·−·· ·− − ·

L-A-T-E-.

Hopper is late.

He broke the promise.

.

.

.

C-O-M-... Promise.

Compromise.

If he broke his promise, it's okay for me to break mine right?

Compromise. Meeting... each other halfway.

As long as I get back before Hopper.

Safe.

"Are you okay?"

Will.

"They just ruined the best night of the year."

Mike.
Mike. Mike.
M-I-K-E.

He's here.

.

It's not safe.

The bad men?

.

He's taller.

"..ey."

His hair grew.

"H..y."

Like mine.

"Hey!"

He's here.
He's here. He's here. He's here.
In front of me.

Mike.

"Why are you staring at us?"

Not- happy?

"Maybe they're just staring at us because of the way we dressed-"

Will. He's holding a box.

"- I mean, they're dressed as a ghost!"

"We've been to 16 houses Will- 4 of them thought we were exterminators, 2 sewage cleaners, construction workers- why would they recognise us? No one does."

Mike.

"No-" Will puts down his box, "just wait-"

Will.

"Not us- do you recognise what we're dressed as?"

Mike.

.

.

.

"... El?"

Mike.

"Eleven… is that you?"

He reaches- trying to grab the cloth-

NO. BAD MEN.

"It is you!-"

Happy?

"There's no way I wouldn't be able to lift this cloth otherwise!"

He reaches again-

.

Even through the cloth… his hands are- warm.

"El… I've missed you so much."

Me too.

"Can I please- see you? Can you take off the table cloth?"

Table cloth?

No.

NO. BADMEN

BADMEN

NOT SAFE

BADMEN.

"Eleven..! They're gone- a year ago… they were gone for a long time, just like you were."

It's not safe.

Not yet.

It's not safe. They can't see. They can't see that I'm here, it's dangerous.

"Maybe- I'll go grab Lucas and Dustin! Will, look after Eleven for me!"

Mike. Mike.
Leaving? Mike…

"Hey.. so you're Eleven?"

Will.

Yes.

"Thank you for saving me. A year ago, f-from the U-Upside down."

Upside down.

Will.

Safe?

Nice to meet you.

"It's nice to meet you too, Eleven."

.

There's something...

.

"... ere's no way-"

Sound. V-O- … voices.

"Just come here!"

Mike.

"Eleven?"

"Who's Eleven?"

Who?

Bad men?

Danger.

No.

"It's okay El! She's our new friend- Max!"

Friend.

"Yeah, friend."

Friend.

Max?

"Eleven's such a weird name."

"No it's not. It's a lot nice than Maxine"

"Mike!"

Friend?

Friends.

"Eleven- do you want to go trick or treating with us?"

Candy… almost as good as Eggos.

"She's been gone for a year and the first thing you ask is if she wants to go trick or treating with us?"

"Hey- I bet she's never gone trick or treating before! Plus, we've got all night!"

Night.

Late.

Candy?

LATE.

Leave-

"Eleven- where are you going?!"

Mike. Don't want to leave...

Danger- Badmen- late- can't stay- Bad men- L-A-T-E

"Why is she still on about the lab- they're gone-"

Gone. Late?
One Year.

It's still not safe yet-

"Something must have happened- she would have been back earlier if she could-"

Happen.

Leave-

Soon.

Late.

Badmen. Danger.

Leave

Leave

Late.

"Eleven- please stay- come to my home! The basement?-"

Home

"If not- just- anywhere close- I don't want to lose you again!"

Lose.

Danger.

Not safe.

"Please. Let us help you. We can work through this together!"

Back- soon.

I'll be back.

Promise.

"Why can't you stay?"

Danger. Not safe.

"Even if…"

Friends don't lie- Promise.

It's not safe- not yet. Later.

Promise.

"...Promise?"

Promise.

Mike.

I'll be… back.
Please, stay safe.

I promise.

"C-come back for the Snow Ball. In December."

Snow Ball.

"I want to be with you every second of the day-"

Me too.

"Can you reply to the walkie-talkie at least? Do you remember the channel? Do you think you can hear me?"

Yes.

"The latest- the very latest- December."

December.

I will.

"Promise?"

I promise.

A/N: I have not finished season 2 yet- I just felt like it'd be nice is Mike and Eleven met up again- (I'm really hoping they do at some point...) If this is confusing, I tried writing from Eleven's point of view, not sure if it is representative though.

I'm not one to make edits just to update A/N's but here we are. Thank you to everyone that's left kind reviews- they were very split, but I can understand why especially because it's a very different take on a "traditional" fanfiction format. Just to clear things up, definitely don't worry if you can't separate speech and though all the time! Sometimes it's more obvious because the characters directly address the action, but it's meant to be more vague when it comes to other times just because that's how I would interpret it. In any case, thank you for the feedback!

To compromise for this false update, I'll be posting another ST story soon- it may be up by the time you see this :)