"Where am I at, these days
now that you're gone?
Where am I at, these days
when you don't come home?"
Where Am I At- MAX
"𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃?" 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃.
Caroline couldn't agree more. She stood with him and Dustin across the room from Mike and El, the former of whom was staring at them pleadingly.
As for Eleven...
Caroline couldn't look at Eleven.
"Just listen to me," Mike begged.
"You are out of your mind!" Lucas said incredulously.
"She knows about Will," Caroline muttered, glaring at El. She had been suspicious of the girl since the second they first met her, but a few hours ago solidified Caroline's doubts.
This morning, Caroline and Mike had ditched school. Caroline felt way too sick and anxious to be able to brave a full seven hours in hell, especially without her brother. Besides, they couldn't risk El getting caught.
So, they convinced Karen that they weren't feeling well, and instead, much to Caroline's dismay, spent the day giving El a tour of the Wheeler's.
Until they had ended up in Mike's room, and El had pulled a really disgusting stunt.
Caroline's eyes drifted to the picture sitting on Mike's dresser, the one where the boys huddled around their third place science fair trophy.
Dustin's brows furrowed. "What do you mean she knows about Will?"
Mike grabbed the photo, drawing everyone's attention to it.
"She pointed at him, at his picture. She knew he was missing. I could tell."
Lucas raised an eyebrow. "You could tell?"
"Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared?" Mike looked at each of them.
"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."
"And I think she's full of shit!"
Everyone jumped and stared at Caroline with gaping mouths and wide eyes. It took a moment for her to realize how harsh her tone was, but she couldn't care less.
Her finger trembled as she pointed at El, who sat on Mike's bed with a blanket over her lap, looking so stupidly innocent.
"She must have run away from Pennhurst, just like Lucas said last night. She knew they'd be looking for her, because she's crazy, and so she let us take her home."
Her lip began trembling as El just stared at her, with a stupid, surely fake, confused look.
"She heard Mike and I arguing last night, right outside the basement door. She found out Will was missing, and she knew that either Mike would rat her out to his mom, or she would have to run away so she wasn't caught, but she didn't want to, because she wanted a bed and eggos to leech off of Mike."
Caroline wiped a furious tear off of her cheek and stalked closer to El, hatred pounding through her veins.
"So when she came upstairs and saw the picture of you guys at the science fair, she knew which boy was Will because he was the only one she hadn't seen.
Then, she decided to pretend that she knew something about Will's disappearance, thinking we'd keep her around longer."
She finally got up in El's face, the girl looking bewildered.
"I'm not letting you get in the way of me finding my brother. Do you hear me? You can go right back to Pennhurst where you belong!-"
Mike grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Stop it! You're scaring her! How do you know she doesn't know where Will is?"
Lucas growled from behind them at the sudden movement and shoved Mike away from Caroline. He stood in between them, holding his arm out protectively in front of Caroline to stop her from moving.
"This is nuts," He spat at Mike. "We have to take her to your mom."
"No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger."
"We're in more danger with her here! She's lying, Mike!" Caroline spat from behind Lucas. "How stupid are you-"
"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked.
"Her name is Eleven?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, as if to say seriously?
Mike nodded, completely oblivious to the logic of the party. "El for short."
"Mike, what kind of danger?" Dustin repeated, louder.
"Danger danger," Mike said, like that explained anything. He made a finger gun, mimicking what El had down the night before. He pointed it at Dustin, who's eyes widened with fear, then at Lucas.
Lucas slapped his hand away, not having any of Mike's bullshit. "No, no, no! We're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom."
He turned promptly on his heel, taking Caroline's hand and pulling her towards the door. He had just barely opened it when-
SLAM.
The door shut and they heard the lock turn, trapping them in the room. Caroline had a sinking feeling all the sudden- that something was off.
Slowly, the party turned around to see Eleven, who was now standing.
Her eyes were narrowed, flashing dangerously.
A trail of dark red blood trailed out of her nose.
But the most ominous part of it all was the single word she uttered.
"No."
C.B//W.B
"El?" Mike said excitedly as he raced down the basement stairs a few hours later. "No adults. Just us and some meatloaf. Don't worry. They won't tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?"
Caroline just glared at him.
"We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers," Dustin said, still in awe.
Caroline would have thought that the display of freak psycho insanity- shutting a door and trapping them inside with her goddamn mind- would have made them finally see logic, but Mike was still completely in love and Dustin was acting like she was a god.
Lucas was the only one who was with her.
Mike hits Dustin's leg, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Ow!" Dustin whined.
Mike rolled his eyes exasperatedly and looked back at El. "What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared... earlier. That's all."
"We just want to find our friend," Lucas said bitterly.
"My brother," Caroline added quietly, trying to control her anger. She still didn't trust Eleven, but like Mike had said earlier, what if she did know something about Will?
"Friend?" Eleven echoed.
Caroline rolled her eyes, unable to hold back. "Yeah, friend. Will? The one you pointed at yesterday, the one you're insisting you know, but won't give us answers about?"
Lucas slid his hand into hers and squeezed it. Caroline stopped and took a deep breath, Lucas being her anchor.
"What is 'friend?'" El said, because her audacity knew no bounds.
"Is she serious?" Lucas groaned. "Um, a friend-"
"Is someone that you'd do anything for," Mike cut in eagerly. He was leaning forward, like he couldn't get close enough to Eleven.
"You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards," Dustin added, smiling.
" - And they never break a promise," Mike finished.
Lucas nodded knowingly. "Especially when there's spit."
Eleven made a face. "Spit?"
"You should give her a demonstration," Caroline smirked. Lucas snorted and elbowed her side gently.
"A spit swear means..." Lucas spat into his palm and grabbed Dustin's hand. "... you never break your word. It's a bond."
"That's super important," Mike went on, as Dustin gave Lucas a look of total disgusted betrayal; "because friends... they tell each other things.
Things that parents don't know."
C.B.//W.B
"You okay, Callie? You're shivering like crazy."
Caroline looked up, abandoning her thoughts, to see Lucas sit next to her, brows furrowed.
Caroline rubbed her hands over her bare arms, which were covered in goosebumps. "I'm fine. I'm just... really cold for some reason."
"Cold?" Lucas repeated. He lifted his hand and pressed the back of it gently to Caroline's forehead, like her mom did when she was testing for a fever. His eyes narrowed in concern. "Jesus, Caroline. You're freezing. Are you sick?"
Caroline shrugged. "I don't know. Ever since I had that weird dream about Will, I can't seem to get warm."
Lucas searched her face as if looking for answers. Then he took off his jacket and held it out to her.
Caroline laughed. "I'm okay, Luke."
Lucas wasn't having any of it. He looked at her sternly before wrapping it over her shoulders. She tucked her arms into the sleeves and pulled the ends over her hands.
"Thanks," she said softly, peering at him.
His smile could outshine the sun. "Any time, Callie. Any time."
There was a clank and the two looked at Eleven, who was sitting at the board where they always had their D&D campaigns.
"What's the weirdo doing?" Lucas muttered, reading Caroline's mind.
"El?" Mike questioned.
Eleven ignored him and slowly picked up the wizard figurine, the piece dominated by Caroline's brother.
"Will," Eleven muttered, looking transfixed.
Caroline's heart stopped.
There was no way she could have known that.
"Superpowers..." Dustin whispered.
"Did you see him?" Mike asked urgently. "On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?"
In response, Eleven swiped her arm across the D&D board, knocking all of the pieces onto the floor. Caroline stood in shock as the little girl then flipped the board over onto the plain black side.
She set Will's figurine in the middle of the upside down board.
Caroline growled in frustration. What the hell was she playing at? If El knew where Will was, why didn't she just say it? Why all the mystery and secrecy?
Mike shook his head. "I don't understand," he said.
"Hiding," Eleven muttered.
"Will is hiding?" Mike repeated. "From the bad men?"
Eleven shook her head.
"Then from who?" Caroline demanded.
Eleven picked up another piece and slammed onto board, right next to Will.
It took a moment for them to realize what it was. Caroline leaned in, getting eye level with the figurine.
"The demogorgon?"
I hate online school so much. Some rando popped into my Zoom maths class the other day and just screamed at the top of his lungs for a couple seconds and then kicked himself back out again. What a god, i hope he comes back