( TW: mentions of suicide )

SEVEN THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT

💀

       THE MOON SHONE THROUGH ANITA'S WINDOW, illuminating the room, bathing it in an ethereal white light. Anita sat in a corner on the floor, her knees pressed to her chest, and her headphones on; Kansas was blasting at full volume. She wasn't crying. She just stared straight ahead, unblinking, her eyes burning. She just didn't have any tears left to cry. Because she had cried, earlier, when her mom told her and her sisters what had happened to her dad — what he did. Anita had cried so much that she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. But, when they came home and Hopper carried her up the stairs to her room, she woke up, and she hadn't slept since.

       This whole situation is not right, Anita thought. Her dad was gone, her mom said that he— that he did it himself. But that didn't make any sense, it didn't feel right. Her dad wouldn't do that. He loved them, he wouldn't do that. Her ears started ringing. She took off her headphones and hung them around her neck. She buried her face in her hands, wishing she could cry. She felt so ... awful ... because she didn't cry. Her dad was fucking dead! Why the fuck didn't she cry?

       She heard a door creak. Her head shot up. Esme. She was probably going to India's room... Anita considered it for a moment, then she stood up and opened her door. But, before she could make her presence known, she heard what they were saying.

       "It's you," India said, sounding relieved. 

       Anita frowned.

       Then: "You— You thought it would be the Midnight Man," Esme said. "You believe me."

       Anita's whole body tensed. What? What were they talking about? Why did India think that Esme would be the Midnight Man? Her heart started racing.

       "'Course I do," India said. "How could I not?"

       "So you ... saw him?"

       Anita pressed a hand over her mouth to stop herself from whimpering. Esme saw the Midnight Man?

       "No... But I could feel him. His presence," India said.

       Anita heard the door close, hindering her from eavesdropping any further. Anita wasn't even sure if she wanted to hear more. She went back into her room, closing and locking the door behind her. Fear nestled in her bones, her whole body shaking. The Midnight Man was back. Anita sat down in the corner again and made herself as small as possible. Her eyes darted across the room, inspecting every shadow, scared that the Midnight Man would come back to take her.

       Wait. If the Midnight Man was back, then ... then maybe Will was kidnapped by him. Like she had been, three years ago. Yeah, Will hadn't played the game, but what if the Midnight Man found another way to get to him? Anita shuddered. What if it was happening again?

       Anita was terrified — and she hated it. Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

       And it still did, after hours. The sun was up now, and Anita hadn't moved. She had heard India leave the house earlier and wondered where she could be going when they had just lost their dad. Later, she heard Esme get up. But Anita stayed where she was; she didn't want to see anyone, especially Esme. She could practically imagine how terrible her sister had to look — surely, she had cried the whole night, and it would show, and Anita didn't want to see that. So, when Esme knocked on her door, she told her to go away.

       "Anita, please—" Esme started. Anita could hear the tears in her voice already.

       "I said, go away!"

       She felt bad. Esme just wanted to be there for her, and she was acting like a bitch. But she just couldn't. She couldn't talk to her right now, she didn't want to see her right now.

       Esme would understand that. Anita hoped she would.

       "If— If you need anything..." Esme trailed off. Anita could vividly imagine the heartbroken look on her sister's face. God, she felt terrible.

       Esme walked away, to their parents' — their mom's — bedroom, and Anita could hear her muffled voice as she talked to their mom. Then — bang! Anita flinched. What the fuck? It sounded like someone punched the door... Did Esme—? That was ... unusual. Now she felt even worse for telling her to leave her alone. Because Esme never got angry, not like this. She would never punch a door! What did their mom say to make Esme lose it?

       Anita put her headphones on again and buried her face in her hands. She tried to think of something else, something that had nothing to do with her dad or the Midnight Man or Esme or just anything that would make her sad — but that was impossible! When she thought of her friends, who always made her happy, she thought of Will, and how he was missing, and that that might have something to do with the Midnight Man. And when she thought of, like, cake, or the rainbow cupcakes she loved so much, she thought about the cake brunches, and then she'd think of her dad, and she'd feel her eyes burn with unshed tears (she didn't cry, though). Every thought lead back to her dad or the Midnight Man.

       She wanted it to stop!

       Knock! Knock! Knock-knock! Knock!

       Anita looked up at the door and took off her headphones so they hung around her neck. Did someone knock? Or did she just imagine that?

       "Anita? It's us, Lucas and Dustin," she heard Lucas say.

       "We, uh, we heard about your dad," Dustin said now, his voice a little bit unsure. "We wanted to check on you."

       "Can you let us in?" Lucas asked.

       Anita didn't answer, she couldn't bring herself to. She wanted to be alone. And if she didn't answer, maybe they'd understand that and leave.

       One of them knocked again. "Anita?" Dustin called.

       "Go away," she said, her voice hoarse.

       "Come on! Let us in, please!" Dustin begged.

       "Go away!" she yelled this time.

       For a minute, it was silent, and Anita thought that maybe they would give it up and actually go away, but, then again, it was Lucas and Dustin. They were too stubborn to just do what she said.

       "Look," Lucas started. "Something happened. All right? We need to talk to you."

       Anita frowned. Something happened? What could have happened in the short time she hadn't seen them? After a moment's hesitation, she got up from the floor. Her knees cracked when she straightened out her legs (she definitely sat there too long, all crammed up). She went to the door but didn't open it yet. She still didn't want to see anyone, but, she had to admit, she was curious. "What happened?" she asked.

       "We found a girl in the woods!" Dustin exclaimed.

       Anita's eyebrows shot up. What?

       "Shh! Do you want her sister to hear?" Lucas said to Dustin, his voice an angry whisper.

       "Sorry," Dustin muttered. Then he quietly said, "We found a girl in the woods."

       Anita rolled her eyes and finally opened the door. The two boys stared at her with wide eyes, not sure what to say. She couldn't blame them. She wouldn't know what to say to someone who just lost their dad either. (She couldn't even talk to her sister, for Christ's sake!) Suddenly, Lucas reached forward and pulled her into a hug. At first, Anita was frozen, overwhelmed, but then she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. A moment later, Dustin joined in as well, putting his arms around the both of them. They stayed like that for a while, and, yeah, Anita enjoyed it. It made her feel slightly better about all of this. Slightly.

       Then she remembered what they had told her, and she broke away from the hug. "So, uhh... You found a girl in the woods?"

       Dustin nodded eagerly, his eyes as wide as saucers. Lucas looked less enthusiastic and more worried as he entered her room after Dustin and closed the door behind him.

       "Yeah, so, we were in the woods yesterday, on Mirkwood, to look for Will, but then we found this girl," Dustin began explaining. "And we took her with us to Mike's house and now she's in Mike's basement."

       "In Mike's basement?" Anita asked, incredulous. "Did you tell Mrs. Wheeler?"

       Dustin shook his head. "No."

       Anita raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

       "We weren't supposed to be out. Our houses would've become Alcatraz," Lucas said.

       Anita nodded. "Makes sense." She sat down on the edge of her bed and started fidgeting with her fingers. "So, where'd she come from? What's her name?" she asked while Lucas and Dustin sat down on the floor in front of her.

       "No idea," Lucas said. "But she's a psycho! She probably escaped from Pennhurst, y'know, the mental asylum."

       "Like Michael Myers," Dustin added.

       Anita frowned. "How do you know?"

       "She has a shaved head," Lucas said. "And she wanted to get naked in front of us!" Lucas gestured wildly to underline his words. "And all she says is 'yes' and 'no'."

       "That's ... weird," Anita admitted.

       "Yes! Exactly!" Lucas exclaimed.

       "Mike has a plan, though," Dustin began. "He'll sneak her out of the house, and then she'll ring the doorbell and his mom's gonna answer, and she'll know exactly what to do. That way we don't get in trouble for being out when we weren't supposed to be out." He gave one final nod, finishing his explanation.

       Anita nodded as well. "Sounds foolproof to me."

       The boys agreed.

       Then her thoughts wandered back to Will. The boys had been out looking for him, but they couldn't find him. Because the Midnight Man took him, she thought. She felt her eyes start to burn again, but there were no tears. She buried her face in her hands, her elbows propped up on her knees. She didn't want the Midnight Man to be back. She didn't want Will to be missing. She didn't want her dad to be dead. Fuck.

       "Anita...?" Lucas' voice was soft, careful.

       "Are you ... OK?" Dustin asked.

       Anita scoffed.

       "What kinda question is that? Of course she's not," Lucas said, and she heard him slap Dustin's arm.

       "It was just a question!" Dustin defended himself.

       She lifted her head out of her hands and gave Dustin a small (not very believable) smile. "It's fine. I'm ... fine."

       Lucas and Dustin frowned. They didn't believe her. And Anita couldn't blame them; she wasn't very convincing. She wouldn't believe her either. But she didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to forget about all of this, about the fact that her dad was gone, that she would never see him again... Why did he do it? It didn't make any sense!

       Anita shook her head, trying to push the thought away. "Is there anything new about Will?" She hoped that they would tell her something that would prove that none of this had anything to do with the Midnight Man, that Esme just imagined him last night. That her sisters were wrong about this...

       "No," Dustin said quietly.

       "Fuck," Anita whispered, and she stood up from the bed. She had to tell them about the Midnight Man, about him being back. How was she supposed to explain that, though? She started pacing, thinking. Yeah, they had believed her when she had told them about that night, about the Midnight Game, and about being kidnapped by some creepy shadow monster called the Midnight Man. They believed her. And they would believe her again. But, was she ready to say it out loud, to admit to herself that the Midnight Man was back? Saying it would make it real. "Fuck."

       "What?" Lucas asked, eyeing her with a concerned expression on his face. Dustin did too.

       Anita stopped pacing and turned to them. She swallowed. "I... I have to tell you something."

       Dustin furrowed his brows. "OK...?"

       "It's about Will. I've got an idea what might've happened to him."

       Lucas and Dustin's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "What?!"

       Anita averted her gaze, unable to look at them. "Do you remember what I told you about the Midnight Man?"

       "The shadow monster that kidnapped you and your sisters?" Lucas asked, confused.

       Anita nodded. "Yeah..." Lucas and Dustin exchanged a look before they focused on her again. "He's back." She said it. "Esme saw him yesterday. What if he kidnapped Will? Like he kidnapped me?"

       "Shit," Lucas said.

       "That's not good," Dustin said.

       Anita shook her head. She could feel the fear growing in the pit of her stomach — and she hated it. She didn't want to be scared, she wanted to be brave and fearless. But, here she was, fucking terrified.

💀

       ANITA CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW OF HER ROOM, landing firmly on the roof of the garage with her boots. The garage roof was right under the windows of all three sisters, and Anita had noticed India's best friend, Steve Harrington, climb up the side of the garage and through her window a few times (India mentioned once that Opal didn't like him much, so she guessed that was why he never used the front door), and that was how she knew that it worked, and how.

       She tiptoed to the edge of the roof and looked down. Well, jumping wouldn't work. Steve Harrington always used the rain gutter as a ladder, she remembered. So, she went to the rain gutter, and, after taking a deep breath, she climbed down, carefully, step by step, until she reached the floor. As soon as she felt solid ground under her feet, she exhaled, relieved — falling from the roof really would've been the icing on the cake today.

       Then, she turned, and her gaze landed on the garage door. Her breath hitched in her throat. Her dad killed himself in there.

       "Anita!" Dustin called.

       She whirled around. Lucas and Dustin already had their bikes and were waiting for her. She turned back to the garage — her bike was in there... No. She couldn't go in there. Not after— not after her dad died in there...

       "Can I, uh, ride with one of you?" Anita asked while she walked over to the boys, her voice shaking. She gestured to the garage. "I can't go in there," she whispered.

       Lucas gave her a small smile. "Sure."

       She got on the bike behind Lucas. "Thanks."

       They drove off, to Mike's house, where they rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door. Anita was curious about this girl. This girl... They didn't know her name. Why didn't she tell them their name? She only said 'yes' and 'no', that was what Lucas had said. Maybe she didn't want them to know her name? Or maybe ... she didn't have a name? No. Everyone had a name. Even psychos from Pennhurst had names.

       The door was opened, and Mrs. Wheeler stood in front of them. She smiled at Dustin and Lucas, but as soon as her eyes landed on Anita, her smile vanished. She knows about Dad, Anita realized. It must've been on the news or something. She averted her gaze, looking down at her feet.

       "I am so sorry about your father, Anita," Mrs. Wheeler said.

       Anita looked back up at her, trying to give her a smile, but she was pretty sure it looked more like a grimace. She could see the expression on Mrs. Wheeler's face, the pity. Mrs. Wheeler thought Usher Deverell had killed himself, left his family. Anita didn't like that, because she didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. Her dad would never do that. He just wouldn't.

       She felt someone grab her hand, and she looked to the side to see Lucas giving her a reassuring smile. "Um—" Anita started and turned back to Mrs. Wheeler, who was still staring at her with that awful expression on her face, and Anita had to stop herself from sounding rude. "Thanks," she said through gritted teeth.

       Mrs. Wheeler reached forward and squeezed her arm, trying to comfort her. It didn't work.

       Then, after another moment of silence, she finally told them, "Mike's in his room."

       Confused, Anita looked over to the boys. Why didn't she mention the girl? Dustin and Lucas seemed to be just as lost as she was. They entered the house and rushed up the stairs to the first floor, their footsteps so loud you could probably hear them in the whole house. They opened the door to Mike's room and spotted the girl sitting cross-legged on the bed, an innocent look on her face. But as soon as she saw Anita, her eyes widened, for some reason. What the fuck?

       Anita frowned at her and eyed her up and down. Lucas and Dustin didn't lie, her hair was shaved, but, honestly, she didn't look like a psycho, an escapee from a mental asylum. She looked ... lost. And scared. Anita knew what that was like.

       Mike looked at them, ready to defend himself. Dustin closed the door.

       "Are you out of your mind?" Lucas asked Mike the instant no one would be able to overhear their conversation.

       "Just listen to me—!" Mike started, but Lucas cut him off.

       "You are out of your mind!"

       "She knows about Will!"

       Anita's gaze darted to Mike.

       "What do you mean she knows about Will?" Dustin asked, his brows furrowed.

       Mike went over to his dresser and grabbed a picture frame, then held it up for them to see. It was a photograph of the Party (minus Anita) — Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were smiling into the camera, holding a trophy from the science fair. "She pointed at him, at his picture," Mike said. "She knew he was missing. I could tell."

       Lucas narrowed his eyes at Mike. "You could tell?"

       "Just think about it!" Mike looked from Dustin to Lucas to Anita. "Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place that Will disappeared?"

       Anita crossed her arms. Her thoughts wandered back to the Midnight Man. The mysterious girl stared at her.

       "That is weird," Dustin agreed with Mike.

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

       Anita shook her head. "No."

       Mike looked at her, a frown on his face. "No? What no?"

       "Will wasn't taken by bad people," Anita said. She started fidgeting with her hands.

       "What do you mean?" Mike asked.

       Anita took a deep breath, preparing herself to say it. "I think it was the Midnight Man," she said with a shaky voice.

       "The Midnight Man?" Mike repeated. "The shadow monster that kidnapped you?" Anita nodded. "Why do you think that? I thought you had to play the game to make him show up...?"

       "I know, but ... my sister saw him last night," she whispered. "When we were at the police station because of—" She shook her head. Mike's face softened. "The point is, Esme saw him. He's back."

       Mike looked at her for a moment, with his eyes wide. Please don't say you're sorry, please don't say you're sorry, Anita begged in her thoughts. She didn't want to hear it. Not again. She wanted to think about other things, things that weren't her dad. Then, after what felt like an eternity, Mike nodded. "OK. So, the Midnight Man is back. But still. I think she knows what happened to Will. Maybe she knows about the Midnight Man as well."

       "Then why doesn't she tell us?" Lucas asked.

       Anita looked over at the girl. She didn't think she was a psycho, or at least she didn't look like one. Lucas went over to her, determination in his steps, irritation on his face. "Do you know where he is?" he asked. The girl didn't answer. Lucas grabbed her arms. "Do you know where Will is?" he shouted at her. The girl looked up at him, terrified.

       "Stop it, you're scaring her!" Mike yelled.

       Lucas let go of her. "She should be scared!"

       Anita frowned at Lucas, then eyed the girl, the fearful expression on her face. She knew exactly how she felt, how the girl's stomach must be twisting and turning, how she must be able to hear her heart pounding in her ears... Fear could really fuck up your body. Anita went over to her, kneeling on the floor in front of her. The look on her face was so soft that the boys couldn't believe what they were seeing — she hadn't looked at anyone so softly in years.

       "Hi," Anita said, quietly, so she wouldn't scare the girl.

       The girl glanced over at Mike, who nodded. She looked back at Anita. "Hi."

       Anita smiled. "What's your name?"

       The girl pulled the sleeve of the sweater she was wearing up, revealing her wrist, where a tattoo was engraved into her skin, '011' written in black ink. Anita stared at it, shocked, then returned her gaze to the girl. Who would do that? The bad people? The ones Mike mentioned were after her? "Eleven? That's your name?"

       Eleven nodded.

       "Her name is Eleven?" Lucas asked, bewildered.

       "El for short," Mike said.

       Anita focused on El again. "OK. El. That's a pretty name." El gave her a tiny smile. "My name is—"

       "Anita," El said.

       Anita frowned. "Yeah..." How did she know that? She glanced at Mike, maybe he had mentioned her name to El.

       Mike just gaped at El, though, then at Anita. "I didn't tell her that," he said quickly.

       That was ... strange. And she got a little bit worried. Who was this girl?

       "How do you know my name?" Anita asked.

       "Your papa," El said.

       Anita's eyes widened. "What?" she breathed.

       "He helped me," El said, her voice quiet. Anita could feel her heart hammering rapidly against her ribcage. She had no idea what was going on. How did this random girl, who her friends had found in the woods, know her dad? How had her dad helped her? El reached a hand forward. Anita was about to back away from her, not sure what to make of El anymore, but then El wrapped her fingers lightly around Anita's, and Anita froze. Tears welled up in El's big doe eyes. "He's ... dead."

       Anita didn't know what to do. How did El know that? How did this girl know her dad? How did her dad help her?

       "How do you know that?" Anita asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper. El just stared at her. "How do you know that?" she asked again, this time more forcefully. El's grip around her hand tightened, and Anita saw the fear in her eyes. She faltered. She didn't want to scare her. "Please. Tell me." But El stayed quiet.

       "We have to take her to your mom," Lucas said to Mike, freaked out. Anita couldn't blame him — she was freaked out too.

       "No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger!" Mike countered.

       "What kind of danger?" Dustin asked, nervous.

       "I think she prefers El, Mike," Anita pitched in. El gave a slight nod. Mike narrowed his eyes at Anita.

       "Mike, what kind of danger?" Dustin asked— no, demanded to know.

       "Danger danger!" Mike exclaimed. Then, he formed a gun with his fingers and held it to Dustin's head, then to Lucas', then in Anita's direction (she was still sitting on the floor in front of El).

       Shit, Anita thought, and she could feel fear settling in her bones. But she ignored it. She didn't want anyone to see that she was scared. Then, another thought popped into her head. If telling someone about El would put them in danger danger, meaning danger that included guns, then what if her dad's death wasn't a suicide? Maybe, because her dad had helped El, the bad people had been after him and— you know.

       It made sense. Or at least — it made more sense than her dad killing himself. Because that was something he would never do. He loved — had loved (fuck!) — them! He would've never done that!

       "Maybe that's what happened to my dad," Anita said. "Maybe the bad people went after him because he helped her—?"

       "No! No! No!" Lucas cut her off.

       Anita said, "Excuse you."

       Lucas gave her an apologetic look; Anita rolled her eyes in a way that showed him that she was displeased.

       "We're going back to Plan A!" Lucas exclaimed, looking at Mike. "We're telling your mom!" He stormed to the door and pulled it open. But, then, it immediately slammed shut, with such force that the dresser next to the door, and the figurines and trinkets on top of it, wobbled. Anita jumped up from the floor. Lucas stared at the door. Then he opened it again. But, again, it slammed shut — on its own! A few figurines fell to the floor. The lock of the door turned, locking it.

       What the fuck?

       In unison, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and Anita turned around toward El, who had stood up from the bed. Her nose was bleeding, and she was staring intensely at Lucas. "No."

       What the fuck?

💀

       MRS. WHEELER HAD INVITED THEM TO STAY FOR DINNER, so, now, Anita sat at the dinner table with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, Nancy, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike's little sister Holly. It was awkward, to say the least. The Wheelers (minus Mike) all stared at her, not sure what to say to her. They knew what had happened to her dad, and thought that he had killed himself. Anita wished she could shout at them that that just couldn't be true. But she couldn't do that. She had to pretend. Pretend that her dad had left them — that he chose this.

       Anita became more and more convinced that the bad people that were after El had something to do with her dad's death. He helped her, and the bad people didn't like that. It made sense. More sense than the other option...

       Anita poked at the food on her plate, not very hungry. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas did the same, their thoughts preoccupied with what had happened before Mrs. Wheeler called them for dinner. El had closed and locked the door without touching it. She had done it with her mind. How was that even possible? That shouldn't be possible. Things like that — superpowers — only existed in comic books and stuff. Not in real life. But, then again, she had thought the same thing about monsters, and the Midnight Man was definitely real. (And she kind of had superpowers as well, if you could call her touch that.)

       "Something wrong with the meatloaf?" Mrs. Wheeler asked.

       The four friends looked up at her, like deers caught in headlights.

       "Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch," Dustin said. He chuckled lightly. "I don't know why." He smiled at Mrs. Wheeler.

       Lucas nodded along. "Me too."

       Anita shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just not hungry."

       All eyes landed on her — once again. She immediately regretted saying something at all.

       Nancy smiled at Anita softly, before she turned to her mother. "It's delicious, Mommy."

       "Thank you, sweetie," Mrs. Wheeler said, grateful.

       "So, there's this ... special assembly thing tonight," Nancy began, "for Will at the school field. Barb's driving."

       Mrs. Wheeler frowned. "Why am I just hearing about this?"

       Nancy's eyes widened slightly before she caught herself. "I thought you knew."

       "I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Will is found—"

       "I know, I know," Nancy cut her mother off. "But it'd be super weird if I'm not there. I mean, everyone's going."

       Anita raised an eyebrow at Nancy; it was so obvious that she was lying.

       Mrs. Wheeler sighed. "Just... Be back by ten." Nancy nodded, a small smile on her face. "Why don't you take the boys and Anita, too?"

       Instantly, all of them yelled variations of "No!" Anita shook her head vehemently. It wasn't just that they couldn't go because El was upstairs and they had to figure out why she had fucking superpowers and what she knew about Will. Anita just didn't think she could do it — seeing all of these people who knew — thought they knew — what had happened to her dad. She was not ready for that...

       Incredulous, Mrs. Wheeler looked at them. "Don't you think you should be there? For Will?"

       The boys didn't know what to say, so, taking one for the team, Anita started speaking, "I don't think I can, um, do that yet... Seeing so many people..." Her eyes started to burn. Anita gestured to her friends. "And they want to be there for me."

       "Yes, exactly," Lucas said, nodding enthusiastically. Anita frowned at him. That was a little too enthusiastic, in her opinion. She was talking about grieving her dead dad after all.

       Mrs. Wheeler's eyes widened. "Oh, yes, of course. That— That makes perfect sense. I'm sorry—"

       Mike choked on his milk.

       Dustin pounded on the table, twice.

       Anita jumped, her head snapping in his direction.

       "Sorry," Dustin said. "Spasm."

       Anita raised an eyebrow at him, then she looked over at Mike, who stared at something behind his mother. Anita followed his gaze. There was El, walking through the living room. Oh. Little Holly started to whimper, scared of the loud noises. Mrs. Wheeler turned to her to calm her down. Nancy sent Dustin a mean look. Dustin shrunk in on himself, a little embarrassed.

       After dinner, when the rest of the Wheeler family had already left the kitchen, Mike grabbed a plate of food, Anita the cutlery, and then the four of them rushed down the stairs into the basement where El had gone earlier. Now, the girl was sitting in a makeshift tent-slash-bed, fumbling with Mike's walkie-talkie. Mike and Anita went over to her and placed the plate and cutlery on the floor in front of her.

       "No adults. Just us and some meatloaf," Mike said. El looked down at the food.

       "It tastes really good," Anita said, giving El a smile.

       Then, El's gaze wandered to Dustin and Lucas, who looked warily at her. They still weren't convinced that she wasn't a psycho who escaped from Pennhurst.

       "Don't worry. They won't tell anyone about you," Mike assured her.

       "Me neither," Anita added. "I promise."

       "They promise, too. Right?" Mike gave Lucas and Dustin a look.

       Dustin smiled then. "We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers." He chuckled, excited about the fact that they might have found their very own superhero. Mike didn't like that, though, and slapped his leg. "Ow!"

       "What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared ... earlier. That's all," Mike spoke.

       Anita frowned. "I wasn't scared. I'm never scared."

       Mike looked at her, doubting her words. "Sure."

       She glared at him.

       "We just wanted to find our friend," Lucas said, still wary.

       El looked at him, confused. "'Friend'?"

       "Yeah, friend. Will," Lucas replied.

       El still didn't seem to understand. "What is 'friend'?"

       Lucas pulled a face and glanced at Dustin. "Is she serious?" Dustin just shrugged his shoulders. Anita rolled her eyes at them. "Um...," Lucas started, "a friend is—"

       "—is someone that you'd do anything for," Mike cut him off.

       "You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards," Dustin said.

       "They believe you, even if what you're saying is completely crazy," Anita said.

       "And they never break a promise," Mike said.

       "Especially when there's spit," Lucas added.

       "Spit?" El asked, confused.

       "A spit swear means" — Lucas spat into his hand — "you never break your word." He took Dustin's hand, shaking it. "It's a bond." Dustin looked at his hand, disgusted.

       Anita grimaced. Gross. "Yeah, I prefer pinky promises," she said.

       "Pinky promises?"

       "Yeah, it's when you link your pinky with the other person's pinky" — Anita reached for El's hand and took it gently, linking their pinkies together — "that means you can't break a promise. Ever."

       El smiled at Anita. Anita reciprocated it.

       "That's super important, because friends... They tell each other things," Mike said. "Things that parents don't know."

       "Secrets," Anita said, a small grin forming on her lips. "My big sister has loads of 'em."

       El tilted her head to the side. "Two sisters," she said. Anita nodded, deciding not to question how she knew that.

       "You want me to tell you about them?" Anita asked.

       El smiled. Anita took that as a 'yes', and crawled into the makeshift tent, sitting down next to El. The boys went to the other side of the room together, talking about whatever, Anita didn't care. She liked El, and she wanted to make her feel comfortable. She wanted her to trust her, so that maybe she could tell her what had happened to her dad, how he had helped her, and if that was the reason why he was ... dead.

       "So, my oldest sister is India, she's the one with the secrets, and my other older sister is Esme, she's really nice, you'd like her..."

       Half an hour passed by, during which Anita told El about India and Esme. El listened intently the entire time, sometimes asking about a word she didn't understand, while she ate the meatloaf they had brought her. It was nice, Anita thought, it distracted her a little bit from the sadness that consumed her.

       When Anita was done giving El a run-down on her sisters, El stood up, looking around the room, at the things lying around, and the pictures hanging on the wall. Anita watched her for a minute, wondering where she came from. If she wasn't an escapee from Pennhurst, then where had she been her whole life? Who had tattooed a number onto her wrist, telling her that she was nothing more than that, nothing more than a number, like she wasn't worthy of having a name? Anita felt terrible for her...

       Tearing her gaze away from El, Anita went over to the boys, who were talking quietly among themselves.

       Before she could ask them what they were talking about, though, she noticed El sitting down at the table, in front of the D&D board. Their character tokens were still standing around from the campaign they had played on Sunday. (That felt like a lifetime ago. Everything had been different then — her dad was still alive, and the Midnight Man was only a terrible memory, a haunting dream...) The boys noticed, too, and stepped closer to El.

       "What's the weirdo doing?" Lucas asked. Anita sent him a glare, but he didn't notice.

       El put her hands flat on the board of the game and closed her eyes. Anita furrowed her brows, confused. What was she doing? Was she using her superpowers? Curious, Anita walked over to the table and sat down on the chair next to her, her gaze trained on El.

       "El?" Mike asked.

       El opened her eyes again, then took one of the game pieces — Will's game piece. She lifted it up to her face, eyeing it. "Will," she said.

       Anita's eyes went wide.

       "Superpowers," Dustin said.

       Lucas shook his head at him, annoyed.

       Mike sat down on El's other side, across from Anita. "Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?" he asked.

       El wiped all the game pieces — all except the Demogorgon and Will's token — off the board so they fell into Anita's lap. Anita jumped, surprised. OK, maybe El needed the game board, but she didn't need to attack Anita with the figurines! She gave El a nasty look, but she was too focused on the board in front of her to see that. El took the game board and flipped it before placing it down on the table, with the wrong side facing upward. She took Will's game piece and placed it in the center of the upside-down board.

       Mike frowned. "I don't understand."

       Thank God Anita wasn't the only one.

       "Hiding," El said, then looked at Anita. "Like you."

       Anita felt her stomach drop. What? The boys' gazes darted to her. What was she talking about? Anita wasn't hiding, she was right here, she— Holy shit! She wasn't talking about now. She was talking about three years ago, when she had been kidnapped by the Midnight Man... What if, in the month she couldn't remember, she was in the same place Will was now? Anita's eyes went wide and she looked at Mike across from her.

       Then, Mike turned back to El. "Will is hiding?" El nodded. "... From the bed men?" he asked, unsure. Anita kind of wished that Will was hiding from bad men — that was better than the other option. El shook her head. Fuck.

       "From— From the Midnight Man?" Anita asked, her voice laced with fear. El looked at her, confused. Then, she grabbed the figurine of the Demogorgon and placed it next to Will's game piece on the board.

       The boys all gasped. Anita, unable to stay calm, stood up. Yeah, El didn't say it was the Midnight Man, but it was a monster. Why else would she use the Demogorgon? So, what if she just didn't know the name of the monster? What if the Demogorgon stood for the Midnight Man? Her breathing started to get quicker at the thought of it. It scared her. She was scared. To death. And she didn't know how to handle that.

       Anita started pacing, her thoughts spinning. That was when she felt it. Her heart stopped, and every muscle in Anita's body went rigid. She almost lost her balance; Dustin rushed over to her and steadied her. An overwhelming feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach, and she started breathing rapidly. She could faintly hear her friends talking to her, asking what was going on, but it felt like she was far away from them. Distant.

       And then, just like that, Anita knew.

       Something happened to India.

       Something was not right.

anita and el own my heart <3

and el knows a lot about the deverells 👀

hope you enjoyed! let me know what you thought!