itself. Lucas turned and looked at you confused. He tried to open the door again but it slammed and locked itself closed. You all turned and saw Eleven standing with blood coming out from her nose.
"No" she said.
(Time skipped)
It was nighttime now and you and the boys were at the dinner table eating with the Wheelers. None of you were eating though. You kept playing with the food on your plate with your fork, staring at the utensil. Eleven had powers and that couldn't even settle in your mind.
"Something wrong with the meatloaf?" Mrs. Wheeler asked.
"Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch ... I don't know why" Dustin said.
"Us too" Lucas said, you nodded with him.
"So, there's this special assembly thing tonight for Will at the school field, Barb's driving" Nancy started to say.
"I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Will is found" Mrs. Wheeler said.
"I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I'm not there, I mean, everyone's going" Nancy insisted.
You rolled your eyes. She didn't care about Will; she only wanted to go make out with Steve.
"Just... be back by 10" Mrs. Wheeler said. "Why don't you take the kids, too?"
"No!" you all said loudly.
"Don't you think you should be there? For Will?" Mrs. Wheeler asked.
You then looked behind her and saw Eleven walking through the house. Mike choked on his milk. You dropped your utensils super loud on the plate and leaned all the way on your chair and fell to the ground, hoping to distract the family and Dustin slammed his fists on the table. The Wheeler family all looked at you like you were all crazy.
"Sorry, spasm" Dustin apologized.
You got back up and fixed your chair, Mrs. Wheeler asked if you were okay.
"Gravity" you told her.
When dinner was finished, you and the boys raced down the basement. Eleven was sitting on the couch, watching all of you. You walked slowly near El, she had powers and you didn't know if she was safe to be around. She looked at you, Lucas and Dustin, she looked scared.
"Don't worry, they won't tell anyone about you.
They promise, right?" Mike asked. You nodded.
"We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers" Dustin said. Mike punched his arm.
"What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared... earlier" Mike explained.
"We just wanted to find our friend" you told her.
"Friend?" She asked.
"Yeah, friend. Will?" you said.
"What is "friend"?" she asked confused.
"Is she serious?" Lucas asked.
"A friend is someone that you'd do anything for" Mike said.
"Yeah, you get to hang out and tell jokes"
"You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards"
"And they never break a promise" Mike told her.
"Especially when there's spit" Lucas said.
"Spit?"
"A spit swear means..." Lucas spat on his hand. "You never break your word" he reached and grabbed you hand shaking it with his spit in his. "It's a bond" he explained.
When he let go of the handshake, you looked at your hand and wiped it on his jacket sleeve. El then got up from her seat and went over to the table with the game board on it.
"What's the weirdo doing?" Lucas asked.
You rolled your eyes, you were tired of them calling her 'the weirdo'.
She sat down and flipped the board over to the dark empty side. She grabbed one of the wizard figurines and placed it in the middle.
"Will" she said.
"Superpowers" Dustin asked.
You looked at her confused.
"Did you see him? Do you know where he is?" you asked her.
She then grabbed the demogorgon figurine and placed it beside the wizard.
"I don't understand" Mike said.
"Hiding"
"Will is hiding? From the bad men?" he asked. But El shook her head.
"Then from who?" Mike asked but she didn't reply.
You leaned back into your chair and sighed.