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

CHAPTER 3: THE POLLYWOG

This time around Eleven hid behind a tree to see who was putting food in the box. She had to know if it was a trap or not.

Or if it was Mike.

Unsure when this person was putting food in the box, Eleven staked out the location all day long, waiting patiently to see if it was the bad men just trying to trick her into revealing herself. It was late into the night when she heard the crunch of boots on freshly fallen snow, and Eleven snuck a little closer, making sure to stay hidden behind the trunk of one of the larger trees. She watched with bated breath as the person neared, a big person, definitely a man, judging by his size and stature.

That wasn't Mike.

Disappointment ate at her insides worse than the clawing hunger she was currently experiencing, but nevertheless, she refused to take her eyes off of the stranger.

As he neared, the man's features began to take shape: a hat, a slight beard, and if she wasn't mistaken, a uniform underneath his heavy jacket. The uniform wasn't like the bad men's outfits at the lab, no, this outfit she recognized right away. This was Chief Hopper. The policeman who had helped them fight off the bad men, prepare the bath so she could find Will, and then, she hoped, went into the Upside Down and saved Will. But he may have also told the bad men where she was that night at the gym… how else would they have found her?

It was blisteringly cold outside, and she didn't know how much longer she would survive. So, she followed him as he walked away. She honestly didn't know if he could be trusted but he wasn't one of the bad men. Dustin had kept calling him Lando, but she didn't know what that meant. She got the impression that Dustin thought this man had been working with the bad men, but she didn't really have a choice at this point. She might have even gone with the bad men in order to get out of the cold and eat something.

So, Eleven decided to follow him and hope he wouldn't betray her. She was so desperate for warmth. When he reached the familiar truck, the one Mike had held her hand in, she paused as he turned to look at her. He didn't really look scrared, just surprised, as he took off his hat and stared at her in disbelief.

"Rise and shine," the familiar voice awakened her from her dream memories. Immediately, she remembered the events of last night, his continued lies. She rolled away from him, letting him know her displeasure.

While she was grateful he had taken her out of the cold, Eleven was beginning to feel like this was only a slightly better situation than the lab. But it was nothing in comparison to living in Mike's fort. That sharp pain returned thinking of her mind visit with Mike last night and it only made her feel worse.

"So, that's it? You're still not talking?" she heard him ask.

"All right, I guess I'm just going to have to-uh- enjoy this triple decker Eggo extravaganza on my own," he said, and she could tell he was trying to sound off-hand.

As mad as she was at him, she couldn't say no to Eggo's. She had been in this world long enough to know that he was trying to make up for his lies with food. But she was hungry, so she got out of bed, dressed, and came to the table.

Hopper had put Halloween candy all over the Eggo's with whipped cream, and she would be lying if she said it didn't look delicious.

"Mhmm! Good, right?" he asked her with exaggeration. It only increased her annoyance with him, but she silently picked up one of the Eggo's with her fork and took a bite out of it.

"You know the great thing about it is that it's only eight thousand calories," he continued, but she didn't really understand or care to understand what he was talking about, glaring over at him. Did he not even feel bad about breaking his promises anymore?

When she was with Mike and his friends promises meant something. They were something that were never supposed to be broken. So, why was it that Hopper was making and breaking promises every single day? Why even make a promise if you couldn't keep it?

She watched as his eyes fell over to the TV cord running into her room and he turned back to look at her. She could tell he already knew but he was just waiting to ask her about it.

"You visited him again last night?"

Eleven looked away. They had this conversation on a regular basis and it hurt every time. She had to see Mike, he knew that, so why did he always make her feel bad about it? It wasn't like Mike knew she was there, anyway, as evidenced by him looking right at her yesterday and walking away just before she could touch his cheek.

Every time she thought of the dark-haired boy, fresh waves of pain crashed over her, drowning her with emotion. She would give any thing to see him again, in real life. She was somewhat placated by the fact that she knew he was safe, even if he was obviously no longer the happy boy she remembered. That was her fault. But he didn't even have that luxury. He had no idea that she was even alive, and Eleven felt his pain. She didn't want to imagine what it would feel like not to know whether Mike was alive and okay.

"He says he needs me," she told him, her voice quiet, knowing that Hopper didn't care at all about her feelings for Mike. It wasn't that he didn't understand, it was that he did, and didn't think they were important.

"Want me to go check on him?" Hopper asked, his voice a shade softer. He was missing the point. Mike wasn't in any danger from what she could tell. Hopper going to see him would do nothing for the agony she was in at being apart from him for so long.

So, she shook her head, feeling the darkness creep into her heart as it always did when the reality of being stuck here sunk in.

"I know that you miss him, all right? But it's too dangerous," Hopper said, staring at her from across the table and she looked back up at him, the anger beginning to simmer at his words. "You're the last thing he needs right now."

This was something he said to her every time. It was too dangerous. It was too dangerous. But in all the time she had visited Mike in her mind, she had never seen him in any danger. The bad men probably thought she was dead, like Mike would soon enough, and even so, she knew Mike would never hand her over to the bad men... not like Hopper had probably done before. Every time Hopper said it was too dangerous, it felt like he was using her feelings for Mike against her. As though, if she really cared about him, then she shouldn't want to put him in danger by visiting him.

"You're gonna see him…soon. And not just in that head of yours, you're gonna see him in real life. I feel like I'm making progress with these people," he told her and then she was done. If this had been the first or even second time she had heard this lie then maybe it would've been different, but all he did was make her believe that she could see him when he never let her go anywhere.

"Friends don't lie," she said, keeping her voice as steady as possible against the torrent of emotions coursing through her. She was sad and hopeful and angry and tired. She couldn't just sit here anymore like a prisoner. At least in the woods she was free. Cold and hungry, but free.

"What?" he said, seemingly taken aback at her reaction, confusion creasing his brow.

"You say soon on day 21, you say soon on day 205, you now say soon on day 326," she challenged, leaning forward and glaring at him.

She remembered those days clearly. Day 21 was the first day she realized she could find Mike in her mind just using the TV. She would never forget the feeling of seeing his pain for the first time, it tore at her soul. In a way it was also comforting because she could see he hadn't given up on her, but all she wanted to do was take away that pain. Hopper had come home in the middle and they had a huge fight then too. But he had said she would see him soon, so she had been patient. Similarly, on Day 205, Eleven had listened as Mike told her about his birthday and the only gift he wanted was to know she was alive and safe. That had been the closest she had ever been, up until last night, to reaching out with her powers and letting him know she was there. But Hopper again said soon, so she was patient. Well, she was done being patient.

"What is this? You're like counting the days now like some kind of prisoner?" he replied, defensively and she could tell she was right by the way he looked away from her and busied himself with putting something in his pocket. It only made her angrier.

"When is soon?" she pushed. She needed to know how long she was going to live in this agony without Mike, how long Mike would be sad.

"Soon is when it's not dangerous anymore," he replied purposefully looking away from her.

Her anger was quickly turning to full blown rage. He never had any intentions of letting her leave here. He just wanted to keep her here like she was his dog, only coming by to teach her some tricks and feed her. At least dogs got to go outside every once in a while.

"When?" she practically growled at him, forcing him to look at her briefly.

"I don't know," he admitted, glancing down at his shirt pocket again.

"On day 500?"

"I don't know."

"On day 600?"

"I don't know."

"On day 700?! On day 800?!" she continued as if he wasn't speaking at all, slamming her hands on the table, "I NEED TO SEE HIM!"

"Jesus, I said, I don't-," he began speaking at the same time as her and it was the last straw. She used her powers effortlessly to throw the plate of Eggo's at him, covering him in whipped cream and chocolate. He shot up from his chair and looked down at what she had done to his uniform, but she didn't care.

"SHIT! SHIT!" he yelled at her.

Standing from her seat as well, she snarled, "Friends don't lie," before stomping into her room and slamming the door with her powers.

As soon as she was alone in her room, the adrenaline began to seep out of her, but it wasn't until she heard Hopper leave the cabin that she allowed herself to let go. She buried her face into her pillow and sobs wracked her body. She had no idea how long she cried but eventually her tears slowed and eventually stopped and she was left feeling hollow and alone.

Day 354.

Mike sat in Mr. Clarke's class, it was actually an interesting class, they were discussing the case of Phineas Gage and how that metal bar changed his behavior but he had stopped taking notes on the lecture about five minutes into the lesson but he couldn't stop thinking about his call to El last night. It had been just as he described to Will earlier, he had felt like El was right there with him. Even though he was aware of how ridiculous it was, Mike couldn't stop replaying the moment in his head on a constant loop.

Jonathan had come and picked Will up around 9, so Mike's call to El was significantly later than usual. As soon as Will stepped out of his basement Mike made his way over to her fort and settled down inside. He hadn't even bothered to change out of his costume, but it didn't matter, he just needed to speak to her.

Picking up the Supercomm, Mike reported the usual date, but he couldn't keep the defeat from his tone, 'It's day 353. I had a bad day today.'

He had wanted to tell her about all of the fun he and the guys had had trick or treating, but the night had been ruined. It had gotten off to a bad start when Lucas had insisted on being Venkman too and then just snowballed when Dustin and Lucas invited Madmax to trick or treat with them without asking him first. Sure, Mike knew he had been distant lately and he could be a jerk but that was only because none of them understood what he was going through. Couldn't they see adding a random girl to their party without telling him would upset him? If Mike had to live in a world without El then at least he wanted to live it as it was, not by his friends replacing her with someone new.

'I don't know, I guess I wish you were here. I mean, we all do. If you're out there, please just give me a sign,' Mike had begged. He didn't know how much longer he could keep doing this to himself.

Intellectually, Mike knew that she could find anyone with her mind, so if she really were around she would have been able to let him know she was there. But she never did, so that must mean…

But then, he felt her. Slightly off to his left but close, Mike felt her there. As if by a magnet his eyes were drawn to that spot and he strained his ears to hear anything, anything at all that may indicate she was there.

'Mike.'

He swore he had heard her soft voice calling to him. He must really be going crazy.

'Eleven?' he called back, but he received no response in return. He heard nothing, but there was this feeling of..of… he didn't know how else to describe it but a feeling of electricity close to his left cheek. Nevertheless, he stayed frozen in that position for several long seconds, holding his breath lest he miss hearing her.

He was being stupid. Will was right. They really were going crazy together and Mike was mad at himself for always allowing himself to believe she was there, listening to him.

He slammed the antenna back in and stomped away, the electricity fizzling out.

The loud bang of the classroom door flying open, startled Mike out of his daydream. Dustin came in, disrupting the lecture, and apologized all the way to his chair. Mike had been wondering where he was; he had just figured that Dustin had a stomachache from eating too much Halloween candy last night.

Dustin continued to make a scene as he whispered loudly that they needed to meet after school for AV Club because he had something he wanted to show them, and Mike didn't argue. It was either be miserable at home or distract himself so he chose the latter.

Eleven didn't even have the heart to get out of bed or use her powers to turn on the TV for that matter. All she could hear was the sound of the birds outside, reminding her that she was in a cage and they were free. She just laid in bed, thinking of all the lies Hopper told her over the last 326 days.

Mike wouldn't lie to her. Mike could tell her the truth and still try and protect her. And the only time Mike had locked her away was to keep her hidden from his mom and he had kept his promise. He hadn't told his mom about her and he had come back to let her out. He let her leave the fort and the basement and he didn't try to keep her prisoner. He kept her safe. He was the only one who could make her feel more than halfway happy.

So, Eleven took the fabric she had been using as a blindfold and tied it around her eyes, but she hadn't even begun to use her powers. It wouldn't be enough this time. If she waited for Hopper to say it was no longer dangerous she may never see Mike in real life.

Ripping off the blindfold angrily, Eleven grabbed her jacket, glancing around the living space, to make sure no one was around, she made her way to the door. Her eyes fell on the multiple locks she had become so used to locking and unlocking with her powers that she barely had to think. It reminded her of the first time Hopper had brought her here and he put those locks on the door.

Day 1.

They really hadn't driven that far, but the roads had been bumpy. The truck was warm, and she wasn't anxious to leave it, even as the Chief came to a stop in seemingly the middle of nowhere. He stepped out of the truck and she was unsure if she was supposed to follow him until he came around and opened the door for her.

They trekked a little further into the woods and there was a small wooden structure. It definitely wasn't the lab, and it was a shelter which is all Eleven cared about at that moment. But it also wasn't nearly as nice as her fort because it didn't have Mike.

She watched as the older man kicked his boots on the door frame and she mimicked him to keep the snow from being tracked in.

"My grandad used to live here a long time ago. I mainly just use it for storage now," the Chief told her as he stepped into the small building.

"Lot of history here," he continued, as she glanced around the space, taking in the cobwebs and layers of dust.

"So, uh, what do you think? It's a work in progress. It takes a little imagination, but, uh, you know, once we fix it up it's gonna be nice, real nice," he explained before telling her with a slight smile, "It's your new home."

"Home," she said, still hollow and cold, partly from being out in the wilderness for so long, but partly because how could anything that wasn't near Mike feel like home?

They settled in a bit and she took off her coat and hat once he got a fire started.

"Yeah, yeah, all right. This is music," he said, grabbing some kind of flat square object and pulling a flat, circle object out of it. He put it in something that looked like a box and then all of a sudden loud sound came out of it.

It startled her a little at first, but the sound was pleasant. So, this was music. The Chief started moving around weird and she stared at him confused by his strange demeanor. He looked happy though, so she guessed nothing was seriously wrong with him.

"All right, let's get to work!" he ordered.

They spent all of Day 1 cleaning up the space, she even learned how to sweep. It was kind of nice, making a home. And then she found out she would have a bed. It was nice, she liked it, of course. But she couldn't help but think about Mike's promise of having a bed in his basement. Maybe Mike could visit her here where the bad men couldn't find them.

The next few days, Hopper, as he told her to call him, taught her a lot of things. He taught her Morse Code as he called the beep language with the radio, he taught her how to read the letters it made. She got to do fun things, like make puzzles and build a trip wire. Hopper had explained how it worked to her, "Now this is called a trip wire. It's like an alarm. You, uh, set it up like this and if anyone gets close. It's gonna make a loud noise, like, uh, gunfire. BANG!" he punctuated his point with the sound of a gunshot which she was all too familiar with and its suddenness surprised her.

She wasn't scared just startled but he thought she was.

"Those bad men aren't gonna find you, all right? Not way the hell out here," he told her. "Just gotta take some precautions. There's gonna be a couple ground rules."

She didn't like the sound of that. Papa had rules. They were all bad. Mike didn't have any rules for her. He never tried to control her.

"Rule number one, always keep the curtains drawn. Rule number two, only open the door if you hear my secret knock," he demonstrated the knock on the table, rapping his knuckles on the wood two times, then once, then finally three times.

"And rule number three, don't ever go out alone, especially in the daylight."

"That's it, three rules. I call them the, uh, don't be stupid rules, because we aren't stupid, right?"

"Not stupid," Eleven muttered to herself, as she approached the trip wire. She had broken all the other rules already by unlocking the locks, opening the curtains, and going out in the daylight, what was one more?

She hated that Hopper thought that her wanting to be free was stupid. She had been locked up her entire life, but Mike had given her a taste of what it could be like to be truly free, and she wanted that feeling back.

So, Eleven stepped over the wire.

"His name is D'Artagnon," Dustin told them as he opened the box.

Mike stared down in it with everyone else and saw the small amphibian-like creature. It gave him a weird vibe. He immediately felt a negative energy around the thing as Dustin reached down and pulled it out for them all to see.

"Cute, right?"

"D'Artagnon?" Mike asked in disbelief. He was familiar with the name, it was one of the Three Musketeers. But why would he name a weird slimy frog thing after the Three Musketeers?

"Dart, for short," Dustin clarified.

"And he was in your trash?" Max asked slowly, trying to wrap her brain around it too. Mike was a little annoyed by he presence since he still wasn't willing to acknowledge that she was a member of the party, but he tolerated her for now.

"Foraging for food," Dustin suspected, then seemed to get an idea. "Want to hold him?"

"No, no, no," Max straightened up and away from the table slightly at his suggestion.

"He doesn't bite, don't worry," Dustin assured her, shoving the little creature into her unwilling hands.

"Oh god, he's slimy!" she exclaimed, quickly passing the creature off to the nearest person, that happened to be Lucas.

"He's like a living booger," Lucas said with disgust, in turn passing him to Will across the table.

"Ah, oh, god!" Will wasted no time passing it to Mike to his right.

Mike, unafraid and not easily grossed out, held the creature steady and lifted it to his eye-level to study it closer, asking, "What is he?"

"My question exactly," Dustin said with a smile, clearly intrigued by the challenge of researching Dart. After carefully taking the creature from Mike, Dustin placed him back in the ghost trap, and then dug out the various books he had acquired from the library on the subject.

"At first, I thought he was some type of pollywog-," Dustin began, but Max cut him off to ask,

"Pollywog?"

"It's another word for tadpole," Dustin explained. "A tadpole's the larval stage of a toad."

"I know what a tadpole is," Max told him defensively.

"All right, then you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right? Well, Dart, he isn't. He doesn't need water," Dustin continued, undeterred.

"Yeah, but aren't there non-aquatic pollywogs?" Lucas asked.

"Terrestrial pollywogs?" Dustin answered, "Yep, there's two to be exact. Indirana Semipalmata and the Andenomerra Andreae. One's from India, one's from South America, so how did one end up in my trash?"

"Maybe some scientists brought here and it escaped?" Max suggested the most likely scenario, which was still pretty far-fetched. As she spoke, Mike looked down, studying Dart when he saw something.

"Do you guys see that?" Mike said, drawing their attention to the creature. "Looks like something is moving inside of it."

Mike moved the light over to see it more closely and the little creature wailed and jumped off the table. Luckily, Dustin was quick and shot out a hand to catch it.

An icy shiver had run up Mike's spine at the whine the little creature had made…it was unlike any sound of any animal he'd ever heard and yet… Mike felt like he had heard that sound before.

"Whoa! It's okay, I got you, little guy. I know you don't like that. It's okay," Dustin comforted the thing before remembering something. "And there's another thing, reptiles are cold blooded, ectothermic, right? They love the heat, the sun. Dart hates it, it hurts him."

"So… if it's not a pollywog or a reptile…," Lucas' words trailed off unable to come up with what this thing could possibly be.

"Then I've discovered a new species," Dustin stated proudly, flashing them all a toothy smile.

The ringing of the bell got all of their attentions and they scrambled to gather their things. Dustin put Dart back in the ghost catcher and they all exited the AV room, Lucas asserting, "We've gotta show him to Mr. Clarke."

"No! What if he steals my discovery?" Dustin argued back.

"He's not gonna steal your discovery," Mike scoffed.

"You know I'm thinking of calling it Dustonius Pollywogus. What do you think?" Dustin proposed glancing over at Max, anxious for her approval.

"I think you're an idiot," she replied. Mike shot a look over at her. He thought that was little mean even if she was joking, but Dustin didn't seemed bothered in the slightest.

"You know, when I get rich and famous one day, don't come crawling back to me saying, 'Oh my gosh, Dustin, I'm so sorry for being mean to you back in in eighth grade, oh my god'" Dustin said in a mock girly voice as they continued down the hall.

Mike had stopped listening to them and parted ways to head to algebra, but he couldn't get over the sound that thing had made, familiar and haunting.

Eleven wasn't sure how far she had walked or for how long. The only thing she was aware of was how her shoes crunched on the dry leaves in the woods and how the sound did nothing to quell her anger.

But then came a different sound.

Pausing briefly so she could hear, Eleven strained her ears and she heard a woman's voice, it was a happy one. As Eleven neared she caught sight of the woman and a young girl playing outside of a house. It must be a mother and her child. This realization caused another painful memory to surface.

"I would feel so sad if I thought I was a disappointment to her—because she didn't live very long after that, you see. She died of fever when I was just three months old. I do wish she'd lived long enough for me to remember calling her mother. I think it would be so sweet to say 'mother,'" Hopper read to her. But the question had burned inside of her for some time now and she interrupted.

"Do I have a mother?" she asked hesitantly. Despite Hopper reading to her when he was here, she was still trying to learn to effectively communicate. All of the language she had learned from Papa in the lab was solely for accomplishing the goal of listening to people and repeating back what they said. Once she had figured out how to relay what she was hearing to the radios in the real world, she didn't even need that.

Hopper looked up at her at her question, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah, of course you have a mother. You couldn't really be born without one," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mike never did that to her. But she ignored his tone because she needed the answer.

As Hopper looked back down at the book and opened his mouth to continue reading, Eleven asked, unsatisfied with his response, "Where is she?"

After a slight hesitation, his eyes flicked away from her briefly, but eventually he responded, "She's not around anymore."

Her heart sunk at his response and she could already feel the back of her eyes begin to burn with unshed tears.

"Gone?" her voice was soft, her throat closing up with emotion.

"Yeah," he confirmed, offering some sympathy, "I'm sorry about that, kid."

He watched her for a moment, but she just looked at the ceiling as the tears began to spill over her eyelids. She hated crying. She hated it in the lab where she only cried when she was put in the dark room, and she hated it here in the real world, where she had cried more than her entire life. Usually because she missed Mike.

Now, she had lived in the world long enough to realize what she had been missing her entire life. Freedom, a Papa that didn't use her, a home, Eggo's, a Mike… and now a Mama. Her thoughts always returned to the hard truth that girls named Eleven don't get to have Papas or Mamas that cared about them and especially not Mikes. Sometimes she wondered if it would have been better to stay in the lab and never know that these things existed and everyone else seemed to have them but her. But, no. That thought was always quickly pushed away because no matter how much she missed Mike, at least she had met him, and that was worth all of the pain the world.

Eleven silently wiped the tears from her cheek with her hand. There was no use crying. She had no Mama. No Papa. No friends. No Mike. She had Hopper, who fed her and tried to give her a home and teach her things, but it just wasn't the same.

The man averted his eyes back down to the book and continued reading as if their exchange had never happened, "And father died four days afterwards from fever too. That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits' end, so Mrs. Thomas said, what to do with me. You see, nobody wanted me even then. It seems to be my fate."

Eleven felt she and Anne were very similar in that way. Orphans that nobody wanted, not really. Plenty of people wanted her powers but who really wanted her?

"Is your mom here? Sweetie?" the woman's nice voice got her attention. Eleven noticed that they had stopped playing and had approached her, the mother holding her daughter's hand.

What Eleven wouldn't give for that. But all this sad was making her very angry. Why couldn't she have that?

"School… Where is school?" Eleven managed, trying to get a hold of her emotions.

"The school…it's-uh- it's about a mile that way, at least," the woman replied, pointing off to her left. Eleven could tell she was wary of her, but she had more important things to worry about, like how she was going to get to Mike. But the nice woman wasn't done, "Where are your parents?"

For some reason this stranger's concern made Eleven very mad. She could tell the woman was trying to help her, but Eleven didn't need help or parents. She just needed Mike. Mike would make everything better.

In order to get out of the situation, Eleven used her power to push the swing until it wrapped itself tightly around the upper frame.

"Look, Mommy! Look!" the little girl called for her mother.

Eleven used the distraction she had created and left quickly, determined to see Mike.

At the end of the school day, Mike made his way over to his locker to drop off the books he didn't need and the stuff he would need for homework. But he probably wouldn't do it, if he was being honest with himself.

Will was behind him at his own locker and Mike called over to him, "Will, you coming? Let's go show Mr. Clark."

His friend seemed to hesitate as he turned to look over at him, approaching him slowly with a strange look on his pale face.

"What?" Mike asked, wondering what Will's deal was as he stopped right in front of him. Mike was significantly taller than Will and growing more every day, so he had to look down at his much shorter friend. When he got no response Mike repeated, "What?"

"It's about D'Artagnon," Will said finally, his eyes haunted. Mike looked at Will with concern and in a hushed voice Will explained how he had seen something similar to Dart last year and had heard that sound during one of his episodes. Will's revelation just validated Mike's first impression of the creature. That creature's wail had given him a bad feeling and it was obviously upsetting Will too, so there had to be something to that.

Mike immediately knew they couldn't let them show this creature to Mr. Clarke. They needed to figure this out first or they could be putting their favorite teacher in danger. So, Mike sprinted down the hall towards the science classroom, Will a few paces behind, and threw the door open, rushing inside.

"STOP! I'm really sorry, Mr. Clarke, it was just some stupid prank!" Mike apologized breathlessly, snatching the ghost catcher with the thing in it and clutching it to his chest.

"What the hell?" Dustin yelled.

"What're you doing?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"We need to go! Right now. RIGHT NOW!" Mike yelled and they all sped after him towards the AV Club room. He felt a little bad leaving Mr. Clarke with no explanation, but he'd thank them when he was alive.

As they entered the room it was a fairly unanimous decision to leave Max out of it. It really was for her own safety not to know the events of last year. Plus, Will didn't need everyone knowing his business, especially not some random girl they had met two days ago.

Mike explained what Will had told him, trying to prevent his friend from having to rehash it again. He knew how Lucas and Dustin would questions every thing and not believe a word of it. Mike felt a little protective of Will, mostly because they both were still trying to deal with the events of last year and the other two party members just didn't seem to have any idea what they were both still going through.

"Hello? Hello? Guys, can I come in yet?" Max shouted, banging on the door in frustration.

"NO!" Mike roared back in response.

"All right, I don't understand," Lucas said.

"What do you not understand?" Mike had lost his patience. He was tired of Lucas doubting everything. There was a line between being a realist and being a jerk and he was veering towards the latter.

"Will saw something that looked like Dart last year?" Lucas asked with doubt in his voice.

"Kinda… but there was no tail," Will explained tentatively, so Mike jumped in to help.

"Then he heard it yesterday, the exact same sound."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Dustin asked and Mike didn't like his tone. It was very blamey, like Will was lying because he didn't tell them immediately.

"I wasn't sure," Will tried defending himself but coming off shaky.

"So, it's a coincidence," Dustin deduced incorrectly, so Mike came to his aid again with his own theory.

"Or not. What if when Will was stuck in the Upside Down he somehow acquired True Sight?"

"True Sight?" Lucas asked uncomprehendingly.

"Gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane," Dustin explained as if he were a human D&D manual. Lucas still wasn't getting it though and said with a sigh,

"Elaborate."

"Maybe these episodes that Will keeps having aren't really flashbacks at all. Maybe they're real. Maybe somehow Will can see into the Upside Down," Mike, even as he said this, could feel his excitement building. If Will could see into the Upside Down maybe, just maybe he could use this to find El if she was there, just as she had used her powers to find him last year.

"So, that would mean…," Lucas started but left his sentence hanging, allowing Mike to finish his thought,

"Dart is from the Upside Down."

Now that Lucas understood and seemed to believe them, he told them, "We have to take him to Hopper."

"I agree," Mike concurred quickly, for once on the same page as Lucas when it came to telling adults stuff.

"No, no way. If we take him to Hopper he's as good as dead," Dustin said firmly.

"Maybe he should be dead," Mike argued back heatedly.

"How could you say that?"

"How could you not? He's from the Upside Down!" Mike's anger was building and these days it didn't take much. Something about this creature rubbed him the wrong way and if it was from the Upside Down then it wasn't much of a stretch that it could hurt them but especially Will.

"Maybe. But even if he is, that doesn't automatically mean that he's bad," Dustin tried, but this only made Mike angrier.

"That's like saying just because someone is from the Death Star doesn't make them bad!" Mike tried using a metaphor that Dustin would actually understand and get through his thick skull.

"We have a bond," Dustin replied more softly.

"A bond?! Just because he like nougat?! " Mike could hear his voice getting louder and louder but he didn't care. Dustin was being stupid about this.

"No! Because he trusts me!" Dustin yelled right back.

"He trusts you?" Lucas asked doubtfully.

"Yes! I promised that I would take care of him-," Dustin began but was quickly cut off.

The ghost catcher rattled and that bone-chilling noise came from it again. It grated on Mike's nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Chalkboard… The image of El crushing the Demogorgon against the chalkboard filled his mind, but Mike didn't have time to think about it any further because the ghost catcher flipped over on its side with a loud bang. In fear and anger, Mike grabbed the first weapon he could find: the microphone for the Heathkit. It wasn't much but it'd have to do.

"Don't hurt him!" Dustin ordered.

"Only if it attacks," Mike fired back, never taking his eyes off of it.

"Just open it already!" Lucas shouted.

Dustin pressed the release button and out popped the creature, twice as large as before.

"Holy shit!"

They all watched in disgusted horror as legs popped out its sides, screeching at them.

"Holy shit!" Lucas swore again.

On pure instinct, Mike raised the microphone, but Dustin diverted his aim, yelling, "NO!"

The creature hopped off the table with his new legs and scampered away quickly, more quickly than anyone would have anticipated having only grown legs mere seconds ago.

At that moment, Max managed to open the door and the thing ran out, scurrying past her and down the hall.

"What the-," she began, her eyes wide. Dustin accidentally tackled her to the ground in his rush to chase Dart.

"What was that?" Max asked as they disentangled themselves.

"Dart! You let him escape!" Mike accused, his anger at her boiling over, but there were more important things right now, like getting that thing back.

"Why did you attack him?" Dustin shot back, just as angry.

"C'mon!"

"Don't hurt him! Don't you hurt him!" Dustin shouted after him, but Mike had long stopped listening.

Eleven could see more and more light ahead of her as the trees thinned out. She stepped out into the clearing, her feet no longer crunching on leaves but meeting the smooth, paved road. And there it was… Mike's school.

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart began to race at the mere sight of the place. She had been here twice; once to use the radio to find Will and the second time to find him in the bath, but that's not what she remembered most. Her thoughts were immediately drawn to the memory of Mike pressing his lips on hers in this very school. At the time, Eleven hadn't known what to call it, the way Mike's lips had made her feel tingly all over. After watching various people on the TV doing it she now knew that it was called a kiss and only people who really liked each other kissed. So, despite everything that had happened after that, Eleven would always associate this place with her first and only kiss with Mike.

The anticipation of potentially seeing Mike in real life made Eleven break into a run, spotting a familiar sight as she neared the school. There, along with the two others, was Mike's bike. She would never forget what it was like to ride on the back, clutching Mike tightly; the butterflies in her stomach took flight just thinking about it.

She slowed to a walk as she neared it, afraid it was just a dream. Reaching out, Eleven hesitantly put her left hand on the handle, her right hand found its way to the seat. Just knowing that she was touching something Mike had touched was making it hard to breath, but the fact that this bike being here meant Mike was close made it almost impossible.

Determined and unafraid of the consequences, Eleven strode into the front doors of the school.

"East's clear," Mike reported into the Supercomm, striding purposefully down the hall, his eyes constantly sweeping the floor. "No sign of Dart."

After their mad dash to find the creature, they all realized they were going to need to get organized, so they all split up with their Supercomms, which were almost always on their person, and searched the halls.

"Where'd you go, you little bastard?" he said to himself as he climbed a set of stairs.

He wasn't sure how but he just knew that this little thing was bad.

Eleven strode down a familiar hall, and she got a sense Mike was even closer. Following her instincts, she made a left turn down the hall. She was unsure where to go after that. She could sense Mike's presence in either direction. So, she turned right.

Mike stepped into the gym, another place that reminded him of El, and saw the swinging of the boy's locker room door.

Glancing around, he took a deep breath then approached.

It was dark… really dark actually. Mike could just make out the handle of a mop, so he picked it up as a makeshift weapon.

As he neared the end of the locker room, he heard rustling. He leaned back against the metal lockers lining the wall, taking a calming breath and gathering his courage. This was it. He spun around the corner and brought the handle of the broom down with an aggressive grunt, only to see a flash of red hair whip around at him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Max yelled at him in surprise.

"What're you doing?! Why are you in here?!" Mike roared right back, his heart still racing, now with the added heat of embarrassment.

"I'm looking for Dart," she explained defensively.

"This is the boys' room," Mike knew it was obvious but maybe it wasn't so obvious if she was in here. She seemed to be everywhere now and he couldn't escape her presence even in a boys' locker room.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you should go home," Mike seethed, throwing the mop handle to the ground and stomping out of the locker room and away from her. But he could hear her following him and it only made him madder.

"Why do you hate me so much?" she asked to his back as she followed him across the gym floor. The same gym floor that El had laid in the pool and used her powers to find Will.

Pain shot through him and he hated that he couldn't go anywhere is this school and not be assaulted by memories of her. Now, this girl wouldn't leave him alone and seemed determined to try and take El's place. He could feel himself reaching a boiling point, but he tried to just walk away.

"I don't hate you. How can I hate you? I don't even know you," Mike told her defiantly, only glancing back briefly to see how closely she was following him, his Supercomm clutched in his hand, his knuckles turning white.

"Yeah, but you don't want me in your party," Max countered.

"Correct," Mike confirmed. So, she wasn't as stupid as he thought. Now why couldn't she just leave him alone? She already saw him make a fool of himself in the locker room what else did she want from him?

"Why not?"

This was the last straw.

"Because you're annoying!" Mike shouted in her face. Then somehow felt the need to justify himself to her, "Also, we don't need another party member. I'm our paladin, Will's our cleric, Dustin's our bard, Lucas' is our ranger, and El's our mage!"

As soon as he said her name, Mike knew it was a mistake.

"El? Who's El?" Max asked in genuine confusion.

"Someone," Mike shot back quickly, but the last thing he wanted was to talk about El with a complete stranger, so even though it was the furthest thing from the truth, Mike corrected, "No one."

"Someone or no one?" Max challenged, annoyance coloring her tone. The searing pain in his chest at the continued mentioning of El was making it difficult for Mike to speak, but his multiple attempts to shut this conversation were ignored by the red head.

"She was in our party a long time ago. She moved away, okay," Mike growled back at her. He desperately wanted this to end, the pain, this conversation, all of it.

"She was a mage? What could she do like magic tricks or something?" Max asked, obviously intrigued. Magic tricks, Mike scoffed internally, if she only knew the half of it. Mike had already began to walk away but he heard her skateboard on the wood gym floor and then she was in front of him, blocking his path.

"Well, I could be your zoomer," she suggested.

"That's not a even a real thing," Mike argued, feeling his anger come back down to annoyance at her persistence.

"It could be," Max said. "See? Zoomer."

"Mindblowing," Mike said sarcastically.

"C'mon, you know you're impressed," Max circled him on her skateboard.

Mike had no idea he was still talking to this girl. Why wouldn't she just leave him alone? Who was the stalker now?

Eleven heard it. Mike's voice. In real life.

The sound of her heart pounding filled her ears making it next to impossible to discern his words, but she heard him. Eleven was also pretty sure her lungs had stopped working because breathing became an impossible task as she stood momentarily frozen in the hallway.

Eventually, Eleven was able to convince her legs to work and she approached the door hesitantly. This was it. She was going to see Mike after all this time. He would be so happy and she would be so happy and maybe he would kiss her again. As if in slow motion, Eleven felt like the few steps to the door were a thousand miles. But she reached it and tentatively peered through the glass window, holding her breath in anticipation.

There he was.

Eleven almost cried with relief. It was really Mike. He was facing away from her, but there was no mistaking the boy who had saved her almost a year ago. He was so tall. She knew he had grown, but it was hard to tell just how much because she usually saw him when he was sitting cross-legged in the fort. His dark hair was just as she remembered it though, but what she wanted to see were those eyes.

As if on cue, Mike turned just slightly so she caught sight of the side of his face. She knew handsome was the word she was supposed to use for boys but she couldn't help but think Mike was so pretty, maybe even prettier than she remembered, if that was possible.

But his dark eyes didn't land on her as she wished they would, instead they were on someone else.

For the first time, Eleven noticed Mike wasn't alone. She had been so entranced by seeing him that she had completely been deaf and blind to the fact that there was a girl with him, smiling at him. And Mike was smiling back.

An ugly feeling exploded inside of her. It was a mixture of hurt and sad and anger and-and- just all the bad.

Mike was supposed to smile at her and kiss her and take her to the Snow Ball...but he thought she was gone. He had stopped waiting. She was too late.

The pain was excruciating. Eleven's heart felt like it was shattering, the shards slicing her open from the inside out. She was in so much pain. She needed relief. She needed to take it out on something...or someone.

Eleven didn't even really think about it. She used her powers and pulled the board out from under this girl, making her fall to the ground hard.

It didn't make her feel better.

"Jesus! Are you all right?" Mike asked the girl with concern, kneeling beside the her. Eleven felt like she was going to be sick, but she couldn't look away. A part of her still wanted him to look up and see her and forget this stupid girl and smile at her and no one else. The TV called this feeling jealousy. She hated it. It was suffocating her.

"Yeah, I think so," the girl replied in a pained voice, but Eleven's attention was solely on Mike again, memorizing every detail of him to save when she was gone again. For good this time.

She watched as Mike took the girl's hand and helped her up. The ugly feeling only grew. Mike was only supposed to hold her hand like he did in Hopper's truck on that night so long ago.

She couldn't do this anymore.

Leaving him the first time had been the hardest thing she'd had to do at the time, but leaving him a second time was next to impossible. But, Mike deserved to be safe and happy and Eleven knew that the only way he could have that would be without her. She would give up her only chance at being anything more than halfway happy so that Mike could live his life all happy. So, she blinked back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks and walked away.

"What happened?" Mike asked, even though he didn't really like this girl he didn't want her to be hurt either. She had taken a pretty hard, unexpected fall. One second she was skating around him, mocking him, the next second she was on the ground.

"I don't know. It was just like a magnet or something pulling on my board. I know that sounds crazy," she replied, shaking her head at how ridiculous that sounded.

Mike's breathing stopped all together. That didn't sound ridiculous. That sounded a lot like…

His eyes flashed to the glass door. He couldn't explain it, but he just felt her again.

Something was pulling him to the door, first at a walk, then at a sprint. He burst through the doors. And looked either way, seeing nothing but the empty hallways. The usual feeling of crushing disappointment filled him and he lowered his head, closing his eyes and trying to get ahold of himself. He was the one being ridiculous now. He couldn't do this anymore.

Max walked up beside him with his Supercomm, holding it out for him to take.

"Will said he found Dart at the bathroom near Solerno's," Max reported to him and he snatched the radio from her hands before taking off at a run with the red head close behind.

He was embarrassed and angry and in so, so much pain, but finding Dart may be the key to figuring out what was going on with Will. So, Mike did what he always did, he shoved those feelings as far back as they would go.

At a crossroads in the halls, Lucas met up with them and they rushed into the bathroom only to find Dustin.

"Where's Dart?" Mike asked breathlessly.

"I don't know. He's not here," Dustin replied a little too quickly.

"What?" Mike exclaimed, hurrying to check the stalls, only to find them empty.

"Will said he was near Solerno's?" Max clarified.

"Maybe Will has him," Dustin suggested and then Mike noticed for the first time that their friend wasn't with them.

"Where is Will?"

A/N: Sorry for the bit of a delay. Work has been kicking my butt this week and I wanted to spend a little extra time on this chapter because of how important it is for Eleven. It definitely was one of the more challenging episodes to write. Hope you all like it! Let me know what you think!