Chapter Text
November 7th, 1988
"Mike."
His eyes shot open as beads of sweat rolled down his face. "What the hell was that?" his voice was raw and barely audible.
Mike Wheeler is 17 years old and currently struggling to breathe. How do you breathe? Did he forget how to breathe? 3:15 a.m. his alarm clock read.
'You know those power lines?'
'Power lines?'
'Yeah. The ones behind my house?'
'Yes.'
'Meet us there, after school. 3:15.' The boy said taking off his watch and carefully wrapping it around the girls wrist. 'When the numbers read three-one-five, meet us there.'
Mike's eyes frantically scanned his room, barely being able to see as his eyes were adjusting to the ceaseless darkness, until they landed on his old watch. There were voices in his room, in his head, he couldn't really tell where they were coming from but the longer he stared at the watch, the louder they got, the more sickening the sinking feeling in his stomach seemed to get. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out whatever was trying to suck him into the nauseating, whirlwind of voices that he couldn't seem to pin point. The harder he tried to concentrate on who's they were, the faster the bile rose up his throat until-
The blazing sunlight that filtered through his shitty blinds brought him back to reality. He squinted at his alarm clock once more. 7:30 a.m.
He must've fallen asleep last night. He held his head as if the world would stop spinning if he held it in place. What happened last night? Or.. this morning. Wait.
7:31 a.m.
Fuck.
He was late for school.
Mike scrambled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to get ready.
-
"Is he sick?" Lucas whispered as his monotone history teacher droned on about god knows what.
"Probably, or he slept through his alarm" Will responded.
"Hey, Dustin-" Lucas started until he turned to see the curly haired boy dozing off next to him. Luckily they were all in the same homeroom. The only disadvantage was that it was the most boring class they all took this year.
Lucas rolled his eyes and glanced at the clock. 7:45
-
Mike halted abruptly in his parking spot and winced at his tires screeched against the pavement. He checked the time. 7:49. He hadn't missed all of first period. He clambered out of his car, slung his back pack over his shoulder, and made his way into Hawkins High School. His mom was going to be so pissed.
Mike quickly grabbed his history books out of his back pack as he hastily navigated through the hallways paying no mind to the girl who was heading straight towards him-
"Oof!" Their papers flew into the air like when you throw a stone into a flock of birds eating shit off the ground and they fly all over the place, all wings and feathers.
"Oh my god I'm sorr-"
"I'm so sor-"
They stared at each other.
Pretty. It was the first word that popped into Mike's head when he first looked into her big brown eyes. He blushed at the thought.
"Hey, I'm uh, I'm sorry about that" The girl laughed sheepishly.
Mike studied her features. Her short, honey brown curls. Her button nose.
She must've caught Mike staring because she continued, "I'm new here."
Mike snapped out of his daze. New? But.. she looked so familiar, "Oh, Welcome to Hawkins. I'm Mike, short for Michael."
Something flashed through her eyes. An emotion he couldn't quite put his finger on. But it went away as fast as it came.
"I'm Jane," She smiled. "But I go by El."
'I'm Mike, short for Michael. Maybe we could call you El, short for Eleven.'
"What?" Mike looked down at El, confusion written on his forehead.
"I go by El." She repeated steadily with a cocked eyebrow.
Mike looked around the hallway. What the fuck. "Oh," He said quietly.
RRIIIINNNGGG
Both of their heads snapped up.
Well now Mike missed first period.