So I wrote a oneshot called The Anniversary, but then I decided that it should become an actual story hours after publishing it. I love these little characters so much, a oneshot was not enough for me. This takes place after the oneshot, so if you'd like to go take a peek at that.
11/3/17
The Adventures of El & M
Summer, 1985
She was in Hawkins Lab again, stuck in the room she most dreaded being in.
"Papa is coming to help you, everything will be over soon", she heard him whisper.
No! She wanted to scream, but she couldn't seem to open her mouth. The figure of Dr. Brenner grew closer and closer, the sterile smell of the lab filled her nose. It burned. It only took the turn of her head to end his life, so why didn't she?
Her heart pounded a his hand crept closer and closer to her face,
"Elev-"
Eleven was suddenly jolted awake by someone furiously shaking her shoulder.
"El? Are you all right?" Hopper asked worriedly. She slowly sat up and looked around, it was still dark out. Hooper loomed above her, half-asleep and unshaven.
"Fine." she replied, it was only dream. Brenner had been dead for a long time.
Hopper's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, as if he detected the lie.
"I'm fine, promise." she insisted, a late night conversation about her nightmares was not what she wanted right now.
Hopper sighed and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. He was not in the mood to argue, and neither was she. "Okay I guess, go back to sleep. 'Night." he said, ruffling her hair. She smiled at him as he left the room and quietly shut the door.
As soon as she heard Hopper's door close, she jumped from the bed and turned on the television. A Coca-Cola commercial begun to play, but she wasn't planning to watch any kind of show. She needed to see him.
The static filled her ears as she tied the black blindfold around her eyes. Breathing in, she let herself enter the darkness.
xXx
It only took two minutes to find Mike, she had become so attuned to him over the months- finding him was easier than breathing. He was sleeping, the blue sheets were a crumpled mess around his body, and one of his arms dangled from the bed. She laughed quietly to herself at the sight and kneeled by his bedside.
She reached out her hand and softly ran it down his cheek. She couldn't feel him, nor could he feel her- but the gesture was comforting nonetheless. Mike let out a tiny snore, and Eleven suppressed another giggle.
She did this whenever she had a nightmare which recently had become more frequent than she would have preferred. It was August now, summer was ending and school was approaching. Mike and her other friends were going to attend their first year of "high school". She wanted to go too, but Hopper would have none of it. It would draw too much attention, and she wasn't stupid.
Part of her knew Hopper was right, but looking down at Mike reminded her of how much she is missing being a regular child. Hopper always would insist that being regular is "bullshit", but she disagreed.
Mike lived a normal life, while hers was sheltered. Hopper tried his best to homeschool her when he could. She was a fast learner, trying to absorb as much information as possible. She wanted to be level with the others. Her handwriting was less than average, but her English had greatly improved since she first escaped Hawkins Lab in '83. Mike also taught her about science and history. She never really understood most of it, but she listened anyways because it meant something to him- and if it meant something to him, then it meant something to her too.
She looked once more at his sleeping form before drawing herself away from the scene, back into her room at the cabin. A familiar feeling of loneliness crept into her as she gripped the stuffed lion to her chest.
Loneliness was something she felt often. It went away when Mike was with her, because when he was with her she would forget about everything. He made her feel like the most important person in the world.
But when Mike wasn't with her, and Hopper was asleep, she felt the emptiness. It made her think of the lab, being isolated from society. She was alone for weeks in the woods after she killed the monster, and that loneliness just never seemed to completely go away.
There was only one person who understood her loneliness, and that was Eight- her sister. They shared the lab, they both went through the torture and the manipulation, but she too was gone. Hawkins lab remains closed, and Eight remains lost. Eleven wondered if she'd ever meet her again.
She didn't notice when the tears started to fall down her cheeks until her eyes began to sting.
xXx
Mike Wheeler jumped out of his bed the moment his alarm went off. Dressing quickly, he ran downstairs to grab breakfast, and then it was time to head over to El's cabin. He wanted to take Eleven to the lake again. It was the last day of summer, and Mike wanted to make it count.
"You're eager to leave." his mother said as he stuffed scrambled eggs into his mouth. He noticed that Nancy was nowhere to be found.
"Last day of summer."
His mother shrugged and went over to help Holly eat her breakfast. Mike finished his and practically threw the plate into the sink as he raced out of the door. The bike to the cabin is a long one, but Mike never complained.
After hiking through the woods with the bike, he finally reached the cabin. He raised his hand and gave the secret knock that Hopper taught him. He heard the locks on the door slowly unlocking, and the door flew open.
Mike entered, scanning the room for El. He found her pouring syrup on her waffles in the kitchen. She turned around and bounced over to him, kissing his cheek.
"Hey." he said, looking down and giving her a warm smile that made the butterflies in her stomach soar. Would It ever stop being like this? She wondered, I hope not.
"What are we doing today?" she asked him, taking a bite out of her waffle.
"I thought we could go swimming." he said nonchalantly. Eleven had never been swimming. She had been in bathtubs, but never in deep water. Anxiety crept into her brain about the idea.
Mike seemed to notice her apprehension, "Or if you don't want to swim we can go somewhere else and have fun." he added.
She looked up at him and shook her head. If she was with Mike, she would be all right; she trusted him.
"We'll swim." she decided.
An hour later they reached the lake, after finding a tracking down a bathing suit for El. It was a hot pink one piece with butterflies on it, courtesy of Nancy Wheeler. Eleven eyed the lake with hesitation, but Mike was oblivious as he jumped headfirst into the water and popped his head up seconds later.
He waved his hand at her, "Come in, the water's warm."
She bit down on her lip and slowly put one foot in the water, grabbing Mike's outstretched hand. He lead her deeper and deeper into the water until they stood on their toes to avoid going under.
"It's nice." she admitted, enjoying the warm water on her skin.
"Here, I'll show you how to float." Mike said, letting go of her hand. She gasped in surprise as he grabbed her legs and pushed her up so that her body was floating upwards in the water.
"Just relax your arms and legs." he added, so she did.
"Like this?"
"Yeah, good job. Just don't move or you'll go under."
She nodded her head slowly, and stared up at the sky. It was a bright and cloudless summer day. She listened to the birds and the bugs, and faintly she could hear the distant screams of children as they enjoyed their last day of freedom before the school year began.
Mike watched Eleven with a certain look of wonder in his eyes. It seemed impossible that she was a real person, and she was here with him. She turned her head over to him, creating tiny ripples in the water with the small movement.
"Mike?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Can you teach me how to swim?"
He smiled, "It's easy, just kick your legs and move your arms in a circular motion. Like this." he said, swimming away from her. She stood back up on her toes and slowly moved her arms. She kicked off with her feet, and managed to doggy paddle over to Mike.
"This is hard." she huffed, a small frown forming between her eyebrows.
"You'll get used to it, just have to swim more." he assured her, then he playfully splashed a little bit of water at her. She jerked her head back in surprise, eyes narrowing. Mike threw his hands up in mock innocence and swam further away from her.
Eleven flicked her hand at him and sent a wave in his direction. Mike let out a small scream and threw himself under the water to avoid the wave. When he resurfaced, El was furiously giggling.
"Not funny." he said, scowling.
She laughed again, "Funny." she replied, playfully sticking out her tongue.
Mike shook his head and swam away. El turned to follow him, but lost her footing as the lake grew deep and went under the water.
And just like that, she wasn't at the lake anymore.
She was in the bathtub, with Papa and the scientists watching her as the tube closed, surrounding her in complete darkness. Then, she was in the upside down with it. She saw the slime and blood on it's skin as it tore open a dead body.
It isn't real, she told herself, swim away.
But she couldn't swim away, because it felt like something was grabbing her foot, dragging her deeper and deeper into the lake. She kicked her legs and flailed her arms around. Her mouth opened to scream, and water rushed in. Her throat burned as the air escaped her lungs. Where was Mike?
There was a word for this, something she had heard from the television. Hopper had told her a little boy had died from this two months ago, it had been a tragic accident.
Drowning.
