Seven days had gone by since Mike had given El her necklace. It was New Years Eve. Even though it had been seven days, things were changing. Hopper had been sent to the hospital in his condition, with doctors saying he was in a coma.
El had stayed at the Byers house, officially meeting Winter. As Will had expected, they had gotten along, and all three of them went into the woods to practice their powers. Will got to freeze a pond which the ice had started melting. El and Winter talked about their lives in the lab, and how they survived. They were alike in many ways, but also different, with Winter knowing who her parents were before she was taken to the lab.
On New Years Eve, Joyce woke El up from the couch she had been resting on. "Hey. I'm going to check on Hopper. Want to come with?" She asked. El nodded. She got up, but suddenly felt extremely dizzy. She sat back down. Joyce looked at her. "El? Honey, are you okay?" She asked. El shook her head. "I... Don't know." She said. "I feel... Cold. My body aches." Joyce looked at her. She held her hand out to Els face, but El backed away, still not used to people being close to her. "Oh, sorry." Joyce said. "Just, stay still. I need to feel something." El nodded.
Joyce put her hand on Els forehead. "Oh. El, you're burning up." She said. A sad look came across Joyce's face. "I think you have the flu." El was confused. "Flu?" She asked. Joyce kept forgetting she didn't know everything, even about illness. She might have been so protected at the lab, her exposure to germs may have been minimal. She might not have remembered the last time she was sick.
"It means there's something in your body." Joyce said. "And your body is trying to fight it off, but it causes you to become really weak, and you just feel different." El looked very nervous. Joyce saw this. "But you'll get better of course. The best way to treat this is rest." El nodded. El layed back down, and Joyce got a few more blankets, and a glass of water. "Tell me if you need anything else." She said. El nodded, and before she knew it, fell asleep.
El had woken up a few times, and fell back asleep again. She had different dreams, but there was one she could remember exactly what had happened.
El had woken up on the floor, in a building. The room was dark, only a few lights flashing. El got up, and saw a trail of blood going through a door. El slowly walked to the door, and opened it. Bodies were lying on the floor. She wss shocked, and scared. But then she saw someone lying against the wall. Mike. She rushed over to him, and shook him. "Mike?" She asked. Mike slowly opened his eyes, and saw her, smiling. "El." He said. "It... It wasn't your fault. It couldn't have been you." El was confused. "Mike, who did this?" She asked. Mike gripped her hand. "It was... You. But I know you..." He was losing breath.
"No, Mike. No." El said. She heard footsteps behind her. She turned around. Eleven stood there, still dressed in the clothes when she met Kali. El was angry. "You did this!" She yelled. "No, you did it." Eleven said. "Do you know why? Because I am you. We are the same person, you know." El looked at Mike, and the rest of the people around. "Someone is here for us." Eleven said. And behind Eleven, was somebody in a dark sweatshirt, with a hood over the face. But El saw her glowing red eyes. El suddenly flew across the room, hitting the wall. El heard Mike saying her name. "El... El..." Adrienne took off her hood, flames coming out if her hands. "Do it quickly." Eleven said. Before El could do anything, Adrienne cast fire.
"El... El." El shot up gasping, hearing a few things fall over. It was around evening. She looked to her left. Mike was there. She pulled him into a hug. Suddenly, she felt chills all around her body. Mike saw this. "Are you cold?" He asked. El nodded. He pulled out the blankets Joyce left out, and put some around El. "Alright, there you go." Mike said, smiling. El kept looking at him. "What are you doing here?" She asked. Mike picked something up. It was a container of soup. "Whenever I'm sick, homemade Chicken Noodle soup makes me feel better." He said. El smiled. "Thank you." She said. Then, she remembered her dream. "She was back again, Mike. My egg... Ego." She said. Mike looked at her. "What did she do?" He asked. "She hurt you." El said. "She kept saying we were the same person. But you disagreed." El explained.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Mike went for it. Lucas and Max entered. Max sat beside El. "We heard you were sick." She said. "I'm sorry. That's never fun." El smiled. She was glad her and Max were now on the same side.
"We also heard about the freaky girl with red eyes." Lucas said. "I swear, we'll be there if she ever comes back." El smiled. "Thanks Lucas." She said. He nodded. El looked back at Max, and saw something on her wrist. It looked like a rubber band, but it had a miniature skateboard hanging off of it. Max noticed she was looking at it, and smiled. "Oh yeah, keychain." She said. "Lucas got it for me."
El had a question for Max. "How has Billy been?" She asked. Max looked nervous. "He uh... Is still kinda a jerk." She said. "But I'm just lucky to have people like you around to keep me positive."
El felt much more warmed up with the blankets wrapped around her, and tried to get up, but her body started aching. Mike saw this, and sat next to her. "You'll get better with rest." He said. So nodded, and began to lay down.
At that moment, Joyce walked in. "Oh, hey everyone!" She said. Lucas and Max waved. Joyce walked to El. "How are you feeling?" She asked. "My body aches." She said. Joyce nodded. "You'll get that." She said. She looked at Mike. "Thank you so much for bringing the soup." She said. Mike nodded. "Of course." He said.
Eventually, Mike, Lucas, and Max had left. Joyce was still sitting next to El. "It's just going to be us two tonight." She said. "Will's spending the night at Mikes, and Jonathan's at a New Years party." She said. "I'm so glad Will is back to his normal self. He's home, and not having anything terrible inside of him." El realised Joyce still didn't know of Wills powers. She almost spoke up, but thought that would be a bad idea. Will wouldn't have wanted Joyce to know right now.
"But he has been a little secretive." Joyce said. "I'm his mother, I know when he's hiding something." She looked at El. "Has he ever told you anything, that I might not know about?" She asked. El thought about this. Will wouldn't want her to know. "No. I do not think so." El said. It made her feel bad to lie, but she knew was protecting Will.
Then, Els eyes began to close, and she was falling asleep. "Goodnight, El." She heard Joyce say. El knew when she woke up, it would be 1986. A New Year. Her year of hiding would finally be over.