ৎ ָ࣪ 𓄹 ﹙𝟬𝟬𝟰﹚˖ ᨒ .ﾟ ꗃ 𓄸
❛ A BAD PLACE ❜ 𓂃 𓈒 𓏸₊˚ 〆

AFTER FINDING EL IN THE WOODS, the group decided to take her in. It was ridiculous, like most of Mike's plans, but he seemed to be serious this time. Grace didn't say anything, biting her fingernails softly, as she stared at Eleven with an intense look.

"Is there a number we can call? For your parents?" Mike asked the strange girl. She looked shaken up, and pretty shocked. Whatever happened to the girl, Grace hoped that it was over now.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin asked simply, and El shook her head. "Dustin! You can't ask people if they have cancer!" Grace stated, smacking the boy on his head. She took his hat from him and put it on her head since he lost his hat privileges.

"Did you run away?" Lucas asked the girl. Grace already knew where the girl had come from, and she wanted to tell them everything but couldn't. Her parents made her swear to secrecy about the whole thing. To everyone else, she was just adopted.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike questioned curiously, his eyebrows furrowed. "Is that blood?" Lucas felt his eyes grow bigger in size as he pointed at El's shirt. There was a stain on the fabric, which ultimately looked like blood. . . or ketchup.

        "Guys, this is too much for her. She looks overwhelmed." The blonde took up for the girl, having sympathy for her. "I best she's deaf!" Dustin spat out in shock, his voice raising to an extent.

"No! She's not deaf, dingus!" Grace quickly defended, shaking her head. "She's scared. Cold." Mike wanted to take up for her as well. "Give her some dry clothes, she's soaked." The blonde explained.

Mike nodded at her words, grabbing some clothes out of a laundry basket across from them. He walked back to the girl, handing them to her kindly with a smile.

The strange girl took the clothes from Mike, standing up to undress herself in front of everyone. The boys all shouted covering their eyes.

"Oh my, God. Oh my, God!" Dustin shouted, covering his innocent eyes.

"You have to change alone, not in front of everyone." Grace stated, earning a weird look from the girl. She was used to changing in front of people, rarely ever spending time alone in the lab.

       "Privacy." Mike stated slowly, while Eleven eventually nodded. Grace shared a look with the boys, when they nodded she lead Eleven to the bathroom.

"Can I see your wrist? Just to make sure I'm not going insane?" Grace asked Eleven, the girl nodded with a smile and held up her wrist.

"It's been seven years." Eleven explained softly, stumbling over her words.

"I've missed you. More and more everyday." Grace explained with a sad smile on her face.

The two girls shared a quick hug, and when Eleven started to get dressed Grace turned around with closed eyes. The blonde felt a small tap on her back once El was dressed in rather large clothes.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆⠘ *‧☽ ‧* ⠘☆ﾟ‧ ───

        DUSTIN AND LUCAS WENT HOME, while Mike and Grace set up a fort for Eleven to sleep in. The girl would have to hide in there, in case Mike's mom ever came down to the basement. It was such a rare occasion, his mom almost never checked down there.

        "Hey, um, I never asked your name." Mike told Eleven, wanting to know more about her. Grace couldn't blame him for being curious. It's not everyday that they find a girl in the woods and help her.

        Eleven lifted up her shirt sleeve, showing him the tattoo on her wrist like she had done to Grace earlier. Mike noticed it, almost like he had seen it before on someone else. Then it clicked.

         "That's weird. Grace has the same mark on her right wrist, but it's nine. Is it real?" Mike looked like the gears in his brain were turning. It was only a matter of time before he questioned them on why they had it.

        "It's from the orphanage. She's an orphan, like me. They give us those markings to keep count of us."  The blonde came up with a believable lie, that even Mike couldn't tell she was lying.

        "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you know each other?" The boy looked between both girls. Eleven nodded while Grace shook her head no. Mike's eyebrows furrowed, and he gave his best friend a confused look.

        "Fine. She's one of my sisters." Grace told the boy quickly, biting her lip. Mike and the others already knew about all of her sibling from the orphanage, since she loved to talk about them. Only, they weren't from an orphanage and they were far from normal siblings. They all had supernatural abilities.

        "So, she escaped? It can't be a coincidence that we found her in the woods." Mike tilted his head, trying to figure things out. "Bad place. Had to leave." Eleven whispered lowly, surprising Mike.

       For a second he thought that she was mute. "Bad place? What did they do to you there?" Mike asked the girl, who only shook her head.

        "Okay, well, what do the tattoos mean? You said they use them to keep count, but you called Grace nine. She has a nine on her wrist. Are those like, your unofficial names?" Mike put two and two together.

        "Before we're adopted, we don't have names. We called each other by our numbers." The blonde told Mike, wanting his questions to be over with.

        "So, your name is Eleven?" Mike pointed at Eleven and she nodded quickly. "Well, my name is Mike. Short for Michael. Her name is Grace, but if you prefer Nine then that's fine." Mike told the girl.

         "Maybe we call you El, short for Eleven." Mike finished speaking. When El nodded enthusiastically, the blonde smiled at her and pinched her cheeks.

        "Um, well, okay. 'Night El." Mike stood up from the fort, pulling Grace with him. That was a lot to take in, but strangely enough, he wasn't confused anymore.

         "Goodnight, El." Grace stated, smiling at the girl with a wave. She was so happy that the girl escaped, even if it took her years to get away from that place.

          "Goodnight." Eleven muttered under her breath, both kids just barely hearing her.

          "Take care of her, Mike. Don't send her back." The blonde stated as Mike walked her out to the garage so that she could grab her bike and go home.

         "I'll try. See you tomorrow." Mike smiled, and that's when Grace noticed how much distance their faces lacked. If she tilted her head just a bit, their lips would be touching. She shook her head at the thought.

        "See you tomorrow." The blonde took a small step back, punching Mike on the arm playfully. Both kids laughed it off awkwardly, and she left.

         Mike stood there for a few seconds, a blush coating his cheeks as he watched her leave.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE 📝 . . .
I hope no one thinks this story is going too fast, it's actually very realistic considering how young and naive they are! & Mike's had a crush on her for years!