It had been days since El had been staying in the woods. Days since she had destroyed the Demogorgon, days since she said goodbye to Mike. Since it had snowed recently, cradling the piles of wood in her arms, she found a place to set up camp for the night and set her supplies down. Her eyes dart to a squirrel scurrying right in front of her, and with a flick of her head, the animal slammed against a nearby trunk, killing it instantly. Satisfied, she set about to roast her food.
Meanwhile, Mike had set out into the cold, without his friends or his beloved bike, a determined look on his face. He didn't believe in the fact that El had died. Calling her on his Super Comm. had been a nightly occurrence, something he would not stop doing, even if she did return. Night was beginning to fall as he took out his flashlight, beginning through the woods, he paused when he saw a warm, amber glow in the distance. His heart rate accelerated at the thought that it could be Eleven as he started to run towards it.
El is eating away at her squirrel, trying her best to chew through the meat and imagining it was an Eggo®️waffle. Just as she was about to take another bite, she froze as she saw a flash of light in the distance, her blood running cold as she quickly got up and made a break for it, fearing it was one of the Bad Men coming back for her, all the while Mike finally making it to the scene. His brows furrowed as his eyes scanned the scene in front of him before hearing footsteps retreating from the scene, causing him to follow.
El's heart pounded as she hid behind a tree, panting slightly from running. "El? El, where are you?" She gasped, recognizing the voice calling for her. Peeking behind the tree, she watched as Mike waved his flashlight around. Did he get this far just to find her?
"El, please...I want you home!" His voice strained, tears running down his cheeks. El felt the tears running down her face, shaking her head and curling up into a ball. She wanted to cry out and tell Mike she was okay, but she was a risk: if she went home with him, he and his family would end up dead.
"Please..." Mike whimpered, his head whipping around to look for signs. He shined his flashlight on footprints, kneeling down to take a closer look at the prints and recognizing them immediately. Hope filled him as he started to run around.
"El! It's me, Mike! I just want you to come back! I need to know you're okay!" He called out. But as he ran, he failed to notice the tree root sticking out from the ground and he took a tumble, landing on the cold, hard ground with a thud, his flashlight flying out of his grip.
"Ow," he mumbled, slowly sitting up. Shaking his head, Mike slowly got up, but realized that he had sprained his ankle during the fall. "Ah, shit." He groaned, trying to limp to where his flashlight was laying on the ground, only to lose his balance and falling again. Grunting, he tried again, successfully doing so. He leaned against a tree as he shined his flashlight again.
"I'll have to try again tomorrow..." he mumbled as he began to make his way out of the forest area.
From her hiding spot, El peeked out and watched as Mike limped away, her heart aching to see him hurt, and it was all because of her, she decided. If he hadn't gone out and looked for her, if he just forgotten about her...no, that wasn't like Mike at all. As she continued to watch him go, she followed quietly to make sure he didn't get lost, just until he made it out okay.
As Mike made it to where he started, he could feel a presence and he turned his head. El gasped and hid behind a tree to avoid being seen.
"Don't worry, El. I never break my promises." He said to himself before he continued his walk home. El found herself smiling, but it faded slightly.
She wished she was normal, that she wasn't raised in a lab as an experiment. That way, she wouldn't be away from the friends she had made, from the boy that made her heart swell. While her powers were an asset, she also saw them as a curse.
El took Mike's promise to heart and then retreated back to the woods.