El ripped off her blindfold and cradled her tear-streaked head in her hands thinking about how all of this was her fault and why Mike was hurting himself again. She had seen him do this before in The Void but never questioned it, but now, it felt like he was going to do more than hurt himself this time and potentially kill himself in the process. She couldn't bring herself to go and apologize for dumping Mike, but she couldn't let him hurt himself more than he was. So she went off to sleep with a mission that would hopefully stop all this for good.
Mike woke up the following day with his wrists hurting and with dark circles under his eyes. He couldn't remember what had happened at first, but it soon came rushing back at him like a rocket. The breakup, his friends trying to make him feel better, and his cutting. Mike vaguely remembered the cuts but it felt like his wrists were hurting even more than when he cut before. He sat up groggily and went up to have breakfast but remembered to put on long sleeves to prevent his family from noticing. "Good morning, Mike," said Karen. "Morning Mom," said Mike. "What would you like for breakfast Mike?" asked Karen. "Can we have chicken?" asked Ted. "No Ted. Chicken is for dinner," said Karen. "Right. Sorry, honey." "So Mike, what would you like for breakfast?" Karen asked again. "I'm not hungry, Mom," replied Mike. "I'll see you later tonight" "Ok Mike. Have fun." ''Thanks." And with that, Mike left his parents' house to join his friends.
Around the same time this happened, El had called Max to come over immediately. When Max arrived, El explained everything from Mike cutting himself to her plan. "This is all my fault. If I had known this, I wouldn't have told you to dump his ass. I'm so sorry, El." "It's ok. I have a plan. Wait. Do you know where Billy is?" "Yeah, he's with Heather, the lifeguard, but I did find her lifeguard pouch in our sink. I think she might be in trouble." "Want me to find him?"
"Yes, please." El got a blindfold and located Billy with Heather at Brimborn Steel Works. Billy had her tied up, and Heather was terrified. "Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon." As soon as he said this, he felt El's presence behind him, and Heather was nowhere to be seen. El ripped off the blindfold, and they rushed to the pool to see if Heather was there. They didn't find her but found her picture, which El used to find Heather at her house having dinner with Billy and her parents. Billy can convince them that everything is fine and that Heather is sick. So Max and El headed off to hatch their plan to get Mike back with El. They spent all night planning how to get them back together and came up with the perfect plan, but with the way things are in Hawkins, things always go differently than they are.
Mike, Will, and Lucas eventually went back to Mike's house to play DD, but Mike and Lucas were just talking about girls the entire time, and Will felt jealous, so he left and went to Castle Byers. He then started to remember all their fun times; he started feeling angry and destroyed Castle Byers, but Will felt something was off; he had felt the Mind Flayer again. Mike and Lucas found him, and Will proclaimed, "He's back". They all returned to Mike's place and stayed there for the night. The following day, Mike convinced El and Max to come over immediately, and Will told them that the Mind Flayer was back and probably found a new host.
A few hours later, the Party heads to the pool Billy works to find out if he's the host. Will explains that the Mind Flayer likes to hide and only uses the host when needed. Mike then takes Will and Lucas into the Men's room because the Mind Flayer "likes it cold," The sauna will reveal whether Billy is the host. Will and Lucas head off to find stuff to defend themselves against Billy and to hold him in the Sauna; meanwhile, Mike and El head to the lockers to find a way to lure Billy into the Sauna.
Now that he and El were alone, Mike thought it best to clarify what had happened at the mall. "Hey, El. I just wanted to say, You know when I said Nana was sick? She wasn't. I lied." "I know." "Right, right, right. No, I think it was important for you to know the context. Hopper, he went all crazy on me, telling me I'm spending way too much time with you. He made me lie. You're the most important thing to me in the world." El was trying to hide her anger and blush as he said this. She wanted to hide her feelings a little longer, so she quickly replied, "What if he's right?" She didn't miss the way Mike's face filled with hurt and sadness at this. "What?" "Hop." "No, no, no, no. He's just an angry old man who hates joy." "But if I only see you," she poked him hard in the shoulder, "and I'm a different species than you, then I should be with my species more."
"What are you talking about? Did you spy on me? That's totally against the rules." "I make my own rules." And with that, El walked out on Mike without getting a glimpse of the hurt that flashed over Mike's face when she walked out. "Mike, are you there?" Max asked over the walkie-talkie. "Yeah" "Where are you guys?" "I'm coming. Just hold on a second." Max hears the hurt tone in his voice and knows El's plan didn't work because of his annoyed tone. "I hope it's not you," Max said as she looked at Billy through her binoculars.
As soon as El left the storage room, Mike whipped out the razor he brought with him everywhere in case he wasn't at home when cutting. "Today was just another unlucky day in the life of Mike," Mike thought as he slid the razor across his wrists with blood dripping onto the storage room floor. He didn't notice El watching from the door with tears falling down her face in never-ending flows. She quickly left before he could catch her spying on him. Mike promptly wrapped up his wounds with bandages he found in the storage room and went to regroup with the others. "Hey, Mike. What happened to your wrists?" Asked Will when Mike joined them. "It's nothing. I scratched myself in the storage room. Nothing major." El and Max looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, and both looked at each other with guilt.