It's cold. It's dark.
She screams but no one can hear her.
The Upside Down.
This is the place where many nightmares were founded… other than the lab. She can feel the shivers all the way to her spine, her stomach growls, her nose is bleeding.
There's no way out.
No way out. No way out. No way out. Not way out.
Eleven wakes up, tears streaming down her face. It's still cold though. It's still dark too… She wraps her arms around her knees, pulling them closer, sobbing quietly.
Mike can't sleep. He feels restless. He saw El earlier today but he still feels that a part of him is missing… He lays there for what seems like hours and falls asleep but wakes up a couple of hours later…
He has a bad feeling about this.
Something happened to El- he knows it.
He puts on a winter jacket and some shoes and quietly sneaks out of his house. It doesn't take him long to bike over to the Byers' house- where El is currently staying.
He goes to her window and hears crying. He knocks as quietly as possible but he makes sure she hears it because he is extremely worried now.
She looks at her window, panicking. She can barely see. It's dark so dark… Who is at her window?
"El?," he calls, "El it's me, Mike!"
"Mike?" she whispers, looking up from behind a curtain of her now shoulder-length brown curls.
Is she still dreaming? She wants to be with Mike so badly right now… Is she hearing things then?
"I'm out here El!" he says.
She doesn't believe him. He can't be there. El said goodnight to Mike hours ago…
He is getting really worried now. He climbs up himself and opens the window, going inside.
Eleven just continues slightly rocking back and forth while she cries, 'he's not actually here after all,' she tells herself. She's just here… in the cold… in the dark.
"El… El?!" Mike says, rushing over to her.
"Mike?" she whispers.
"Yes El, I'm right here. What happened? Are you okay?!" he says panicked, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arms around her.
"Real?" she asks.
"Yes, I'm right here. You're okay, you're okay El. I won't let anything happen to you. I Promise."
He is her favorite person in the world.
He lets her lean onto him and he wraps her in blankets and she smiles. She's not scared anymore- she is happy now. He kisses her forehead with his semi-warm lips and continues to hug her.
"Mike…" she sighs contently as she falls asleep on his shoulder.
He smiles and knows that they're lucky to have each other.