"you make jokes together and laugh at random things."

—

erin, dustin, and lucas now stood in mike's room with him and eleven. after school, they had ridden here as fast as they could. eleven sat on the bed with a blanket covering her crossed legs.

"are you out of your mind?" lucas asked in disbelief. erin couldn't help but smile at the fact that the girl was still in the house.

"just listen to me." mike interrupted.

"you are out of your mind!" lucas cried, looking back and forth between mike and eleven. erin stared at eleven as eleven watched the scene play out in front of her.

"she knows about will." mike said quickly. erin snapped her attention to him.

"what?" erin instantly asked, taking a step forward.

"what do you mean she knows about will?" dustin continued.

mike walked forward to a picture on his nightstand of himself, erin, will, lucas, and dustin. that was when they had won the science fair. will and mike stood to one side while dustin and lucas stood to the other. erin sat on her knees in the middle with a wide smile.

mike picked it up and showed it to them. "she pointed at him, at his picture. she knew he was missing. i could tell." mike said.

"yeah, and also to the fact that he's not here with us." erin pointed out, not wanting to get her hopes up that eleven might know how to get him back.

"just think about it. do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on mirkwood, the same place where will disappeared?" he asked as erin looked to eleven. eleven was giving an almost scared look to them. erin stared at her as the boys continued to speak.

"that is weird." dustin agreed.

"and she said bad people are after her." mike said. erin glanced at him.

"i think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took will." mike stated and erin closed her eyes. "i think she knows what happened to him."

"then why doesn't she tell us?" lucas asked, waving his hand before he suddenly got a menacing look on his face as he turned to her.

"do you know where he is?" he asked, walking towards her. eleven gave a fearful look in response. erin took a step forward. "do you know where will is?" he then asked loudly, putting his hands on her shoulders. she looked as if she would cry.

"lucas!" erin cried at the same time as mike said, "stop it, you're scaring her!"

"she should be scared." lucas said in response, backing away. erin gave a mean look to the back of his head as she started to take slow steps to them. "if you know where he is, tell us!" lucas said in her face.

"this is nuts! we have to take her to your mom." lucas said, turning to mike. "no!" mike said instantly. "eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger."

"what kind of danger?" dustin asked in a small, sweet voice as erin set her hand on his shoulder.

"her name is eleven?" lucas instantly asked after.

"el for short." mike semi-explained.

"mike, what kind of danger?" dustin asked in a louder voice.

"danger, danger." he explained, and then put his hand in a gun motion and put them to dustin's head, and then to erin's. when he got to lucas, though, lucas slapped his hand.

"no, no, no! we're going back to plan a. we're telling your mom." lucas cried, and erin stepped back. he pushed through them, opening the door. but as soon as he did, it slammed closed, rattling mike's action figures. erin gasped and lucas tried to open it again, but it slammed shut, the lock clicking.

erin and the boys slowly turned to the girl sitting on the bed, who's nostril now dripped with blood. she was standing now, sort of glaring at them. "no." she said in a steady, firm voice.

-

erin now sat at the wheeler's dining room table.

she was between nancy and mike. nancy, who had come downstairs seeming annoyed, but smiled at the young girl and had chatted her up about normal girl things. after a minute, that had stopped and they ate in awkward silence.

erin held the fork tightly in her hands but just stared at it. karen looked at the kids at the other end of the table and slightly furrowed her eyebrows. "something wrong with the meatloaf?" she asked. erin looked up.

"oh, no. i had two bologna sandwiches for lunch." dustin said, smiling. he looked down a bit. "i don't know why." lucas chuckled as he agreed and erin looked to them and then karen.

"a test today had me really worried and i haven't been able to eat at all without feeling sick." she lied. karen bought it and then nancy spoke up.

"it's delicious, mommy." she said and erin raised an eyebrow at mike.

"thank you, sweetie." karen said, taking a drink of water.

"so," nancy started. erin grinned at her lap. elizabeth had a habit of doing that. tell a compliment and then ask for what you want. "-there's this special assembly thing tonight for will at the school field." she said, looking in her mom's eyes.

"barb's driving. liz is coming, too." she said and erin furrowed her eyebrows. karen looked to erin.

"liz is going? i haven't seen her in a while." she said. erin, knowing the girl code and how happy it would make liz, glanced at nancy and said, "oh, yeah. totally. she was talking about it after school. mom said it was okay." she claimed and saw the slight relief on nancy's face. mike made a 'what the hell are you talking about?' face and she raised both eyebrows at him.

karen turned back to nancy. "why am i just hearing about this?" she asked.

"i thought you knew." nancy said with a little shake of her head.

karen slightly sighed. "i told you, i don't want you out after dark until will is found." erin and mike glanced at each other sorrowfully.

"i know, i know, but it'd be super weird if i'm not there. i mean, everyone's going." nancy said. karen sighed, looking at her food before relenting.

"just, be back before 10:00." she said and nancy nodded, silently holding her victory while looking down at her plate. "why don't you take the boys, too?" karen added on and erin quickly looked up.

"no!" mike instantly said and the three of them just shook their head and went, "mmm-mm."

karen widened her eyes. "don't you think you should be there? for will?" she asked and erin tried to avoid her eyes. no one answered.

erin finally looked to karen, but saw movement behind her. eleven was walking down the stairs. mike must've saw as well, because he choked on his milk, making it splatter around him. erin jumped back as it hit her arm and mike held the bottom of the glass.

karen started to look back, but dustin banged his fists on the table and she looked to him. holly made a sound of discomfort.

"sorry. spasm." he said, settling back in his chair. eleven walked past and out of sight as mike groaned upon seeing the milk everywhere. erin picked up a set of napkins and wiped her arm with one and then handed the rest to him. he gladly took them and made a disgusted face at himself.

the kids looked at each other worriedly as holly shrunk in her seat. "oh, it's okay, holly. it's just a loud noise." karen comforted her. nancy looked from her sister to dustin.

"nice." she said sarcastically. dustin just gave an awkward and embarrassed smile as he looked down.

-

erin made her way down the stairs to the basement behind mike. when they got to the bottom, eleven was fidgeting with mike's walkie-talkie. "el?" he asked and she looked up. "no adults. just us and some meatloaf." he said. she looked up at erin, dustin, and lucas, who stood in that precise line behind a squatting mike.

"don't worry. they won't tell anyone about you. they promise. right?" he asked, looking back at them and erin smiled at the girl.

"we never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers." dustin said, amazed. mike suddenly hopped back and slapped dustin's leg. erin stepped back quickly as dustin staggered. "ow!"

"what dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared... earlier. that's all." he said and eleven looked to them.

"we just wanted to find our friend." lucas said apologetically. erin nodded.

"yeah, they - we - were - are - just worried about him. he's our best friend." she said and mike nodded.

eleven, however, looked to them for an answer. ""friend"?" she asked and lucas continued to stare.

"yeah, friend. will?" he said and she looked at erin.

"what is "friend"?" she asked and erin's eyebrows shot up just as they did the night before. lucas looked to dustin and erin with an annoyed look.

"is she serious?" he asked and erin looked to him and then back to eleven. "um, a friend-" lucas was interrupted by mike.

"is someone that you'd do anything for." he said smiling. erin nodded.

"you make jokes together and laugh at random things." erin said and dustin glanced at her with a smile.

"you lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards." he said with a goofy smile.

"and they never break a promise." mike said.

"especially when there's spit." lucas said and erin made a disgusted face.

"spit?" eleven asked and erin shook her head in disgust.

but lucas explained anyway. "a spit swear means-" he spit into his hand. "-you never break your promise." he said and grabbed dustin's hand in a shake.

"it's a bond." he said and erin and dustin stared at dustin's hand in disgust.

dustin almost gagged and looked for a place to wipe as mike spoke. "that's super important, because friends..." he trailed off as dustin tried to wipe it on erin's sleeve. she cringed and slapped his hand. "-they tell each other things." mike continued.

"things that parents don't know." he finished and eleven looked from the ground to him with a glare.

-

eleven made her way to the game board that was still set up from their game two nights ago. she sat down and pressed her hands against the table as she stared at the pieces.

"what's the weirdo doing?" lucas asked.

"shut the hell up, lucas." erin shot at him. they walked to eleven as lucas sent erin a glare. they crowded above eleven as she closed her eyes.

"el?" mike asked. erin shook her head at the ringing sound in her ears.

erin sighed at dustin's voice. eleven's eyes opened and she picked up one certain piece and stared at it.

the wizard.

"will." she said, softly.

"superpowers." dustin stated, staring at the piece in her hand. erin glanced at him. lucas rolled his eyes and mike took a seat at the table.

"did you see him? on mirkwood? do you know where he is?" he asked. she looked at him before taking her arm and swiping all of the pieces off the board. then she took the end of the board and flipped it upside down.

they all watched as she took the wizard piece and slammed it in the middle of the upside down board.

"i don't understand." mike said.

"hiding." she told him, staring at the piece.

"will is hiding?" mike asked. they all bent down closer as she nodded. mike blinked. "hiding from the bad men?" he asked. erin was at eleven's right side, squatted down, with a hand on the table.

eleven slightly shook her head and they all glanced at each other. "then from who?" mike asked. she reached back over, her hand inches away from erin's face and picked up a piece erin couldn't see. she slammed it down and erin stood up quickly, backing away.

dustin put his hands behind his hand and sighed at piece. eleven looked to mike.

it was the demogorgan.

—