CHAPTER THREE
( the weirdo )
MADISON WALKERS NIGHT didn't end up going how she planned. She had set out to find Will Byers with her friends but ended up finding a random girl in his place, a girl who didn't seem to talk.
Maddie was kneeled down in front of the mystery girl, who seemed to jump at every bit of thunder as the boys tried to get her to talk.
"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike questioned and the girl just looked up at him. Maddie smiled at the bit of cooperation they were getting out of the girl. The movement of maddie's face brought the girls attention down to her.
"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin wondered aloud and maddie rolled her eyes. "Did you run away?" Lucas questioned before Mike had another question. "Are you in some kind of trouble?"
"Is that blood?" Lucas queried and he reached towards her. Mike slapped his hand down automatically. "Stop it! You're freaking her out!"
"She's freaking me out!" Lucas responded, throwing his hands in the air. "I bet she's deaf." Dustin guessed, clapping in her face. The girl jumped back and Maddie punch Dustin.
"not deaf." Dustin noted. Maddie frowned. "That's enough boys! She's freezing and probably scared half to death. Mike, can you please get her some warm clothes?"
Maddie looked back at the girl and smiled. The girl gave a small smile back when none of the boys were looking. It made Maddie's own smile grow.
Mike walked up next to Maddie with clean clothes in his hands. He passed them to the girl who dried her face off with them, before standing up and beginning to take her shirt off. The boys began to freak out and turn away while Maddie just carefully reached out and put the girls shirt back down with a small shake of the head.
"Here, follow me okay? You can trust me. I'm just gonna take you to the bathroom, for some privacy away from these boys." Maddie cooed. She held her hand out for the girl, who looked at it for a second before grabbing the clothes and then slowly putting her own hand into Maddie's.
Maddie pulled the girl to the bathroom and ushered her in. "Now those boys won't peep." Maddie began shutting the door, but before it was all the way closed, the girl grabbed the door.
"Do you not want it closed?" Maddie wondered, looking at the girl confused. She expected the girl not to answer but when she did, it causes excitement to race through Maddie. "No."
Maddie tried to contain her excitement at the word spoken. "Oh, okay! How about I keep the door... here?" She shut it a bit but left a small gap. The girl nodded to the gap. "i'll keep the boys away from here." Maddie added and the girl once again nodded, turning away and letting Maddie walk back to the boys.
Maddie looked at the boys to see them already staring back at her. "What?" Lucas rolled his eyes. "What? What do you mean 'what?' Why are you being all buddy buddy with the weirdo?"
Maddie just rolled her eyes. "Lucas. She's scared and was alone, I'm not just gonna make her feel worse!"
Dustin sighed. "This is mental." Mike shrugged. "At least she can talk." Maddie nodded in agreement. "She said "no." Your three-year-old sister says more." Lucas argued and Maddie rolled her eyes yet again, Lucas really knew how to find the negative in any situation.
"She tried to get naked." Dustin reminded. He was just completely dumbfounded as to why this girl would try to undress in front of them. "There's something seriously wrong with her. Like, wrong in the head." Lucas spat while Dustin continued to freak about the clothes thing. "She just went like..." Dustin mimicked the motions of the girl almost taking her shirt off.
"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst." Lucas hypothesized. Mike looked at him confused. "From where?"
"The nuthouse in Kerley County." Lucas explained. "You got a lot of family there?" Dustin joked. Lucas looked at him with a harsh glare. "Bite me."
"Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved head and why she's so crazy." Lucas continued and Dustin decided to bring up the clothes thing again. "Why she went like..." He did the motion again.
"She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho." Lucas stated. Dustin nodded. "Like Michael Myers."
"Exactly! We should have never brought her here." Lucas repeated, continuing on with his original point. "So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" Mike questioned and Lucas nodded. "Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem."
"Lucas will you stop? She's a scared girl who was all alone in the woods! You need to chill out." Maddie snapped and Lucas turned his attention to her. "Is that what she is Madison? Because I see a weirdo who is getting in the way of us finding Will!"
"I think we should tell your mom." Dustin stated, looking at mike. "I second that." Lucas nodded. Lucas and Dustin looked at Maddie, who sighed. "I think we should help her. If telling your mom helps her stay safe and warm then i'm all in."
Mike looked between the three (mostly at Lucas and Dustin). "Who's crazy now?" Lucas looked at him confused. "How is that crazy?"
"Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember? So if i tell my mom and she tells your mom, and your mom, and—" Mike looked to Maddie and then realizes what he was gonna say before giving her a sorry look and turning back to the boys. Maddie frowned.
"-Our houses become Alcatraz." finished Lucas, understanding Mike's point. "Exactly. We'll never find Will." Dustin did the motion again. Mike sighed. "All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight—" Dustin cut him off. "You're letting a girl sleep over? Not even Maddie does—" Mike cut him off. "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 and the two boys nod in agreement. Maddie just sighed, as long as it kept the girl safe then she was down for the plan.
Mike and Maddie set up a sleeping area for the girl after she got done changing while Lucas and Dustin began to head out. They laid blankets underneath a table, putting a larger blanket over the table to give the girl privacy when she wanted it. Maddie stuck a few pillows in the makeshift fort, along with a few stuffed animals that had been lying around.
"Here you go. This is Mikes sleeping bag." Maddie smiled at the girl as Mike handed her a pillow. Maddie looked at the girl while Mike realized something. "Hey, um, we never asked your name." The girls looked between the duo before lifting her sleeve and revealing a tattoo, 011.
Maddie looked at it shocked while Mike went to touch it asking about if it was real, but the girl pulled away from him.
"Sorry, I've just... never seen a kid with a tattoo before." Mike smiled sheepishly and Maddie looked at the girl. "Eleven?"
"What does it mean? Eleven?" Mike added, seeing where Maddie was going with her question. The girl looked at Maddie before pointing to her collarbone. "That's your name?" Mike questioned and the girl, Eleven, nodded.
"Unique. I like it." Maddie complimented, making Eleven half smiled back. "Eleven. Okay. Um, well, my names Mike. Short for Michael. And this is Maddie. Short for Madison. Maybe we can call you "El." Short for Eleven."
Eleven nodded and Maddie bit her lip. "Um, well, okay. Night, El." Mike and Maddie both stood up at the same time and began walking towards the stairs when they heard a faint. "Night, Maddie."
Mike looked at Maddie, who smiled before turning the light off and heading upstairs with Mike. Mike walked Maddie to the door. "Hey Maddie. before school meet me downstairs okay?" She nodded. "Sure, but why?"
Mike sighed. "I'm going to tell El the plan and she seems to like you a lot. Also i'd like the company and then my mom can drive us to school."
Maddie nodded before giving Mike a goodbye hug and running out into the storm, onto her bike, and biking all the way home.
THE NEXT MORNING, Maddie got out of bed around 6:00am. She put on a plaid skirt and tucked in a white t-shirt and yet again put her converse on before throwing her hair into a ponytail.
Maddie packed up her school bag, making sure to have her walkie, and went into the kitchen to see her dad standing by the plugged in toaster. A small frown found its way on the girls face before she quietly walked towards the pantry and grabbed a protein bar.
"Hey, sweetheart." Brian Walker spoke, catching his daughter out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't expected her to be up yet, thinking he'd be gone before she woke up. She had thought he wouldn't be home.
"Hey, dad." Maddie softly spoke, tossing her protein bar back and forth between her hands. "I didn't think you'd be up yet." Brian confessed, causing Maddie to frown to herself. Of course he got up early just to avoid her.
Maddie bit her lip. "Yeah, I'm heading over to Mike's before school." Brian nodded, lightly shaking Maddie's head in some form of affection as he walked past her. "Well, have a good day at school."
And with that, he was gone. He walked out of the house and Maddie didn't know when she'd see him next.
The brunette walked back into her bedroom, sticking her protein bar in her backpack and then she grabbed the backpack off her floor before making her way out the window and onto her bike, riding to Mike's.
On her way, Maddie took in her neighborhood. All the big houses with all the big family's. Maddie's house was the smallest on her block, but she didn't care. Her mother use to always say that it gave their home a sort of uniqueness to it and Maddie loved to think of it that way.
She rode up to the back entrance of Mikes house, careful to hide her bike. Maddie knocked on the basement door and was quickly met with the smiling face of Mike Wheeler.
"Maddie! Come on in! I just gave el her breakfast." Mike smiled and Maddie entered with a small nod, trying to change her own mood to match Mikes. She looked at El before a small smile grew on her face and set her backpack down.
El was sat in her makeshift room playing with Mikes walkie, which Maddie found sweet that Mike let the girl mess with it. For some reason, she found herself growing fond of El already, she thought the quiet girl was sweet.
Mike and Maddie walked back over to El. "Hey El! I don't know if you remember my name but it's me, Maddie." El smiled at the girl. "i... remember." Maddie nodded and Mike looked at El. "So listen, this is gonna sound a little weird, but i just need you to go out there. then go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer and you'll tell her that you're lost and that you need help. But whatever you do, you can't tell her about last night or that you know us, understand?"
El just looked at the boy. "Really, it's no big deal. We'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom, she'll know who to call."
"No." El responded, looking at the boy. That one word seemed to send Mike and Maddie both back a bit. Why no? Why didn't this girl want any help?
"No?" questioned Maddie looking at El, who looked back and shook her head. "No." El then looked back down.
"No... you don't want my mom to get help?" El looked at the boy and shook her head no. "You're in trouble, aren't you?" Mike questioned, looking at El. El looked back at him.
Maddie couldn't wrap her brain around it. "Who... who are you in trouble with?" El looked like she was gonna cry. "Bad."
"Bad? Bad people?" Mike questioned and El nodded. It had just gotten way more complicated. Maddie looked at El. "They want to hurt you? The bad people?" El then did something they didn't expect, she held a finger gun to her head, then Mikes, and last Maddies.
"Understand?" El looked at Maddie and she nodded, finally understanding the trouble this young girl was in.
Maddie knew they wouldn't be telling mikes mom anything. As if Mikes mom knew Maddie was thinking of her, Maddie heard from upstairs, "Michael, where are you? We're going to be late. Let's go!"
Mike looked between El and Maddie. "All right, i'll be back. Just stay here, okay? Stay here."
Mike ushered Maddie to sit next to El as he put the cover that was on the table over the area someone could see El from.
El looked down like she was gonna cry, which made Maddie slowly grab Els hand in her own. At first the girl was shocked and her hand tensed, but then she slowly let it loosen and rest in Maddies.
"Don't worry El, we won't tell anyone about you and we will make sure Dustin and Lucas don't either." El smiled at the girl and nodded. "Thank... thank you Maddie."
Maddie smiled and nodded before she began having a small conversation with the girl, trying to get to know her better.
AUTHORS NOTE!
hope you're enjoying the story so far!