Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Stranger Things or its plots or characters.

CHAPTER 2: THE WEIRDO ON MAPLE STREET

They had all made it safely to the Wheeler house and managed to sneak into the basement without Mike's parents realizing they had ever left and came back.

During the short, but frigid, sopping wet, walk, Mike had been watching the strange girl out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but notice her shivering in the cold despite the jacket that now hung limply on her shoulders. Every time a burst of lightning lit up the sky or a crescendo of thunder sounded, Mike could see the girl flinch. He had no idea what her deal was, but he picked up the pace, worried she'd either freeze to death out here or bolt from fear.

Once they were safely in the basement, Mike offered her the couch. It was already old and busted so a little rainwater wasn't going to hurt it. The girl took a seat hesitantly, her chest still heaving in short panicked breaths. Mike was the first to start, standing in front of her and asking abruptly,

"Is there a number we can call? For your parents?"

The light brown eyes snapped to his and in his own anxious state he couldn't decipher the emotions there. Confusion? Definitely. Fear? Absolutely. But whatever else she may be feeling was lost on him as Dustin asked his own questions, "Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" his voice a mix of incredulousness and concern.

"Did you run away?" Lucas picked up from there, and Mike could sense his friends felt like this whole thing had been a bad idea. But he didn't care. Helping her was the right thing to do.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike wanted to know the source of her fear so he could help her. Everything about this situation felt off. What would a girl their age, with a shaved head no less, be doing wandering out in the storm in Mirkwood, barefoot, in nothing but a baggy t-shirt?

"Is that blood?" Lucas asked, pointing at her face, his finger getting closer and closer to the girl who seemed to recoil as he neared her, something that wasn't unnoticed by Mike. His strong reaction surprised even himself though.

Almost instinctively Mike slapped Lucas' hand away from her and he yelled,

"Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

Immediately, his friend got defensive and put his hands out in front of him, gesturing towards her, with the sharp response of,

"She's freaking me out!"

"I bet she's deaf," Dustin interjected and turned to the girl, clapping his hands loudly in her face to which she flinched and recoiled even further into herself, and Dustin corrected quietly, "not deaf."

Mike could see the fear in her face but now it seemed to be in response to them. How could he blame her? They were asking her all kinds of questions and getting in her space when she was already scared, so he had to put a stop to this.

"All right, that's enough! She's just scared and cold," Mike chastised them firmly, watching as she looked at each of them in turn. Her eyes came to rest on him as he spoke, and it brought him to his senses. He had to get her warm. She was still in soaking clothes and his jacket offered little warmth now that it was drenched too.

He, shoved by Lucas a little in his rush over to the laundry basket of clean clothes and picked out the sweats he had been wearing Sunday during their D&D campaign. He figured they would fit because the girl seemed to be about his size, maybe slightly shorter.

On his way back to the couch, Mike couldn't help but notice the way she cringed at a particularly loud burst of thunder. Once he reached her again, he held out the clean clothes. "Here, these are clean. Okay?"

He watched her carefully as she seemed to study the clothes, before taking them and pressing them to her face. Mike had no idea what to make of this girl, but he felt like he was beginning to gain her trust.

She shrugged his jacket off and stood. All of a sudden, she reached down for the hem of her large yellow shirt. Mike was pretty sure he, Dustin, and Lucas had never moved faster in their lives. In unison, Lucas and Dustin bolted away, "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod," Dustin was yelling while Lucas and Mike just kept repeating, "Nonononononono."

Mike's instinct was to stop her, before she did something that embarrassed them all. Though she didn't seem embarrassed at all just confused and a little shaken by their sudden reactions. His heart had started beating so fast in anxiety that this girl was going to get naked in front of them that he hardly realized he had put his hands on hers.

"See over there? There's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?" Mike explained to her, gesturing with one hand while the other hovered over hers in fear she would continue to try and take her clothes off in front of them again.

Her eyes were full of confusion and fear again and a stab of guilt shot through him. He hadn't really meant to have such a strong reaction, but it was just a fundamental rule not to get naked in front of a member of the opposite sex unless you were going to do…things, but she clearly hadn't gotten that memo. Where did she come from that she wouldn't even know that?

Mike continued to watch her anxiously, her eyes seeming to suggest that she was weighing her options and was just as perplexed by them as they were by her. Small rivulets of rain had collected all over her skin, skin that seemed naturally olive but also a shade paler than was natural, Mike noted.

After a moment, she picked the clothes back up from the couch and made her way over to the bathroom. Not entirely sure why, but Mike followed her maybe to make sure she didn't try to strip again, he told himself.

She stepped into the small room and glanced around as if she had never been in a bathroom before. Mike made to shut the door behind her when suddenly her hand shot out and stopped it. That panic had returned to her eyes, but this was different. This was some of kind of primal fear. The look of utter terror startled Mike and he made no move to close the door further.

"You don't want it closed?" he asked in surprise, studying her face, making a futile attempt to understand her reaction. Was she claustrophobic? That seemed like too simple of an explanation for a girl with such foreign mannerisms.

Her light brown eyes, looked away briefly, as if considering something before coming back up to Mike's.

"No," she said in almost a whisper, and again Mike was taken aback by this girl.

"Oh, so you can speak," he replied, more to himself than her before suggesting to her, "Okay, well, uhm. How about we keep the door just like this?"

She allowed him to slowly close it most of the way, but her hand stayed firmly on the door until she was certain Mike wasn't going to lock her in. Something about her reaction made Mike's heart ache. He didn't know much about people, after all, he was an outcast in his own school, but he knew that something had happened to this girl. Her wide, fearful eyes and serious expression revealed nothing and yet everything he needed to know. She was obviously scared of them and he felt compelled to make sure she knew that he wasn't going to hurt her in anyway.

She watched him intently as he closed the door until only a sliver of the room was visible, never looking away from him and he never looking away from her. Only then did she release her tight grip on the door, apparently trusting he would keep his word.

"Is that better?" Mike asked softly, wanting to make sure she felt safe.

"Yes." She replied simply.

While she only spoke two syllables it seemed to be a struggle for her to say even that much. Nevertheless, Mike felt like the fear in her eyes had ebbed somewhat, so he gave her a slight, comforting smile before he stepped away from the door and back to Dustin and Lucas to give her some space.

The clothes the dark-haired boy had given her were nice. They were warm and dry and smelled good, nothing like the crisp hospital gown she typically had to wear at the lab that always smelled of harsh chemicals.

Stepping out of the bathroom, which looked nothing like the bathrooms at the lab, her eyes fell on the three boys arguing with one another. Their voices were slightly raised, and she could tell they were talking about her.

After a few minutes, the boy with the darker skin noticed her and stopped talking immediately. She could see the apprehension in his eyes and could tell that he trusted her about as much as she trusted him at the moment. But she hadn't had much of a choice when they found her.

She had still been reeling from the bad people finding her at the place with the food. She had seen what the bad people were capable of before, but she hadn't anticipated that they would kill anyone who merely helped her. Watching that woman shoot the nice man, Eleven realized that they were worse people than even she thought.

After she had escaped, hurting more of the bad people in the process, she had found herself with nowhere to go again with the added fear that the bad people would harm someone else. Then water had begun falling from overhead paired with loud sounds like the sky was cracking open and bright flashes of light. From the limited books she was given when she was smaller, Eleven knew that this was a storm and she decided that she didn't like it. It sounded a lot like the bad men's guns.

The water was cold, nothing like the water of the bath, and Eleven knew that she was getting weaker the longer she was out in it. So, when these three boys had found her an internal battle had raged within her. She was desperate to get out of the storm and they were obviously not bad people, but if the bad people did find her here with them she was putting their lives at risk. Eventually, the dark-haired boy's offer to go where he lived was something she couldn't pass up, but she swore to herself that she would leave as soon as she figured out where to go. The idea of this nice boy getting hurt because of her made her heart hurt.

So, now she was here, with the three boys staring at her. The one with dark skin and the one with curly hair and no teeth seemed to regard her fearfully, giving her a lot of space. The dark-haired boy on the other hand smiled at her and told her she could stay here for the night until they could figure out what to do in the morning.

Eleven watched as the boys put sheets over a couple of chairs, with a light, some blankets, and pillows underneath. When that was done, the two other boys said good byes to the dark-haired one and went up the stairs.

He gestured for her to sit inside, calling it a fort, which she complied with because he hadn't locked her in the bathroom so she knew he was trying to help her. The boy gathered something else before making his way back over to her and offering the fabric that was in his hands.

"Here you go. Here's my sleeping bag," he offered, his voice warm and calming. She could feel him watching her as she laid out the thing he called a sleeping bag in the fort for additional bedding.

"Hey, I never asked your name," he said it as if it were a question and Eleven debated pretending to ignore him, but he had been so nice to her, so she chose to respond in her own way.

Hesitantly, Eleven looked up at the boy before she raised her sleeve revealing her tattoo. His reaction startled her a bit because he was obviously shocked,

"Is that real?!"

The boy reached out to touch her arm, but her reflex was to recoil away from him. Her eyes snapped to his and she could see that her response had surprised him, his dark brown eyes were wide. There were only two types of touching at the lab and that the kind that hurt her and the kind Papa used to make her hurt others.

"Sorry…," he apologized, his face turning into what looked like a nervous smile as he explained himself, "I've just never seen a kid with a tattoo before."

Her limited reactions with people outside of the lab had taught her that she wasn't normal. But he had said sorry to her… to her that wasn't normal, so she regarded him thoughtfully. This dark-haired boy seemed to have no intention of harming her, but she just couldn't force herself to relax.

"What's it mean? Eleven?" he asked, and after considering it for a moment she pointed to herself.

His eyes seemed to fill with something she couldn't figure out. It wasn't quite confusion and not really sadness either, but it definitely wasn't a happy look.

"That's you name?" he responded, that look staying on his face as she nodded. She watched as he seemed to consider something before he spoke again, "Eleven… okay, well, my name's Mike- short for Michael… maybe we can call you El- short for Eleven?"

Eleven liked his suggestion. She could tell her was trying to make her feel at ease and it was hard not to trust him even having only just met him. Nodding in agreement, she thought that Mike was nice. He wanted her to feel comfortable: he gave her somewhere to sleep, gave her his jacket and warm clothes, and had told the other boys that she should stay.

"Uhm… well, okay. Good night, El," he said to her, standing up. Her eyes followed his movements and a part of her wanted to ask him to stay. Instead she could only manage,

"'Night, Mike."

He gave her one last small smile, before dropping the blanket over the front of the fort, hiding her. She listened and could hear him walk away, turn off the light and run upstairs. When she was alone, Eleven laid down in the fort, over the blankets, ready to run at the first sign of danger.

The storm continued to rage outside, and it scared her, but it did nothing to distract her from her thoughts. She had run away from everything she knew… away from the lab, away from Papa. She had opened the gate and let the monster out and now she was free, even though it didn't feel like it. The bad people were chasing her, hurting people. The reason she had run away was she didn't want anyone else to get hurt and now she was putting this nice boy and his family in danger.

Eleven- El- could feel the full weight of what she had done now that she was in a somewhat safe place. Tears slid down her cheeks and her chin quivered as she thought about how her whole life was going to be different now. How long would Papa and the bad people look for her? How many more people would they hurt? Would they hurt Mike?

Her thoughts stayed with Mike well into the night until eventually the exhaustion from everything that had happened today finally claimed her and the world went dark.

First thing in the morning, Mike rushed to get dressed and make a couple extra Eggo's for El. He had hardly slept last night, his thoughts with the girl in his basement. Eventually he had fallen asleep and when he had awoke, he had been certain that something that incredible had to have been a dream. But the pile of wet clothes in his room told him a different story.

After his brief back and forth with Nancy he sped down to the basement, checking to make sure no one followed him. Luckily, the basement had kind of become his domain now, so his sisters and parents rarely came down here.

The sounds of radio static met his ears as he made his way down the steps and he knew that El was awake, so he lifted the blanket covering the fort. His eyes were met with the sight of the girl with the shaved head fiddling with the dials on his Supercomm. At Mike's appearance, her eyes almost immediately snapped to his.

"Hey, you found my Supercomm," he said congenially, offering her what he hoped was a friendly smile as he continued, "Pretty cool, huh? I talk to my friends with it. Mostly Lucas 'cause he lives so close. Signals pretty weak."

The girl's face never changed from the stoic expression but Mike figured that was better than outright fear, so he'd take it for now.

Remembering the waffle in his coat pocket, Mike pulled out the Eggo and offered it to her, "I got you breakfast."

She took the food from his hand quickly and he felt a pang of guilt for not offering her some food sooner. Who knows how long she was out in Mirkwood without something to eat. He watched her take a large bite of it hungrily before he started to lay out his plan to her.

"So, listen. This is gonna sound weird, but I just need you to go up there, then go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer, and you'll tell her you're lost and you need help, but whatever you do you can't tell her about last night or that you know me. Understand?" he explained, ending with a smile.

He really hoped she understood. He really wanted to help her, but he was just a kid and had no idea but to do with a lost girl who obviously hadn't lived in the real world. At least not this one. But he especially didn't want to get in trouble when all he had been trying to do was the right thing. Despite what Lucas had said last night, he didn't think she was crazy and he didn't think it would've been right to leave her in the storm even if she was.

Mike would never forget the complete and utter fear in those brown eyes as they stared back at him from the couch. So, whatever happened he knew he had done the right thing. Now it was just a matter of not getting in trouble and getting back to searching for Will.

"Really, it's no big deal. We'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom… she'll know who to call," Mike added when her silence had stretched on. He could tell she was listening intently to him, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure she was getting his plan, which he thought was pretty good himself.

Her face was serious, and she stared at him unflinchingly before uttering her one syllable response, "No."

"No?" he repeated lamely, confused because she obviously understood what he was asking of her but was refusing. But why? Wouldn't she want to go home?

"No," she repeated, her expression revealing nothing about why.

"No… you don't want my mom to get help?"

Mike was really confused now, but he could sense something wasn't right. There was a reason this girl was out in the storm in nothing but a t-shirt, fear seemingly emanating from her every pore. There was a reason she didn't have a name and instead was merely a number, branded with it. And there was a reason her expression was the most serious, her eyes the most haunted he had ever seen on a kid.

El shook her head slightly and an icy chill went up his spine, realizing that something bad had happened to her, really bad.

"You're in trouble, aren't you?" Mike asked gently, his eyes unable to move away from her face, trying to read anything in her expression. She merely gave him a sideways glance and that told him he was right, so he pushed on,

"Who…who are you in trouble with?"

She looked away then, her face still a mask, but her eyes seemed to betray her. Mike could almost see the emotions swirling in the brown depths as she readied herself to respond.

"Bad," El replied in a voice barely above a whisper. That shiver had turned into a full-fledged feeling of ice being dumped over his head. Whatever was going on with El was much worse than he, Lucas, or Dustin could have imagined.

Hesitantly, he spoke,

"Bad…bad people?"

She turned her eyes back to him and he could tell that she was debating with herself about whether to keep answering his questions. But Mike wasn't about to stop now, especially after she nodded in affirmation to his guess.

Then, he had to know if his suspicions were true.

"They want to hurt you…the bad people?" Mike knew his voice had hardened slightly as he said those words, but he couldn't help it. Something about the idea of anyone hurting this girl had stirred an angry fire in his chest that melted the icy fear. She was just a kid... why would anyone want to hurt her? Were the bad people her own parents? If not, why wasn't anyone protecting her?

It seemed as though El had run out of words because her response to his question was merely to put her pointer and second fingers together to simulate a gun. She pressed it to her head, the fear returning to her eyes, but she never looked away from him, even as she moved her hand to point the imaginary gun at him. After she dropped her hand, she continued to look at him.

"Understand?" she spoke seriously, her eyes pleading with him to comprehend the danger.

It was the most syllables she had said at one time and rather than being happy about earning a little of her trust, all Mike felt shock.

Bad people… not just any bad people… but bad people with guns were after her.

"Michael! Where are you? We're going to be late. Let's go!" his mom shouted from the top of the basement steps. His eyes snapped in the direction of her voice, worried she might find El down here.

He still wasn't sure how he was going to help this girl, but he made a quick decision.

"All right, I'll be back, just stay here. Stay here," he told her in a rush. Pulling the blanket down over the fort again, Mike ran back up the stairs, his plan quickly forming.

As El sat in the fort, she seriously considered running again. She was refreshed after having something to eat and a warm place to sleep for the night, so what was stopping her from getting as far from this place and the bad people as she could?

She knew the answer, but she was trying to ignore it.

Somehow, this boy called Mike had guessed vaguely at the danger she was in, but she had revealed more than she intended.

Again, she weighed her options. It was easy to see that he was a good person and he had no intentions of hurting her. As a result, she had made the decision to trust him in the hopes he wouldn't tell his Mama, he called her Mom, that she was here. The last thing she wanted was for the bad people to shoot Mike and his mom like they had shot the nice man with the food. Which was another reason she was thinking about running. She had already been the reason people died, bad and good, and she didn't want Mike to get hurt. But being here was also the safest she had felt since she had left the lab… maybe ever.

So, when he told her to wait, she considered running only briefly before she eventually decided to stay and wait like he asked her to do.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed but, as promised, Mike appeared after opening her fort, relief flooding her. He started talking really fast about things she didn't really understand but words like, 'school' and 'class,' she picked out. He invited her to come up the stairs with him which she was hesitant to do at first, afraid his mom would be waiting for her at the top. But no one else was here.

This place was completely foreign to her. The texture of the floor was soft under her feet, nothing like the cold, hard floors of the lab. And the rooms had color on the walls and so many… things. Her eyes couldn't stop drinking in the unfamiliar surroundings, even as she heard Mike speaking to her.

"Want anything to drink? We've got OJ, skim milk… what else? We have…."

The boy seemed to have noticed that she had wandered into another room, but her attention was transfixed on the box with the glass on the front with metal poles on the top. She had seen similar ones at the lab but she had never been allowed to be this close to one.

"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly for watching TV. Nice, right? It's a 22 inch. That's like ten times bigger than Dustin's," Mike explained, but her attention was already over on the pictures. She stepped up onto an elevated stone-like platform so she could take a better look.

She recognized the first one as Mike, but next to it there was a picture of a girl, older than her, with long brown hair and nice brown eyes. She couldn't help but envy that hair.

"Pretty," she said, mostly to herself, a quick smile curling her lips as she said it.

"I guess…," Mike didn't seem to agree with her, but she listened as he explained who the people were in the pictures, one by one, "That's my sister Nancy… and that's baby Holly, and those are my parents. What are your parents like? Do they live close?"

She continued to ignore him, partly because it was too difficult to explain and partly because she was caught up in seeing everything she could possible see about this new world she had found herself in. Her eyes fell on a fat chair that was also impossibly soft like the floor.

"That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my Dad sleeps. You can try it, if you want," Mike offered, and she glanced over at him this time at the mention of his Papa. She wondered if his Papa was anything like hers. Probably not since Mike was so nice.

"Yea, it's fun," he encouraged as she made her way around to the front of the chair, unsure of herself but curious. When she was seated Mike continued,

"Just trust me, okay?"

And she did. She couldn't explain why but something about his eyes told her that he wouldn't hurt her like the bad people. He had already shown that he would do the things he said by coming back and he even chose not to tell his mom about her even though he wanted to.

So, she chose to trust him. Nodding her affirmation, El held her hands stiffly on the arms of the chair, anxious about what this chair would do. Her right hand was close to Mike's before he reached down and, all of sudden, the chair flung backwards, so now she was laying on her back, Mike's left hand above her head. It surprised her but in a good way and she couldn't stop the smile that crept onto her face or the little laugh that escaped her lips.

"See? Fun, right?" he asked, a wide grin on his face. Then, Mike pushed the chair back into the sitting position.

"Now you try," he suggested, and she wanted to. She reached down and pulled the bar that Mike had, her legs flinging out again and her head going backwards.

It gave her a fluttery feeling in her stomach, but she wasn't sure if that was from the chair or from the way Mike was smiling at her. She could see that her happy made him happy and that made her feel funny.

Mike spent the morning showing El around his house and eventually they had ended up in his room. He was showing her his Star Wars collection at the moment,

"Ready, are you? What knows you of ready?" he mimicked in his best Yoda impression. El didn't seem to get the reference, as with most things he realized, but that was okay. He didn't mind, he just liked being around her.

"His name's Yoda. He can use the force to move things with his mind. Like this- Whoosh!" he explained before shoving half the action figures off the table. He then moved on to something else, excited to show her everything, but she had already stood up.

"This is my dinosaur, Rory. Look, he has a speaker in his mouth, so he can roar," Mike continued, used to her exploring the house while he was explaining things. She seemed to have never been in a house before which only added to his questions. But he knew she would tell him when she was ready, so he wouldn't push.

He noticed that she was standing in front of his trophies, leaning closer to get a better look. So, Mike dropped Rory back onto the table and came to stand beside her,

"Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year, except for last year when we got third. Mr. Clarke said it was totally political," he explained, ending in exasperation over their loss.

He wasn't surprised by her silence, that was kind of her thing, but when his gaze fell on her face he was a little startled to see fear and recognition when her eyes fell on their science fair picture. She then lifted her hand slowly and pointed directly at Will's face in the photo. Mike's heart sped up to twice its normal rhythm. This couldn't be a coincidence.

"You know Will? Did you see him? Last night? On the road?" he asked her, trying not to be too aggressive with his questions but he needed to know. Will was missing, and he needed to know if she had seen him. How else would she know him?

The sound of a car pulling into the cul-de-sac startled them both and Mike ran to the window, hoping it was just a delivery man or something. But when he reached the window, he saw the all-too-familiar station wagon approaching and his heart sunk.

If his mom found El in the house, he would get in so much trouble. And after everything he had learned about El, Mike didn't think it was safe for his mom to get involved, at least not yet.

"We gotta go," he told her, grabbing her arm, something he wouldn't have done in any other circumstance, and pulling her down the stairs, but it was too late. They reached the landing and he screeched to a halt at the sight of his mother, Holly on her hip, stepping into the house. Thankfully, her back was to them, otherwise they'd be dead, so Mike took the opportunity to run them back upstairs.

"Ted? Is that you?" his mom yelled from the kitchen, but Mike didn't stop running towards his room.

"Just me, mom!" he yelled back as they reached the second floor.

"Mike? What are you doing home?"

"One second!"

They made it to his room and he released El so he could slam the door shut. His heart was racing and he was practically gasping for air but his head was thinking clearly. He had to hide her and quick so he went for the closet.

"In here. I'll be right back, okay?" he told her anxiously, but her face was full of apprehension and uncertainty.

"Please, you have to get in or my mom, she'll find you. Do you understand?" he said in a rush, afraid his mother would come up and find this strange girl in his room any minute. He could see she needed further reassurance, so he added, "I won't tell her about you. I promise."

"Promise?" confusion etched her features and the word rolled off her tongue as if it was from a completely foreign language.

"It means something that you can't break. Ever," he defined in the quickest way possible, but he could see the question still in her face. But there wasn't time to explain further because his mom's voice rang out once more,

"Michael!"

They both turned towards the sound of her voice before meeting each other's gaze. He refused to abuse whatever trust he had earned from her by forcing her to hide, even if he felt like it was in his and her best interests at the moment. He couldn't forget the way she had flinched away from him last night when he had reached out to touch the tattoo on her forearm. He wouldn't be another bad person for her to fear but he needed her hide, so he could keep her and his family safe. So, Mike tried the only thing left that he could think of and he practically begged, "Please?"

Her mahogany eyes seem to soften just a bit, but she still gave him an uncertain glance as she moved towards the closet. Relief flooded him as she stepped into the enclosed space of her own volition.

El turned to face him as he was closing the door and guilt tore through him at the unmistakable terror in her eyes before he shut it completely.

Eleven trusted Mike, even after only knowing him for less than 24 hours. She could see the fear of being caught in his eyes, and she believed that he truly would keep her a secret from his mom. That was the only reason she stepped willingly into the small, dark enclosed space.

The second the door closed, and she was thrust into darkness Eleven's heart began to race, her breathing coming in shallow gasps. Panic was already setting in as she had a flashback to one of the many times her Papa had her placed into the 'bad girl room,' as he called it.

He would have the guards leave her in there for hours at a time, despite her sobs and endless screams. She would beg and plead even as they slammed the door in her face, leaving her to pound on the cold metal.

It was always so dark, so cold, so alone. Whatever warmth and tenderness Papa gave her for doing good at what he asked her to do was replaced with a feeling of complete isolation when she couldn't do as he asked.

Eleven crushed her eyelids closed as the emotions and memories overwhelmed her. This room wasn't nearly as dark or barren as the one she was forced into at the lab but that didn't stop the feeling that the walls were closing in around her. She felt as though she couldn't breathe, the memories so palpable they felt like they were going to suffocate her.

Tears were slipping down her cheeks as she leaned back against the back wall of the space. Unable to stand any longer, Eleven slid down, dropping hard onto the carpeted floor and hugging her knees to her chest protectively. It felt like an eternity as she sat there sobbing in the darkness. The soul crushing feeling of being alone swallowing her hole.

"Eleven? Is everything okay? El?"

Mike's voice drifted through the wood of the closet door and somehow reached her in the dark place. The next instant, the door swung open and the boy appeared.

He fell to his knees in front of her as she raised her tear-stained eyes to his dark ones. She could hardly believe he was there, staring at her with such concern.

Mike had come back for her, just like he promised. She had stopped crying but she could feel the wetness on her face, betraying her. For some reason, she didn't mind that Mike knew she had cried.

"Is everything okay?" his voice was soft and worried. She could see his eyes searching hers, trying to figure out what was the matter.

Disbelief still permeated her as she stared at him, but she nodded. She was telling the truth because she was okay, now that he had kept his promise. He hadn't put her in the closet to punish her… he truly wanted to protect her, and he had kept her a secret from his own mom

"Are you sure?" he pressed gently, not convinced. She didn't want to see his eyes worried like that, so she tried to smile to make him believe and repeated his word,

"Promise."

If someone had asked him to explain it, Mike would have been completely at a loss. Which is kind of what he was trying to do now with Lucas and Dustin.

After his mom had left, Mike had rushed up to find El in tears, huddled in his closet. When he had heard the thunk upstairs he had wanted to run up there right away to make sure she was all right, but he had to convince his mom no one was here and try to get her to leave as soon as possible. He felt bad for lying to his mom but it was to keep them all safe, so he figured it was right thing to do.

El had looked so…so broken, was the only word that came to mind. Guilt ate at him as he realized his asking her to get in the closet had obviously triggered something from her past, probably having to do with the bad people.

His guilt had quickly turned to anger thinking about what those bastards must have done to her. That anger was short lived though, because then he knew that would only make her retreat further into herself. So, Mike collected himself and coaxed her out of the closet, her cheeks still damp with her previous tears.

The last thing he wanted to do was push her to tell him what was wrong, so he settled for making sure she was okay. She promised him that she was, but he wasn't blind. And while he was desperate to find out how she knew Will, it was more important that he made her feel better first.

So, the rest of the afternoon he spent taking care of her; making sure she had enough to eat, which was challenging because she seemed to scarf down whatever he gave her so quickly, as if she had never been fed properly in her life- maybe she hadn't. He also made sure she stayed in the safety and relative privacy of his room, just in case his mom or someone else decided to come home unannounced again. But he also tried to give her a little space, letting her take the lead, explore and look at whatever she wanted, explaining when she looked at him with silent questions. Because as curious as he was about her, he wanted her to feel safe more.

He knew Dustin and Lucas were probably worried he had been caught when he hadn't shown up at school, so Mike wasn't surprised when they showed up at his house after school. He was both excited and nervous when they stepped into his room. On one hand, he was anxious to find Will, but on the other he was sad his day alone with El was over. Not to mention, Mike knew he was about to get an earful from them once he explained everything.

As soon as Dustin closed his bedroom door all the way, Lucas ripped into him, practically yelling, "Are you out of your mind?"

And just as quickly, Mike became defensive, "Just listen to me."

"You are out of your mind."

"She knows about Will," Mike blurted before one of them cut him off again.

"What do you mean, she knows about Will?" Dustin piped in and Mike went over and grabbed their science fair picture, holding it up for them to see before explaining,

"She pointed at him- at his picture. She knew he was missing. I could tell."

"You could tell," Lucas scoffed, clearly not believing it.

"Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared," Mike argued.

All the while he could see El out of the corner of his eye, sitting on his bed silently. The look on her face seemed to be trying to convey something he couldn't discern. But after spending the day with her he understood why she wouldn't- couldn't speak- after the untold horrors he was sure she experienced at the hands of the bad people.

"That is weird," Dustin conceded, glancing at Lucas beside him.

"And she said bad people are after her. I think maybe these bad people are the same ones who took Will. I think she knows what happened to him," Mike presented his theory, but Lucas' crossed arms seemed to suggest he wasn't buying what he was selling.

"Then why doesn't she tell us?" he countered. Without warning, Lucas crossed the room in several strides, angrily directing his next words to El, "Do you know where he is?"

Mike stood behind him, his own anger rising at his friend's aggressive tactics, but Lucas wasn't done.

"Do you know where Will is?!" he demanded, getting her face and grabbing her shoulders roughly. That was crossing a line and Mike had the overwhelming urge to protect her.

"Stop it! You're scaring her!" he yelled angrily at Lucas, and his so-called friend released her, turning on him now.

"She should be scared!" Lucas shouted in his face and Mike turned his eyes to El, trying to gauge her reaction as Lucas demanded to her, "If you know where he is, tell us."

He didn't grab her this time, but his voice was low and dangerous. It was causing conflicting emotions in Mike to see his best friend treat this girl so harshly. Fear had returned to those light brown eyes and El looked to be on the verge of tears again. Mike's heart hurt to see it.

Mike really wanted to find Will and he wished Eleven would tell them, but Lucas was going about this the wrong way. Mike was afraid that all the trust he had earned from her today would completely vanish as she retreated back into herself.

Thankfully, Lucas gave up on getting anything out of El, but then he turned his anger back on Mike again.

"This is nuts! We have to take her to your mom," he said forcefully, but Mike wasn't having it.

"No. Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger."

El hadn't expressly said that but he had been able to glean that from the limited information she had given him this morning. She had only said a few words but somehow, he had completely understood what she meant, her expressive eyes, filled with fear, telling him everything he needed to know, as was becoming their norm already.

"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked quietly but the other two ignored him. Lucas looking at Mike as if he'd gone off the deep end, saying incredulously,

"Her name is Eleven?"

"El, for short," Mike explained, before Dustin cut in again, more insistently this time,

"Mike! What kind of danger?"

"Danger, danger," he replied in frustration. He couldn't exactly tell them what kind of danger, since Eleven hadn't so he used the method she had. Forming his fingers into the shape of a gun, Mike pointed it at Dustin's forehead before turning it to Lucas.' But the latter wasn't having it. He slapped Mike's hand away hard and shouted,

"No, no, no! We're going back to Plan A. We're telling your mom!"

Mike did nothing to stop him but panic set in as he realized what Lucas was going to do would put them all at risk, most of all El. As Lucas opened his bedroom door, he opened his mouth to try to talk him out of it one more time, but words ended up not being necessary.

At that moment, the door slammed shut, pulled by an invisible force. Lucas stopped short in surprise, looking bewilderedly at the door before trying to open it again. Once more, he was able to open it about a foot before it slammed closed, this time locking them all inside.

Mike couldn't explain this either, but somehow, he just knew it was Eleven.

They all shifted their gaze to where she now stood, positioned in front his bed. Mike noticed a thin stream of blood dripping from her left nostril as she stared fiercely at Lucas, saying only one word,

"No."

Eleven had really hadn't wanted to use her powers. She knew it wasn't normal and would scare them, but she couldn't let the boy called Lucas tell Mike's mom. If he told her then she was afraid the bad people would find her and then Mike and his family would get hurt. She refused to let that happen, so she had locked the door.

After that they all looked at her differently. Mike too. It wasn't bad look, but it made her a little sad to know she had scared him a little.

After that they had tried to ask her so many questions, but Lucas didn't yell at her this time. It wasn't long before she heard Mike's mom shout for dinner. Mike told her she could stay in his room and he would bring her food afterwards. She believed him because he promised. She was still reluctant to let them out though in case Lucas decided to tell Mike's mom, but Mike said he wouldn't. And she trusted Mike, so she let them unlock the door and leave the room.

After a while she was tired of waiting, so Eleven decided to go back down to what Mike called the basement. She wanted to see if she could get that Supercomm thing to work, so maybe she could hear Will. Mike called him, 'a friend,' which she still didn't know what that meant but she would ask him later because it seemed important.

Eventually, she heard the basement door open and three sets of feet descending the wooden stairs.

"El?" she heard Mike's voice call out to her. Glancing up from the Supercomm, she saw him, followed by the boy called Dustin and then Lucas. Mike approached her, carrying a tray in both hands and coming to kneel in front of her.

"No adults. Just us and some meatloaf," Mike told her reassuringly. She wasn't sure what meatloaf was, but it was food and that was all that mattered. Mike's eyes held no fear of her, even after he had seen what she could do, and she was relieved. But at the appearance of Lucas her eyes turned cold. He was looking at her just as apprehensively as she felt about him.

"Don't worry. They won't tell anyone about you. They promise," he told her and she believed him. His eyes were warm as he looked at her and she felt less lonely when he was around.

He turned back to the other two and prompted, "Right?"

The curly haired boy, smiled nervously at her as he spoke, "We never would have upset you if we knew you had superpowers."

All of sudden, Mike turned around and hit him in the leg. This elicited an, 'ow,' from Dustin but El could tell he hadn't really been hurt. Either way, it startled her to see Mike hurt him, so she leaned away slightly, back into the fort, her eyes fixed on all of them.

Those dark brown eyes turned back to hers, softening as he spoke to her, "What Dustin is trying to say is, is that they were just scared…earlier. That's all."

"We just wanted to find our friend," Lucas explained, his voice quieter than earlier, but Eleven was still uneasy about him. He had grabbed her like the guards did at the lab and she didn't like it, but he used that word again and she had to ask,

"Friend?"

"Yeah, friend… Will…," Lucas responded with an airy tone but Eleven still didn't understand.

"What is friend?" El strung the words together because if she was going to understand why finding Will was so important to them she needed to know this word.

"Is she serious?" Lucas directed this to Dustin but El continued to stare him down, so he began to answer, "A friend is someone-."

But Mike cut him off, which she was kind of thankful for because he said things in a much nicer voice.

"Someone you'd do anything for," he interjected, and Dustin continued where he left off,

"You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards."

"And they never break a promise," Mike added, and she understood that part.

"Especially when there's spit," Lucas piped in, confusing her again.

"Spit?" she asked. She knew what spit was but what did that have to do with a promise?

"A spit swear means-," Lucas began to explain as he spat into his hand and shook Dustin's, "You never break your word. It's a bond."

That was kind of gross. They would never let someone do that at the lab. Everything was so clean there.

"That's super important because friends, they tell each other things, things that parents don't know," Mike finished, looking at her with nice eyes. While she trusted him, she could tell that he wanted something from her. They were explaining all of this so she would tell them where their friend was, but she didn't know if she could. She didn't feel like they were trying to use her or her powers like Papa did, but how could she help them find their friend when that meant revealing she was the reason he was gone?

But she would try to help them because Mike had helped her. His happy was starting to make her happy so she would try her best to explain where his friend was, even if it scared her.

Now that all that was out of the way, Mike was hoping El would be able and willing to help them find Will. As they huddled in a semi-circle, slightly apart from El so they could discuss their options Lucas looked back at El.

"What's the weirdo doing?" Lucas asked the two of them, and Mike had the overwhelming urge to punch him in the mouth. He was so condescending towards El still and downright mean. He had toned it down only slightly because he was probably afraid of her now.

Eleven had broken off from them and was sitting at their D&D table, staring down at the board. She had placed both hands flat on the table, and as Mike rounded in front of her he could see her eyes were closed in concentration.

They watched as all of sudden her chin jerked up and her eyes opened. She glanced back down at the board and slowly picked up Will the Wise's figure. As she held it closer to her face, the three of them were holding their breath as she whispered, "Will."

Staring at her in disbelief, Dustin said, "superpowers," to which Lucas shook his head. Mike ignored both of them, his pulse quickened at the sound of his friend's name. How had she known that was his piece? What kind of powers did she have exactly?

Slowly, as to not startle her, Mike slid into the chair beside her, never taking his eyes from her face. He spoke gently but urgently, "Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?"

Light brown eyes met his briefly before she held her arm out and swept it across the board, knocking the other pieces to the floor. Mike threw a meaningful glance at Lucas before his eyes snapped back to El.

She had now flipped over the board at this point and after a moment she picked back up Will the Wise and thrust him onto the middle of the board.

"I don't understand," Mike said, watching her raptly, knowing she was trying to tell him something important about where Will was.

"Hiding," was all she said, and he still couldn't get it, this must be how she felt every time he said something she had never heard before.

"Will is hiding?" he repeated her word to confirm. She nodded so he continued his guessing to try and figure out what she was trying to tell him, "From the bad men?" But she shook her head this time, so he asked, confused, "Then from who?"

Her expression serious, Eleven picked up the Demogorgon and placed it directly in front of Will's piece before turning her eyes to his. Mike's mind was reeling. D&D was just a game, right? She must be using the Demogorgon as a metaphor for something, but her eyes seemed to be telling him otherwise.

A/N: Wow! Thanks for the super positive feedback, you guys! I love seeing my inbox filled with such kind reviews for a fic I thought nobody would be interested in. As to the questions about Benny… I promise I did not forget him, I intentionally left out that scene last chapter because this fic will be Mike and Eleven focused. So, as you probably noticed I brought him up here as it pertained to Eleven's need to keep what happened to Benny from happening to Mike. There will be scenes here and there with Mike and Eleven apart but they will be the exception rather than the rule. Hope that makes sense. This chapter was incredibly long, but I'm trying to keep the chapter correlating with the episodes and a lot happened in episode 2 with Mike and Eleven. Anyways, as always, please let me know what you think! And thanks again for reading my little fic here!