Hawkins Indiana- December 1983

Mike Wheeler dreamed of monsters and darkness, black suits and blood. He dreamed of car chases, Demogorgons, eggos and- his first kiss.

Mike woke with a start, his heart pounding in his chest. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and sat up in bed trying to separate the dream from the nightmare. While he focused, Mike's mind cleared and he realized both the dream and the nightmare was real. Despite the blankets enveloping him, Mike couldn't suppress the shiver that shook his body.

He remembered Will. And how Eleven had helped save him.

The clock on the nightstand blinked 3:15pm. "I slept the whole day? El's going to be starving!" Mike threw off his blankets, to race to the basement to apologize. But once he reached the door he stopped. His skin prickled, as another memory washed over him like a wave of cold water. He felt as though someone had gripped his heart and squeezed.

They- himself, Lucas, Dustin, Eleven, Chief Hopper, Joyce, Johnathan and Nancy- had broken into Hawkins Middle School and made a sensory deprivation tank. With it, Eleven had found Will in the Upside Down, and when Joyce and Hopper, and then Johnathan and Nancy had run off to find him, Mike had made plans: Eleven would move in to his house. He promised her a bed, real food, and a family.

Mike remembered how curious she was about pudding and the way she screwed up her face when he explained what it was.

They made plans to go to the Snow Ball together.

There was another squeeze around his heart. His palms grew wet and clammy as he held tight to his bedroom doorknob and thought of their kiss.

"Then the Bad Men came," Mike whispered to the lonely room. He thought of how brave she had been to stay by his side, how strong and loyal she was. She protected them- him, Lucas and Dustin. Even when the white haired man; the one she called 'Papa', came. When he tried to take her away, she had turned from him and reached out, crying for Mike instead.

Then the Demogorgon found them. Dustin had been the only one strong enough to carry her. He had hurried Eleven from the hallway into M. Clark's science classroom.

After that, it found them again, and once more, Eleven protected them.

And then- she was gone.

Mike stepped into the hall and descended the stairs in a daze. He couldn't believe everything that had happened.

Downstairs, Mike's father was talking on the phone in the kitchen, and didn't notice his son had finally come out of his room. In the living room, all the Wheeler women looked up, noticing Mike's soft footsteps coming down the stairs.

"How are you feeling Michael?" his mother asked, spinning away from the shelf she was dusting. Mike looked past her, walking slowly to the basement. "Michael?" she repeated.

Nancy put down her book. "It's okay mom. I'll go." She offered her mother an encouraging smile and followed Mike to the basement. She found him standing by the table where he and his friends would play Dungeons and Dragons, staring at a blanket fort in the corner of the room.

He was still as a statue, and hadn't moved for a few minutes when Nancy cleared her throat. She bowed her head and asked softly, looking at the makeshift bed, "I never heard what happened," she paused before admitting, "but yesterday at the hospital, I heard you tell Will that she's gone."

Mike shrugged. "She saved us," he whispered. His voice hitched and Nancy reached an arm around to hug him. They stayed quiet, staring at Eleven's 'room' until Nancy told Mike what had happened after she and Johnathan had left them at the middle school.

She explained how they had gone back to the Byers's home to kill the monster, how they lured it with blood- she showed off the scabbed over laceration on her palm. She explained how they had caught the monster in a bear trap and set it on fire, "but it still got away.

Earlier in the week Dustin had said, 'Nancy's pretty much a bad ass now,' but Mike hadn't truly believed it until now.

"After you and Johnathan left, we took care of her," Mike shivered. "She was exhausted, cold and scared- but I was looking out for her. She was finally safe," he said proud. Quietly, he added to himself, "We were going to go to the Snow Ball…" He wiped his nose on a sleeve. "And then the Bad Men found us."

"Who?"

"The Bad Men. The ones who kept her a secret, who kept her locked away and forced her to find the Demogorgon." Mike's brow creased. Nancy didn't understand all of what Mike was saying but she nodded along anyway. "She saved us from the bad men- but it was too much. It wiped her out. She wouldn't even wake up!" Mike sounded scared as he retold the story. "We got her out. We had her back- like she had ours."

"And then?"

"It came." Mike's voice was serious. He trembled remembering the Demogorgon: its slimy blue skin, how it walked hunched over- like a man with too many vertebrae, and the clicking noise it made as it turned to them. "Lucas tried to fight it off, but it was too strong. She had to step in- I begged her not to-" Mike looked up to Nancy with big, watery eyes, "she fought it back. It was like she was tearing it apart from the inside, dissolving it with her mind." Mike leaned into Nancy who was still holding him tight. "She was screaming. It was screaming. And when it went quiet- they were gone."

"Gone?" Nancy asked. "Both of them?" Mike nodded. Nancy tried to ask her next question as tactfully as possible- and failed. "Does that mean they're dead?"

The question stung and Mike winced, but he forced himself to shrug and answer, "They were just gone."

The siblings stayed quiet a moment longer until the sounds of their mother preparing dinner grew too loud to ignore.

"Are you ready to go upstairs, so mom can stop worrying about you?" Nancy asked. Mike nodded. As Nancy's arms fell away from him, Mike reached out and squeezed her uninjured hand- a silent 'thank you' for her support- and followed her from the basement.