On the run and go
Chapter 14 - Caught and brought back
"We only want to ask questions" a policeman spoke. Eleven was sitting across from the police man, staring him dead in the eye and not saying a word. She was confused, but mostly scared. She was back at that awful place where her 'father' was, and all she wanted to do was to hug Mike. She missed him a lot. Eleven was one of the first people to arrive at the police station, so she was the first one to be questioned.
"Don't care" she utters. The policeman slams a hand onto the table, making Eleven jump in the chair she was kept against. The policeman abruptly apologized however and calmed down again, reconnecting with Eleven's eyes.
"Let's start over.. Where do you come from?" He asks. Oh, so he expects Eleven to openly say she's a lab rat that escaped from Hawkins lab? Like hell she would. Eleven remained quiet, but knew she would only anger the man in front of her if she remained quiet every time. So she comes up with a way to avoid the truth.
"I don't remember.." she whispers. The policeman was surprised to hear Eleven answer for once, and was getting relieved. Now when she was willing to open up more to him, he asks another question.
"What's your name?" He asks. Shit, Eleven didn't know what to say. She can't show her tattoo, or say her name is straight out 'Eleven' when this police expect her to be a normal, scared and lost girl who hung out with Mike and the company for a while. She looks down shyly. This was gonna take a while.
—
"Sit down!" Hopper shouts. Will was sitting next to him in the drivers seat, and Mike was in the back of the car. He was arguing with Hopper about being brought back to that hellhole called 'Hawkins' and that he refused to go through the same pain. Though now, Mike was sitting down as Hopper told him to, and staring at nothing with a stern and worried expression. So many thoughts went through his head. Thoughts like 'what will happen to the rest?', 'is Eleven safe?', 'who does this Hopper guy think he is?' and so on. The thoughts were soon interrupted however.
"Your friends will be okay if they haven't committed any crimes, Mike" Hopper starts. Will remained extremely quiet next to Hopper, scared to enter the conversation. Mike looks at him through the rear view mirror where he met with his eyes as well.
"Just please, make sure Eleven remains safe" Mike whispered. Hopper furrowed his brows and let his eyes fall back onto the road more.
"Who's called Eleven? That's weird-"
"He's serious" Will suddenly exclaimed. Hopper didn't say more, but he looked back at Mike who was desperately waiting for a confirmation from the policeman - and nodded.
"Is she the one with long black hair?"
Mike shakes his head. That was Changella.
"She has a shaved head" Mike explained. Hopper nods again. He wanted to ask why she was so special out of everyone else, but didn't. He'll have to find that out himself once he meets her.
"Why did we have to join you, and the rest with the others?" Will managed to ask finally. Hopper side glanced at the young boy, sighed heavily and looked out at the road. Mike was actually curious about that as well.
"Because there is a criminal with me right now" Hopper simply said. Mike stared daggers at Hopper from the back of his seat once those words escaped.
"He's not a criminal" Will simply said, his voice the most sincere since Hopper had found them all and split their gang.
"Excuse me? Since I last checked, killing a priest is extremely wrong" Hopper spoke up, slightly irritated. He glanced back at Mike through the rear view mirror and saw he was staring out through the left car window. Pretending to not care about what he was saying about Mike.
A small while of silence within the car spread quickly, and soon, Mike spoke up.
"I faked the murder"
Hopper was so surprised to hear that, that he almost crashed the car when he made a left turn. He whipped his head around to look at Mike after the car was slightly parked by the edge of the road.
"You what?!" Hopper shouts. Will looks at Hopper, then at Mike.
"I can confirm that. His reason for running away was purely Hawkins, but he wanted a reason to run away that was more serious than that... so he faked a murder" Will explained. Hopper stared at Will now, then corrected so that he sat down in the seat again. Trying to let it sink in.
"Wether you didn't or not Mike, you'll still be held for 'murder'" Hopper informed finally, still a bit shocked over the whole thing. Mike looked down again, sad over that fact.
"But if you end up going to jail, you might only be there one and a half year. Since we couldn't really find a priests dead body anywhere" Hopper spoke. Mike sighed.
"I wonder why" Mike says sarcastically. Hopper sighed, rolled his eyes and started driving the car again. Will was nervous about going back as much as Mike and the others, but what could he do? He wondered if they would try to unite the gang again or not. They'll always remain rebels however, no matter if they're around polices or not. That much Will was sure of.
"Also, Will, you'll also be questioned. So will Dustin and Lucas as well" Hopper simply informed. Will nodded, scared to be questioned but it had to be done.
"What happens to Johnathan and his friends?" William suddenly asked. Mike remembered who got them into this mess to start with and grit his teeth so he wouldn't say anything mean to hurt Will's feelings. But he definitely wouldn't look at Nancy the same anymore.
"They'll be let free to inform your families" Hopper spoke. Mike perked, and felt how his stomach turned. He wasn't happy to let Nancy inform Karen and Ted that he was in fact alive for some reason.
The rest of that road was long, but they met with the other gang members and policemen soon. When Mike entered the police station with Will and Hopper, all eyes were on him. People from his school was more than shocked to see him looking so rough and wild, together with other gang members as well as Will who used to be so small and shy.
Hopper registered them as found, before Mike was thrown into a separate room to be investigated.
The rest was thrown into rooms for questioning, kinda like a 'cleansing' to see if they're criminal or not. They even attached a lie-machine Incase they were to try and lie their way out. Melissa made it out as only a snatcher for when they snatched food from the stores to basically survive. So did Dustin, Lucas and Changella as well. Will? Same there.
Eleven was just done with her questioning, and was being lead out of her room, when she saw Mike being dragged away to a separate room. She was getting worried, but couldn't say anything as Hopper - that one police who found Will - approached her. He raised the hand to the policeman, letting him know he'll take over from now on.
"You're Eleven, right? Mike wanted me to make sure you were okay" Hopper starts once the policeman - who thought the girls name was 'Betty' - had walked away. Eleven was surprised, but she nodded slightly.
Hopper waved at her to let her know she has to follow him for a private discussion. Eleven didn't like cops, but somehow, she liked the aura Hopper gave off. It was similar to Mike's somehow. Maybe it gave off an aura of care?
"Okay, so. Eleven" Hopper starts once they're in the isolated room. He sits down, and offers the seat across from him for her. She sits down calmly.
"How did you find Mike's gang?" He asks at first. Eleven was scared to answer that, and Hopper could see that. But he tried assuring her it was safe to talk with him.
"A girl.. I.." Eleven whispers. Hopper shows clear signs that he was listening to the young girl, but she seemed very scared to say the truth right away.
"Take your time" Hopper says warmly. Eleven looks up when he says that, nods, then tries again. This time, it was easier to tell.
"I was lost in the forest, and was walking - trying to find a place to stay.. I was freezing.." Eleven explained as well as she could. Hopper nodded, listening still.
"I saw a girl. Her hair was red. She helped me.. but I couldn't stay. Her brother was rude" Eleven continued. Hopper repeated some things within his head so he would remember her story. She kept talking and telling Hopper how she found Mike and the rest - and another name popped up by the name of 'Max'. Hopper would have to find her as well later. Assuming it was the redhead.
"Eleven. When I'm hearing your story, I have only one serious and important question.." Hopper suddenly says, serious than ever. Eleven feared she knew what the question was going to be about.
"What were you running away from?"
And Eleven was right. She knew.
But Eleven felt no need to lie about it this time around.
"Hawkins lab"
—
The rest was let go after confirmed safe people, and when they all saw each other again - but within the police station and not in an abandoned, safe warehouse - they couldn't help but to hug each other and wish each other good lucks.
Changella glanced over at Dustin, and Dustin met her eyes this time. He approached her, and she turned around to meet Dustin.
He grabs her hands, and looks at her.
"You don't live in Hawkins, do you?" Dustin sadly asked. Chang smiles sadly bam at him, and hugs him. He hugs he back, trying to not grow too emotional.
"I don't. But I don't live too far away. I'll be sure to visit you guys Dustin. You're my only true friends" Changella spoke. Dustin furrows his brows, and suddenly took initiative.
"I want to be more than your friend Chang"
Changella was surprised, but not in a bad way. Dustin was scared she'd flip out in that bad kind of way - but she only smiled at him.
"I waited for something like that" Changella suddenly whispered. Dustin smiled, and felt how happy he became when she said she felt the same way.
Melissa was watching them from next to Lucas, who still was quite terrified of Melissa. Soon, Will exited the room. Everyone asked if he made it out as a safe person - and he nodded. Indicating that he did. It made everyone happy, but they still had Eleven and Mike to wait on. Though, Mike wasn't having a kind investigation compared to the others.
"Just admit it Wheeler. You're the only one criminal out of all your friends, since you killed someone! Someone important, then hid the body pretty well" the police yelled. Mike was sat down, and even pushed down because he almost lashed out at the police in front of him twice.
"I never killed a priest! I already told you, I faked the murder so I had a reason to leave!" Mike yelled. The police in front of him was clearly loosing patience, and sat down so he wouldn't do anything rash.
"What reason did you have to fake a murder Wheeler?!" He asks, frustrated. Mike sighed gently. Soon, those two polices who was holding him down walked to the side slightly since the policeman investigating him told them to walk away.
"My family" Mike says simply. Looking down at the table.
"Look at me when you talk to me please, it's easy to lie otherwise" The policeman speaks up. Mike didn't like eye contact with people he disliked, but he had no choice but to do so. He met with the police's high and mighty stare - and said the same thing again but slower.
"My.. family.."
Nothing about him said 'I'm lying' at all. Which is why the police scrunched his nose slightly and seemed to be a bit lost at first. It kept going like that for a while, until the investigator let him go for now. After two days he had to return to the police station again to be given a punishment. A punishment he doesn't even really deserve.
Mike exited his room before Eleven did, and they all faced him when he walked out. Mike didn't smile, or force a smile this time. But they accepted how Mike felt this time around - and simply accepted it. Trying to support and comfort him now when they could. Mike appreciated it, but had hard times showing how much right now. He wanted to meet Eleven again.
—
"Don't worry. I'll make sure he won't hurt you again, okay?" Hopper suddenly said, looking at Eleven seriously. Eleven smiled, and nodded.
"Thank you" She says warmly. Then after that, Hopper followed her outside to her friends and boyfriend. Mike immediately hugged her when she came outside, and Hopper paused next to her. He looks at Mike, and once they had a connection - he asked:
"So, they decided yet?"
Mike shakes his head no.
"I got to return here after two more days.." Mike whispered. He felt like he was back at square root one again. Feeling like that small, young and vulnerable boy he was before he escaped again. Not fun at all.
"I'll talk to them and see if I can influence them, alright? You kids should return to your original homes again" Hopper spoke. First he spoke to Mike, then to the rest of the people. They all nodded, and Mike hated the thought of going back. Eleven looks at Mike.
"He said I could join you back to your place" Eleven spoke. Mike tired to smile at Eleven, but instead he almost broke down crying.
"Eleven.. please tell me it's going to be okay" Mike whispered. Eleven hugged him, and repeated the words 'it's going to be okay' until Mike managed to pull himself together. He patted her head when he felt okay again, and whispered a warm 'thank you so much'.
"Guys. We should have a meeting destination" Dustin speaks up suddenly. Mike looks at Dustin, who smiled. Mike actually smiled slightly, happy to know they still wanted to be like a gang. Now however, they'll probably go from rebels to a group of rebels. But less isn't always bad.