𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞~𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐗

𝒂/𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒅𝒚𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒏-𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒛 𝒉𝒚𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅. 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫&𝑫 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆
𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐒𝐄...𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆
ɪ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ sᴇᴇ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟsᴇ

𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
"Something's coming. Something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It is almost here"
Mike sets the scene. They had been playing for ages. Ashley checked the watch on her wrist, it read 19:44.
"What is it?" Will asks, sitting up a little higher in the seat next to her.
"What if it's the demogorgon?" Dustin questioned. They all fell back into their seats and groaned a little. "Jesus. We're so screwed if it's the demogorgon"
"It's not the demogorgon." Lucas argued.
"An army of trogolytes (𝒊 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌) charge into the chamber" Mike states, placing the piece onto the board.
"Trogolytes?" Dustin snorted.
"Told ya" Lucas smirked and all of them giggled. Mike's expression darkened quickly.
"Wait a minute. Do you hear that? That-that sound. Boom. Boom. BOOM." Mike raised his voice, startling the group.
"That didn't come from the trogolytes, no. That came from somthing else." They all looked at each other, worry evident in their eyes.
"The demogorgon!" Mike shouted, putting the piece on the board. They all groaned, more loudly this time.
"We're in deep shit" Dustin exclaimed. Ashley smiled at the curse word, remembering the look Will had given her when she said it for the first time.
"Will your action!" Mike said, bringing Ashley back to reality.
"I don't know!" Will shook his head
"Fireball him!" Lucas said loudly
"I'd have to roll a thirteen or higher." Will replied, panic rising in his voice. Ashley chose to remain silent, because she was still new to the game and didn't want to convince Will to do the wrong move.
"Too risky, cast a protection spell" Dustin argued
"Don't be a pussy, fireball him!" Lucas shot back.
"Cast protection" Dustin raised his voice. Mike slammed his hands on the table, suprising everyone
"The demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you. BOOM!"
"Fireball him Will!" Lucas repeated.
"Cast protection!" Dustin argued again.
"It roars in anger!" Mike shouts over their arguing. Finally, Will throws the dice.
"Fireball!" He exclaims. However, he throws the dice too hard and they roll off the table. They all get up to search for
them.
"Is it a thirteen?" Dustin asks.
"I don't know!" They boys yell back. Ashley got up to help look.
"Mike!" Mrs Wheeler yells down the stairs.
"Mom we're in the middle of a campaign!" He replies, exasperated. Mike heads off upatairs, still talking to his mom. Ashley finds the dice and shows them to Will because she doesn't know what they say. He grabs them out of her hands and walks over to Lucas.
"Does the seven count?"
"It was a seven? Did Mike see it?" Will shook his head.
"Then it doesn't count" Lucas says through gritted teeth. They all start packing up, getting ready to leave and head up the stairs. That was when Ashley realised she was going to have to find somewhere to sleep. She really didn't want to leave, because it got colder when it was dark. As the boys got on their bikes, Dustin came outside
"There's something wrong with your sister"
"What are you talking about?" Mike questioned. As Dustin began to reply, Ashely spaced out, her head beginning to hurt. Will came over to check if she was ok so she nodded, not wanting to worry him. He smiled and got onto his bike, waving her goodbye. He then turned to Mike.
"It was a seven"
"Huh?"
"The roll, it was a seven" Mike furrowed his eyebrows at this.
"The demogorgon," Will explained "It got me." Mike stared at him blankly.
"Well, see you tomorrow" Will biked away. The pain in Ashley's head grew stronger, and she felt her face grow hot. The lights flickered and she doubled over, coughing. Mike ran over to her.
"Are you okay? What happened?!" His voice grew worried as he tried to help her up. Ashley's face grew pale as she stood up and her stomach felt like it was doing somersalts.
"Going to-be sick" was all she managed before she started gagging. Mike grabbed a nearby bucket (𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕) and held her hair back as she puked her guts up. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and noticed that her nose was dripping blood too. She turned to face Mike and his jaw dropped.
"Your nose...it's bleeding" he stated. Ashley fixed him with a "no shit" glare before grabbing her throbbing temples.
"Hey. Let's um get you inside. We can clean you up and I can find you some clean clothes" Mike spoke softly.

𝑴𝒊𝒌𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗 (𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕)
Mike completely forgot that Ashley was still standing there when he heard her yelp in pain. He turned to see her doubled over, clutching her head and coughing. He ran over to her and tried to help her stand up.
"What happened? Are you okay?!" he exclaimed, and then realised that was a stupid question to ask. She was clearly not okay.
She mumbled something like "Go to big fix" and gagged. Mike looked at her, confused, before he realised what she had told him. He grabbed a bucket, emptied out the dirty water and placed it next to Ashley. She leaned over, throwing up and Mike held her hair back, because that was supposed to be polite.
When she stood up and faced him, blood was dripping from her nose, down to her chin. He pointed at her nose
"Your nose...it's bleeding" he said, immediately regretting it. She looked at him as though he was stupid before grasping at her head again. Mike cleared his throat and said
"Hey. Let's um get you inside. We can clean you up and I can find you some clean clothes." That seemed sensible. She nodded and Mike led her up to the bathroom. He told her to sit on the edge of the bathtub as he ran the water in the sink, wrapping some toilet roll into a ball and dampening it in the warm water.
He turned to Ashley, who was looking around the room as though she'd never seen a bathroom before. He knelt down on his knees so that he was level with her and reached over to press the wet paper to her upper lip, but she immediately recoiled, fear growing in her eyes.
"It's ok. I'm going to use this to clean the blood off of your face, I won't hurt you" he smiled lightly. She nodded and leaned forward so Mike could clean her up. He cleaned the blood from her nose and mouth and wiped the dirt from her face awkwardly. He had hardly talked to girls before, let alone be this close to one.

As he was cleaning her up, he noticed how pretty she was. Her face was thin, with well defined cheekbones and a slightly upturned nose. Her lips were reddish pink and her eyes were bright blue, almost glowy and outlined with long, dark lashes. If you looked closely, you could see the splash of freckles across her nose. Her dark hair was down to her waist, and the front parts were shorter and framed her face.
Despite this, he didn't feel any form of attraction to her, just fondness. It might've been because they had only just met, or because he had a suspicion that Will liked her. More than a friend.
As he looked closer, he noticed the light purple bags under her eyes and the scars on her face and neck. He traced one near her chin
"Where did you get this?" He asked
She hesitated before replying
"Bad place,"shaking her head but not meeting his eyes "Bad men"
"People did this to you? Where?" Mike demanded, his face growing hot with anger. She was just a kid, about his age. Who would hurt someone like her? Her eyes brimmed with tears, which threatened to fall if Mike continued. He cupped her cheeks in his hands.
"It's okay. I'm sorry, i didn't mean to make you upset, i just can't believe that someone would do this to someone like you."
"Like me?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Well yeah, you're kind and sweet, and you obviously care about other people a lot." Mike noticed her face flush pink but she quickly composed herself and her expression grew serious.
"Bad men. In the lab." she stated, pointing to the scars near her hairline.
"Hawkins lab? You're from Hawkins lab?" Mike asked and she nodded. He knew there was something strange (𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒉𝒆) about that place.
"Well...you're safe now. We can look after you. If you want, you can stay for a sleepover."
"Sleepover?"
"Yeah. It's where you spend the night at someone else's house. You can sleep in my bed, I can sleep on the floor if you like." Mike wanted to make sure she had a good night's sleep. He couldn't think how long it'd been since she'd had that. Also, if she lived in the lab, then where did she stay when she wasn't in school? And what did she eat? Mike was about to ask her more when she yawned and he realised how tired he was.
"Yes" Ashley mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Ok, well i guess i'll guess i'll get you some clean clothes and then we can-uh...go to bed?" Those last words came out as more of a question rather than a statement, but Ashley was none the wiser.
He got up to find some clothes for her to wear. He rifled through his draws before settling on a pair of black tracksuit bottoms and a matching sweatshirt. He walked back to the bathroom and handed her the clothes before quickly going back to his room so she could have some privacy.
While she was changing, Mike smoothed out his quilt, trying to make his bed look more presentable.He dragged his sleeping bag and a pillow from a cupboard and set them up on the floor next to the bed. After Mike had finished getting ready for bed, his mom walked in, confusion written across her face.
"Michael! What is a girl doing wearing your clothes in the bathroom?"
Mike cringed. When she put it that way, it just sounded wrong.
"She got sick and i just helped her to clean up and got her some clean clothes to change into. It was late so i asked her if she wanted to stay the night instead of going home in the dark and she said yes. She's going to sleep in my bed and i'm going to sleep on the floor" he explained, pointing to the sleeping bag.
His mom looked around his room and noticed the sleeping bag on the floor, her expression softening.
"Well that's very sweet of you Mike. What's next? You going to walk your girlfriend home after school too?"
Mike snorted. "She is not my girlfriend. Besides, i think Will has a crush on her."
His mom raised her hands in surrender. "Okay okay. Just make sure you're both up and ready for school tomorrow."
As she turned to leave, Mike let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and watched Ashley walk into his bedroom wearing the tracksuit, her own clothes in her hands.
"Oh here sweetie, let me wash and dry those for you, they'll be all clean by tomorrow." His mom told her, taking the clothes from her hands and heading downstairs.
"Clean" Ashley breathed, pulling at her sleeves.
"Um yeah, clean." Mike answered, leading her over to the bed "So you can sleep here, i'll take the floor"
They both crawled into their respective beds, listening to the sound of each other breathing for a few minutes.
"Well, goodnight Ash" Mike broke the silence.
"Goodnight Mike" she replied, her voice sleepy as her eyes closed. Mike watched her for a moment, the way her chest rose and fell as she breathed more heavily and how her face began to relax.
As quickly as she had fallen asleep, an overwhelming sense of protectiveness and responsibliliy came over Mike. No, he didn't have a crush on her, and he'd only known her for a few days, but she felt more like a sister to him than Nancy or Holly ever had. It was that moment that Mike decided that nobody would put this girl through any more torment, not the bad men at the lab, nor any bullies at school. Nobody. As far as Mike could help it. With that thought in his head, Mike closed his eyes and let himself drift off to dreamland...
★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎
𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕: 2125 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈
𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆
𝒊 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒗, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓- 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒙𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒊 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔. 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 4
𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔
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