The sound of engine starting indicated that his mom had left. Just after a few seconds Mike burst open the door as the three of them came out of the gloomy basement.
"You want something to drink? We have OJ, skim milk......what else?" Mike rambled as he generously offered.
Alex and Eleven stood in the middle of the living room with eyes scrunched, adjusting to the bright light. Eleven suddenly went up to the T.V that instantly caught her eye.
"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching T.V. Nice, right?"
"That's twenty-two inch. That's like ten times bigger than Dustin's." Mike said proudly making Alex roll her eyes.
She didn't want to brag but their T.V was much bigger than anyone's in whole Hawkins.But she didn't liked to brag as it was not hers to begin with.
El, having lost her interest, soon walked away from the T.V and continued surveying the living room until she stood in front of some pictures belonging to the Wheeler's.
She quietly examined each member's face before stopping on Nancy, Mike's older sister.
"Pretty." Eleven muttered making Mike wrinkle his face in disgust.
"I guess....that's my sister, Nancy."
Alex quietly watched the cute interaction between the two as Mike continued to introduce her to things that were new to her. It was so obvious that Mike had grown a little crush on Eleven and Alex thought it was the perfect thing to tease Mike for.
El stopped before the Lay-Z boy lying in a corner of the room.
"That's our Lay-Z boy. It's where my dad sleep." Mike said.
"You can try it if you want." Mike said beckoning her to try it.
El nervously looked at Alex as she sent a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, try it. It'll be fun."
El hesitantly got on the sofa but instantly sunk into it's soft cushion. A smile dawned upon her face and Alex was very happy that her sister was smiling now.
"Just trust me on this, okay?" Mike said as he slowly reached for the handle of the sofa.
He pulled the handle making the sofa turn into a bed like structure. Eleven jumped a little as she was shocked from the sudden jerk. Mike and Alex started chuckling at Eleven's reaction.
"It's fun right." Alex asked.
Mike then beckoned Eleven to try it herself and it was clearly visible how much fun Eleven was having. The three spent giggling and laughing as Alex saw El and Mike locking their eyes for a few moments.
Her ship was saaailinggggg.
****
A little later that day, Mike was showing his room to El while Alex was laying on his bed trying to fight with exhaustion. Mike was showing his mini figurines like Yoda and his dinosaur Rory when El got up and began walking towards the bookshelf where our Science Fair trophies were kept.
"Oh, these are all our science fair trophies. We got first every year." Mike said proudly.
"Yeah, except last year, we got third. Mr.Clarke said it was totally political." Alex said while standing beside El gazing at the trophies.
Suddenly, Alex notice a change in El's demeanor. She had a troubled look on her face as she looked at the photo of the five friends holding the first prize. The girl slightly trembled as she pointed at Will.
"You know Will?" Mike asked quickly.
"Did you see him? Last night, on the road?" Alex asked.
But before El could answer the sound of a car pulling in the driveway was heard. Alex and Mike exchanges a look as Mike went towards the window to check. He quickly took El's hand ran downstairs as Alex followed them behind.
The trio rushed down the stairs but it was too late as Mike's mom had already came in so they had to run back upstairs again.
"Ted? Is that you?" Mike's mom called out.
"Just me mom."
"Mike? What are you doing home?"
" One second!" Mike yelled as he pulled the girls in his room.
"In here. I'll be right back okay."
He opened the closet and gestured them to hide. Alex understood and instantly got inside but El stood there mortified.
"Please, you have to get in, or my mom, she'll find you." Mike said pleadingly but El didn't bulge at all.
"Please, El. Come in. It'll be alright okay. I'm gonna be here for you." Alex said comfortingly.
"I won't tell her about you. I promise." Mike said.
"Promise?" El asked not knowing the word.
"It means something you can't break ever." Alex said explaining.
"Michael?" The sound of Mike's mom was getting louder.
"Please." Mike and Alex both begged in union.
El hesitantly got inside the closet and sat really close to Alex, clutching her hands in hers. Mike closed the door and the whole environment went black.
The only sound that was coming was the heavy breathing of El. Alex knew she was having flashbacks of the dark room in the lab where their 'Papa' would put them to discipline them if they ever misbehaved.
Alex also knew that as much as El feared that dark room, Alex did too. She didn't really get used to small spaces as she thought. At that time a flashback came flooding in her mind.
'Papa!' a girl screamed as she tried breaking away from the hands of two men.
The two men were dragging her towards a dark room at the very end of the corridor in a lab. The girl screamed and screamed at her 'Papa' for help hoping that he would help her. But she just stood there motionlessly, with no expressions.
As they at the entrance of the room, the both men pushed the girl on the floor. The door closed and it went all black. The girl screamed for her 'Papa' as she banged on the door loudly hoping he would let her out. But, alas, no one came and the girl shrinked on the floor at the corner of the dark room, crying.
Alex began sobbing quietly as she looked at her sister beside her who was having the same kind of reactions. Both the girls held each other closely as Alex tried to comfort her sister.
****
After their school, Lucas and Dustin immediately went to Mike's house. When they went up to Mike's house they found Eleven and Alex sitting beside each other on Mike's bed.
"Are you out of your mind!?" Lucas yelled at Mike.
"Just listen to me, okay?" Mike said.
"You are out of your mind." Lucas yelled again not listening to any words of Mike.
"He knows about Will" Alex interrupted.
"What do you mean, 'sge knows about Will'?" Dustin asked making Mike go and fetch their science fair picture from the bookshelf.
"She pointed at him, at this picture. She knew he was missing. I could tell."
"You could tell!?" Lucas said angrily.
"Just think about it." Alex said coming in between the boys to prevent any fighting.
"Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood? The same place where Will disappeared?" Alex continued.
"Well, that is weird." Dustin admitted.
"And she said bad people are after her. I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will. I think she knows what happened to him." Mike explained.
"Then why doesn't she tell us?" Lucas asked annoyed as he marched towards El and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Do you know where he is?" he asked angrily.
"Do you know where he is?!" Lucas yelled as he violently started shaking El making her scared.
"Stop it Lucas! You are scaring her!" Alex yelled at Lucas to stop him.
"She should be scared, Alex!"
"If you know where he is, tell us." Lucas yelled making El's eyes fill with tears.
"This is nuts!We have take her to your mom!" Lucas suggested.
"No. Eleven said telling any adults would put her and us in danger." Mike said.
"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked quickly.
"Her name is Eleven?" Lucas mocks interrupting Dustin.
"Mike, what kind of danger?" Dustin asked again.
"DANGER Danger." Mike said as he made a gun with his fingers and pointed it towards Dustin and then Lucas. Lucas slapped away his hand irritated.
"No, No, No. We're going back to plan A! We're telling your mom!" Lucas said as marched towards the bedroom door. Just as he tried to open the door the door quickly shut.
"No." Eleven growled as blood trickled down from her nose.
Lucas tried to open the door again but this time the door slammed shut so forcefully making some figurines fall to the ground.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Alex said in a low voice making everyone turn to her in horror, as they watched blood trickled down from her nose.
The girl saw her surroundings darken as her legs gave in and she collapsed on the ground.
'I guess I used too much energy.' Alex thought as her eyes closed.
****
The girl slowly opened her eyes only to find three boys peering down her her.She figured she was lying on Mike's bed and Eleven was seating right beside her with a concerned look.
"You know you look like creeps."
"Sorry." The boys said in union as they backed away making space for Alex to sit up.
"So.......you and Eleven or whatever her name is, have superpowers?" Lucas asked.
"Last time I checked, I did have superpowers." Alex said grinning.
"That explains how you and Eleven shut the door without touching it." Dustin said excitingly.
"But why didn't you tell us?" Mike asked.
"I'm sorry guys. I wanted to tell you but I was waiting for the right time."
"Just like El, I have superpowers and I too escaped like her three years ago from the place where we were being experimented on." Alex said as the boys gasped and looked at her with concern.
"Luckily, I escaped from there and was found by Mrs. Harrington and here I am now."
"You can't tell any body about it as the bad men who are after El were also after me. So if they find El they will eventually find me too and we both would be taken back again."
"Please, guys. Just for my sake keep it a secret. I don't wanna experience that hell again nor do I want Eleven to experience it." Alex said as tears welled up in her eyes and she let out a quiet sob.
This was the first time the boys had ever seen Alex cried. She was well known for her tough personality and was very brave to face anything. The boys couldn't even imagine how bad it was for her that it made 'The Alex Harrington'.
"Don't worry Alex. We wouldn't tell anyone. We wouldn't want our bestfriend to go away for suffer. Lucas said as comfortingly as he placed his hands on Alex's shoulders.
"Yeah Alex, we wouldn't tell anyone. By the way you were so cool before and now you've become extra cool." Dustin said smiling from one ear to other making the girl chuckle a little bit.
"Yeah, you can count on us. Your secrets is safe with us." Mike said reassuringly.
"Do you also have a tattoo like Eleven then?" Mike asked as the boys looked at me with their eyes glistening with curiosity.
Alex grinned as she rolled up her sleeves revealing her tattoo. The boys squealed in excitement making Alex forget all about her worries, guilt and sadness and the room filled with the laughs of the children.
Eleven sat on Mike's bed quietly observing her sister. Her heart warmed up with joy as she saw her sister smile and laugh. She vowed to protect her sister who cared about her so much and the people closer to her. She watched them as a smile spread across her face.
****
It was night and Mike's mom invited the all the children to have dinner with them. The air was awkward during dinner and the children barely touched their food and shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"Something's wrong with the meatloaf?" Mike's mom asked noticing that the children had not touched their plates.
"Ah no......I had two Bologna sandwiches for lunch...I don't know why" Dustin assured.
"Me too." Lucas said shyly, which was fake.
"It's delicious, mommy." Nancy said smiling sweetly at her mother while batting her eyes.
Alex knew what was happening, Nancy was going to butter her up and then ask for what she wants. It's a common move cute girls uses to get whatever they want. Alex knew as she saw Carol do it everytime she wanted something.
"Thank you sweetie." Mike's mom smiled gratefully.
"So.....there is this special assembly thing tonight for Will at the school field. Barb's driving." Nancy finally saying what she wanted.
"Why am I hearing about this now?"
"I thought you knew."
"I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Will is found."
"I know, I know and it would be super weird if I'm not there. I mean everyone's going."
"Just.....be back by ten."Mike's mom said with a sigh.
"Oh, why don't you take Alex and the boy, too?"
"No. No." The children immediately yelled simultaneously. They all knew she was going to go to Steve's house not any assembly.
"Don't you think you should be there? For Will?" The woman asked.
Just when Mike was about to answer his eyes widened and following his gaze Alex turned to see El walking down the stairs. Mike choked on his milk raising suspicion as Mike mom turned around to look what was going on.
But just then Dustin pounded on the table making the plated chatter loudly. Karen immediately turned back and gave Dustin a confusing look.
"Sorry, spasm." Dustin said innocently.
The children glanced among themselves and Lucas had 'what do we do now?' expression written all over this face.
Baby holly who was still scared by the sudden commotion slouched down in her chair and began to cry. Karen leaned over to pick up Holly from the chair and hugged her as she consoled her.
"It's okay Holly, it's just loud nice." The older woman consoled Holly as she went away to another room.
"Nice." Nancy muttered sarcastically.
****