Monday, December 23, 1985

Mike has been missing for one month and a little over two weeks. Forty six days. It's his 15th birthday no one laughed, no one cried, no one really spoke. Everyone would gather at the Wheeler's home to halfheartedly celebrate, in honor of Mike, but then? That's when the tears would start, once again.


Everyday, they'd take him to the interrogation room.

Everyday, it was the same two men.

Everyday, with every question asked, every answer unwanted, and every question gone unanswered, Mike was beaten.

Everyday, he'd be thrown back into his room.

He was fed, twice a day.

Everyday, he'd grow weaker.

"You're going to answer us one of these days, kid. You might as well go ahead and give up." Brandon said, gripping Mike's arm tightly. He pushed him into the chair, and Taylor tied his wrists and ankles to it.

"Where is the girl?"

"I already told you-" Brandon punched him.

"I don't care what you already told me. I want the truth."

"It's the truth." He was punched again. "I swear it is!"

"You're lying." Taylor spat.

"I watched her die."

"Impossible."

After the usual round of questions and beatings, Taylor roughly grabbed Mike's wrists, untying them while Brandon untied his ankles. Grabbing his arm again, Brandon yanked him up harshly and Taylor grabbed his other arm. As they basically dragged him down the very familiar hall way, he couldn't help but focus on the grips they had on him. He had bruises up and down his arms, just from how hard their grips were. He's gotten used to the pain there, but it didn't stop the absolute hate and anger he had.

All of a sudden, the two men let him go, both yelling and rushing to take their lab coats off. Mike fell to the ground, feeling blood trickle from his nose. He felt even weaker, unsure of what just happened. He looked up at them, his vision slowly fading, to see their lab coats on fire as they stomped on them, attempting to put out the blazing lab coats.

"What the fuck?" Brandon yelled, kicking the lab coat across the hall.

"How in God's name did that happen?" Taylor exclaimed, his face red and eyes wide. He looked at the kid, unconscious on the ground, blood coming out of his nose. "Do you think...?" He asked, trailing off as he looked at Brandon, who has the same look on his face.

"The kid's got powers."


"So what you're saying is, the kid set your sleeves on fire?" Evans asked, crossing his arms and looking at the two men, who nodded immediately. "How is that possible?

"He's got powers, like Experiment 011. It's the only reasonable explanation."

"What happened exactly, then?"

"We were taking him back to his cell." Taylor began,

"And out of no where, both of our sleeves were on fire and we let him go." Brandon continued,

"His nose was bleeding, and he passed out." Taylor finished.

"Well, I want to view the tapes." Evans said, looking at them.

"What tapes?" Taylor asked stupidly.

"Video tapes, idiot!" Brandon exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Not to be disrespectful, Sir, but do you not believe us?"

"I do believe you, I just want to see it for myself."


The Wheeler's

"Hey, Sweetie." Karen said gently, as she pulled El into a tight hug. She looked at Hopper, who gave her a sad smile. They were the last to arrive at the memorial like celebration. Where the Christmas tree would usually be, there stood a table with the most recent picture of Mike on it. His year book picture, he had the biggest smile on his face, his hair almost covering his eyes. There were many other pictures sitting around it, some of just Mike, some of Mike and El, and many were of Mike and the whole party, along with a few of him with his family.

"This memorial does not represent death." Dustin stated in almost a whisper. "It's a memorial in celebration of his life, of being the big one five. It's a birthday party, he's just not present." He spoke to everyone in the room, his voice wavering.

"Just imagine how mad at us he'd be about this." Max attempted to joke, and a few gave halfhearted chuckles.

"Mike isn't dead." Will stated. Everyone looked at him. "We all know he isn't. He's just not here. He's some place, hopefully safe." They nodded in agreement. They told stories about the fun times they had with Mike, all the bad times, all the times he stood up to them, and no matter how bad Dustin wanted to talk about it, he refrained from telling them about the cliff incident.

"Guys...Can we just...stop talking about him like this?" Lucas asked. Everyone looked at him. "I feel like I'm at someones house after a funeral, talking about all the good times and bad times I had with the person that died, and I hate it. I just want to forget." His eyes started watering. "I just want to forget that one of my best friends is out there, possibly dying, and we can't do a damn thing about it. I want to forget." He whispered the last part, and Karen pulled him in for a hug, her own tears falling, which brought on a chain reaction. Everyone was in tears, even Hopper, who stood back, where no one could see him. The group hug that had formed ended as soon as the phone began blaring. Karen looked at Hopper, who looked at them. He answered it immediately.

"Hello? Yes, this is he." He stayed on the phone for a few minutes, his eyes widening with almost every word. "Hell yes, thank you. I'll see you then." He hung up and looked at them.

"That was Owens." He stated. "We're going next week."