the year of el | mileven

ch. 12 | deja vú

The doorbell rang.

Lucas opened his front door to see Max and Dustin patiently waiting outside

"So uh.. can we come in?" Dustin asked, hoping that his friend had calmed down

"I know what you guys are here for and no, I don't wanna talk about it" Lucas blatantly stated

Max begged him with her blue ocean like eyes "Come on, just for five minutes"

He couldn't find it in himself to say no to her "Fine."

Max rocked back and forth on her heels "Sooo Lucas"

"Forget it guys, I'm not apologizing"

Dustin cut in "Geez I swear this is deja vu but you need to stop being so damn stubborn and go talk it out with him!"

Lucas turned his back "No! No way! Mike is being a complete ass"

"You both are being complete asses! you started the fight so you have to man up and say sorry"

"I agree with Dustin and what's the deal anyways? So Mike likes this chick, why is it such a problem between you two?" Max questioned indignantly

"You don't even know the half of it. We've been his best friends for years!.. Years!... Even when he was all depressed and shit because of HER, who was there? we were. But no, we couldn't even make him feel better! then she comes out of nowhere again and he spends all his time with her!"

The redhead looked at him strangely "She came out of nowhere? but I thought they met in grade school?

Dustin and Lucas remained quiet, both knowing that he spilled too much

"Well.. uh.. Yeah, that's what I meant" Lucas gulped

She eyed them suspiciously "You boys are hiding something."

Dustin whistled nervously while Lucas twiddled his thumbs

"Okay, so what's the deal with Eleanor? and what's eleven? Is that some like dumb code name you guys came up with for her?" she questioned her tone getting serious

Lucas and Dustin both exchanged knowing glances. They knew there wasn't any backing out this time. They had to tell her.

"Okay, so we should've told you this awhile ago" Dustin sighed

She sat down on the couch crossing her arms "I'm listening"

Lucas took a deep breath "We never told you because we didn't know how you would take it and even though this will be insanely hard to believe, you'll just have to trust us"

From there, They proceeded to tell Max all about how they found Eleven, going into details on how they had come across her as they had initially searched for their lost friend. They also told her how El had eventually freed Will from the upside down and saved them from the demogorgon but disappeared soon afterwards.

✧

He needed to break out of here.

The pages from the clipboard he read earlier ran circles in his mind.

No, This place wasn't what he thought it was. They didn't care about getting him better or even finding a cure for his condition. He was just a pawn in their game.

The pages he stole had contained info about how they were using him for their immoral experiment. He was to be used as a connect to the upside down so the scientists could ultimately tap into it themselves. They wanted to eventually use this for military protocol so they could slowly take over foreign lands using psychological warfare and also use monsters as tools for destruction.

Will thought about all the brain scans they did and EEGS he had to suffer through. They just wanted a way to find the upside down through him. They were also using the medication they prescribed to him as means of control. The medicine weakened his body and changed his emotions so that he would easily succumb to their plans.

He stopped taking the medicine, he would often hide the pills in his gown when the doctors weren't looking or flush them down the toilet. He needed his strength if he was going to find an escape out of this hell hole.

He observed his mom who was sitting on the side of his bed watching tv.

Any time she had off from work she spent it with him. He looked at the lines of wrinkles that traced her face and the streaks of gray in her hair noting that she had lived a hard life because of him.

Joyce noticed that his mind wasn't there because he usually enjoyed watching Miami Vice with her. "Is something the matter Will?"

"Everything's fine."

As much as he desperately wanted to tell her of the dangers of this facility, he couldn't, not yet anyways. He didn't want to overwhelm her with more. She had gone through enough.

He vowed to himself that once he found a way out, they would have a better life.

The life they were always meant to have.

✧

Max put her hands up "Okay guys, you know what.. You got me. So you can stop with the prank now"

"This isn't a prank.." Dustin replied

"Seriously guys, I told you that you guys got me. Hardy har har. We had our laughs. The joke is over now, alright?"

Lucas hung his head down "We're telling the truth.."

"So you're telling me that our friend, the girl who sits with us at lunch has super powers and killed a monster from some other dimension?"

Dustin rubbed his arm "well.. yeah"

"That's it! you guys have officially lost your minds! You're-You're.. CRAZY!" She exclaimed, her voice getting higher

Lucas grabbed her hand "Max, come on, you gotta believe us"

"I.. I can't. I just.. I need to leave" She said, pushing his hand away

They watched as Max quickly walked out the door

Dustin ran his hand through his hair "Uh.. so.. that went well"

"Uggghh.. I definitely have no chance with her now.." Lucas groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead

"Dude, we just have to show her"

"And how are we gonna do that Dustin? We didn't exactly scrapbook everything that happened when we almost died!"

Then Lucas gave it some thought. "Ohhhh" he said, a smile growing on his face

Dustin smirked "Exactly."