It has been quite a few weeks since Eleven had sacrificed herself to save her friends. The boys took it hard but each day was a bit better. Mike took it the hardest out of the group. The night of the Snow Ball was approaching fast and even thinking about it brought Mike to shed a tear. He and Eleven were supposed to attend. His friends just knew never to bring it up, partially because no middle school boys ever want to talk about their feelings.
The night of the ball the boys went over to Mike's house to play Dungeons and Dragons to keep his mind off of Eleven. This was quite a hard task considering her "room" was still set up. Every now and again Mike would just stare at it and his friends had to snap him back into reality.
"Alright Mike, I know we aren't supposed to talk about our feelings or anything but we know this can't be easy for you." Dustin looked across the table at Mike.
"What? Its Dungeons and Dragons, of course it's easy for me. We've played it plenty of times." He said nervously as he snapped his head back from Eleven's old dwelling.
Dustin just gave him a look that brought his eyes to water.
He choked on his word but was able to manage a sentence. "I just, I just really miss her. I don't know if I'm just in denial but I feel like she's still with me. I know it sounds crazy and it probably is."
"Compared to what we've all been through, this is on the normal side of the spectrum." Will chimed in. "I know I never met Eleven, but anytime you talk about her you glow. I've been your friend long enough to know you've never felt this way about a girl before."
The other boys nodded their head in agreement, which caused the water in Mike eyes to fall. "Well you're right. I did like her. I even uhh…" He paused not sure if he should tell them he kissed her, but he blurts it out anyway. The three boys said "Ew", in unison which made Mike quickly regret saying it.
Mike became defensive, "Yeah alright guys maybe it is gross but she wasn't… Isn't. She isn't gross. She has to be out there, I can feel it. There's no way she's totally gone right? I mean she had all those powers she had to use one of them to cast a protection spell and stay alive? El is out there, she has to be!"
Tears flooded his eyes and he looked away to the blanket fort and whispered "El, where are you?"
The lights shut off and when they turned back on, the game board was flipped upside down. The game pieces were arranged to spell out "HELP". The lights turned off again, and when they began to work again the game board was back to normal, right side up with all the pieces in the right places.
"You guys saw that too, right?" Lucas' voice shook as he said each word.
Mike whispered her name and he smiled wider than he had in quite some time, "She's alive. Guys we need to help her. We need a plan."