you're my safe place ~ MILEVEN ONE SHOTS~

Always Here

(a fluffier post season three one-shot! Leave as many comments as you can, I hope that you all enjoy it! Also leave requests if you have any<3)

The roads dragged on, pulling her away from everything that she had ever known. Ever since she managed to escape the cruel hands that raised her, she stepped into the sunlight of Hawkins, of the place that taught her how to be herself. The town itself was filled with many wonders and places that made her feel just as free as the clouds, but it was the people that made it worthwhile. Her head was filled with memories of every single kind soul that took her in, that convinced her that she was worth more than she ever treated, that she was more powerful than anyone that they had ever met. She knew that Hawkins would always be her true home, filled with ups and downs, pain and triumphs - but ultimately home. 

She had been introduced to several different ideas of home, each one associated with individual memories. There was the painful yet meaningful memory of her father, his eyes filled with contentment as he taught her the word before dancing to Jim Croce. It was left with a new hope, the hope that perhaps having a new start outside of Hawkins would help to ease the emptiness within her heart. He had taught her to remember the pain, to not let herself get trapped in the deep, dark cave. But with every day that passed without his goofy smile and loud snoring, it was difficult for her to want anything more than to crawl into a black hole. But there was another meaning of home, one that she associated with freckles that danced around like stars in the night sky, and jittery fingers that never knew where to settle. A home that she left behind, one that she had never wanted to let go of. But it the wound had cut her deep, festering over time just like Papa had once taunted, the spreading pain when she remembered that he wasn't coming back. As long as her Dad wasn't there, she couldn't call it home. 

"Mike?" she called out softly. 

The seconds ticked by, her small hands gripping the walkie talkie tighter, looking out for some sign that he could hear her. She was brought back to the long days that they spent apart, three hundred and fifty three days of longing and loneliness. But it is different this time, she reminded herself, because Mike was going to answer. 

"E-El?" his voice came through slightly cracked. "E-El? Can-"

"Yes!" she cried happily, interrupting impatiently. "Yes! I-I...I can hear you!"

"T-The sig...pretty..eak" the line broke up. 

She bit her lip, wishing that she could enhance the signal with her powers so that she could hear him better. It was strange at first, something that she practiced every day so that she could coax them into returning like Mike reassured her, but it felt different this time. Mike had taught her over the summer about stars, them laying down outside the cabin and watching them sparkle through the trees. He told her that stars held different legends, that they were filled with stories and that even when they couldn't show themselves, they would always be there. They would always be there when needed the most. Her powers came with the same crushing fear that perhaps one day she would really need them, but they wouldn't be there. 

"Hold on..." she mumbled, hearing him asking her to repeat moments later due to the weak line. She poked her head out of her new bedroom, hearing nobody about before sneaking out of the new back door, heading out to the garden. She made her way to the slight hill by their picket fence, turning up the volume on the walkie talkie higher. "Is that any better?"

Mike sighed in relief. "That's better, El! What did you do?"

"Went outside" she explained. 

He smiled and murmured, "Clever", to himself.