- ELEVEN -
I pulled the blindfold off and laid in my bed, tears stinging my eyes.
Day 351. I made another tally mark on my arm.
I felt a stinging in my arm and looked down to see little scrapes starting to appear over some of the tally marks. Unsure of what was happening to me I started to panic a little and got up from my bed and walked out of my room to Hop's, lightly knocking on the door.
" What is it kid? " He asked as he opened the door, " Hop it hurts.." I said as I held my arm out to him. He examined my arm and then looked down, " shit " I heard him whisper to himself.
" El, have you ever heard of soulmates? " He asked, " Soul....mates? " I responded.
" I'll take that as a no. " He gently grabbed my hand and walked to the couch with me and we sat down. " So...." I said. " So, I'll tell you what a soulmate is but promise you won't freak out,
okay? " He responded. Is a soulmate bad? Am I in trouble? " O-Okay..." I responded hesitantly. " A soulmate is the person you're meant to be with. You're supposed to be in love with them and spend the rest of your life with them. " Hop explained. " Love? " I asked. " Oh, well love is a feeling. There are different kinds of love. There's love for friends, you care for them and they make you happy, in turn you make them happy. Kind of like that. Then there's love for family. Your family will always be there for you and you'll always be there for them, you care deeply for each other, friend love and family love are similar, and sometimes friends feel like or even become real family. That kind of love is called platonic. Then there's romantic love. That's the love you have for your partner or in other words, soulmate. It's like platonic love in the way that you care for each other and make each other very happy, you'd do anything for the other person. It's different because this love you only have for one person. This person is your boyfriend, or girlfriend. This is the person you go on dates with and kiss and all that other stuff. When you're old enough you get to marry this person and start your own family with them. This person makes your stomach tingle and your face heat up. It's almost like a sick feeling but in a good way. And that's love. " Hopper ended.
I took a second to take everything in and responded " Oh, I get it now. "
" Good " He replied, smiling a little and continued, " Anyways, your soulmate is the person you love romantically. You two are perfect for each other. And soulmates have this cool thing where whatever one of them writes on their arm, it shows up on the other person's arm. This is good, and bad. I'm sorry kid, your soulmate is sad. Really sad. Those scrapes on your arms, they're because of your soulmate. Your soulmate is in a lot of emotional pain so they're causing physical pain to themselves to try and even out the pain. Your soulmate is cutting themself..." He paused " Kid I'm so sorry, I should've told you sooner. I should've let you see him sooner. Maybe this would've never happened. " He said.
" What? " I asked. This can't be happening. It's not true, it's not.
" I'm sorry... " Hop answered, defeated.
" I need to see him..." I choked out.
" You know I can't let you. "
Inside I was screaming, crying, dying. " Hop he could die! " I pleaded.
" Kid it's still not safe. "
" I need to see him! " A vase flew across the room and shattered as my eyes started watering.
" Please don't do this El " He knew I was about to burst.
" I need to save him! You can't just let him die! " I yelled and the lamp shattered.
" Look just calm down please. " Hop pleaded.
" No! Why won't you just listen to me? " I screamed at the top of my lungs and all the windows burst, causing glass to go everywhere, shelves to fall down and over all chaos. I ran to my room and slammed the door behind me.
Hopper stormed in after me with a broken chord in his hand. The chord to the TV.
" Now you won't get to even hear him either! " He roared.
" No! " I screamed back and started uncontrollably sobbing.
" I have to get to work. I want this shit cleaned up by the time I'm back. " He looked at me for just a second and then left.
My knees buckled and I slid to the floor and ended up with head in my hands, crying my heart out, eventually passing out from exhaustion.
- the next day -
I marked another tally onto my arm and started cleaning. Hop left for work before I woke up so thankfully I didn't have to see him.
I think I'm in shock.
I still can't fully process this.
I sigh and start sweeping up the glass.
I notice some of the glass get stuck in floorboards under the couch, I use my powers to push the couch aside and lift the floorboards, there's a hole in the floor. Strange.
I grab a flashlight and stick my head into the hole and hold the flashlight in.
I see boxes.
I examine them and the words written on them when I see the words " Terry Ives ( Eleven's mom ) " I grab the box and pull it up with me and then close the boards and move the couch back.
I sit on the couch and open the box, I find documents about a woman named Terry Ives, I see newspaper reports about her being a lab subject. About her suing the lab for taking her child away. " Jane Ives "
Is that me?
I look through the documents and find her address.
- big time skip to the next day bc now it's just the same as in the show and I don't feel like rewriting the whole show into this book lmfao -
- M I K E -
I felt my arm start to sting as my sleeve rubbed against it. I felt tears starts to prick my eyes as I looked at the chaos around me. A dead demogorgon on the floor, all my friends in a panic.
" It's really dead " Hopper confirmed and only a few seconds later the we all heard the door start to unlock and swung over to look at it.
The door opened and there she was.
Eleven.
A small smile spread on my face as reality set in and we started walking towards each other.
" El " I choked out
" Mike " She smiled
I pulled her close and hugged her tight. The feeling of her arms around made me feel safe.
Happy.
A feeling I didn't know I'd even be able to experience again.
I let go of her but still held onto her arms so I could look at her.
" I never gave up on you, I called you every night, for- "
" 353 days " She continued.
" You heard me? Why didn't you tell me you were safe? El...I- "
" Because I wouldn't let her " Hopper interrupted. Before I could respond Hopper spoke up, " I'm sorry kid, I should've let you see her sooner, but if I did she could've been in danger. I hope you understand. But I think you two should catch up. " I was too relieved to see El safe to even get mad. I just nodded and replied " I understand..." El smiled softly at me and I grabbed her hand, walking into another room with her.
" You heard e-everything? " I asked quietly.
" Yes..." She answered. I couldn't hold it in anymore, tears started streaming down my face. She took her jacket off and pulled me into a hug. That's when I noticed her arm.
The tally marks and the outlines of cuts, more like scrapes.
Then it clicked. I remembered the 353 tattoo on my arm, in the exact same spot as the 011 on El's arm.
" El..." I paused and pulled away, looking at our arms.
" We're soulmates " We said at the same time. Smiles broke out on both of our faces, and I pulled her to me and kissed her.
I felt her smile into the kiss and we pulled apart.
" I missed you..." El said as tears started to fall down her face. " I did everything I could to try and convince Hop to let me see you. Mike I'm sorry. I know what you did. That's how I found out about soulmates and us. I wanted to save you, to stop you. I promise you I did. " She kept on crying between her words.
" It doesn't matter okay? It doesn't matter. You're here now. You're safe. But I can't lose you again. " I said.
" You won't. " She said and grabbed my hand.
" Do you promise? " I hesitated.
" I promise. " She assured me with a nod.
I smiled again and wiped her tears, then pulled her into a tight hug again.
I guess when people say ' everything happens for a reason ' it's true.
El and I are
fate.
- time skip to a year later, El still must stay hidden but Mike visits her as much as he can -
- M I K E -
' Good morning princess, Joyce told me Hop has to go into work early today, it's supposed to be a long work day for him. I'll see you soon. " I wrote on my arm and drew a small heart next to it. I smiled to myself as I looked at my tattoo and then looked at the clock. Still a full hour before I can go to the cabin.
Waiting is torture...it'll be worth it though.
There hasn't been one day where I'm not happy for the most part. And that's all thanks to El.
Although we're soulmates I've still never told her I love her. I think today will be the day.
It's been exactly a year since I got to see El again.
This has no doubt been the happiest year of my life. It's funny to think that last year was the darkest and saddest point of my life and now I'm the best I've ever been.
I looked down at my arm and saw the words " can't wait " with a heart next to it and smiled.
The hour passed by surprisingly fast and soon I was at the cabin door.
Knock knock knock.
Knock knock knock knock knock.
knock knock knock.
After a few seconds the door swung open and I was greeted with El's beautiful smile.
She grabbed me and pulled me inside, closing the door behind me.
" Hey " I smiled at her.
" Hey " she said. " I missed you. " She continued.
" I missed you too... "
" I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. " El said sadly.
" You saw me last night? " I replied in a confused / questioning tone.
" Exactly! Hours and hours and hours agoooo" She said, dragging it out.
I laughed a little. " It did feel pretty long didn't it? " I asked with a small smile, she nodded in reply.
Should I say it?
No. Yes. No-
Screw it I'm doing it. " El I have to tell you something... " I said a little nervously.
" What is it? " She looked concerned now.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
" I love you " I confessed as I held onto her hands.
" I love you too Mike " El said quietly with a small smile.
We are
fate.
•
~
•
~
•
~
•
Hey guys! Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this shitty book. I've been noticing over the past few days the reads have been going up by so much! I love you all so much, thank you for everything and I hope you like this chapter. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
( also make sure to watch american horror story apocalypse tonight on FX! )