Hi everyone, I've started working on a short story. It's set 10 years after the end of season 4. In this story El defeated Vecna and the Upside Down was sealed. The gang have tried to move on since with El and Mike becoming engaged. It is a week before their Wedding, and both are looking forward (they hope!) to a week away with their friends before the big occasion. It's a nice fluffy Mileven fic but with hopefully a bit of drama and realisation as well. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter one
El
Whirr, the sound reverberated throughout the room, whirr, the anticipation, the, DING! At last!
With a happy expression, El stopped pacing and approached the far side of her kitchen, the smell, enticing her forward. She opened the chocolate brown cupboard above and removed an empty plate, placing it on the white work service with a soft thud. She starred at the microwave and, "oh what the hell", she thought, twitching her head to the side, the door swung open. "Just this once", El smiled to herself wiping a tiny pool of blood beneath her nose. She removed the snack, her absolute favourite, Eggo's!
Yes, the gooey, golden, deliciousness! She placed them on the plate and brought them up to her nose, breathing in their manufactured, NO! Lovely aroma. She held them in front of her with reverence and walked back to the living room of her cosy apartment.
She put the plate on the coffee table and sank into her soft blue sofa, idly placing a foot alongside her Eggos. A glimmer caught El's eye and she looked curiously to investigate; she soon found the culprit. It was a reflection, from a treasured object, even more than Eggo's, from her engagement ring. A silver Celtic band set with a brown stone, "the same colour as her eyes" Mike had insisted, he was not wrong.
El did not want her Eggos to get cold, but whenever she saw the ring, it always made her pause taking her to a place that was immensely happy but surrounded with nervousness.
To this day, despite protestations from; Mike, her family, her friends and the positive side of her brain, El felt she did not deserve any of this. Her one bed apartment in a quiet suburb of Indianapolis, a job she enjoyed, people she knew she could count on. The fear, that this could all be.
El cast her eyes away from her finger focusing on the Eggo's. "There was still some steam coming off the top, good."
El picked up the plate and lifted it to her face, "oh lovely Eggo's" El said out loud in a eulogy, "food for the soul" she gently picked it up with two fingers and took a glorious bite.
As El had got older, she almost laughed at herself for enjoying Eggos. Over time she had got into cooking, Italian was her speciality, making her own pizzas and pasta, she found it immensely fulfilling. "You're a keeper" Mike had said, the first time he had tried her freshly made pasta. She'd given him a soft slap against the back of his head, "as long as you're here to wash up".
But this was something special, that took her all the way back to her childhood. She remembered that day, one of the most horrible, when she had sent Lucas headlong into a wall with her power. The emotion was uncontrollable, they were fighting, she had to stop it, she. El winced at the memory. Of the need to get away from these people, who she barely knew. They did not deserve to get sucked into her world of terror.
So, she had ran, ran away, far away.
El hesitated for a moment but then closed her eyes. It was something she'd talked about with her dad and Joyce, that when a bad memory surfaced it was best to face it rather than ignore. She allowed herself to be taken backwards as if on a reel.
…
She remembered the child with the shaved head, the pink dress and the blond wig. She did not know who or what she was but when her tummy rumbled she knew one thing for certain.
El almost smiled as she thought about it, though she could not deny some shame. Walking into the supermarket with a need, a pure need for sustenance. That was when they caught her eye, the bright yellow boxes with loopy red lettering. The same food that Mike, the kind boy, had given her while she was hiding in his basement. The memory of Mike made her sad but the Eggo's felt reassuring, safe, they were calling her name, ready to be consumed.
She did not know how many her small arms could carry, but El had crammed as many in her grasp as she could. Now came the shame, El's brow furrowed at the thought that she had stolen the Eggo's, she was a thief, she. But it was so funny! The look on the face of that security guard as he tried to stop her. El had slammed the automatic doors, breaking them, he'd stood there bemused, helpless, hopeless.
El's grin increased as she passed to the memory of sitting in the woods with her stash. They weren't the nicest tasting thing she'd ever had, that was the chocolate Papa sometimes gave her, she was ashamed to admit. But they were gooey and filling and. They were hers, hers to enjoy alone.
…
A buzz on the intercom brought El out of her reel, she blinked steadily re-adjusting to her surroundings. Her head still a little foggy and taking a piece of Eggo for good measure El made her way to the door. "El, I know you're in there" a singsong, voice came through the intercom. She sighed, expecting that this person would eventually arrive to disturb her peace, "alright," El said into the speaker, "you can come up." She pressed the button which unlocked the door downstairs. El sighed playfully and placed her hands on her hips, waiting for her visitor to arrive.
Mike
"And that is that!"
Mike breathing a sigh, placed his green rucksack, packed to bursting on the bed, forming an indent in the blue duvet. He'd done his third inventory check and was finally satisfied that he had everything he needed. All the essentials of course; clothes, toiletries, notebook and pen. Along with the bizarre items Lucas had told him to pack for their trip, it was this that made him want to do three inventory checks. A map of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, well that wasn't that bizarre, but he was also told to pack his swimming shorts, plastic safety goggles, a white lab coat and other items whose usage Mike could not even begin to fathom.
The science stuff was easy to get as that was his job, an assistant researcher at Indiana University in Bloomington, 'soon to be a proper researcher' he reassured himself. Since finishing his physics PHD his work had lately been unfulfilling. The College had taken on a contract for a local energy company, 'thankfully not Hawkins Power and Light' Mike had thought darkly, though the firm of course had been gone for over decade now.
His days were filled with boring stuff, testing and retesting energy circuits for their efficiency while the bosses got to do all the really cool stuff. But he knew this was a necessary step on his journey, to gain experience in industry before hitting the big time. At least that's what El always told him.
The thought of her made him smile and his eyes cast towards the framed photo of them on his bedside table made of dark wood. Mike sat on the bed with a thump and took the photo in his hands, it was taken 2 days after he'd proposed while they were on holiday at Niagara Falls. His eyes traced the picture, of El's bright smile, her hair slightly whipped by the wind, her hand visible to the camera and the silver glint of her ring. Mike looked with pride at his own ring, a medium size gold band with the words, 'Mystery Awaits' engraved, in black italic writing. A reference that puzzled many of their friends but was a secret only Mike and El had shared.
Mike turned his attention to the red dial phone that sat next to the picture. He promised himself he wouldn't, it was supposed to be unlucky. But he couldn't help himself, he hadn't seen El for a week, both busy with work before their week-long break, leading to the day of greatest anticipation. That already felt like an eternity, he longed to hear her voice, to find out how she had been. For that uncanny way of hers, to calm him and his anxieties in an instant.
He had already picked up the phone while having these thoughts, dialling her number. As he pressed the last digit, he allowed himself to relax, listening to the dial tone, waiting patiently, "hello Mike!" A squeaky voice came from the other end. "El, what?" Mike began but stopped himself, he knew that voice.
"Oh, Mike my darling" the voice went on "I miss you so much, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." Mike sighed, "Dustin, that is the worst impression of El, of a human being, I have ever heard." "Come on man it wasn't that bad" Dustin said playfully but his tone soon changed, "besides it's you who is in the wrong! You promised you wouldn't call El."
"I know, I know" Mike complained, "I blew it, how did you do this anyway?" "Oh, I just rerouted her phone number, she knows all about it" Dustin answered, "said she didn't want you calling because it would be bad luck and so I did little wizardry on the phone line and voila!"
Mike found himself laughing. Dustin's job at the local phone company had proven more trouble than it was worth, this wasn't the first prank he'd pulled via the phone line.
"Anyway" Dustin continued, "you all packed?" "Yup" Mike said. "Including the special items?" Dustin asked teasingly. Mike rolled, his eyes, "yes, you're 'items' are all in there." "Good!" He said emphatically, "I'll be over in about an hour, just got to pick up Lucas and Will." "Cool" Mike said, "I'll see you in a bit," "I hope you're a happy camper!" Dustin added before putting the phone down.
Mike chuckled to himself before taking a deep breath. He hated being out of the loop, he always liked to be the one organising things and now he was at the mercy of his friends. "That's why I need to talk to El" a voice said in his brain, "that's", Mike shushed the voice. "It's only for another week" he said to himself out loud, "and then." The rush of joy that came over Mike as he thought of his future was overwhelming enough to banish the negative thought back to the dark corner of his mind.
Lifting his backpack by the handle he left the bedroom and walked down the small hallway of his apartment into the living room/kitchen. He put on a cup of coffee and flicked the TV on, reclining carefully onto the green sofa, he always thought El's was a little too squidgy, he liked a firmer foundation when he was sitting. A helpful distraction from the mysterious week away the guys had kept very tight lipped about. It made him wonder all the more why he'd been asked to bring the strange objects, including, a rather large one that lay 'hidden' at the bottom of his backpack.
Just a short chapter to kick things off but I promise it will get longer and more involved as the story goes. Thanks for reading and please review if you can.