Hello again, fellow fanfiction readers!

Thank you to those of you who left a review, I wasn't sure if anyone would really want to know the rest. I also really like to respond to comments, so:

iAmCC- I hate myself for this story as well, trust me, and I also have a complicated relationship with El or Mike dying in stories. I also have a love for psychology though, and the idea of trying to figure out how Mike would have processed El's death was too tempting to pass up.

Purple Rose of Darkness- I don't really know who gave me the right, but it seems to have worked out pretty well so far. Hopefully these last two won't disappoint

SSJGamerYT- I completely understand wanting to see the reactions of the other kids, but I made a point to myself that I would focus specifically on Mike and the five stages of grief. If I tried to write about the other kids I don't think I could have finished, it was depressing enough writing what I did.

KeepCalmandLoveStrangerThings- your story was actually the reason this idea started in my head in the first place. I kind of hate you for it, but I also love your story and the sequel. Since the concept of the story is the same, there are bound to be similarities, but I tried my best to go in a distinct direction by going through the five stages of grief. I can't wait to read more of your sequel, and I hope you enjoy this story

Whether you read my responses or not, enjoy the story and try not to cry(like I did)...


October 22

Nancy can't shake the feeling that something is wrong with Mike. Something more than everything that's normally wrong with him these days.

He'd told her 'I love you' without any kind of prompting. He even thanked her and said it again. Something about it just seems off.

She can't focus on her classes at all that day, and during calculus she finally breaks. She picks up her test, nothing written on it, not even her name, and puts it on her teacher's desk, much to his surprise.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this right now," She says before rushing out of the room.

Nobody has a chance to stop her, too stunned that she would just skip out of class halfway through. Straight A Nancy Wheeler, never done a bad thing in her life, leaves the building altogether.

She gets in her car, a used one her parents had gotten her so she could drive herself and Mike to school last year, and peels out of the parking lot, kicking up the loose stones and dirt under her tires.

Her whole body is numb as she races home, coming to a screeching halt outside the house. With fumbling fingers she unlocks the front door.

"Mike!" She calls as loud as she can.

"Nancy?" A voice calls back.

She runs up the stairs to find her mother, wearing a bathrobe with her hair in a towel. Karen looks incredibly confused by her daughter's being home, but Nancy pushes past her to check Mike's room.

"Nancy, what are you doing home?" Karen asks.

"Where's Mike?" Nancy demands, not even hearing the question.

"I think he's in the basement," Her mother answers, still incredibly confused. Nancy starts off down the stairs at a run. "What's this about?"

Nancy throws the basement door open and runs down two at a time, her heart pounding hard enough to break out of her chest.

Her blood turns to ice when she sees him, her heart almost stopping altogether. She lets out a painful choked cry, tears welling up as she falls to her knees.

"Nancy, what's going on?" Her mother questions from the top of the stairs.

When Nancy doesn't say anything, just continuing to cry, she goes down as well.

"Oh God," Karen whispers when she sees her son.

Mike's body is slumped over in the pillow fort, the gun still loosely held in his hand where it had gone slack. A spray of blood covers one side of the fort, and a small pool has formed under where his head is laying to the side. The ghost of a smile is still etched onto his face.

Karen takes a while before coming back to herself. She gently helps Nancy up, guiding her up the stairs and closing the door behind them.

The phone rings soon and she answers it numbly. It's the office at the preschool about Holly needing to be picked up, though another parent has offered a ride. Rather than get her youngest involved in what just happened she tells them to let Holly go with a friend for the night, and that the other parent can call her later.

Neither of the Wheeler women talks, not for a long time. When there's a knock at the door Karen answers it, revealing Mike's friends. They take the news as one would expect, with disbelief and an ocean of tears. She stops any of them from going in the basement, despite their disbelieving efforts.

It's almost dark by the time Karen thinks to call the police, and even then, only Hopper comes out. He goes over the scene, finding the journal with the latest entry in it.

Nancy is the first to read it, quickly breaking out in a new round of sobs as she does. They gingerly pass it around, the last thoughts of Mike Wheeler written just for them, covered in Eggo crumbs.

Will turns more and more pale as he reads, finally thrusting the book at Dustin as he runs to the bathroom to throw up.

As the night wears on the same terrible feeling sets in to all of them.

Mike Wheeler is gone.

Forever...


I haven't legitimately cried from reading or writing a story until I wrote this one. I've done everything I hate by writing this, like killing my favorite characters, but I love figuring out 'what if' scenarios more than anything. I know there's probably a lot more detail I could have put in, but I promised myself I wouldn't edit this any more after I finished it a month ago. I didn't even want to post it, but it bothered me to just leave it sitting there.

I encourage everyone to read The World Stopped by KeepCalmandLoveStrangerThings. It's the story that inspired this one, and I think it's amazing. Just maybe read something happy first.

There's one more chapter of this to post, the journal entries Mike wrote over the 353 days. They're the part that really made me cry, so now you've been warned