Every Day Without You *Mileven*

Lost Cause

~Max's POV~

I was riding my skateboard back home. I had been at the arcade with Dustin, Lucas, and Will for many hours until they finally closed. I decided to go to Will's house with Dustin and Lucas. We hung out for a while.  Eventually, I left, because the boys were going to have a sleepover.

I realized how late I had stayed. It was 2:45 am. My parents would be so upset. I started to skate home when I saw someone riding a bike.

Quickly, I got to the side of the road, out of view. I watched as the person pulled up onto Mirkwood, where I had just come from. It was Mike.

He reached into his backpack and got two objects out. One of them was a flashlight, and the other looked like a blade.

I decided I would follow him.

"El! Eleven?" I heard Mike call out. Was El a girl's name, or a pet's name? Did he lose his dog or something, if he even had one? And why was he calling out a number? I accidentally stepped on a twig.

"Eleven?" Mike asked. He flashed the flashlight around. I ducked and hid behind a bush.

I tried to move from the bush to a nearby tree. I stepped on some leaves which made some noise. I was really bad at being stealthy.

I heard something fall to the ground. I looked and saw Mike on his hands and knees, looking for something. 

"Ouch!" he yelped. I heard him moan. I watched as he held his arm tight. I think he must have hurt himself.

"If anyone's there, show yourself!" He called, swinging the weapon around.

I was silent and still.

"I have a knife! I'm not afraid to use it! Show yourself!"

I stepped slightly into view. I slowly got closer to him. I wasn't sure what to expect.

"El?" he croaked.

"El? Who's El?" I asked.

I stepped into the moonlight so Mike could see me more clearly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, rather disappointed and annoyed.

"Well I was on my way back from Will's house, and I took a wrong turn," I half lied. I wasn't technically all the way lying.

"Oh," he said and walked away from me.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"None of your business," he replied, as he continued on, into the forest. I followed him.

"I heard you saying El. Who is that?" I asked, very curious and impatiently waiting for an answer.

"She's no one," He mumbled.

"She?" I prodded.

"Can you please just leave me alone?" He asked.

"Ok, fine, but why are you out here so late?" 

"Why are you out here so late?"

"I told you, I stayed late at Will's and I was coming home."

Mike was silent and continued walking. I noticed his hand had some wet liquid on it. It was blood.

"Is your hand alright?" I asked, reaching out to him.

He pulled his hand away quickly.

"It's just a scratch."

I continued walking with him.

"I can't believe school starts next week," I said, trying to nonchalantly change the subject.

Mike was silent and continued walking on.

It was really awkward. I could tell he didn't like it whenever I was around.

"Look, I don't know what you have against me, ok? I'm just going to leave. Have fun looking for whatever lost cause you have. Goodbye, Mike," I said, racing off.

"Lost cause-" I could hear Mike start to yell, but then he stopped. I turned around. He was lying on the ground, unconscious again, just like he was that one time my family went to his house for dinner.

Something was wrong. I just knew it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you all so much for over 1.3k reads! It means so much to me and I am very thankful! Thank you all so much for the positive feedback, it means so much to me. I am so happy that you all enjoy reading my story. ~Rocky