"Mike." Max sounded exasperated. "You had to know it was coming. I mean, c'mon, she gets a makeover a few days after her seventeenth birthday, and you don't think something is up?"

"But…" Mike's world was beginning to spin away from him.

"But nothing Mike, El and I have moved on from immature Hawkins boys. You guys started off pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend, although El wasn't pretending at the beginning. But believe me Mike. She was pretending the last five or six months."

Mike tried in vain to appeal to Max, "Can I at least talk to her and have her tell me to my face?"

"No."

"No?"

"You aren't going to get to talk to her Mike. It's better that way, and that's the way she wants it. She told you you would respect her wishes and not make a big scene. She was making sure of that by not telling you to your face. I can see now that she made the right decision."

Even if Mike had wanted to say something he wouldn't have been able to. His throat had closed up. It took every ounce of his willpower to keep from crying in front of Max.

He thought of the last time he held El's hand. That was in the mall, they would give each other little squeezes throughout the day. They didn't need to turn to the other to acknowledge with a smile, they would just squeeze back.

He thought of the last time he kissed her. They were waiting for her dad to pick her up in front of the mall, she had kissed him and given him such a sad look,. He thought it was because she was going to miss him the next day while she was at her appointment.

"I love you El."

"I love you too Mike."

Well, that's what a pretend girlfriend would say, wasn't it?

"You guys can still be friends," Max continued, "But for both your sake's, you should give that a few weeks or even a few months before you talk to each other again."

And there it is folks. The we-can-still-be-friends relationship death knell.

The realization that it was all over drove Mike to his knees, his heart shattered and his soul hissed out between the broken shards. His breath hitched in a desperate attempt to breath, but the only air he could bring it was expelled immediately from his sobs.

He didn't remember much after that. He thinks he remembers getting up and leaving the school. He thinks he remembers walking home and sneaking into this basement. He thinks he remembers getting his backpack ready with food, and a gym bag with a sleeping bag in it. He thinks he remembers walking to the junkyard. The party had never really hung out there it so it seemed to be the perfect place to hide in solitude. He thinks he remembers crying himself to sleep in the back of the bus that was still there rusting away.

He thinks remembers all of that. And maybe all that did happen. At least some of it did, he would wake up occasionally and wasn't really sure of his surroundings. But he didn't care, as soon as he thought of El, he would cry himself back to sleep.

Sometimes he would wake, and just pretend he had a girlfriend and that she loved him. That she called him sweetie. It made his heart jump when she called him that. He would revisit the pretend girlfriend days at they liked to call them. How happy he was even though he'd been in a lot of pain.

He remembered every time he was able to complete an exercise, El would give him a kiss. He remembered the nurse's comment, "Those must be really good kisses Miss Hopper, because his EEG's are off the charts when you kiss him."

Mike wasn't surprised. His heart beat faster every time he saw her. Every time they touched it was electric. He would see her eyes widen, and her smile and knew she was feeling the exact same thing.

An historic country war torn with bomb blasts and ruins.

A beautiful valley filled with volcanic ash.

That's what it was like to have a pretend girlfriend. One you were in love with. One where you weren't the one pretending.

The bright promising light that was Mike Wheeler, was now a dark husk rotting in the back of an abandoned bus.

XXXXX

"We're not kidding Max, where is Mike?" Dustin was doing the talking and Lucas was trying not to look at Max.

"I don't know. If he's not hanging out with you two losers I don't know where he is. With your attitude I'm not sure I'd tell you anyway."

Dustin shrugged, "You don't have to tell us, I'm not sure Hopper is going to let it go that easy."

"Hopper? Why would he care? Mike is not longer El's boyfriend."

"Yeah, so we heard. You'll excuse me if I think that's a load of shit. Anyway, nobody has seen Mike for two days, he's now a missing person."

"What?" Max couldn't keep the worry off her face. The last time she'd seen Mike he was on his knees crying is heart out. She felt bad for him, but she'd done it for El. El may not have been so brave and changed her mind.

"You heard me. It doesn't matter what you think of Mike, he's missing, we just got grilled for a couple of hours, you're next."

Another day went by. Max knew Mike had taken it a lot harder than either her or El thought he would. Mike hadn't seen El now for seven days, and neither had Max. Something was going on.

XXXXX

Hopper put a pad of yellow legal paper and a pencil in front of Max.

She was sitting in a mostly unused interview room at the police station.

"Ok, I'll tell you what I told the rest of his friends. List every single place you can think of that he might be. Any place you guys hung out at even once. I don't care if you weren't supposed to be doing it or not. This isn't about getting you and your friends in trouble. It's about finding Mike."

Hopper's deep set eyes made asking any questions a non-issue. She managed to fill both pages with specific locations. When he came back into the room he was impressed with her list.

"How come you know so many places but Henderson was a total waste of time?"

"He's Mike's best friend, he's just nervous and worried."

"And you're not?"

"Mike and I never really clicked liked the rest of them did. That's why it was easier for me to tell him El dumped his ass. And speaking of El.-"

Hopper cut her off, grabbed the list. "You're free to go." He said over his shoulder as he walked out.

XXXXX

"Shit." Hopper said as he headed towards the next place on the list Mayfield had given him. The junkyard. "These kids really know how to hide."

But it wasn't where Mike was hiding so much as how he was staying alive. Was he getting any water? Any food?

Hopper was sure that El hadn't thought of how serious it might get. It was obvious to anybody that had seen the two together. They were in love. He hated to think his daughter had found that kind of love so early in life, but if it was a true love, he was going to be the happiest father in the universe. Hopper had a lot of respect for Mike. He treated El very well. He couldn't recall any time in the last three for four years where they'd had a fight or been mad at each other. But now it had all gone to shit and he wasn't so sure it he was entirely blameless for it.

Hopper entered the bus, he didn't see anything right away, but did his due diligence and checked each seat on his way to the back of the bus.

He saw the back pack and a lump of something in a sleeping bag at the very back. The flood of relief he felt when he heard saw the rise and fall of something breathing inside it.

"K, kid, get up."

"Go away." The voice was weak, but it was Mike's.

"You're parents are worried sick about you."

"I don't care."

"Well at least let them know you're alive."

"I don't want to... the million questions they're gonna ask... can't take that right now. I can't take anything right now. Including you."

"I'm not asking Mike, get up!"

"What part of I don't care threw you off? I'm not going back to my parents. I can't deal with that right now."

Hopper thought for a minute.

"Ok. I have a place you can hide out and no one will know you are there. You can stay there as long as you want. But you'll freeze to death out here. I don't want that on my conscience. It's bothering me enough as it is."

Mike was silent.

"I don't want to be bothered, not even by you. Deal?"

"Deal."

When Mike climbed out of his sleeping bag Hopper's first thoughts were Oh, shit. He's in bad shape. I don't think he would have lasted too many more nights.

XXXXX

Mike was thankful for the silence. Hopper didn't hit him with a ton of questions. Questions he wouldn't have been able to answer anyway.

He had no idea where they were going. They had stopped in the middle of nowhere and were trudging through the woods. He had lost all sense of direction. Hopper was right, he didn't think anybody would find him out here. His body anyway.

He stumbled a few times and Hopper steadied him. He was weak from lack of food. He hadn't felt like eating anything. He still didn't feel like any food, but he was cold so sleeping someplace warm would allow him to think about what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Nothing came to mind right now, that was for sure.

A cold wind had started up, the wind whistled through the trees. He started to shiver. Mike didn't think he'd ever be warm again.

"We're here." Hopper announced.

Here? Here where?

A darkness up ahead, looked like a cabin. Out in the middle of nowhere. Hopper wasn't kidding. Nobody was going to find him out here.

Good.

It was weird that Hopper knocked on the door though. Sounded like Morse Code but Mike wasn't really paying any attention.

He heard a bunch of locks disengage.

"I'm going stay out here for a smoke. I'll check in with you before I take off."

Mike shambled up the porch stairs. He opened the door, walked in and closed it behind him.

"I"m so sorry Mike."

Mike was looking into the eyes of the girl he still loved. My pretend girlfriend now. And only in my daydreams.

He collapsed on the floor.