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

CHAPTER 5: DIG DUG

"It's about the shadow monster, isn't it?"

The look of fear and disbelief that creased Mrs. Byers' brow at his words told Mike that he was right. She didn't even have to say it, so instead she just let him in, Mike called his mom to let her know he'd be staying at Will's tonight, and the three of them ate dinner in relative silence. There was a somber air to the household that hadn't been there since Will was lost in the Upside Down last year. It was like Will was here, but not really.

After dinner, Mike and Will went to his room, it was absolutely freezing in the house and Will had explained that the shadow monster wanted it cold, so Mrs. Byers had turned off the heat. The early November frost in Indiana made him shiver even though he was inside and still had his hoodie on. Yet, as Mike glanced over at his friend he could see Will sweating profusely, his skin pallid looking.

Eventually, despite Will's strange demeanor, Mike was able to get him to explain what was going on with the colorings taped to all of the walls.

"It's like I feel what the shadow monster is feeling, see what he's seeing," Will faced away from Mike, but he would hear how haunted his voice sounded. Mike grazed his fingers lightly across the colored pages that seemed to be covering every available surface of the house, following its path along the wall until he was even with Will.

"Like in the Upside Down?" he asked, trying to clarify what Will was referring to as to get some frame of reference to begin to figure this thing out. If they could figure it out then maybe Will could hone his True Sight to use it to his advantage.

Mike stopped his tracing and turned to gaze over at his friend where he sat bolt upright on his bed, staring off with a faraway look in his eyes. El would have that same look last year whenever they neared the answer that Will was in the Upside Down or the topic of the lab came up. It was a look that told him she had seen and experienced terrible things, unspeakable things, and she was forced to relive them in her mind over and over.

Mike had become accustomed to the feeling of his heart constricting painfully in his chest at the mere thought of her. Now, he had to push it aside, push her aside, just for the time being so he could help his friend. El had sacrificed herself so that Will and all of them could live, so Mike would honor her sacrifice by protecting his friend the best he could.

"Some of him is there, but some of him is here too," Will replied, still not looking over at him.

"Here? Like in this house?" Mike tried. He still wasn't understanding what Will was trying to tell him.

"In this house… in me…," Will continued to stare straight ahead, but Mike could see the tears welling up in his eyes and heard his voice become strained as he struggled to speak. "It's like he's reaching into Hawkins more and more and the more he spreads the more connected to him I feel."

As he listened, Mike sat next to him, trying to offer whatever support he could.

"The more you see these now memories," Mike inferred, looking down at his hands for a moment. His heart hurt for his friend and whatever this thing was that he was going through, but he didn't know what he could do to help. At least not yet.

"At first, I just felt it, in the back of my head," Will began to explain, reaching up to the back of his neck briefly. "I didn't even really know it was there. It's like when you have a dream and you can't remember it unless you think really hard. It was like that. But now it's like, now I remember, I remember all the time."

Out of the corner of his Mike could see the tears slipping down Will's cheeks, and he knew he needed to his friend to see the positive in this hellish situation. So, Mike supposed, "Maybe…maybe that's good."

"Good?" Will asked, confused and a little incredulous, finally glancing over at Mike as if he had said the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. So, Mike elaborated,

"Just think about it, Will. You're like a spy now. A super spy, spying on the shadow monster. If you know what he's seeing and feeling, maybe that's how we can stop him. Maybe all of this…," Mike said, glancing around the room at the hundreds of pieces of paper to illustrate his point, "is happening for a reason."

Mike knew he was being selfish. He hated seeing Will in so much pain, he really did, but the mere idea that Will may be able to have some kind of power to see into the Upside Down gave Mike hope; hope that if Will could learn to use this newfound ability, then he could search for El. He would never wish pain or suffering on Will but if he had this power then it might be useful.

"You really think so?" Will asked him hopefully.

"Yeah, I really do," Mike said with confidence, giving Will an encouraging smile. Will's eyes averted and Mike followed his line of sight to look at a picture Will had colored, presumably of the shadow monster.

"What if he figures out we're spying on him? What if he spies back?" Will's eyes were wide with fear as he asked this, and Mike turned his attention back to his face quickly, telling him with certainty in his voice,

"He won't."

"How do you know?" Will's words wavered, and he could see his friend shaking in terror of this monster. And again, Mike wished more than anything that El was here. She would know what to do and how to defeat the shadow monster. But she wasn't, so Mike had to do whatever he could for his friend.

Mike put his hand over Will's shaking one to ease some of his anxiety and told him reassuringly, "We won't let him."

After that Will seemed to calm down a little. Mike suggested they go to sleep early so Will could rest up and maybe feel better in the morning. Mrs. Byers found one of Jonathan's old sleeping bags- Will wasn't much of a camper so he didn't have one- and Mike laid it on the floor close enough to Will's bed to be there for his friend but far enough away that he wouldn't get stepped on if his friend stood up.

It was getting colder and colder in the small house as is got later and later. Mike pulled his hood up over his head for some extra warmth, but it didn't help much. But there was something other than just the cold keeping him up too.

Mike rolled over and checked to see if Will was sleeping. It was hard to tell from his spot on the floor, but he thought the steady rise and fall of his friend's chest was a pretty good indicator. Mike reached over to his back pack, but as he began slowly unzipping it he hesitated.

He had been getting ready to pull out his Supercomm and make his usual call to El, but he was having second thoughts. It was one thing to speak to her alone in the relative emotional safety of his basement, in her fort. He didn't think Will would make fun of him or judge him or anything, but it just felt wrong somehow. But it also felt wrong not to talk to her at all. If she really was trapped somewhere and was using her powers to hear him then she would be able to hear him with or without the Supercomm, just like she did with Will. He just wouldn't be able to hear her back. But it wasn't like he had heard her on any of the other 354 days.

Mike sighed. He wasn't ready to let this go. Not yet. He still needed her, even if it was just the illusion of her. So, as quietly as he could Mike opened his back pack and pulled out the Supercomm, he slipped out of the sleeping bag, and padded out of the room. Luckily, Mrs. Byers had gone to bed as well so the path to the bathroom was clear. Once there, he closed the door carefully behind him and pulled up the antenna, turning the volume low. It was always on channel eleven these days, so all that was left was to speak.

"It's Day 355," Mike whispered, but then he paused. This was his chance to stop all of this, to just let her go, and end this stupid need to call a ghost every night. But as he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, he couldn't help but imagine her, how she must have looked when she stood presumably in this very spot on their last night together, just before they had made the "bath" in the school gym.

She had been so brave and so fierce, finding Will, killing those all those bad people, and then ultimately saving them from the Demogorgon. She was the most powerful person he knew, and not just because she literally had powers. She had been through hell and back, and Mike was ashamed to admit he had been the cause of some of her pain, but she had endured it all, the bad men, the monster, being manipulated by her so-called Papa. She was a survivor.

Mike could feel his heart swell, warmth spreading from his chest, at this revelation. El was strong, so he was more certain than ever that she was alive. Not only that, but she had to be the key to solving whatever was going on with Will and Dart. With renewed purpose, Mike lifted the Supercomm, staring determinedly at his reflection in the mirror.

"El? I hope you can hear me," Mike spoke earnestly into the silence. "I just want you to know that I know you're out there and I'll never give up on finding you. I promise."

Day 356.

The sudden sound of someone gasping for air startled Mike awake. He sat up quickly from his place on the floor and looked up at his friend with concern.

After his call to El last night, Mike had been able to sleep much better, despite the cold, his heart felt much warmer. His dreams had been full of her, his memories of her, the future with her. He was hopeful for the first time in a long time and ready to help Will, following whatever path that took them. Mike was confident that would lead him back to El.

"Will, what's wrong?" Mike asked, sleep making his voice scratchy. Will was sitting bolt upright breathing hard and glistening with sweat again. Will just stared back at him, eyes wide with fear at whatever he had just seen.

"I just saw Hopper and he's in danger," Will managed as he slowly came became aware of his surroundings.

"In your now memories?" Mike's voice was serious, the dire circumstances, waking him up better than any alarm clock. Will merely nodded in response, so Mike concluded, "You need to tell your mom."

So, they both made their way into the living room where they spotted Mrs. Byers sitting on the floor, staring at something they couldn't see in front of her. Mike hovered behind as Will approached his mom, giving them some space.

"Mom…Mom…Mom," he heard Will call out to her before shaking her shoulder when he didn't respond.

"Yeah?" she finally noticed he was there.

"I saw him," Will told her.

"You saw who, Baby?" she asked in confusion at Will's vagueness. So, Will elaborated,

"Hopper… I think he's in trouble… I think he is going to die."

Day 328.

When Hopper hadn't returned last night, it had only strengthened Eleven's resolve to leave again. But this time she wasn't going to see Mike.

No. She needed to find her Mama. She didn't even use the radio to visit Mike with her mind. As much as she wanted to and as much as it killed her inside not to see him, Eleven curled up in bed and tried to just let him go. But she knew she would never be able to really let him go.

He was safe and he would one day forget all about her and be happy. She could live in this world of excruciating pain if Mike was happy. So, Eleven decided she would focus all of her energy on finding out who she really was and where she belonged in this world, if it wasn't with Papa or Mike or Hopper, then maybe it was with Mama.

She got up early, got dressed, packed a bag, and set out until she found the biggest road she could find. From there, she waved her hands at passing cars, trying to get them to stop so they would give her a ride. She'd never make it to Mama's on foot and the idea of being out in the woods again wasn't appealing. Eventually, a big truck stopped for her and a nice man offered her a ride when she told him she was trying to get back to her Mama.

In her mind, Eleven was able to perfectly picture the house where her Mama lived as well as the address on the mailbox, so that's where she told him to go. He asked her some questions but she didn't really answer them; he didn't need to know anything about her and she didn't want to lie. Thankfully, the ride wasn't too long and eventually he slowed to a stop.

"All right, I think this is it. 5-1-5 Larrabee, right?" the nice truck driver confirmed, glancing past her at the driveway leading up to the house, before turning his attention to her.

Eleven looked over at him, affirmed and corrected, "Yes. Five fifteen."

"Five fifteen, sure," he gave her a friendly smile, but she couldn't muster one to return the nice gesture. Instead, she turned and opened the heavy door, preparing to exit the truck, but she glanced over her shoulder briefly.

"Thank you," she told him quietly, but before she could hop down to the ground he called out to her.

"Hey," he said, and she turned to look at him, "you apologize to your Mama, must be scared half to death. How long has it been?"

Again, Eleven didn't want to lie to the nice man, but the truth was far too complicated.

"Long time," she replied shortly, hopping out of the tall truck and slamming the heavy door closed behind her. She stood at the end of the driveway and watched him drive away before turning towards the house, giving the mailbox a sideways glance as she passed it.

The path to the door was a long gravel road, but she had made it this far. So, she followed it to a house only a little bigger than the cabin, but much smaller than Mike's.

Taking several calming breaths, Eleven found the courage to knock twice, bracing herself for whatever reaction she was going to get from a mother she hadn't seen since she was born.

But there was no response, so Eleven hit her palm flat on the door three times and a voice yelled from inside.

"Go away! I'm not interested!"

Determined, Eleven then began to hit the door repeatedly and she would keep doing it until someone came to the door. She came too far to be turned away now. Her persistence was rewarded when the door opened a crack, a dark-haired woman's face peering through the gap angrily.

A chain holding the door closed partially blocked Eleven's view, but she knew this wasn't her Mama, but there was something familiar in her features, especially her dark curly hair.

"Look, I don't want your thin mints, all right kid," she said angrily.

Eleven didn't understand.

"Thin mints?"

"Or your religious mumbo-jumbo. Whatever you're selling I'm not buying, 'kay?" the woman told her with finality and promptly shut the door in her face.

Eleven considered her options at that point. She could just leave. She had made it through life this far without a mother, so she would be fine, but always wonder. Or… she could force her way in and get the answers she came for. Eleven chose the latter.

Planting her feet and tucking her chin, Eleven focused on the chain she had just seen, and used her powers to lift the rounded part up and out of the track holding it in place before swinging the door open slowly.

"I want to see Mama," she said simply. She knew she had scared the woman, but this was important. This was her life, after all.

The woman stared open-mouthed at her from down the hall. After a long moment, she nodded her head slowly as Eleven wiped the blood from her nose on her sleeve. Seemingly unable to speak, the woman led her down the hall and gave her a sad look. Eleven stepped up next to her and looked into the room, hearing a TV playing Family Feud in the background. She liked that show too.

Inside was a blonde woman in a rocking chair, unkempt, her face slack, but speaking quietly to herself. Eleven's inhaled sharply. This was her Mama.

"Rainbow… three to the right, four to the left…," Mama continued as if she hadn't noticed her come into the room at all.

"Mama?" Eleven called out to her quietly, approaching slowly so as not to startle her.

"…breathe…sunflower…rainbow…three to the right, four to the left…," her mother continued speaking as if she hadn't heard her either.

"Mama?" she tried again. "Can you hear me?"

"…450…breath…sunflower…rainbow…," she kept muttering.

Eleven watched, so many feelings swirling around her insides. Happiness, sadness, surprise, confusion, wonder.

"Mama, it's me, Jane," Eleven told her, kneeling to be at eye level with her, but the woman didn't meet her eyes. "I'm here now," she told her, putting a hand on hers where it gripped the arm rest of the rocking chair.

That's when Mama finally looked at her. For a moment, Eleven was sure she stopped breathing, her heart pounding in anticipation. And then her Mama spoke.

"Breath…sunflower…rainbow…450…breath…sunflower…," she continued, even as she looked at straight at Eleven. Not at Eleven… through her, as if she was invisible.

"What's wrong with Mama?" she turned to ask the dark-haired woman, who looked distraught, bringing a hand to her mouth as tears pooled in her eyes.

Since Will had been using his drawings to channel his connection with the Upside Down, it only made sense to sit him down at the table with paper and some crayons again. And it worked. Almost immediately Will began to scribble roughly on the paper in the same colors as his other drawings: purples, blues, and blacks. He pressed the crayon so hard into the table that Mike thought for sure the crayon would break as he colored furiously, as if possessed. Eventually, he stopped coloring, dropped the crayon, and leaned back from the table.

"Is this where you saw him? Is this where you saw Hopper?" Mrs. Byers asked Will. Mike stood off to the side, glancing curiously over Will's shoulder.

"I think so, yeah," Will responded timidly.

Seeing the colored page, Mike and Mrs. Byers set off down the hall, eyes scouring to find the piece that matched the one in her hands. They split up at the end of the hall and Mike spotted what he thought was it on the living room wall.

"Here!" he called out to her and she ran over with the paper, holding it over the other page.

"Oh, okay, so Hopper is here," Mrs. Byers said breathlessly.

"Yeah, now we just need to find out where here is, right?" Mike confirmed, hoping she had some more insights into how to figure this out than he did.

"Right," she replied, unsure.

"Did he say anything? I mean, before he left?" Mike asked, anxious and totally focused on the task at hand.

"Something about vines?" she replied with just as much uncertainty as he felt as she looked up at him.

The sound of a car pulling up the drive drew both of their attentions, so they rushed to the front window. Mike watched as Bob stepped out of his car, and he glanced sideways as Mrs. Byers to see how she planned to play this one.

She quickly went outside to meet him before he came into the house and saw the whole scene while Mike hung back and checked on Will.

Mike was extremely surprised when Mrs. Byers invited Bob into the house in the state it was in, but he said nothing. Mrs. Byers asked Bob for his help to figure out this puzzle and they all stood in the middle of the living room, surrounded by colored paper everywhere, waiting to hear his reaction.

"Huh…Hm," Bob just made noises at first before he managed, "You drew all these yourself?" Will nodded slightly at him and Bob asked, "Why exactly?"

Mrs. Byers jumped in immediately.

"I told you the rules, no questions," Mrs. Byers reprimanded him and then began to make her way over to the living room, "We just need you to help us figure out-," she noticed he wasn't following and called over to him, "Bob! Bob! Over here."

Bob handed Mike the stuff he had brought for Will before following Mrs. Byers into the next room. Mike set it down on a side table and followed closely behind.

"Where-where this is." Mrs. Byers finished, using a red crayon she had picked up to mark Will's drawing with an 'X.'

"That's the objective, find the 'X'," Mike instructed, playing along with what Mrs. Byers had apparently told Bob that this was some kind of puzzle game.

"Yeah, what's at the 'X'? Pirate treasure?" Bob joked, but Mike could see he was more than a little confused and he wondered if Bob was going to call the cops to have them all sent to the nuthouse.

"Bob, no questions," Mrs. Byers reminded him again. Bob may have reached his limit though.

"Okay… let me just talk to you for a second, hang on guys," Bob said after considering it for a moment. He slipped an arm around Mrs. Byers and led her out of the room, leaving Mike and Will.

They sat at the kitchen table, letting Bob figure things out, or Mrs. Byer to decide it wasn't worth it to explain it to him. But then Mike could hear Bob's excited voice in the halls.

"-they act like roads because, you see, they don't go over water," he heard Bob say as he neared the kitchen. "And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway! Ha! Don't you get it? It's not a puzzle, it's a map. It's a map of Hawkins. Right Will?"

Mike couldn't believe it. Bob had figured it out.

"I just need a little help understanding, Sweetie," the woman said as they sat at the kitchen table. She had introduced herself as Aunt Becky, her Mama's sister, the one who had been taking care of her. She was nice. She had made Eleven lunch but the sandwich remained untouched on the table, she just didn't have an appetite. Eleven heard her speak but continued to stare over at her Mama, trying to understand what happened to make her this way.

"Can you tell me where you came from?" Aunt Becky asked gently, but Eleven kept her eyes glued to Mama. "Where you've been all this time?"

Eleven had never found it useful to tell people things about her life. It always seemed to put them in danger. The nice man at the restaurant, her friends, Mike… She didn't have a chance to dwell, her painful thoughts weren't interrupted once more.

"A policeman and a woman came looking for you last year, did they find you?"

No, she wanted to say, Mike found her and took her out of the rain, and kissed her and asked her to the Snow Ball and made her feel safe and happy for the only time in her life. But she couldn't.

So, Eleven ignored her questions and asked one of her own, "She won't get better, will she?"

"They don't think so… no…but she's not in any pain… she's just stuck, living like in a dream, a long dream," Aunt Becky replied, obviously even after all this time it still hurt her to say these words. Eleven finally glanced over at her. She knew dreams could be good, but dreams could also be bad. Very bad.

"A good dream?" she asked quietly, hopeful.

"I hope so," Aunt Becky replied, her eyes somber but nice. Eleven averted her eyes, the overwhelming feeling of loss crashing over her as tears began to form in her eyes. It was so unfair. She had lived her whole life thinking she didn't have a Mama, then found out she had one, only to then discover she was stuck in a dream, completely unaware of her existence.

"Is it the same dream?"

"We don't know. Sometimes she says different words, but usually those," Aunt Becky told her softly. Eleven could feel her eyes on her but she continued to stare at Mama, wishing she could use her powers to heal her. But that wasn't how it worked.

The sadness became too much and Eleven could feel herself beginning to cry at the injustice of it all. She could see Aunt Becky reach her hand across the table as she tried to reassure her, but Eleven's hands remained clasped protectively to each other around her middle.

"She always believed you were out there. She always believed you would come home one day," she said, tears in her own eyes as well. But it wasn't her tears that got Eleven's attention, it was that word.

"Home?"

"Yeah, home," Aunt Becky repeated, biting back tears and Eleven knew she meant it.

Maybe this was where she was supposed to be. It was definitely better than being with Hopper who lied and kept her prisoner or Papa who also kept her prisoner but also used her and manipulated her to hurt people and animals. But here wasn't with Mike. That meant he'd be safe.

Eleven reached forward and took her outstretched hand on the table. Even though she had been rude at first Eleven liked her. If she couldn't be with Mike, this would be the next best thing. And who knows, maybe one day Mama would recognize her.

Eventually, Eleven ate the lunch Aunt Becky had made. She still didn't feel she was ready to tell her everything, but she was relieved to know that she had family. After she finished eating, Aunt Becky wanted to show her something, so he led her down the hall to another room.

Aunt Becky stepped to the side in the doorway to allow Eleven to enter the room first. Eleven glanced timidly at her before making her way into the dimly lit space. It was a baby's room with a crib. A crib meant for her.

Her heart felt like it was being wrenched in two, gazing around at all of the nice things that had been meant for her. She approached the crib slowly, wrapping her hand on the smooth wood of the railing. Pain seared through her as she reached down and picked up a stuffed bear. This was supposed to be her life. The life that was stolen from her by Papa. A life with nice things and a family who loved her.

"Pretty," she whispered more to herself.

Everything about this hurt. To see the home, she could have had… the life she could have led. She could have been happy. But it would have been a life where she had never met Mike...

That made her pause. What would life have been like if she had never met the nice boy with the dark eyes who called her pretty and made her feel the butterflies in her stomach? Eleven didn't know if she could imagine a life like that.

"I can get you a real bed and you can stay here with me if you want. How's that sound?" Aunt Becky suggested from behind her. Eleven hadn't heard her come into the room so distracted was she by her thoughts.

Eleven considered that offer for a moment. She didn't really have anywhere else to go and Aunt Becky was nice and the only family she had, so Eleven nodded.

"I want to help you but to really do that I'm gonna need you to talk to me, okay? Doesn't have to be now, doesn't have to be today, but when you're ready, okay?" Aunt Becky told her, and as much as Eleven was hesitant to do that could try. She wished she never had to think about the lab again. Couldn't she just start over? She had nothing before this, only Mike and he was gone now too, happier without her.

"Okay," Eleven agreed after a moment.

As she replied, she saw the lights flickering over Aunt Becky's shoulder, in an all-too-familiar way. Eleven made her way over to the light in the hall, stopping in front of it. Then, the light further down the hall blinked, so Eleven followed that one.

"Oh yeah, that. That happens sometimes. Old house, bad wiring. If you ask my crazy aunt Shirley it's… haunted," Aunt Becky explained dismissively, but Eleven was already down the hall.

Eleven followed the flickering back down the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Sweetie, really it's just the wiring," Aunt Becky tried to assure her again, but Eleven knew better.

"No," as she said this the light flickered near Mama, so she shot a glance over at Aunt Becky before walking over there and kneeling beside the rocking chair.

"It's Mama," Eleven said, reaching her hand up to the bloody nose on her mother and wiping the blood away with her finger.

"…sunflower…450…three to the right, four to the left…," Mama rambled on, staring blankly at the TV.

"i-I don't understand," Aunt Becky said from the doorway.

"She knows I'm here," Eleven replied as all of a sudden, the TV changed stations seemingly on its own, but she knew better than that too. Eleven stood up and stared at the screen as the channel changed again, slowly and then faster until it stopped on the white noise.

"She wants to talk."

"All right, I'm 3.6 inches, what do you got?" Bob called from the kitchen.

"I'm not sure…Mrs. Byers?" Mike called back, holding the tape measure to the spot over Lover's Lake as Mrs. Byers wound around the house looking for Tippecanoe.

Once Bob had figured out that all of these drawings were a map of Hawkins, then came the task of working out where each place was. Bob went around pointing out location he recognized and they labelled them, so that Bob could use an actual map and some measurements to deduce where the 'X' was.

"Hold on," she called back and then, "21 feet 4 inches."

"What about Tippecanoe to Danford Creek?" Bob asked from his place at the table.

"D-Danford? Where's Danford?" Mrs. Byers shouted in frustration. She obviously was losing all patience for this and was worried about Hopper.

"Dining room!" Will called back, and his mom made her way over there, as Mike took her place at Tippecanoe.

"16 feet, 10 inches," she replied, but Bob wasn't done.

"What about Danford to Jordan?"

"C'mon. This has got to be enough," she groaned irritably, walking towards the kitchen table. Mike felt her tugging on the end of the tape measure, so he released it and followed her and Will to stand next to the table where Bob was, leaning over the edge to see how he was calculating the distances.

"It's not, it's really not," he insisted.

"Can't you figure it out?"

"Well, it's hard. The ratio isn't exactly one to one. If you're twisting my arm and you're twisting my arm I would say that the 'X' is maybe…a half mile southeast of Danford," Bob concluded, marking the map. Mike was pretty impressed he had figured all of that out without knowing any of the context.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Mrs. Byers kissed Bob on the cheek, grabbed the map, and ran to the door. Mike glanced at Will before they rushed after her, leaving a stunned Bob.

"What? Are we really going?"

It was going to be too complicated to explain to Aunt Becky how exactly her powers worked, but she was able to tell her that she could communicate with Mama in her mind if she had several things.

"Like this?" Aunt Becky asked holding up the dish towel she had just cut in half.

"Yes," Eleven approved.

Then, they moved to the living room. Eleven's heart was pounding in anticipation; she hoped this mind visit would be more productive than the last one. But the realization that her Mama had powers too was exciting and gave her some hope.

Eleven lowered herself onto her knees in front of Mama's chair, already focusing her mind on the task at hand.

"It's okay if I sit here right?" Aunt Becky asked awkwardly.

"Yes," Eleven replied shortly, wrapping the makeshift blindfold around her head and plunging herself into darkness.

"And I won't mess it up or anything?" she continued and Eleven could tell she was nervous, but she needed to concentrate.

"No."

Aunt Becky continued speaking anyway, "If you talk to Terry will you tell her that I love her very much and that I'm sorry that I didn't believe her-."

"Stop talking," Eleven cut her off. On one hand, she felt bad for the woman. She obviously cared deeply for her sister but on the other, she hadn't trusted her when she still had her mind.

"Sorry," Aunt Becky apologized, chastised.

"Breathe…sunflower…rainbow…three to the right, four to the left….450," Mama mumbled, and even as Eleven delved into her mind and darkness enveloped her, she continued, repeating those words over and over.

"Mama? Mama? It's me, Jane," Eleven spoke softly, slowly walking towards her mother in the darkness of her mind. "I'm here now. I'm home."

"No," she said snapping her eyes to Eleven and grabbing her hand so suddenly it scared her a little. The action seemed to have changed her mind visit and she wasn't sure how at first.

"Mama!" she called out to her, no longer seeing the woman in the rocking chair in front of her.

Eleven was still in the place inside her mind, but she was not in control.

A pregnant woman with long blonde hair stumbled past her. It was her Mama. She was grunting in pain and bleeding as she collapsed to the ground.

"Mama! Mama!" Eleven shouted, running towards her and coming to kneel at her side.

"Ah! My baby!"

"Mama! What do I do?!" Eleven's hands touched her Mama's hands and her face and her stomach, fear gripping her and making her blind to the fact that this wasn't really happening.

"Breathe, just breathe all right? They're on their way, okay?" Eleven turned to the now familiar voice, startled, only to see a younger version of Aunt Becky.

Then her mind visit shifted into memories… her Mama's memories. It was disorienting to go from her Mama's point of view to outside of her but Eleven refused to back out of the mind visit.

"Stay with us, darling, stay with us." She was being wheeled down a hallway, bright lights above and masked faces.

A baby's cry. Papa's face. Black then sunflowers.

"Hey there," Aunt Becky again. The fuzziness of the memories was making Eleven a little nauseous as was their rapid succession, but she stayed.

"Jane, where's Jane?" Mama asked but Aunt Becky began to cry, grabbing her hand.

"I'm sorry, so sorry."

"No, I saw her," Mama insisted.

"No, no she wasn't breathing," Aunt Becky told her with a shake of her head, her brown curls bouncing.

"She was crying. I heard it. He was there," Mama corrected her, the memories flooding back to her as well.

"Who was there?"

"He took her," Mama said angrily, trying to get of the hospital bed, but Aunt Becky stopped her made to stop her. Then in flurry of chaos and activity, nurses came in and out a needle in Mama's arm.

Black again.

Mama was in her house wearing pretty makeup.

"Three to the right, four to the left," she said to herself, kneeling on the floor and Eleven could see it was a safe she was opening. With a gun inside…

She drove to the lab and tried to walk in with a group of ladies.

"Ma'am, can I see your badge?" A guard tried to stop her. She pulled out the gun and pointed it at him.

"Stay back! Stay back!" she ordered, the man went for his gun and she fired.

It was too much. Eleven didn't want to see anymore. She tried to get out…but now she couldn't. She wasn't in control anymore.

Alarms were going off now. Mama was going door to door in the lab, past people in white coats until she came to a door with a rainbow on the frame. Mama opened the door and there were two children inside: a light-skinned blonde child and a slightly older dark-skinned child with black hair.

"Jane! Jane!" Mama called out in relief to the blonde child… her.

But the bad men grabbed her and pulled her away as she screamed in agony, "No! She's my child!"

Black.

"NO!" Mama screamed. Chaos again. Mama was being strapped to a table as she struggled violently to break free of the bad men as they put something in her mouth and metal things on her temples.

Then there was Papa… younger… with dark hair but the same cold, uncaring look.

"450," Papa ordered and a bald man turned a dial as Mama screamed through the thing in her mouth, convulsing as the shocks streaked through her.

And then it stopped. Mama was left panting on the table. But then all of the memories started replaying rapidly on an endless loop. Mama's pressured voice narrating,

"Breathe…sunflower…three to the right, four to the left…rainbow…450."

It made Eleven feel like she was going to be sick again and finally she was thrown her out of her own mind visit. She yanked the blindfold off and fell back in anguish. Gulping in as much oxygen as she could, Eleven couldn't seem to get enough air. Her mind was reeling, unable to process what she had just seen. Her breathing became even more labored as she stared up at the shell of a human her Mama had become at the hands of Papa and the bad men.

She felt her Aunt Becky fell to her knees behind her and wrapped her arms around her awkwardly, unsure of how to comfort her. Eleven didn't think there was anything in the world that would make her feel better about what she had just witnessed.

"There's nothing. There's nothing here," Mike was starting to feel like they had messed up somewhere. They were in the middle of nowhere. Why would Hopper possibly be out here this far?

It felt as if they had been driving for hours when really it had only been one. They were all getting a little anxious, even Bob who had no idea what they were looking for.

"Are we close?" Mrs. Byers asked, anxiously glancing over at Bob.

"We're in the vicinity," Bob responded unfazed.

"What's that mean in the vicinity?" The fear of what kind of danger Hopper might be in was putting all on the edge and the tension in the car was reaching a boiling point.

"It means we're close! I mean I don't know it's not precise," Bob said defensively, gesturing to the map in his hands.

"We did all that work," Mrs. Byers said in frustration.

"I told you the scale ratio was not exactly one to one. We needed to take more measure-."

At that moment, Mike saw Will lurch forward out of the corner of his eye and Will blurted, "Turn right!"

"What?"

"I saw him," Will said.

"Where?" Mrs. Byers leaned forward and strained her eyes to see out into the darkness but Will clarified,

"Not here. In my now memories."

"In your what?" Bob was really confused now.

"Turn right!" he yelled again and this time, Mrs. Byers swung the car around off road. They ran through a bale of hay, eliciting a scream from everyone in the car that continued as they bounded over the uneven ground. Coming to a sudden stop, mere centimeters from Hopper's truck.

"Are you okay?" Mrs. Byers asked them breathlessly, all of them panting at the adrenaline rush of almost crashing.

"Super spy," Mike said, glancing over at Will, impressed.

"What's Jim doing here? Joyce?" Bob asked, totally clueless but Mrs. Byers ignored him.

"Boys, I need you to stay here," she ordered, opening the car door, but Will called out to her,

"No, Mom! Mom! Mom! It's not safe!"

"That's why I need you to stay here. Stay here!" Mrs. Byers demanded emphatically, getting out the car and slamming the door shut behind her. Bob followed suit.

But they had to get out of the car when they saw both Mrs. Byers and Bob go down into the hole.

"Do you see anything? I mean, in your now memories?" Mike asked, staring apprehensively down the hole they had just saw Mrs. Byers and Bob disappear into, but Will just shook his head.

Then, lights and the sound of cars drew their attention behind them. A bunch of those Hawkins Power and Light vans pulled up. Mike would never forget those.

The men spilled out of the vans and paid them no mind, going straight for the hole and securing the area.

All of a sudden, Will crumpled to the ground and instantly Mike dropped down beside him as he convulsed.

"Will? Will? Are you okay? Will, what's wrong?" Mike shook him, fear gripping him as he watched his friend writhe in agony.

Then he broke out into a scream and started seizing, Mike stumbled backwards staring down at his friend in helpless shock.

A/N: It makes me so happy that you guys are still enjoying this. Side note- A few people have asked me about the fact that Mike called her on day 354 (in the story) when El says later (in the show) 353 days. Well, I took this as the last time she heard him was 353 days because they both went off on their separate journeys after that. The show doesn't explicitly show Mike making any other calls but I refuse to believe he just quit calling her cold turkey with no major reason behind it, so that's why I decided to add those. End side note Anyway, I'm just as anxious as you guys are to get to Season 3. And I'm still back and forth about whether I'll wait and do a novelization or write my own. Or maybe I'll do both! I definitely have plot ideas, so just let me know what you think! Love it or hate it I appreciate any and all reviews. They're pure writing fuel!