the outcast

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

After school, Alina found herself biking to Mike's with Dustin and Lucas, something that she never, in all of her twelve-and-a-half years of life, thought she would be doing.

After their strange conversation they'd had before school had begun, Dustin and Lucas had spoken to her during class, where Alina had discovered that they weren't as bad as she'd always thought they were. The three of them liked the same things; X-Men, comics, video games, Star Wars, D&D, and Alina had learned that Dustin also had a cat, though no cat would ever top Skywalker in her eyes.

Still, Dustin had practically screamed for joy when she'd told him Skywalker's name. They were sitting on the grass at recess, Alina's selection of comics spread on the field. The sun was shining, lighting up her dark hair, and she couldn't stop smiling, even though she was anxious to head to Mike's, tell him what she knew. Then, she would be wrapped into another case, and that was finding Will. But the corners of her mouth refused to turn down, because today she wasn't spending her break alone.

Before finding the girl, Alina would've thought that four twelve-year-olds had no chance at finding a missing boy. Kids went missing all the time, and quite a lot of them were never found.

But Alina had found someone. For a month, she'd searched for the girl without giving up, and it seemed to have almost paid off in the end. There would be more answers, more things to write in her leather-bound notebook, even if she didn't meet her in person. She couldn't wait.

Mike's house was an average, run-of-the-mill suburban place, an American flag hung by the door along with a pair of lights glowing a faint orange. Alina, Dustin, and Lucas dismounted their bikes—they'd gone slower than usual, because of Alina's bruised side, which had almost healed but still pained her—and headed up to the front door. Dustin rang the bell, Alina hanging back. She didn't know what Mike would say when she arrived, but she hoped he'd forgive her for coming once she told him about the girl.

Karen Wheeler, Mike's mother, opened the door. Her eyes swept over Lucas and Dustin, but she had to double-take at the sight of Alina standing awkwardly beside them. "Uh, hi, guys," she said. "Mike's in his room."

Alina gazed around Mike's home a little before following Dustin and Lucas upstairs. She'd never really been to anyone's house before, unless you counted her father's work friends, which she didn't. Although it was generic, Alina loved it, loved the faint scent of flowers wafting through it, the pictures of Mike and his sisters Holly and Nancy on the walls.

"You have a lovely home," she told Karen at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh, well, thank you," Karen replied. "I've never seen you with the boys before. Are you a new friend?"

"Uh... group project," Alina lied, the truth too complicated to explain to her. "Sorry for the intrusion."

"Oh, no, it's fine," the woman smiled. "You're certainly politer than the boys. It's a pleasure to have you here."

That made Alina smile, and she bounded up the stairs after Dustin and Lucas, who led her down the hall to Mike's room. As they walked down the hallway, a familiar sensation began to tug at her stomach, and it was how Alina knew what would be behind the door to Mike's room before Lucas even opened it.

The girl from the lab was sitting on Mike's bed. She'd changed out of her hospital gown and large t-shirt and was now wearing a blue shirt and sweatpants that looked to be Mike's. Her face brightened when she saw Alina, even as Lucas and Dustin exchanged looks of disbelief as the latter slowly closed Mike's door.

Mike looked up, his face contorting into confusion when he saw Alina standing amongst his friends. "What is she doing here?" he asked, just before Lucas snapped "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Just listen to me—"

"You are out of your mind!"

While Lucas seemed frustrated at Mike for keeping the girl here, Alina wasn't, and crossed the room to sit beside the girl on the bed. "You're here," she said quietly. The girl was here, and she was real, and, unlike the other three times Alina had seen her, there was no reason for her to run away this time. The girl smiled, and she smiled back.

Meanwhile, Mike and Lucas were still arguing. "She knows about Will!" Mike was saying, oblivious to what was happening with the girl and Alina, the insistent tugging finally stopping now that they were close. Along with that, there was now a feeling of connection, a hole Alina hadn't known was there now filled. They had a bond. And Alina had no idea why.

"What do you mean, she knows about Will?" Dustin asked. Mike crossed to a shelf filled with trophies and picked up a picture, holding it out for them all to see. Alina, turning away from the girl, saw that it was a picture of Will, Lucas, Mike and Dustin, smiling happily in front of their display at the science fair.

"She pointed at him," said Mike, "at his picture. She knew he was missing, I could tell!"

"You could tell?" Lucas repeated, skeptical.

"Just think about it." Mike was practically begging for them to listen to him. "Do you really think that it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place that Will disappeared?"

Mirkwood? Alina furrowed her brow. That was from the Hobbit. What did it have to do with this whole situation?

Dustin glanced at Lucas. "That is weird."

"And she said bad people are after her," Mike continued. "I think maybe these bad people are the same ones who took Will."

"Bad people," Alina murmured, remembering the treehouse, where the girl had seemed frightened by her father. The wheels in her head began turning. She'd found the girl in the lab, been grounded for seeing her, so she must've been a secret. Her father had told her that the girl was dangerous, attacking everyone on sight, but so far, she didn't seem to have hurt her, Dustin, Lucas or Mike.

The bad people after her must've been from Hawkins Lab. They wanted her, for some reason, to keep her in containment or something, but the girl had managed to escape, fleeing into the woods, where she'd met Alina.

My dad, Alina thought, her heart sinking. My dad is one of those bad people.

"I think she knows what happened to him," Mike finished.

Lucas didn't look convinced, arms crossed, an expression of distaste on his young face. "Then why doesn't she tell us?" he strode over to where the girl and Alina were sitting. Dustin and Mike followed hesitantly. "Do you know where he is?" he asked. The girl remained silent, eyes widening as she stared up at him. Lucas then grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, shaking her a little. Spit was practically flying out of his mouth. "Do you know where Will is?!"

Alina reached up, pulling Lucas's hands off the girl's shoulders. "Stop it," she said. "Leave her alone! Look at her, she's terrified!"

Indeed, the girl's lip was trembling, like she was about to cry. But Lucas was too caught up in his fury. "She should be scared!" he snapped to her, before looking back to the girl. "If you know where he is, tell us!" His hands shaking, he turned back to Mike. "This is nuts! We have to take her to your mom!"

"No." Mike's tone was firm. "Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger." He glared at Alina. "Probably any other kid, too."

"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked.

"Her name is Eleven?" Lucas said, and just like that, another piece clicked into place in Alina's brain, remembering the journal entries in the file, the one she hadn't gotten to quite look at. Subject Eleven. Subject. Like... like an experiment.

"Your... your name..." Alina could barely breathe, staring at the girl. "You're Subject Eleven?"

The girl nodded, holding out her wrist. Stamped on the inside was the number 011. Alina took her wrist, the girl—Eleven—flinching a little, and stared at the number. "They did this to you?" she asked, her voice catching on the final word. "At the Lab?"

She couldn't imagine her father ever being okay with doing such a thing to a young girl, but it turned out that she didn't know who he was anymore. Because here was the mysterious girl in front of her, docile and unlike the rabid animal Alina had been told she was, trembling slightly as Alina raised her wrist into the light.

Eleven nodded, licking her lips, her dark eyes watching as the argument between Dustin, Lucas and Mike escalated. Lucas finally had enough, beginning to stride to the door. "We're telling your mom!" he snapped, pulling open the door. Just as he was about to slip through, however, it slammed back shut, the figurines strewn all over Mike's room rattling as it did so. Lucas's eyes bulged in confusion, and he pulled open the door again, only for it to slam again, nearly shutting on his fingers this time.

Then, there was a click as the lock turned, sealing them inside.

Alina noticed that Eleven had stood some time in the chaos, staring at the three boys intensely. Fresh blood dripped down her nose. Somehow, the dots managed to connect in Alina's mind, the mystery officially solved, just as she said one, simple word, her tone cool and defiant.

"No."

"What were you two thinking?" Mike finally asked. It was twenty minutes after the shocking discovery, twenty minutes after Alina had finally figured out the mystery of the girl—Eleven, or El for short—most of that time spent in silence, Alina, Dustin, Lucas and Mike continuing looking from the door to her. Dried blood still crusted on her nose, Eleven sat on the bed, placated, looking around the room at the posters on the walls and the trophies and the figurines and toys Mike had.

"About what?" Lucas snapped. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Alina, head in his hands, and he hadn't spoken before this. It wasn't every day that you discovered that the girl you'd rescued from the rain had telekinetic abilities able to slam doors and lock them with nothing but her mind. And it wasn't every day that you solved a mystery.

Mike jerked his thumb at Alina. "Bringing her into this? She's not a party member! We don't even talk to her! So why is she here?"

Alina let out a huff, digging through her bag for her notebook. As she searched, she snapped back at Mike. "She knew about Eleven before any of you did," she said, reaching the notebook. "I met her a month ago. In Hawkins Lab. My dad takes me there sometimes, and I was going to the bathroom when I saw her." She pushed her notebook over to Mike. "Look in there if you don't believe me."

Mike picked up the notebook, beginning to flip through the pages. His eyes widened as he read everything that Alina had written, a frown reaching his face when he got to the last page. He handed it to Lucas and Dustin, who opened it eagerly, before turning back to Alina.

"So, let me get this straight," he said after a moment. "El's from the Lab. Your dad works there, so that's why you were there to see her. And you just happened to see her two more times before now? The night she escaped and last night? Doesn't that seem a little too coincidental?"

"It's... it's not a coincidence," said Alina. "This is going to sound insane—"

"Everything about this has been insane," said Dustin, looking up from the notebook. "It's kind of awesome."

"Anyway, I think El and I are connected somehow. There's this... force, inside me, it pulls us together. I don't know how, and I don't know why, all I know is that it happens."

"Magnet," said Eleven quietly, the first word she'd spoken since her terrifying revelation. Alina started. She hadn't even known the girl was listening. She pointed to Alina. "Magnet."

"See?" Alina smiled in triumph, but Mike just crossed his arms. "There's a file," she continued. "It's got information about El in it. If I could get my hands on it, we might know what we're dealing with."

Mike sighed, looking like he was about to say something when a voice yelled from downstairs, carrying into the room and causing Eleven to jump a little.

"MIKE!" Karen Wheeler's voice rattled through the room. "DINNER'S READY! ARE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS STAYING?"

"YES, MOM!" Mike shouted back, before turning to Alina. "You should probably go, then. You don't want to be caught up in all of this, trust me."

"What?!" Alina was taken aback. She stepped forward, jamming her finger at Mike's chest. "I'm not going anywhere. I can help, I know El, and she trusts me! And Lucas made me promise that I'd stay and help find Will if I got to come over. And I'm good at solving mysteries! With me, you'll be able to find Will faster! And," she continued, without taking a breath, "if you think that I'm going to go home to my boring life with my boring movies and boring books after meeting a girl with telekinetic abilities, you're delusional."

All of this was said so fast that Mike barely heard a thing. He probably still would've kicked her out if not for El stepping forward, pointing at Alina. "Stay," she said quietly.

Alina smirked at Mike. "See?"

Mike groaned, running his hands through his hair. "Fine. But you're not in the party, and you're not our friend. If you want to be in the party, you'll have to prove yourself first."

"Fine by me." Alina crossed her arms, her stomach growling. "I'm hungry," she said. "I heard your mom made meatloaf?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys," he said, stopping Eleven, who began to follow. "Not you. I need you to stay up here, okay? We'll come and get you after dinner."

Eleven nodded, and Alina smiled at the girl, even though Mike's words stung. It had just made her feel like more of an outcast, like she wasn't supposed to be here. "We'll be back soon," she soothed to the girl, regardless. "Everything will be okay."

And she followed the boys downstairs.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: i'm currently dealing with a death in my family right now, so sorry if i'm not replying to comments or anything. still, know that i am very thankful for all of the support you guys have given me on this book. i love you all.

'till next time.