"and you call me psycho! i don't even come close to you, you jackass!"

—

despite almost an entire hour passing, erin, dustin, and mike refused to give up. they had searched almost all of the town before going to the woods, opting to push their bikes through the leaves and dirt instead of riding on them.

they had been calling for her for a little while now, listening closely if she ever answered. she hadn't yet, obviously, but they were still hopeful.

"el!" dustin suddenly yells again. "eleven!" mike yells too.

"eleven!" erin calls out. "el!" she looks around, seeing if there was a splash of color amongst the green and brown.

"eleven!" "el!" "eleven, where are you?!" "eleven!"

erin suddenly stops and looks down at her watch. she sniffs, and then reaches into her pocket for her pill bottle. she drags it out and opens it, taking out the two pills. she dry-swallows them, gagging. dustin makes an uncomfortable noise. "uagh."

mike suddenly stops, too. "hey, stop." he pants out. erin glances over at him as she stuffs them back in her pocket. "do you hear that?"

"what?" dustin asks, craning his neck to listen. erin glances around, but hears nothing. "what is it?" she asks.

mike looks around, swearing he heard something. "el! el?" he tries again. he looks forward.

erin's blood runs cold when troy and james emerge over the tiny hump in the ground. she gasps. they walk towards them quickly.

"hey, there, frogface." he flicks out his pocket knife and erin starts backing up. "toothless. psycho."

dustin throws down his bike and slaps at his friend's arms. "shit! run, mike! shit! erin, run!" he starts running away.

"what?" mike yells out, but gets no answer as erin does as dustin says and run after him quickly. "run, come on!" dustin's voice cracks.

she hears troy and james hard footsteps come after them. "you're dead, wheeler!" troy yells. they dodge between tree branches as they attempt to escape them.

"move, mike! mike, come on!" dustin yells back at the boy, who's in the main back of the trio.

erin begins to pant in fear as her feet sink into the dirt with each pounding step. her throat feels like it's stinging from breathing in the cold air so hard and fast. the side of her stomach is hurting, but she presses on. they run zigzag through the forest, and mike ends up in front, dustin close behind her.

they don't run for very long, until erin notices they're at the edge of the quarry, where will's body had been pulled out. she looks wide eyed at the humongous cliff below them.

dustin suddenly groans out, slowing down a little. "ah, cramp!" erin glances back.

"don't stop!" she yells at him, slowing down a little too. he huffs out. "just keep going! keep going!" mike shouts back.

the three suddenly slide to a stop when james runs in the direction they were going. dust and rocks scatter everywhere beneath their feet. "shit!" dustin shouts. erin settles to a stop in front of mike. she stares at james and swallows heavily.

mike and dustin reach down and pick up a rock and stick. dustin points his stick at troy, while mike aims his rock at dustin.

"stay back!" mike screams. "don't come any closer!" he adds. he then throws the rock, but it lands a couple of feet away from james. erin shakes her head, and then picks up her own rock.

"nice throw, nu- ow, shit!" james doubles over momentarily after erin nails him in his pelvic bone with the rock. "you psycho!" he yells. erin stands up straight as he does too and stares him off.

she turns around, startled, when dustin suddenly lets out a long scream and runs towards troy, waving his stick around. he hits at him, but troy moves out of the way and then grabs at dustin. he wraps his arms around the boy's neck and holds his knife up at his face.

dustin lets out a grunt and grips troy's forearms. erin gasps. "get off! get off of me!" he yells. she then lets out a strangled groan when james all but picks her up. he circles his arms underneath her shoulders and armpits, so that her hands are free, but she can't really move. she struggles for a second. "let go, you creep!"

"let them go! let them go!" mike yells back and forth.

"stay back!" troy tells. "or i cut him."

"what do you want?" mike finally asks.

"i wanna know how you did it." troy tells him as dustin whimpers.

"how i did what?" mike replies.

"i know you did something to me." the mean boy says. "some nerdy science shit to make me do that."

"you mean piss your pants?" mike says, exasperated. dustin starts panting.

"our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind." erin would have screamed at dustin's words if she knew that troy would actually believe him.

"shut up!" troy yells at him. he shoves the knife closer to dustin and dustin lets out a distraught noise. erin moves back and forth, trying to loosen james' hold on her. he shoves at her, but doesn't let go.

troy stares down at the boy "i think i should save toothless here a trip to the dentist. help him loose the rest of his baby teeth." erin stops, and her mouth drops open.

"let him go! let him go!" mike screams again.

"i'll let him go, sure!" troy yells. "but first.. it's your turn."

"my turn for what?" mike asks. dustin's breaths get heavier.

"wet yourself."

"what?" mike asks

"jump.." troy says, looking over to the cliff. "..or toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist."

"mike, no! and you call me psycho! i don't even come close to you, you jackass!" erin screams at him. troy looks at her.

"i'll cut him right now!" he threatens. dustin lets out a big gasp as troy moves the knife to his mouth. dustin whimpers, closing his eyes.

"all right, just hold on. hold on." he says to the bullies. erin's eyebrows raise in confusion. he's walking towards the cliff.

erin shakes her head as he backs up. "mike.." she mumbles out. dustin shakes his head frantically. "mike, don't do it. i don't need my baby teeth, mike!"

"mike, what are you doing?" erin asks again. "mike, seriously, don't!" dustin yells.

"mike!" she yells out. he walks to the edge, and peers down.

"michael!" erin screams. "michael, stop it! don't!" she kicks at the air as she struggles to get out of james' grasp. the wind begins to blow, and it brushes erin's tears behind her.

"mike, don't do it! seriously, don't do it, man! seriously, don't!" dustin yells over and over. they watch as he lifts a foot over.

"michael, stop! michael, stop it!" erin screams again, tears now cascading down her cheeks. he glances back.

"troy, i don't think this is a good idea, man." james suddenly says, looking over at the boy. he doesn't pay his friend any mind, though, and grits his teeth, watching mike. "mike, don't!" dustin shouts.

"dentist's office opens in five.."

"four!"

"three!"

"two!"

"one!"

and as he steps over, erin screams his name at the top of her lungs, hard and long. it echoes around the quarry as he disappears over the side. the four kids stop, and she realizes troy didn't think that mike would do that. that he would be that loyal.

james' hold had slacked, and she turns around, shoving her palm into the side of his face and shoving him. he falls to the ground at the sudden force, and the other three run to the cliff.

"holy shit."

erin's heart had stopped when, expecting to see his mangled body, she sees him hanging in mid-air.

she can hear him gasping in fear and confusion as he looks around. he's then suddenly lifted up, and he lets out a small scream. "whoa, whoa, whoa," he repeats over and over. he floats upwards until he reaches them, and erin's head falls back as he flies over them.

he drops on the ground and lets out a small groan. erin's mouth hangs open. mike looks at the ground around him, and then slowly to his left when he hears footsteps. erin follows his line of sight and gasps in surprise.

eleven is advancing towards them. erin smiles at the sight of the young girl.

troy pushes between her and dustin and watches the girl get closer. she then sees james suddenly fall to the ground. when troy glances back, eleven quickly snaps her head and then a loud crunching sound is heard.

erin looks down at troy in shock, and he cries out, holding his arm. he doubles over. "she broke my arm! my arm!" eleven comes to a stop in front of them.

"go." she says firmly, and james gets up quickly. troy stares in anger for a moment longer, and then brushes past erin and dustin.

"lets get out of here! let's go!" troy tells his friend. erin lets out a breath of amazement, still not totally believing it.

she feels dustin move away from beside her. he watches the bullies run away. "yeah, that's right! you better run! she's our friend and she's crazy! you come back here and she'll kill you! you hear me? she'll kill you, you sons of bitches! she'll kill you, you hear me?"

erin, for once, didn't mind that use of 'crazy'.

she glances back at dustin in his slap-happy moment, hoping he won't have to eat his own words sometime. she shakes her head and then looks back to eleven.

blood drips from her nose, and she lets out a heavy breath and then slowly falls to the ground.

the trio race over to her, and mike falls to her side. erin bends down on her other side.

"el, are you okay?" mike asks, shaking her arm slightly. "el?"

erin's face scrunches up slightly, when she sees the girl starting to cry. her voice cracks as she speaks. "mike.. i'm sorry."

mike chuckles lightly. "sorry? what are you sorry for?"

she sniffles. "the gate. i opened it.. i'm the monster." she sobs out.

mike shakes his head and smiles. "no. no, el, you're not the monster. you saved me. do you understand? you saved me." he tells her, holding her gaze. she swallows, and then he grabs her by her hand and hefts her up into his arms. they hug silently, her cheek smushed against his shoulder.

dustin then bends down on one knee, and wraps his arms around them. he pauses, and then grabs at erin's shoulder, tugging her in. she lets out a light laugh, but wraps her arms around eleven and dustin anyway.

she lays her head against eleven's back and they stay there, reveling in the fact that they were okay.

and then they all get up, since they finally found eleven, and start back towards their woods to get their bikes. they leave the quarry, none of them speaking.

after getting their bikes, they cut through the rest of the woods, to get to mike's neighborhood. when they get there, there's a big, white van parked next to one of the cables. none of the kids pay it any mind, although they don't see the man speak into a walkie talkie after looking away from the group.

they cross mike's front yard, and silently walk around the back, to the basement door. they dump their bikes outside and enter the room quietly.

erin watches eleven pause in the doorway, and look around outside, as if making sure no one was there. and then, she walks inside and mike slams the door shut, locking it.

—