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October 1984
It was a grey Saturday afternoon, and Karen was busy doing the thankless role of tidying the kitchen and cleaning the dishes. It had actually been Mike’s job, but he had rushed off to who’s-know-where right after grabbing a quick bite. It seemed to be a regular tradition of late for Mike to head off unannounced. As much as she felt she shouldn’t be so yielding, her son had been struggling ever since the events of last November, and she didn’t want to create further distance from him by holding him back. And today, there was a light in his eye that she hadn’t seen in what seemed like forever. Whatever it was, she would find out about it when he returned.
Return he did soon enough, gingerly walking in from the back door to greet his mother.
“You’re home. You know, it was your turn to—“ she began a light scolding.
“I’m sorry, Mom, I’ll make it up to you. But um… there’s someone I want you to meet…"
Mike sounded earnest yet hesitant, and Karen looked at her son with genuine curiosity.
Mike was thinking he had thought this out, but now that the moment of truth had arrived, the doubts were seeping in. But of course, this wasn’t all about him, so he shoved those doubts aside and continued on. He glanced back to the door and gave a nod. The door opened and a small girl about Mike’s age, ratty hair and a mishmash of clothes, slowly stepped in.
“Mom, this is my El---uh… my friend El,” Mike scrambled to recover from his Freudian slip. Though surprised by the sudden turn of events and sympathetic to the young girl before her, Karen couldn't help but smirk at her son’s obvious infatuation.
El looked up at the imposing maternal figure before her, the one she had learned to hide from last year and who she had never formally met.
“El, this is my Mom.”
Mike now looked at Karen, hopeful that she was connecting the dots and would understand. Karen was shocked; she had been sure by everyone’s account that the girl hadn’t survived. But there she was, a little worse for wear but better than anyone could have ever expected. Maternal instincts started to kick in as Karen considered the girl’s state, imagining all she had probably been through.
Karen tried out the peculiar name for the first time, offered a big smile, and extended her hand. “Oh my goodness! Hello… El, it’s nice to meet you. Mike has had many good things to say about you.”
As nervous as Mike was, El was twice as much. Karen was Mike’s mom, and she worried if she messed up it would be difficult for her to be close to Mike. She couldn’t bear that. El smiled back softly and shook Karen’s hand, remembering back to when Benny had taught her.
“Hello...”
Mike, sensing El’s apprehension, patted her arm softly.
“M-Mrs. Wheeler,” El was trying out a new name herself, the one Mike had told her to say.
“Are you tired, El? Hungry?” Karen followed warmly.
“Yes. Hungry,” El quickly answered.
“Well okay. I can fix you something up. How about some eggs?”
“Egg-os?” El questioned. It sounded like that was what Mrs. Wheeler had been referring to, but she didn’t say it quite right.
“Eggos? Sure, we—“ Karen looked in the freezer to discover they were freshly out of waffles. She could have sworn they were there this morning.
Little did she know, Mike had thought of the girl’s need for food almost immediately. It was the only reason he rushed home at lunch. But two waffles evidently weren’t enough. “Uh, I’m sorry, El, the ones I brought you were the last.” Mike chimed in.
Karen noticed how gentle Mike spoke to El, and she figured that might be the best way to make her feel more comfortable. “I’ll pick some up just for you later, but in the meantime, we’ll come up with something else I can make up quickly. Does that sound okay, El?”
El nodded. “Thank you.”
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It was dinner time now, and the Wheelers had a very special guest joining them at the table. El’s hair was now combed, courtesy of Mike who immediately offered to help,. She also had a fresh set of clothes, presumably some old ones of Nancy’s. The full plate in front of her was quickly disappearing as she scarfed down her dinner. She certainly had been hungry; this meal was on top of the scrambled eggs she had eaten just a couple hours before.
One thing El had little experience with, of course, was table manners. Mike had shown her earlier how it is easier to eat eggs with a fork than your hands, and less messy too. The utensils still took a bit of getting used to though, and she essentially used them as a shovel to get as much food into her mouth as she could.
Mike, of course, was just over the moon she was home, making good on the promise he had made to her that last night they saw each other.
Meanwhile around the table, each member of the Wheeler household was adjusting to the surprise visitor. Young Holly looked at the new girl curiously, a little bit awestruck. Karen, with some knowledge in the history of what went on last year and a bit of explanation from Mike, understood the harsh treatment that El had been through and could only imagine the obstacles she faced to survive in her time away. She certainly didn't feel prepared to take care of the girl, but made sure to treat El as warmly as she could until they sorted things out.
On the other hand, Ted had never really believed the story of the girl who had been under their roof for a week last year, and he certainly didn't make the connection. He didn't quite get why this strange young lady should have dinner here, but deferred to Karen for the time being. Apparently this El was a good friend of Mike's, though from her poor eating habits he couldn't fathom why. Still, he was pleased to notice a hope restored in his son.
Then there was Nancy, the only person in the Wheeler household other than Mike who had met Eleven the first time around, and possibly the person most amused by the girl's eager food antics this evening. They had all gone through something together, and she was ecstatic to see the poor girl had survived all along. Judging from Mike fawning over her, she could also confirm once and for all Mike had been lying to her about who El was to him. However, this evening Nancy was busy coming up with a reason to sneak out for the night, so properly reacquainting herself with El might have to wait for another time.
After the large meal, El was finally full, and her first invitation to a family dinner was complete. Bringing their plates to the counter, Mike was excited to get to spend some time with El.
“Not so fast, Michael” Karen called out.
Mike turned back to his mother’s words.
“You owe me some clean dishes. All of them.” She gestured over to the full sink.
Mike sighed, but today had been a good day. If there was ever a time to do chores (there wasn’t), this was it. El didn’t know much about this process but of course chose to stay by his side.
The dishes had never been so spotless thanks to Mike doing his best to impress El with his domestic skills. A near disaster was averted too. When Mike was drying a plate, it fumbled out of his hands (for some reason, his clumsy side always coincided with El’s presence). The plate looked destined to shatter on the floor when El stopped the item in mid-air. Somehow, it gracefully made its way back into Mike’s hands. Nothing needed to be said. The two exchanged a smile, everybody in the other room none the wiser.
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Now evening, Karen had placed a few calls to discuss matters with the Chief and Joyce Byers, the two who she knew for certain were aware of El's story. And so the conversation began for how they should proceed. Mike, listening from the other room, spared no time in approaching his mother and suggesting El’s home be with them.
“It’s too premature for that, Michael. There are a lot of…complications we would need to consider. She’s been through a lot.” Karen explained to her son.
“Which is exactly why she should be here. She just got back and she’s more comfortable here than anywhere.”
Karen, hesitant, glanced over El who was resting in the living room, seeing how surprisingly relaxed the vulnerable girl looked.
“She stays here tonight, but I'm not making any promises after that. I’m going to run through everything with the others tomorrow.”
Mike took what he could get for the time being, figuring he can argue about the rest of that when the time comes.
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Shortly thereafter, Mike took El to the basement she became so familiar with all that time ago. Amazingly, the fort he had made for her was still in place, much to El’s delight. Mike scrambled to shove aside some papers he had left out. “Homework”, he said it was. He was soon off to bed after wishing El good night.
With El settling in for the night, curiosity of course got the best of her and she wanted to see what this homework of Mike’s was like. She didn’t really know what that meant, anyway. Approaching the drawer where he had left them, El found the small batch of pages, with the front one reading October at the top and featuring a bunch of boxes and numbers. El would later find out what this item was and what it was meant for: a calendar which shows the days of the month and is used for planning.
This was different from your average calendar though. On each day, it looked to El like Mike had written something. There were names of places he went, which were usually followed by a comment. El noticed her name was on every one. Some days simply said “No sign of El.” Others sounded more hopeful: “I thought I felt El today.”/"I thought I saw El today." Lately, another comment seemed to happen most often: “I miss El.” El wasn't a great reader, but she certainly understood this. The thought of Mike thinking about her every day while she was gone brought tears to her eyes. She couldn't decide whether it was a happy or sad feeling, but at least she was safely back now.
She brought her attention to the last day he had written: October 27th. “Checking out the forest again today,” was all it said. After that, the days were blank. El assumed those days must not have happened yet. Her eyes shifted to the last day of the month, which was different from the rest. There was a picture of a spooky pumpkin for some reason. She figured she might have to ask Mike about that.
As for the calendar, let's just say those final entries remained blank, and if they had their way, Mike wouldn’t have much need for it anymore from that day forward.