011 ~ A Mileven Fanfic

Chapter the Tenth

3RD PERSON

Usually when Mike wakes up to screaming, it's either coming from his mouth or the room down my hall. Night terrors aren't uncommon nowadays amongst his peers. In the Wheeler house alone, there are probably screams about 5 nights a week. Sometimes they're his, raspy and gasping for air, screaming the names of El and Will, or simply begging for them not leave, for a childhood of less tragedy. Often they're Nancy's, screaming of Barb or of the demogorgon, considering she came face to face with it more than once. Long and oh so painful, Nancy screams for Barbara, for El, for Jonathan, for Steve, for Mike, and even for herself. Protecting everyone and receiving only sleepless nights. She hasn't really slept more than 5 hours since that first night she ventured into the Upside Down.

Usually when Mike or Nancy wake up to screams, they simply run to the others rooms, shaking to wake the other up and then holding each other and crying in the other's arms. It's become so common now it's like clockwork, wake up or be woken up at 2 a.m and then sob until you feel like you're breaking. And this isn't just for the Wheeler siblings.

Will's plagued by nightmares even when he's wide awake which doesn't happen much anymore considering he's become a full blown insomniac. He's utterly terrified to go to sleep but at this point he can't stay awake and he's stuck in this rut of dark under-eye bags and caffeine and living a truly miserable life. His sleep is a nightmare but so is his waking.

Jonathan tries to help but he's not much better off himself. When he does make it home at a reasonable hour, he lies in bed, suffering from visions of that terrible, terrible beast and the havoc it wrecked on him, his family, and his (now) friends. And Joyce simply sits out in the backyard every night, smoking away the inevitable human need for sleep, wishing everything was like before.

Even Dustin and Lucas wake up caked in sweat, the sheets thrown off and tear tracks along their faces. They had the same experiences as Mike, facing the demogorgon and losing a friend, on more than one occasion. Hopper has never been able to sleep, but his experiences from that week only added to his suffering. Even Steve has had nightmares of the monster, the crazy, faceless force that nearly killed his girlfriend and (now) friend.

Therefore, when Mike woke up to screaming, he was shocked by a scream he hadn't heard before. Weak and terrifying at the same time, high and low, scared and brave, sad and angry, it was almost beautiful in a gut-wrenching kind of way. It was only until he realized that this scream came from El did he snap out of his shock.

Mike flew down the stairs, not even walking simply falling in a certain direction. He ran through the living room, the kitchen, and into the basement where El was lying on her brand new bed, the sheets balled up around her feet. Her face was drenched in sweat, her mouth open, letting out small screams now and then and her body was twitching wildly, terrifying Mike.

"No! Please, no! Papa please, please just leave him alone! Mike!" El was screaming. When Mike heard his own name, he ran to her side and began to shake her, gently at first but harder as she wouldn't wake up.

"El! El, I'm here! El wake up, it's Mike, El!" Mike frantically screamed. After what felt like a number of painstaking hours to Mike, El's eyes opened and her body shot into a sitting position. As soon as she saw Mike sitting on her bed, she threw herself into his arms and cried. Sobbed actually, as Mike just rested his chin on her head, rubbed her back, and whispered to her that it was alright. She looked up at Mike, peering up at him with her big, innocent eyes and whispered two words.

"I'm sorry."