I sat down in the cafeteria, crazy to be in on a Saturday night with no like school party going on. It was quiet. For once. For once it felt okay to sit there without having Troy calling me a fairy, or a mouth breather, or some other slur. With no other object in sight, and my thoughts still with Troy sadly, I pulled his switchblade from my pocket and placed it on the table.

If El could lift objects, shut doors, launch Lucas away, walk through the 'mind-space', then how hard could it be? I've already been in mind-space and honestly, with the evidence of last week, I don't think this'll be the first time I'll do it either. So, I focused. All my thought focusing on the switchblade. It didn't move an inch, but I knew if I just focused my thoughts maybe it would move just an inch. Just focus. Move the switchblade, (y/n), move the switchblade. And just then, when I thought it was about to budge.

"(y/n), are you okay?!" Mike came running up to me followed by a disoriented Dustin and Lucas. I groaned softly in frustration. "I'm fine! I just-" My eyes landed on the three of them. That's when I realized, if I was going to tell them what was going on, I had to tell them everything. Everything. "Your nose," Mike said, caringly, wiping the blood off of my face. It landed to me when he wiped it. That means the switchblade might not have moved, but there were powers involved.

"Guys... I uh, have to tell you something," I then quietly admitted. Mike looked at Dustin and Lucas a bit confused then back to me, worried, concerned. They sat down awaiting whatever crap I was going to tell them.

"I uh, I think I'm in love with Will," I blurted out first. Which wasn't even my intention, I wanted to tell them about the powers and mind-space before the feelings but it just... spilled. I must've started shaking because the first thing Mike did was place his hand on my knee. It brought a lot of emotions to the table. I was scared, afraid they'd make fun of me the way Troy was doing. After all it wasn't like a normal thing for a boy to like a boy like that. Then there was sadness, because the boy I liked wasn't here.

"I-is that it?" Dustin then asked, maybe a bit unbothered. But he shook his head to deflect any bad intent that might've radiated off of what he said. "I mean, uh, that's why you asked us about Jennifer?" I slowly, carefully nodded, still kind of afraid of what was to come. "Dude, that's rad, that means we have less competition now!" Dustin said excitedly going in for a high-five with Lucas. I quietly chuckled at that, and I guess some tears spilled over because Mike was suddenly hugging me. Lucas and Dustin soon joined that dogpile of hugs. And though I hate to admit weakness. I cried. A bit harder than usual. From relief, but then also out of fear again, because yet again, the girl's voice. Her words.

"At this rate, he'll find him tonight."

---

"Wait, okay hold on, so El keeps travelling to this 'mind-space' where she sees stuff?" Lucas moreso repeated than asked after a sort of extensive explanation. I shrugged. "It makes the most sense to me," I answered. "But, there's an unfamiliar girl in your mind-space?" Dustin asked next. I felt interrogated, but I didn't mind. Four minds thinking about it was better than one. I nodded at Dustin's question. "First she was pushing me in my dream, then she was next to El at the Heathkit trying to kill me, then she was just... there for a split second, and last time she said something like 'use wisely' and I haven't been in that mind-space thing since." Lucas was looking over his shoulders. "Speaking of El, where is she?"

Mike had left to go get her after the dogpile hug but they hadn't come back yet. "Maybe he made a shortcut to the pudding?" I suggested. It was a whole plan the three of them had thought of. Feed El, hope that it recharged her battery and then uh, well, stay at the school and wait for Ms. Byers and chief Hopper to get Will. Nancy and Jonathan were supposed to stay too but uh... yeah I think it was just us five left at school.

After contemplating for a few more seconds I pocketed Troy's switchblade again and got up, ready to find Mike and El. Arriving there was a bit awkward because, and okay it might've just been me who saw it, but Mike moved in and took a very short, gentle kiss from El who probably had no idea what happened. "Oh my Gosh, Mike, ewwwwwww!" I shouted the second I saw it. Mike's face turned red like a tomato and El just kinda jumped at my shout. I laughed at it, but my laugh quickly faded away for a second when I saw cars pull up in the parking lot. Were they back with Will?

Mike took the liberty in running outside to check, leaving Lucas and Dustin to dump all the pudding on the table. "This will charge your battery right up. I'm telling you!" Dustin said excited, showing El one of the like thirty cups of pudding they carried. I couldn't pass up just one either. Obviously because I had a battery of my own that could recharge and absolutely not because I needed pudding.

"Hey (y/n), about Will, when he comes back, are you gonna tell him?" Dustin then asked, opening one of the pudding cups, and making quick work of it. I stammered a bit, needing to pause with eating. "I don't know?" I shrugged, genuinely unsure what was going to be the right move. "I mean, I guess on the one hand I want to be sure it's not going to be a rejection you know..." I muttered still a bit unsure. "But on the other hand, you never know when it's the last time you'll see someone," I said, explaining it a bit before taking more bites of the pudding. Before Lucas, Dustin, or even El could ask anything more about it, Mike came charging back in. "They found us!"

---

Lucas took the lead in running, leading us to a hallway followed by a right, down a small flight of stairs. "How did they find us?" Lucas asked, still keeping a fast walking pace. "I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym," Mike answered. "Lando," Dustin muttered before the doors of the exit we were headed for opened and more of the bad men came barging in. "Shit," I quietly muttered and then got a bit mad at myself for cursing. Then again, it was a life or death situation so I guess I can allow myself to curse in these kinds of situations.

We ran, back up the stairs, to the left only to run into more bad men, so, turned around again, took another left, heading towards the Hawkins Middle mural. And yes. In case you were wondering, my gut feeling did play up once again as for the third time in a row, we were cornered. An old lady might I add, raised a gun at El, who was up front. I swear this woman was only trying to kill us because either she wanted the mass murdering weapon El away, or because my aunt took her man. One of the two.

El wasn't accepting the end here though. She lowered her head a bit and blood started dripping from her nose. At first I didn't know what she was doing. That was, until I saw blood slowly dripping out of not only the old lady's eyes, but also the other bad men. It took a second, maybe two, but then El twitched her head slightly and all bad men in sight, including the lady, just dropped to the floor. Dead. El dropped two seconds after that. Out of pudding power.

Mike was the first to reach her, and reasonably so after kissing the girl. "She's not waking up," he said, worried sick already. It was actually kind of cute seeing how much he cared. If only I still got to show Will how much I cared for him. Gosh Ms. Byers and chief Hopper better find him. "She's barely breathing," Mike then said. Then I realized something. Martin wasn't here. "Guys, we have to go," I said firmly.

"Leave her!" I recognized the shouting voice from through the walls. Martin was here. He came around the corner which made all of us, except for El, get up. "Step away from the child," he said, calmly. "No, you'll have to kill us first!" Mike said. "Eat shit!" Lucas threatened before all four of us got caught from behind unexpectedly. I couldn't help but chuckle at how stupid we must've seemed being so easily taken out by not paying merely enough attention. But maybe I could save us from this predicament. Stall for time.

"Martin, wait, I can call you Martin right?" I then asked, which did catch his attention like I hoped. He seemed suspicious of my plans. "Say, uh... does the name Mary ring any bells?" I saw a slight change in his face, he knew, but then covered it up with a lie. I narrowed my eyes. "Huh, that's weird. Because I swear I recognized your shouting voice. Granted you didn't shout her name this time unlike last time, and granted... it was through the walls last night." Gosh, even I was grossed out by this, but honestly? Life or death situation. I didn't care anymore. "Just wanted to say that Mary missed you," I finished.

"Papa?" El then asked, having returned to the land of the living. Papa? Before more questions could be asked, the lights started flickering. Mike seemed to realize it the quickest. "Blood," he muttered. I mean, yeah he was right, like there were quite literally twenty dead bleeding bodies surrounding us. "Blood!" Mike repeated again. Afraid. As if something was coming. Wait. As if-

"Something's coming, something hungry for blood,"

And right as it clicked, the mural broke apart. "Demogorgon," Mike said. A slimy flesh monster twice my size with a mouth that opened like a flower jumped out of the mural. It screeched as I got a glimpse at the mouth, the petals lined with teeth and a gaping hole in the middle. Now imagine, I was already shitting bricks during a DnD game with a fictional Demogorgon, so imagine my response at a real one. Granted, it looked nothing like the figure from the game but it's still a monster.

With a terrified scream I pushed the bad man holding me, right off of me. With my mind by the way, not with my hands. The other men grabbed their guns to try and shoot it, freeing Dustin, Lucas, and Mike as well. Mike kneeled for El and dragged her away. One of her arms around his neck, whilst I offered to take her other arm, feeling the need to help. We ran away before we could see the damage the Demogorgon did to the people. Last thing I saw was Martin or Papa's reaction at me mentally pushing the bad man off of me before he got jumped by the Demogorgon. Dead.

---

We fled into Mr. Clarke's room, Lucas safely locking the door behind him, then going all the way to the back of the room placing El on a cabinet. I took a few deep breaths then sat down at a seat in the back and placed Troy's switchblade on the table. "Dustin, pudding!" I shouted. Dustin, who was too busy with heavy breathing, had Lucas pull his bag off of his back to find... nothing. "We're out!" Lucas shouted frantically. I shook my head. Nevermind then, gotta do it on whatever percentage of battery I have left.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Ignore the loud sounds near the door. Breathe in. Breathe out. Ignore the other three frantically grab the rocks we collected and Lucas preparing his wrist rocket. Breathe in. Breathe out. Lift the switchblade (y/n), lift the switchblade.

"Fold it back."

That worked. I wasn't lifting the switchblade, I wasn't launching it at the Demogorgon, who had entered the classroom and taken two rocks from Lucas to the face. I was merely manifesting the switchblade to return to an origin point. An origin which I was deciding mentally. It wasn't about the goal, rather how the journey structured. It's just mental convincing. The switchblade came from the beast's throat, simply... return it.

I had my eyes closed when it happened but the switchblade levitated off of the table slowly and then, like a dagger, struck the beast right in its throat. I opened my eyes to see the dramatic effects of it.

Nothing.

A bit anti-climactic I know, but remember how I said in the beginning that my life was gonna be changed for good over the span of four years and not a week? Yeah, trust me, I wish I was stronger, but I figured it out today. And now, switchbladeless, pudding-powerless, with a Demogorgon right in front of me, ready to bite my face off. I felt weak again. Not in control of the outcome anymore, and that made me fall down to the floor, making myself as small as possible in the hopes of not dying. I wasn't ready to die, not with Will so close.

El seemed to hear my prayers. The Demogorgon got launched across the classroom and pinned to the wall. El walked up to the beast. Mike tried to stop her but got launched backwards just like Lucas. "Goodbye Mike," were her last words before she turned all her focus to the Demogorgon, raised her hand, and screamed. The Demogorgon started to wither, disintegrate and somewhere in all the high-pitched screams, flickers of light, and pieces of Demogorgon falling on the floor, El disappeared.

---

NOVEMBER 13TH 1983

It was like, three a.m. I was dead tired. Not only from the weak launch of the switchblade, but also because I had been up since yesterday morning. Because mind you, that was when we were going to Lucas's place to have Mike apologize for the fight. That was all on the same day. To be honest, it felt kind of strange, not having El around. No body, so I don't think she died but then again, I had more proof of her being dead than alive because Troy's switchblade was still on the floor after El and the Demogorgon had disappeared. I had it safely pocketed in my backpocket again, now simply rebranded to (y/n)'s switchblade. Perfect weapon for a rogue. A placeholder rogue as this rogue was planning to evolve into a mage. Though, wearing the title for El, as a way to respect and remember her.

The waiting room of the hospital was filled with a bunch of people. Chief Hopper, Mr. Wheeler, Mrs. Wheeler, Nancy, and uh... Steve??? Dustin and Lucas didn't question it. Heck, they didn't even question anything at all with the way they were soundly asleep. Only me and Mike fought to stay awake. Mike probably deep in his thoughts about El, and me, just waiting for Will. Jonathan finally came in to announce that Will was awake. Mike nudged Lucas and Dustin awake before charging past Jonathan towards the room.

"Byers!" Lucas shouted excitedly. Mike was the first to reach Will. It was impossible to hug the guy though with the way the covers held him in the bed, so Mike and Lucas just kind of laid their arms across him as if he was a table. Dustin then pulled them aside and did the same thing. When Dustin backed up, the three looked at me. Obviously waiting for me to do or say something.

I softly chuckled, then moved over to hug him the best I could. I couldn't tell him right now, though I had to like... say something. Then I remembered. The promise.

"Hey, cheer up, I'll just save you once it's my turn again!"

I looked at him smug. "Told you I'd save you once I was up," I said, exaggerating my ego a bit. Will looked back at me just as smug. "Team effort (y/n), your turn is still coming," Will muttered, fondly but weakly after which the two of us laughed at our quick bantering. Guess the laughing got a bit too much with Will as he started coughing.

"You won't believe what happened when you were gone! It was mental!" Lucas then started with a big, bright smile on his face. "You had a funeral!" Dustin said. "Jennifer Hayes was crying," Mike added. "And Troy peed himself!" I then said, gently wrapping my fingers around the switchblade in my back pocket, fondly thinking back about the past week, despite being so emotionally distraught like all the time. "We uh, made a new friend. She saved us," Mike the muttered because of course he couldn't leave El out of this.

"She's called Eleven," I then said, trying to lighten the mood when Mike's memories of El made him a bit sad. "Like the number?" Will asked, frowning. "We call her 'El' for short, she's basically a wizard," Dustin said, with that adorable toothless smile. "She has superpowers," Lucas said with some exaggerating gestures. "She flipped a van with her mind," Dustin added. Our excited memories started overlapping and I guess it all got a bit much for me to write everything down.

---

DECEMBER 13TH 1983

"Something's coming, something angry." I cheered. At least it wasn't here to eat me, so less brick shitting. "Hungry for your blood." Darn it. "It's the Thessalhydra," Dustin called. And like that stupid night last month, we started bickering again until Mike indeed placed the Thessalhydra down. Then we almost started bickering again as it was Will's turn again. But this time, all three of us agreed that Will should fireball the guy. Will threw, and hit...

"Fourteen! Direct hit, Will the Wise's fireball hits the Thessalhydra!" Mike shouts dramatically. "It makes a painful-" he mimics a screech. "And then, it crumbles to the ground... and..." Mike 'fainted'. Will, Dustin, Lucas, and I broke out into victorious shouts and chants and honestly if it was up to just me, we would've broken out into song and dance too, but nothing of that right now.

After that, the bickering continued again though because the campaign ended like... right there. Way too short for our liking. But before we could actually delve into why it didn't make any sense, Jonathan came down the stairs ready to pick Will up, signaling it was time to head home.

Right before they left I got to talking with Will as we were putting our shoes on. "Thanks for saving the day," I said, referring to the DnD game. He couldn't help by shyly smile, he appreciated it but wouldn't dare to admit it. "Not without your help," he then replied, turning to face me. That made me stumble trying to find my next words, distracted by the fact I could look him in his beautiful eyes again. "Nah man, I was useless, I-" Will shook his head slightly. "You weren't," he said, with a slight smile. Genuine this time. His comment too hit right in a bit of a sore spot. Guess I indeed wasn't fully useless after all. "We made a great team," I then said to which he agreed. "The Cleric and The Rogue," Will muttered. "Sounds like a great spin-off too, maybe makes more sense than whatever Mike just conjured up." We laughed together. Which felt great. I could laugh with him again. Gosh had I missed him.

For those wondering. No. I haven't told him yet. But I didn't have to. I chose the option to wait it out, avoiding the rejection instead. Because without rejection? I could just love him forever.

---

Arriving in my room I shut my door physically, then turned on my bedlight mentally. That wasn't a really hard task to do anymore. What was still a bit impossible to reach was mind-space. It had been like, shut off ever since the girl in there said 'use wisely'. I was on a mission though.

The mental powers seemed to grow exponentially. Slowly, but the size of the steps kept increasing. I don't know how I got away with it either, they probably blamed El for the knife trick and well... maybe I did too. Yeah, yeah, friends don't lie, but seeing what happened to El who had those powers openly, and how everyone hunted her down, I didn't want that secret to be bigger than just me.

So yeah, I lied. I told them all it must've been this weird trick played on me by El, because after all, they couldn't fact check her anymore. This way, I could safely experiment and gain strength, without the morality of it all being questioned. Just a way of staying above it all. Because mind-space might have been inaccessible so far, there's one thing that's still not completely figured out.

"At this rate, he'll find him tonight."

That, combined with the "Fold it back," still made no sense because I didn't fold anything when using these abilities. It made sense in the moment, but now? Not so much anymore. I must've interpreted it in a wrongfully correct way. But the most pressing mystery? Who was the girl in mind-space? And who was this 'he' she mentioned?

The me back then didn't know it yet. But the me from tonight? Yeah that me hopes that this plan we have right now works, so that we might end it all tonight. Operation: The Crawl is on. But to understand how we got there, we have more to cover.

So that night in my bedroom? I fell asleep peacefully, after finally managing to lift the switchblade without closing my eyes. Peacefully asleep knowing that avoiding rejection only meant I could love Will forever. Yes.

Forever.