Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Four: El, Short For Eleven

It was an extremely frail little girl, drenched in rain water and wearing nothing but an oversized yellow t-shirt. At least, I think it was a girl. Her head was shaved, so if I was being honest, I couldn't really tell, but based on facial features alone, it seemed to be a little girl. She was dripping wet, and shivering with a fearful look in her eyes, and I instantly lowered the gun.

"Who are you!?" Dustin shouted. The girl didn't answer, just continued to stare at us with wide, terrified eyes. I held a hand out behind me, urging them to stay quiet before putting my dufflebag down and unzipping it. I pulled a jacket from the bag, closing it and wrapping it around the girl's shoulders. I also handed her a pair of pants, which I was sure would be at least three sizes too big for her. She eyed them warily. I smiled at her, nodding and she gently took them from my hand. I stood in front of her, turning to face the boys as she put them on.

I fished my soggy notepad out of my jacket, writing out a message as best I could.

We need to get help.

~~~

Unsure of what else to do, we headed back to the Wheeler's house, sneaking the girl in through the back door and into the basement, where she now sat on the couch, still soaking wet and staring at us. She hadn't said a word this whole time. She was panting, clearly mortified.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked.

"Where's your hair?" Dustin questioned. "Do you have cancer?"

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Is that blood?" Lucas reached out towards the red stain on the collar of her shirt, but Mike slapped his hand away.

"Stop it! You're freaking her out!'

"She's freaking me out!" 

"I bet she's deaf!" Dustin clapped at her, causing her to jump. "Not deaf." I waved them off, silently telling them to shut up before sitting down beside the girl. She stared up at me.

"Maybe she's like Riley and just doesn't talk," Dustin said, "Maybe they can communicate with their mute telepathy." 

"Shut up, Dustin." Lucas told him.

"You shut up!"

"No you-"

"Both of you shut up!"

"Hi."

Suddenly all of the arguing stopped as eyes fell on me, the three extra pairs now just as wide and shocked as the girl's because for the first time in a year...for the first time since I had returned to the real world...I had spoken.

My voice was raspy from lack of use, my throat was sore, and anxiety ripped through me like a claw, but for some reason, I felt the need to ignore it. I felt like I had to talk to this girl so...I did.

"I'm Riley." I said quietly. I looked up at Mike. "You got any clean clothes? Yours will probably fit her better than mine will." He jogged over to the washing machine across the room. Dustin pointed at me.

"You talked." He said in amazement. I nodded, turning my attention back to the girl. Thunder roared and she winced, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Hey..." I put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to look at me. "Its ok...its just Thunder. We're inside, its fine." 

"Here, these are clean. Ok?" He held out a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants to her. I took them, gently placing them into her hands and taking my jacket from her shoulders. She held them against her face for a second before standing up and reaching down to pull the shirt over her head.