Saved

Thirty Eight

When they returned to the cabin to find it empty, Allison had made dinner for Eleven, Max and herself. Then the three of them had sat and eaten in uncomfortable silence, neither one of them knowing what to say to the other. Immediately afterwards Eleven and Max went to bed, both exhausted from the day that they had.

Allison remained wide awake with her eyes locked on the front door, refusing to sleep until Hopper was home and afraid to let her guard down in case the Mind Flayer came for her and Eleven. She brewed herself an entire pot of coffee and continued to refill her cup throughout the night, relying on the caffeine to carry her through until morning.

As the sun rose in the sky she got up and began to brew a second pot, when the telephone mounted on the wall began to ring. Assuming that it would be Hopper explaining his absence she ran to answer it, surprised to hear Mike Wheelers' voice on the other line.

"Oh, hey. Is El there?", he asked, shushing a pair of voices in the background that Allison immediately recognized as Lucas and Will.

"Her and Max had a sleepover last night. They're still sleeping.", she whispered, eyeing Eleven's bedroom door.

"Any chance you can wake them? This is kinda important."

"One second.",Allison huffed, placing her hand over the speaker. "El! Phone!", she screamed, watching the bedroom door fly open seconds later. She glanced inside where Eleven was already sitting bolt upright against her pillow and a disoriented Max was rubbing her eyes.

Eleven held out her hand towards Allison, tearing the phone out of her hand. As the phone shot through the air towards Eleven, the cord strugggled to keep up with it, threatening to come unplugged from the wall. Eleven held the phone up to her ear and Allison walked back to the kitchen to finish making her coffee.

A few short minutes later, Eleven and Max emerged from the bedroom, fully dressed and ready for the day. They both stared at Allison who was still wearing the same clothes from the day before and clinging to her cup of coffee with a very shaky hand.

"Did you sleep last night?", Max asked, taking note of the dark circles around Allison's eyes.

"No. Not at all.", she answered, taking another sip of coffee.

"Yeah, I can tell."

"I look that bad, huh? I guess a shower and a fresh pair of clothes wouldn't hurt.",Allison laughed, putting her cup down on the counter. "Maybe once I'm done, I can make you guys breakfast-"

"No breakfast. Mike wants us to go to his house right away.", Eleven cut in, catching Allison by surprise.

"Oh! What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"I'm sure this is just Mike's pathetic attempt at winning El back.", Max muttered, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know if you should go!", Allison blurted out, voicing her concerns.

"Why not?", Eleven asked, raising her eyebrow inquisitively.

"Hopper didn't come home last night.",she admitted, watching the expression on Eleven's face change from confusion to worry. "I'm sure that he's fine, but he could also be off fighting some unknown danger. One that I'd rather you didn't cross paths with."

"What if we swear to call you if anything seems even mildly strange or otherworldly?", Max bargained.

"Okay, fine!", Allison surrendered, prompting Eleven and Max to high five triumphantly. "But I'm trusting you...both of you. So please be careful.", she added sternly, earning a hug from Eleven and a thumbs up from Max.

She followed them to the front door and watched as they walked down the driveway, disappearing from sight. Pushing aside her fears she closed the door and ran to have a quick shower, where the warm water began to slowly lull her to sleep. As her eyelids grew heavy, she cranked the faucet all the way to the other side, allowing the freezing cold water to startle her awake.