Three One Five
AN: Hi everyone.
I came up with the idea to this little one-shot and I just had to write it down immediately. No worries, if you follow my other story 'You Belong With Me', I will update this one soon, too (most likely at the weekend). But for the moment, I hope you enjoy this little narrative.
Credits go to El Hopper, who inspired me with her letter to Mike in the beginning of season 4.
As I'm no native speaker, I apologize for any language or grammar mistakes that may occur.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or storylines of the Stranger Things universe.
Time is a mysterious thing.
The seconds tick away in a never changing rhythm, always chasing the next minute, the next full hour, the next day. An ever-repeating cycle of the same monotone recurrence, never missing a single beat.
The perception of time is another story altogether.
Mostly, we do not spare a second thought to it, but sometimes it's all we can think about. Then the time is haunting us, in whatever way it pleases. It's like the time is playing a game, a game with just a minor set of rules, but those rules are settled and cannot be changed by anyone:
Whenever you wait for something eagerly, time is slowing down and the more you try to chase it, the slower it gets.
In contrast to that, the time gets faster whenever you enjoy a moment, when you want to hold onto it, but it's slipping through your fingers, like sand is falling through an hourglass.
But it gets the worst when you're dreading an event. Whenever you are afraid for something to happen, the inevitable looming above you like a dark cloud, then time starts to set off in full speed, like a racing car on a straight road, bringing you closer to the abyss with each passing second. And then it's time for you to take the jump.
Only very few people are not participating in that game. In these rare cases it's mostly because they do not know about its existence.
For El it was that way until she was twelve years old. She had not known how it feels to get excited about an upcoming event, or how it is to relish a moment and wishing to freeze the time. Even dreading an upcoming event was something she almost never experienced, as no one told her early enough about what was happening next.
Her days in Hawkins Lab had been a daily repetition of the ever-same routine; wake-up, getting ready, breakfast, medical check-up, play time, lunch, lessons, break, lessons, dinner, clean up, sleep – repeat.
Just a couple of times this routine had been broken, mostly when she had misbehaved and had been locked up into the dark cell. That were the only hours, when she got a feeling about how time seems to come to a halt, dragging along and making each second feel like eternity.
It was in these moments that she had learned to fear the time.
And then El had met Mike and everything had changed; time had received a new meaning to her.
For the first time the strict schedule was gone, and she had to adjust to a new way of living, where every second offered a new surprise.
And with that she had also learned about timing. Because the thing is, if no one is telling you anymore what you must do in each minute of the day, you must organize yourself. You need to find your own schedule, which is called life. A life that offers you opportunities and the freedom to choose what you want to do.
But the problem with life is, that every human has his own plans when it comes to this term. And that's where timing plays a key role, because only with the right timing you can make sure that two people meet.
Sometimes, that timing is based on pure luck. Some may call that destiny, but El didn't like that term, because destiny did imply, that something was inevitable to happen, no matter what you choose to do or not to do, irrespective of the circumstances.
In truth, it is purely a chain of several decisions by different people that lead you to a certain place in time. And if you would have made just one other choice or someone else would have decided differently, it would have led you to another destination.
So, meeting the love of your life in a dark forest one rainy November night at the age of twelve was purely lucky timing.
On other occasions the timing is planned and has nothing to do with luck. These are the cases, where you intentionally decide to meet at a certain place and time. To be able to accomplish that you need a clock, something that was completely new to El when she first met Mike. She had never been inaugurated into that secret before and had only ever been told by others, when to do what.
She had known about numbers in general, but how those were combined in certain ways to form a specific point in time, had been a whole new concept to her.
So, when Mike had tried to explain to her where and when to meet for the first time, he had simplified it to Three One Five.
Three simple words that meant so much to her.
Over the past years, Mike had explained hundreds of things to her. But it was this lesson, that was one of her dearest memories. It was not only one of the first things, he had ever taught her, but more importantly, this simple gesture had gained her trust.
At that point in time, he had already shown her what a promise is and had gained some of her trust by keeping it.
However, it had been that small event, explaining the functionality of his watch to her in his basement and meeting her behind his house afterwards, that had animated her to take her guard down and that had allowed him to take up a special place in her heart.
It was the way, how he had explained it to her, never being irritated by her lack of knowledge, and how he had been fully convinced that she would manage it on her own.
Back then, she had never experienced before, that people were believing in any of her abilities, apart from her powers. But this boy with the beautiful eyes had not doubted her one second and had just known that she would find her way to the agreed meeting point.
And finally, he had been there, like he had said, at the agreed time. He had walked up to her, telling her to hop on his bike, and she had just known in that moment that she could always trust this kind boy with the enchanting smile; because he had kept his word.
Weeks later in the seclusion of Hopper's cabin she had realized that she had fallen in love with Mike in that exact moment. She had obviously not known what love was in that first week with him, but she had learned a lot about it while watching hours of soap operas on TV and in hindsight she had understood that she was in love with him.
He had fascinated her from the first second that they met, and she had immediately felt an unknown pull towards him, but it had been for that fateful afternoon, where she had decided to let her guard down and open her heart, that she had allowed herself to fall in love with someone else and being loved in return.
A knock on the ajar door tore her out of her silent musings, and her dad slowly pushed the door open all the way.
"Hey kid, you're ready?", he asked with an untypical emotional edge to his voice.
El turned away from the window, that she had looked out before, and faced Hopper. "Yes, I have never been more ready for anything in my life."
A wistful smile appeared on her dad's face, but he recovered quickly and linked his arm with hers. "Then let's get this over with."
They silently went through the deserted hallways and finally stepped out onto the backyard of the farmhouse. Her dad guided her to a small, secluded garden a bit away from the main house, where everyone was waiting for their arrival.
On their way, El let her mind wander once more back to her earlier thoughts. Time was truly a mystery, but she was no longer afraid of it. The past years had shown her that it was a gift and she tried to treasure each blissful moment of her life.
And as she walked down the aisle in her white dress, time froze and her mind captured the moment, like a mental photograph of Mike, smiling at her with tears in his eyes, adoration and love written on his face, as he was standing at the end of the path, waiting for her at exactly Three One Five.