"Hey Nancy have you seen Mike and El?" Yelled my mom

"No!" I Yelled back

"Do you know where they went!?"

"No! Mike said he wanted it to be a surprise!"

Where was he? It was quite unusual for Mike to get home late. But it was his first date so I decided to cut him some slack.

"Well! Tell me when they get home! I'm going to bed!"

"Yes mom!"

They never got home that night, I had stayed up all night waiting for them, and they never showed up.

I walked downstairs to get some breakfast

"When did they get home last night?" Asked my mom from the kitchen

"They. They didn't."

"What do you mean they didn't?"

"They never got home last night."

"Well they have to be somewhere, have you tried the Byers'?"

"No, but I think everyone of his friends' parents would call us."

"Well, try them anyways."

I could hear the door opening, it was a familiar noise, just confirming where I was. Only one pair of footsteps walking around the room. I was getting out of my haze.

"Eleven."

It was papa

"I know it has been a… rough time between us. I'd like to change that."

"How?" I said, cutting the air with the word.

"You can have your own room, and we wouldn't put you in the 'darkness' anymore."

The darkness, a room where I was locked in for days, maybe weeks. By myself, with barely any food or water.

"No."

"Then I have no other choice."

I could finally see, and I was adjusting to the light, when I saw a TV in front of me

"This, as you may know, is Michael Wheeler. Age twelve, height of five feet two inches, still sleeps with a nightlight in his room. I will have to hurt him, if you don't comply."

It was Mike, sitting in a chair, in an empty white room.

"Mike…" I whispered, my voice barely audible.

I was getting out of my haze when I heard two pairs of footsteps coming through the door.

"Michael Wheeler, otherwise known as Mike." Said a woman's voice

"What do you want from me?" I asked, more of a rhetorical question

"We want you to comply, no issues, no trouble, no seeing Eleven ever again."

"Fuck you." I replied, a little shocked by my own language that came out of my mouth

"As you see there is a television screen in front of you." Said the woman

"Oh is there, well, wait until I can actually see and I might be able to tell what's on it." I said sarcastically

I opened my eyes to the room, there was a television screen with Eleven on it, sitting in a chair, in an empty white room.

"What the hell do you want from me!?" I yelled

"Comply. Or she gets hurt."

"You wouldn't. She's your precious science experiment. You don't even care about her, but you wouldn't hurt her. She'd kill you."

The woman gave me a sly smile. "You wanna bet?"

I knew they wouldn't. They needed her. They wouldn't hurt her… right? But what if… what if they did? No. I wouldn't let that happen.

"Yes." I said quickly, a sickening feeling in my stomach as the word came out of my mouth.

"Yes." I said. They wouldn't hurt Mike. They wouldn't. I wouldn't let them.

"Good, good. Take her to her room." Said Papa

"Take him to his room." Said the woman

"Mrs Byers?" Nancy's voice rattled through the telephone. The electrics were still a little patchy.

"Nancy? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I mean… did Mike and El sleep over last night?" Oh god. This felt like Deja vu. Except now, I was on the receiving end. And I knew to be worried. "…No. Nancy? I want you to ring the chief, okay? Don't panic. We'll figure this out, okay? We'll… we'll find them. Wherever they are."