Chapter Four

The five of us were gathered in Mike's basement the next day. The boys didn't go to school. El was playing with the supercomm on the floor with us, Mike explains how the two of them heard Will over the supercomm.

"We keep losing signal," Mike explained. "But you heard it, right?"

"Yeah, I heard a baby," Lucas tells him and I nodded in agreement. All I could hear was whimpering noises from a baby.

"What?" Mike asked, scrunching up his face.

"Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor," I tell him softly.

"It's probably Blackburns' next door," Lucas added on.

"Uh, did that sound like a baby to you guys?" Mike narrowed his eyes at us. "That was Will!"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Mike..."

"Lucas, Stacey, you don't understand." Mike snapped. "He spoke last night. Words! He was singing that weird song he loves. Even El heard him!"

"Oh, well, if the weirdo heard him, then I guess-"

"Are you sure you're on the right channel?" Dustin asked, cutting Lucas off.

"I don't think it's about that." Mike said carefully. "I think, somehow, she's channelling him."

"Like... like Professor X." Dustin pipes up.

"Exactly," Mike nods.

"Are you actually believing this crap?" Lucas groaned.

"I don't know, I mean..." Dustin trailed off. I wasn't too sure either, I've experienced a lot with frequency, so maybe it could be a possibility. "Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger? He sounded a lot like that."

"Did you guys not see what I saw?" Lucas's eyes went wide. "They pulled Will's body out of the water. He's dead!"

"Well, maybe it's his ghost." Dustin tried. "Maybe he's haunting us."

I rolled my eyes slightly. "Sure, add that on the list."

Dustin looked at me. "Huh?" I shake my head, brushing it off.

"It's not his ghost." Mike clearly said.

"So, how do you know that?" Lucas fired back.

"I just do!" Mike argued back.

"Then what was in the water?" Lucas demanded.

"I don't know!" Mike cried out. "All I know is that Will is alive. Will is alive! He out there somewhere. All we have to do is find him." There was a pause. "This isn't gonna work. We need to get El to a stronger radio."

"Mr. Clarke's Heathkit ham shack." Dustin grinned.

Mike nodded. "Yeah."

"The Heathkit at school." Lucas pointed out. "There is no way we're gonna let weirdo and someone who looks like she's 21 without anyone noticing."

"You think I'm 21?" I smirk a little. "Thanks, how kind."

Dustin looked at me. "How old are you?"

"17, for your information." I flip my hair over my shoulder.

"I mean... look at them." The boys looked at us and a minute later, we were in Mike's sister's room getting changed.

I had a shower when the boys were looking for something for El to wear. Once my hair was all clean, I had picked something from Mike's sister draws. He said I can wear anything I liked and El got changed in the corner into a pink dress.

I helped her put the blonde wig on and a little bit of makeup.

I brushed my hair using I think he said his sister's name was Nancy - well, I used her hairbrush to brush out my hair and left my hair hanging on my shoulder.

I changed into some jeans that I fit and a nice tank top. I put some mascara and lipgloss on. I looked at El who was watching me in amazement.

"You look pretty," I tell her and grabbed a pair of shoes in Nancy's cubed. Good thing I'm her size.

"So do you." El smiled and I pulled on the shoes. We both exit Nancy room together, the boys staring at us in amazement.

"Wow." Mike was staring at El while the rest boys looked at me.

Their mouth hung open. "Sorry boys, I'm taken." I winked at them. I was so much taller than them, it was cute.

"I don't see him." Dustin cheekily replies.

I laugh. "He's back at home." I watched as El walked towards the mirror and stared at herself.

"Pretty," Mike mumbled to El. "Good. You look pretty good." His eyes wander over to me. "Are you sure you're not 21?"

"Positive." I nod.

"Pretty," El whispers to herself. "Good."

We biked to Hawkin's Middle School High. We had jumped off and walked up the stairs before entering into the hallway.

"Okay, remember, if anyone sees us look sad." Mike reminded us and we nodded.

"Attention students, there will be an assembly to honour Will Byers in the gymnasium now. Do not go to fourth period." The person over the AP speaks.

We walked over to the AV Room, but it was locked. Mike tried to budge it open, but it won't. Mike sighed. "It's locked."

"What?" Lucas sighed and walked over to it, trying to open it and I rolled my eyes.

I looked at El. "Hey, do you think you could open it? With your powers?"

"Boys?" A teacher had come around the corner and the boys freeze but then turned around nervously.

"Hey," Lucas greeted, leaning on the door "casually".

"The assembly's about to start." The teacher tells us.

"We know. We're just, you know..." Mike lets out a sniffle as everyone else does.

"Upset," Lucas added.

"Yeah, d-definitely upset." Dustin stutters.

"We need some alone time." Mike continued.

"To cry," Dustin adds.

"Yeah, listen..." The teacher trailed off. "I get it. I do. I know how hard this is, but lets just be there for WIll, huh? And then..." He chucks the keys to AV Club to Mike who catches it. "The Heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day. What do you say?" His eyes then land on El and I. "Oh, I don't believe we've met. What's your guys' name?"

"Eleven-"

"Eleanor!" Mike yelled out. "She's my, uh-"

"Cousin." Lucas quickly said.

Dustin holds up two fingers. "Second cousin." Dustin looked at me. "This is my first cousin, Stacey. She uh, is visiting me from out of town and I thought I'd show her around school..."

I smiled at him. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"I'm Mr. Clark.e" Mr. Clarke holds out a hand and we shake hands firmly. "Firm grip there, Stacey."

I grin. "So I've been told." He laughs.

"They're here for Will's funeral," Mike added on.

"Ah, well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor and Stacey." Mr. Clarke nods. "I wish you were both here under better circumstances."

"Thank you." El and I say both at the same time.

"Uh, where did you say you were both from exactly?" Mr. Clarke asked, cocking his head slightly.

Everyone looked at each other. "Bad place-" El begins but we all cut her off.

"Sweden!" Dustin quickly said.

"I have a lot of Swedish family," Mike added.

"And uh, Stacey is from-"

"Beacon Hills." I jumped in. "California, Beacon Hills." I mean, it was true. Maybe Mr. Clarke might know how I can get to Beacon Hills from here.

"She hates it there. They both hate it where they're from." Dustin lies quickly.

"Cold!" Lucas shudders for the effect.

"Subzero." Dustin finishes.

"Shall we?" Mr. Clarke asked softly.

"Yep!" Lucas nods and we all turned on our feet and I followed the guys down the hallway.

"At times like these it is important that we come together as a community." The speaker, who I'm sure was the principal, was heard as we entered the gym. Everyone turned to look at us.

I looked so out of place.

"Abort." Dustin whispers, I was ready to turn and run as well, but Lucas forced Dustin to turn back around and walk into the gym and to the stands.

"We come together to heal..." The principle continued as we found some spots in the stands. I got a few odd stares. I mean, I would too if a 17-year-old was in a Middle School Gym. "We come together to breathe..."

-

"Will Byers's death is an unimaginable tragedy." The principal continued. "Will was an exceptional student and a wonderful friend to all of us. It's impossible to express the hole his loss will leave in our community. I'd like to introduce you to Sandy Sloane. She's a local brief counsellor from the church over in Jonesboro."

"Look at these fakers." Mike hisses to Lucas. I was in between Dustin and Lucas.

"They probably didn't even know his name till today." Lucas agreed.

I heard a few boys snickering on the right of us. "Who is interested in this? This is so stupid." A boy whispered to his friend making me roll my eyes.

What a dick.

Show some respect, asshole.

"Oh, he was such a great student." He mocked quietly. "Oh, he's gonna leave a hole in the community," they both chuckled.

"Mouth breathers," El muttered beside Mike and I couldn't help but agree.

The bell then rings and everyone was released. We made it to the gym floor, and Mike decided to have a word with the friends who were laughing at Will during the assembly.

"Hey! Hey! Hey, Troy!" Mike shouts his name, oh so he was Troy. I rolled my eyes again and gave him a death stare. I leant on my side. Troy turned around to us and his friend. "You... you think this funny?"

"What'd you say, Wheeler?" Troy snaps at him.

"I saw you guys laughing over there." Mike stutters a little. "And I think that's a messed up thing to do." I smiled a little, proud of Mike for standing up.

"Didn't you listen to the counsellor, Wheeler?" Troy's friend fires back. "Grief shows itself in funny ways."

"Besides, what's there to be sad about, anyway?" Troy chuckled. "Will's in fairyland now, right? Flying around with the other little fairies. All happy and gay!"

I clenched my jaw, God I hate him. I noticed a little circle forming around us. Troy then intimate a fairy, dancing around and singing softly, then he laughs.

They turned to walk away but Mike walked over to them, shoving Troy over. Everyone gasps and exclaims, I placed a hand on my heart. Good job, Mike.

"You're dead, Wheeler!" Troy growled and jumped back up. "Dead! " That's when he froze, making everyone surprised. That's when wet patches formed around... you know... I smirked to myself. He wet himself.

I then looked over to El to see if she's watching, but she wiped some blood away from her nose making me giggle.

"Dude, Troy peed himself." A guy blonde from the crowd calls out, making everyone laugh.

"Hey! What's going on here!?" The principal asked and with that, the five of us hurried out of gym like there was no tomorrow.

-

The five of us entered the AV Club. Mike pulled up a chair for El to sit in front of The Heathkit.

"Come on." Mike whispered softly to us.

"Now what?" I asked as the boys turned on The Heathkit.

"She'll find him," Mike said. "Right, El?" The radio turns onto its frequency by Mike as he tunes it. El concentrated hard, she squeezes her eyes shut. "She's doing it. She's finding him!"

"This is crazy," Dustin mutters beside me.

"Calm down." Lucas rolled his eyes. "She just closed her eyes."

That's when the light bulb break, creating it dark for us. The boys gasped. "Holy..." Dustin mumbled.

There was a clanging sound on the other radio, the four of us leaning in slowly to hear it better. "What is that?" I asked.

"Mum?" I heard a small voice on the radio, making my eyes go wide.

"No way!" Lucas gasped.

"Is that Will?" I whispered and Dustin nodded beside me.

"Mum?" Will whimpered again. "Please... Mum! Mum!"

"Will!" Mike screamed.

"Will, it's us! Are you there?" Lucas yelled frantically.

"Can you hear us? We're here!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Hello? Mum?" A panicked Will cries out.

"Why can't he hear us?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know," Mike answered.

"Mum it's coming! It's like home, but its so dark... it's so dark and empty. And it's cold!" Will complains made a shiver go down my spine. "Mum? Mum! Mum, please!" That's when the fuse on the radio blows up, making me shove Dustin behind me for protection.

The radio literally catches on fire, setting the fire alarm off and the light bulb back to life. I looked around and spotted the fire extinguisher and grabbed it, before putting it out and dropped it carefully on the ground.

El opened her eyes and Mike turned to her. "El, are you okay?" Her nose was bleeding pretty bad and she looked like she had lost a lot of energy.

"Can you move?" Mike asked quickly. El couldn't even respond. "Here, help her up." Lucas helped El up, Dustin grabbed her by the legs and I opened the doors for the boys as we - kind of - bolted out of the school.

A/N 

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