"Mom you can't do this!" Mike shouted at his mother, as she walked out the door with his walky talky in her hand and Holly in her arms. She didn't get far though, not even out of the doorway thanks to her son.
"If you're gonna curse out teachers I can." she replied with an agitated tone. "Strike three is strike three, Michael!"
"I didn't mean to!" He raised his voice again. "I'm sorry mom." He reached for his walky talky again and before he could get his hands around it, Karen snatched it back.
"I'm sorry too but you have to learn your lesson." Karen said, sternly. "You're lucky your father isn't here."
Mike rolled his eyes. "Oh really, what the fuck is he gonna do?" he muttered under his breath. He knew he fucked up when his mother's eyes widened.
Oh shit, she heard him.
"Michael!" Karen exclaimed. "I'm gonna have to take it for longer now." She tried stepping out the door again but Mike had her arm.
"Please, mom." Mike was desperate now. "Please don't take it away. I...I need it."
"No, Mike." she broke away from his hold. "Three Months."
He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. instead, he stomped away and down the stairs to their basement. Slamming the door once he was in. Not caring at all about what punishment he was gonna have to deal with later.
Karen stood in the doorway speechless, with the walky talky still in her hand and Holly in her arms who at this point was terrified.
Karen didn't have a clue as to what was going on with her thirteen year old son. He was such an angel, and now he was just hell. She could hear something being thrown from the basement and a scream. Mike's NEVER done this. He's stomped before yeah, even Nancy does that. But this was something else. What was so special about his walky talky anyway? What is going on?
"Don't worry about it." Nancy said from the end of the stairs, snapping Karen out of her thoughts. "Go have fun with Holly, I can deal with this."
"You sure?" Karen asked. "I don't want you taking care of something you shouldn't have to." She swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Yes." Nancy smiled even though it was fake. "Go ahead, I'll deal with this."
Karen smiled, and then finally walked out the door. Yeah she was worried, but not as much as she used to be.
Nancy sighed.
Now time to deal with that little devil.
She slowly walked down the steps to the basement and opened the door. Mike was pacing around the room. Something was most definitely up.
"What is it, Mike?" Nancy asked. "you really stressed out mom."
"Why the fuck do you care?" He yelled in response, catching Nancy off guard. "You won't understand! No one will!"
"Mike." Nancy warned.
"What?" He yelled, again. Nancy swore the neighbors could probably hear.
"You need to calm down." Nancy said. walking up to her brother and grabbing his arms to make him stop pacing.
"Let me go." Mike said so sternly it caught Nancy off guard. But her grip on him was still hard so he began struggling against her grip, moving both his arms and hers.
"Calm down." Nancy replied.
"Stop! Let me go!" he cried out. "Please just let me go, I need space!"
Nancy didn't listen, to the point Mike's stress level was through the roof. He slowly starting slipping out of her grip and falling down to the floor. He pulled his knees to his chest and hid his face there as he could feel himself getting emotional. He was able to keep it all in though. He was pretty good at that. He started to feel bad, really bad for loosing El, Being such a bad kid and having to deal with things no kid should ever. There was another thing alright. He wouldn't admit it, but how bad he missed his big sister.
When Mike was younger, It was easier for him to go to her for things. If he was scared of the monster under his bed, he would yell for Nancy. If he had to get a shot at the doctor's office, he'd hold Nancy's hand. If his mom and dad were fighting, he'd go to her for hugs. When his pet goldfish died, she planned a funeral for it. Once he turned ten, he stopped going to Nancy less and less. By the time he was eleven, They began to argue and hit eachother all the time. Mike would almost never go to her. Once he was twelve, he completely stopped and the fighting continued.
Nancy sighed, feeling bad for her little brother. She now fully understood. How could she be so stupid? She pulled her brother into a big hug and instead of pushing away, like she assumed he would, he began clinging on to her like his life depended on it. She rocked him, whispering things like "You're okay." and "It'll be just fine." in his ear. After a minute or so, he began clinging so hard that she was loosing air. Now she had to pull away, just in time for her curiosity to kick in and now she had to really dig deep.
"Mike." She said so soothingly Mike actually looked up at her. "What is it?"
"What do you mean?" his voice cracked.
"What is all this?" Nancy started feeling emotional, but she could hold it in. "Skipping school, cursing out teachers, sneaking out, refusing to do what your told? You are stressing mom out. She already has to deal with our deadbeat father and our little sister. I know it's alot to handle Mike. I lost my bestfriend, and I'm not acting out. The worst thing I did was cut my hair without permission. Come on Mike, you got Will back."
"See!" Mike began shouting, once again. "You don't understand, No one does! I did get Will back you're right. But I didn't get the girl back. Eleven is still out there! She's scared, I can-I can feel it! She's probably cold. She is so alone, Nancy! I can only reach out to her through the talky. I haven't gotten a response yet, but what if I do later?"
"Mi-" Nancy began to say but was cut off by her brother's screaming.
"Or..or maybe she's dead!" Mike's throat was hurting now. "Maybe she died just for me when I could've saved her, Nancy." his voice suddenly began to go quiet, barely above a whisper. "I could've saved her."
"Mike." Nancy tried to sound soothing. But she was so worried you could hear it in her tone. "Come here, Bub."
Bub.
And now Mike was looking at her with wide teary eyes.
And Nancy was extremly confused.
She hasn't called him that since he was little. Suddenly, Mike stopped thinking about El. Now he was thinking about how things used to be. Before meeting Eleven, Before there was a way to get to the upside down, Before his mom and dad's marriage began failing, Before he was a teenager with annoying hormones, Before him and Nancy started to drift apart.
Mike was now just staring at her, not even realizing it. Fuck, did he miss his sister alot. Everything was easier when she was all he had. He wasn't reaching, it was 100% true. Even Nancy knew it.
"Mike" She stood up, getting creeped out. Suddenly she didn't wanna do this anymore and maybe he should've just left him alone, like she usually does.
Mike broke out of his daze when Nancy started slowly backing away.
He quickly jumped up and ran to her, wrapping his arms around her. and just started sobbing. No one would believe how fast tears were falling out of the kid's eyes. He was saying things as well that his sobs made difficult for his sister to understand.
Nancy was very shocked and confused at this point. Instead of asking questions or continuing to back away. She wrapped her arms around him and walked with him to the couch. Mike was able to curl more into her this way, due to being so damn tall now. He was back to clinging onto Nancy, practically on top of her. He wasn't saying anything anymore, but Nancy had an idea as to what it was. Nancy wondered if this is how Jonathan feels when Will gets upset.
She ran her fingers through his hair and just sat there with him until his tears slowed and he wasn't clinging as much anymore. Not saying that he wasn't still clinging to her, because he sure as hell was, just not as hard and he wasn't really on top of her anymore. Nancy could tell he was tired, so fucking tired for obvious reasons.
"Nancy" he spoke up, playing with his fingers. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, It's okay just-" Nancy began to say but was cut off again.
"No." Mike interrupted. "I miss how things used to be and I miss..I."
"Mike?" She asked.
"I miss you alot." he started sniffling and Nancy knew exactly what was coming.
"Don't cry." She said so softly. "Look at me." She put her index finger under his chin and lifted it up so their eyes met. She used her other hand to wipe the new tears slipping out of his eyes.
"I miss you too." She reolied. "and I promise you can start coming to me if you need anything, I mean anything. I know I sound like mom but what happened to telling eachother everything? Don't be embarrased Mike, it's okay."
Speaking of getting embarrased; Even though she said not to be he was, Ironic. He just cried his eyes out like a baby and held on to her like a child would hold their teddy all in front of his big sister! Mike finally let go of her all together now, and backed away.
Nancy giggled, knowing that would happen. "It's okay, everyone cries."
Mike smiled a little too.
"As for your walky talky." she smiled. "Don't give up. El is a powerful girl. I'm pretty sure she's still out there and I know she's okay. But if you must, I have allowance money to go pick you up another that you can hide in my room and take it whenever."
"Really?" Mike's eyes lit up.
"Of course." She giggled at how happy he was over this small thing. "Tomorrow, right now you desperately need sleep." She got up, pulling Mike with her. "Come on."
She led him upstairs, and then up more stairs to his room. Where he got into his bed, and before she walk back out.
"Get me a glass of water?" He asked with a smug facial expression. "I'm dehydrated after shedding so many tears."
"Brat." She joked as she shut off his lights and reached for the door knob, turning it and walking out to get a glass of water for Mike.
Nancy Wheeler really was a good sister.