Chapter Text
Disoriented.That’s the first feeling Mike Wheeler had when he opened his eyes. He’s inside a white, unfamiliar room, which he soon realizes is a hospital room. He can’t remember how or when he got there, until the memories from the previous night start to kick in. Blood. Blood, so much blood. “Of course,” he thought, “I failed even trying to kill myself.”
He didn’t know when the depression had started; he just knew he hadn’t been feeling well for at least ten years. He remembers the way his friends were always laughing and going out while he lacked the energy to even plan their beloved D & D campaigns. He didn’t have a bad life, at least nothing out of the ordinary: a father who’d rather lay down in his La-Z-Boy rather than have an actual conversation with him, one or two mouthbreather bullies who liked to pick up on him and his party. There were worse problems, he believed, and he wouldn’t throw himself a pity party.
Being thirteen and depressed was rough, but being a twenty three college graduate with an even worse depression was definitely harder. He had tried to get help with a hundred different therapists over the years, he had talked about it with his parents, his friends and even his sister Nancy, but no amount of talking seemed to make things better.
Then came the pills. Not only did they erase the void in his stomach and the lump in his throat, but they also cancelled every other emotion, the good and the bad ones.
So that’s how he had been living his life up until that very moment: emotionless. At least feeling nothing was better than being sad. Empty.
Even with his sadness gone, he was still miserable. There was a heavy feeling that refused to live his insides despite any pill he would take. He had thought about ending his life a couple times, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, at least not until yesterday. He felt so tired of living that kind of life and he just couldn’t see any way out. The razor shone under the dim bathroom light, so tempting that he just couldn’t resist.
That’s where his sister had found him a few minutes later, passed out inside the bathtub.
He tried to call the nurse with the button next to his bed, but when he pressed it, nothing happened. He tried again and again until he realized it must have broken. Being as stubborn as he was and deciding he didn’t want to spend more time lying on that uncomfortable hospital bed, he got up, expecting to feel the needles inside his hand pop out and being prepared for the pain they would cause. However, he was surprised for what he felt, or rather, what he didn’t feel. He felt light, no pain whatsoever in his body, not even his usual back pain he had been having ever since he could remember. He felt light, weightless, almost relaxed, until he looked down at the bed where he previously was.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see: himself. He could still see his body on that bed, with his eyes closed and every machine a human being can name connected to his body.
He pinched his own arm as a desperate move in order to wake up, but nothing happened. “This has to be a punishment for last night’s actions”, he decided.“What the fuck is going on? Is this real life? Have I died and gone to hell?”, he then asked himself. Nervousness took over his body, and he did the first thing he could think of: he ran out of the room, away from his sleeping form.
He saw that his parents and his older sister were right outside the door. His mother, Karen, and his sister Nancy were crying, while his father, Ted, had bloodshot eyes. He felt a wave of relief washing over him, and he spoke. “Mom! Dad! Nancy! I’m so glad to see you, you won’t believe what’s happening. There is another Mike sleeping inside that room, please come with me and I’ll show you, I don’t know what-“ he abruptly stopped, frozen with fear as he realized they couldn’t hear him. They didn’t even seem to acknowledge his presence. He heard them talking about him, how afraid they were about him never waking up from his...
Coma?
A fucking coma?
Giving that his own family couldn’t see he was there, he wasn’t surprised when he found out that he was seemingly invisible to the rest of the world. He walked past some nurses, the secretary and even the front door’s security guard and was totally unnoticed. Not even the people outside that damned hospital seem to notice him. Feeling hopeless and not wanting to see the Hawkins Grand Hospital sign anymore, he walked aimlessly for a while trying (and failing) to get someone’s attention.
“Help! Can somebody please help me!?” he yelled, but nobody even looked his way. He then tried to grab some middle aged woman who was walking past him, but his touch seemed to have no effect on her. Growing more and more scared and frustrated every minute that passed, he sat on a bench and did something he hadn’t done in years: he broke down crying.
While Mike Wheeler’s life was changing forever, twenty two year-old Jane “El” Hopper was having a normal day inside a bar two blocks away from the hospital. She worked there as a waitress, and in spite of having to deal with some rude customers every once in a while, she quite liked it. The owner, Benny, was a kind man who had known her ever since she moved to Hawkins to live with her adoptive father, Jim. Benny was the first person to ever make her feel like she belonged there, while the other residents couldn’t stop looking at her as if she had suddenly grown another head. Everybody seemed to know about her when she first moved in seven years ago, the Chief of Police adopting a new kid being the juiciest gossip in such a small town.
She understood the commotion, though. She knew that Jim’s previous daughter had passed away years ago, and she could also see that not all people adopt a sixteen year-old teenager out of the blue. However, as the days passed, her arrival became old news. She tried to keep a low profile, and everybody forgot about the mysterious new girl rather sooner than later. Being homeschooled also helped her go unnoticed. She was a junior and had always been homeschooled (more like foster-schooled) and she decided she wanted to keep it that way.
Socializing at college was hard for her, but soon enough she met Max, a girl who had just moved from California and also felt like an outsider, and they became attached to the hip.
She had graduated some months ago with a major in psychology and a minor in speech therapy, and decided to work at Benny’s before she could find a job related to what she truly wanted to work as. That particular day had been quiet, without enough customers to save her from boredom. As she was falling asleep on a vacant table, she heard Benny speak. “El, honey, go home. Nobody seems to be coming in today and your shift is about to end anyway”, he told her.
“Don’t you need help in the kitchen? I can clean the tables or wash the dishes if you’d like”
“Nonsense! You’ve been a perfect employee ever since you started working here, so you deserve some rest. Really, I’ve got it under control” he said while ruffling El’s curls.
“You’re the best boss to ever exist, Ben. Thank you so much. I’ll see you tomorrow”. She kissed Benny’s cheek, waved goodbye to the other employees and went out the door. She felt the autumn’s breeze and immediately hummed with contentment. It was definitely her favorite season, all those pretty colored leaves falling to the ground, just enough cold for her to enjoy it, and getting to wear those beautiful sweaters and scarves she loved.
Just as she was heading home (her tiny apartment she didn’t quite like but that made her oh so independent from her father), she saw him. A boy about her age, who was wearing an awful hospital gown, was crying his eyes off. No, she corrected herself, not just crying, but sobbing uncontrollably. Her heart broke by the sight and she debated silently whether or not to approach him. The debate was cut abruptly when he got his hands out of his face and looked up.
Wow, was all she could think about.
Despite having his eyes completely bloodshot from all that crying, she could see that they were pitch black and as enchanting as a midnight sky. His tear stained cheeks were also covered in the most adorable freckles, which were the perfect stars to complete the sky in his eyes. He was all sharp angles and pale skin, and El couldn’t help but feel drawn to him, like and otherworldly force had brought her there for that specific moment.
If that alone wasn’t enough, he frantically looked at everyone who walked in front of him and started screaming, pleading for someone to help him. El couldn’t help but wonder how everybody could go on walking without even giving him a second look. Within a fraction of a second, she woke up from her trance and walked right to him.
When Mike had given up and stopped yelling at every passerby (without succeeding, may he add), he looked to his left and saw that a girl had her eyes fixed on him and was walking straight to where he was sitting. And what a girl she was. He seemed to forget all about his misery for a second.
Fuck, he thought, she’s so pretty.
But pretty didn’t make her justice. She had big, brown, doe like eyes, which seemed to be burning a hole through him, as if she could see his soul. Her lips were big, pouty and looked so soft and inviting and all he could think about was how they would feel on his. She was dressed cutely, with her oversized woolen sweater and a pair of jeans, but he could also see the great figure she hid underneath her clothes. She was the perfect mixture between beautiful and hot and-
“Um, hi, are you okay? You seem to be having a hard day” she told him.
“I… uh- I…” was all he could stutter say.
“I saw you asking for help, and as nobody stopped to help you I thought I could come and ask what’s wrong”. That broke him out of his trance. This girl was the only person who could or hear him, and she was his key to salvation.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I was waiting for this, you’re like a guardian angel” She quirked her eyebrows in amusement and he suddenly wanted to slap himself.
An angel? Way to go, Wheeler.
“I know that I may sound crazy, but I swear that I’m not joking”, he continued. “I think you’re the only person here than can see me”.
Nice, she thought, this guy must have had a mental break down and is now delusional. “I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand what you’re trying to tell me. You think you’re invisible for the rest of the world and that I’m the only person who can see you?” she asked in disbelief.
“I know it sounds crazy, but think about it this way: why has nobody helped me when I was screaming for help? Why did nobody even turned to look at me? You must admit, a sobbing man wearing a hospital gown in the middle of the street is not something most people would ignore. Also, why is everybody looking at you as if you were a lunatic taking to herself?” he pointed out.
When El tore her gaze from the helpless guy, she could see that he was right. People were looking at her as if she was unaccompanied, having a conversation with someone who wasn’t there. She looked back to the boy, mouth agape, as she tried to process everything that was happening.
“I need you to help me” he told her, voice cracking with emotion at the end of the sentence, “please”.
As she looked him in the eye, she could see the need and desperation he was feeling. Fucking hell, she had no choice. “Okay, fine, I’ll help you. I live near here, just some blocks away. Come with me to my apartment and we’ll figure things out” she said, “But first, I need to know two things about you”.
Mike couldn’t believe his luck, just as he couldn’t stop the smile that had begun to form in his face. “Whatever you want, ask and I’ll tell you”.
That smile, she admired in her mind. Someone with a smile so pretty and genuine couldn’t be dangerous, right? “I want to know what your name is and if you’re a serial killer. You know, safety first” she found herself saying as she broke into a smile of her own.
He couldn’t help but grin at her sense of humor and focus his gaze on that crooked but captivating smile she was giving him. “I’m Mike, Mike Wheeler and no, I have never killed a fly, let alone a person”.
“Nice to meet you, Mike Wheeler. I’m El Hopper, and my father is the Chief of Police so you’d better be telling the truth or you’ll be the one who’ll end up six feet underground” she joked, but by the look on his face, she could tell that she had chosen a bad subject to joke about.
Well, she thought as she started leading him to her apartment, here goes nothing.