spit swears and lost boys

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

The four pre-teens—Dustin, Lucas, Alina, and Mike—gathered at the fort that Mike had made for Eleven to sleep in, the girl in question currently sitting there, waiting for them. It was piled full of pillows, a sleeping bag, and contained Mike's walkie-talkie.

Alina had noticed before that the other boys also had one, which meant that it was a mark of being in the party to have one of those communication devices. Of course, given that Alina had had nobody to talk to with a walkie-talkie for most of her life, she didn't have one. Just another reason that she was an outcast.

Mike came with a tray of meatloaf for Eleven, who was currently playing with the walkie-talkie, static buzzing out of it. He knelt down in front of her, holding the tray out to her, the meatloaf on it cooling slightly but still warm enough to eat. "No adults," he soothed, for she'd looked worried, "Just us and some meatloaf."

Eleven didn't take the tray, her nervous eyes flickering onto Dustin and Lucas. Alina knew why. She must've been scared that they'd tell Mrs. Wheeler when they were up there, given that Lucas had said that, his plan only failed by her action of locking and shutting the door. Her eyes didn't meet Alina's though, and Alina knew that Eleven trusted her, too.

"Don't worry." Mike saw where she was looking. "They won't tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?"

Dustin, who was looking a little starstruck at the sight of the small girl, spoke, his eyes bright. "We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers."

At this, Mike turned, hitting Dustin on the leg, the boy stumbling back slightly from the blow. Dustin cried out in pain, glaring at Mike, and Alina tried not to let a laugh escape as Mike spoke again to Eleven soothingly. "What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just... scared. Earlier. That's all."

"We just wanted to find our friend," said Lucas. Lucas was right, but Alina had to admit he had been a little violent with Eleven earlier. But she guessed that it was because she was a stranger who apparently knew about Will but wouldn't say where he was. Alina wasn't sure, but she thought that if she had a friend, she might do the same thing.

Eleven looked confused. "'Friend'?" she repeated.

"Yeah," Lucas urged, "friend. Will?"

Eleven was still looking lost. "What... is friend?" she asked. Alina felt a surge of sympathy for Eleven, the girl who could barely form words of her own, who'd never grown up with a family who cared about her, who didn't even know what a friend was, because, like Alina, she'd never had any.

Lucas, however, was just looking flabbergasted. "Is she serious?"

"Don't look at me," said Alina with a shrug, "this is new to me too. And.." she continued, not wanting to guilt-trip the boys, "she probably never had any friends. In the Lab."

Lucas let out a breath. "I guess you're right," he said, looking back to Eleven. "Um..." he began, "a friend—"

"—is someone that you'd do anything for," Mike interrupted.

"You lend them your cool stuff," piped up Dustin, "like comic books and trading cards."

"And they never break a promise."

Lucas brightened. "Especially when there's spit."

"Spit?" Eleven and Alina spoke at the same time. Alina had never heard this before.

"A spit swear means..." Lucas spat on his hand, a glob of saliva that made Alina inch away from him slowly, nose wrinkled in revulsion. "you never break your word," he continued, clapping his hand onto Dustin's and shaking. "It's a bond."

"A gross bond," Alina muttered, as Dustin held up his now saliva-covered hand, grimacing at it in disgust before wiping it on his shirt.

"That's super important," said Mike, "because friends... they tell each other things. Things that parents don't know." He smiled at Eleven. "Which is exactly why they aren't going to tell anybody, okay?"

Eleven blinked slowly, glancing from Lucas, who was grinning at the sight of Dustin frantically wiping his hand on his shirt, to Dustin, to Alina, who had moved away from the boys and sat alone on the couch. Alina noticed Eleven staring, the girl's face contorting into a frown. "Friend," Eleven repeated, just loud enough for Alina to hear her.

"Well, don't rub it in," Alina muttered. To be truthful, the entire speech by the boys had left her feeling more stupid than usual. Somebody who lent things to you? Who you told everything to? Who you'd do anything for? Who'd never break a promise? It was exactly everything Alina had never had. She'd been forced to grow up with her emotions in a bottle, just waiting to explode. She'd grown up barely speaking in school, feeling like a little piece of her was fading away every day. One day she'd just disappear.

"Hey." Lucas sat beside her on the couch, and Alina started. She hadn't even realized that Dustin and Mike had moved on to talking about something else, Eleven returning to fiddling with the walkie-talkie. "Everything okay?"

Alina gave him a sour smile. "Everything's fine." The words were practically spat out. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Lucas sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know you've grown up without having anyone to express your emotions to," he said. "And I'm not the best at knowing what to do when people are upset and stuff, but... if you ever need someone to talk to about stuff, you can talk to me, alright? So..." he looked a little hesitant, but plowed on, "is everything okay?"

Alina huffed out a sigh before speaking. "Today has been... insane," she begun. "I've been working up to today for over a month. Last night was the tensest of my life, because somehow, inside me, I knew that today was the day I'd find everything out. About why El was in the Lab. Why my dad lied to me. But when it actually happened... I... I guess I didn't expect for it to be this extreme."

"Your dad lied to you?" Lucas's face had fallen. "Why?"

"He told me that El was this sort of hostile monster that attacked everything she saw. He told me to run if I ever saw her." She laughed bitterly. "He didn't know that I had met her that very same night. And I just..." she blinked, surprised when tears began to flutter down her face. "He told me that what they were doing in the Lab was good. But I know that that's not true anymore."

Lucas had moved closer to her, putting a tense hand on her shoulder. Alina took a deep breath before continuing. "And now El has some kind of telekinetic ability, Will's missing and I need to help you guys find him, I have to find the file on Eleven so we can learn more about what we're dealing with, and if she was born with her abilities or developed them due to the experimentation, and on top of that, I'm such an outcast that Mike visibly cringes when he noticed I was here, and on top of that, I had to sit at dinner and pretend like nothing was wrong when Mrs. Wheeler asked me about my dad, or Mr. Wheeler talked about my mom!"

Alina stopped talking abruptly, eyes wide. She'd never spilled that much to anyone who wasn't Skywalker. Ever. Not even her dad knew the deep levels of sorrow that reached Alina's heart, and Alina knew she couldn't talk to him anymore. She stood up quickly. "I'm—I'm so sorry. I shouldn't... I shouldn't have—"

Lucas smiled a little. "It's okay, Alina...it's..." he paused, mustering up the courage to speak. "if you don't mind me asking, what... what happened? With your mom?"

Alina shrugged. "She ran away. There's nothing more to the story. I don't... she was a piece of shit, but I don't really blame her for going. Her and my dad were always fighting, throwing dishes at each other and getting violent... and she treated me like shit most of the time, tried to mold me into the housewife or whatever she wanted me to be. The night you... the night you found me, they were having this big argument, like, bigger than usual. I guess it was just... the final straw for her."

"Oh." Lucas looked like he was about to say more, perhaps comfort the girl who was practically in hysterics, when Eleven stood up from her fort, making her way over to the Dungeons and Dragons board. As Alina watched, Eleven sat at the table and laid her palms flat, gazing intensely at the pieces. Alina stood, thankful for the excuse to leave this awkward conversation with Lucas, and followed Eleven to the table.

Alina's cheeks were burning, embarrassed she'd confessed so much to a total stranger, even though Lucas had been the one to ask her to talk to him. But Alina knew he didn't want her baggage. He was probably dealing with enough as it was.

"What's the weirdo doing?" Lucas murmured, as if conjured by her thoughts. Alina hadn't even realized he, as well as Dustin and Mike, had also gathered around Eleven.

Eleven's eyes were closed now, the eyeballs moving rapidly underneath their sockets. Mike, who seemed to be getting more and more concerned each tense second that passed, took a step towards her. "El?"

Eleven's eyes suddenly opened, and she reached for one of the figures on the game board. The wizard. Holding the silver piece up for the group to see, the name seemed to slip out of her mouth in a tone just above a whisper.

"Will."

Dustin let out a gasp at the name. "Superpowers," he said in a hushed voice. Lucas shook his head before returning his gaze back at Eleven, who, Alina saw, was staring at the wizard as if it might just be Will.

Mike sat down beside Eleven. "Did you see him?" he asked her. "On Mirkwood?"

Alina leaned over to Dustin, who was the closest. "What's Mirkwood?" she murmured to him.

"It's from the Hobbit," he whispered back, head bobbing seriously. "It's a road where Cornwallis and Kerley meet. We named it."

"Do you know where he is?" Mike pressed.

Instead of answering, Eleven swept the other game pieces off the board, which fell to the ground in a clatter. Confusion swept through Alina as the small girl flipped the Dungeons and Dragons board over, placing the wizard figure in the centre of the black.

"I don't understand," said Mike, and Alina was glad she wasn't the only one. The wizard that apparently was supposed to represent Will—Alina figured that must've been the character he always played as, which was why Dustin was so impressed Eleven knew—was lonely on the black board, like Alina imagined Will was. But why had Eleven flipped the board over? What was she trying to prove?

Eleven stared at her creation. "Hiding," she said.

"Will is hiding?"

Eleven nodded.

"From the bad men?" Alina asked, her whole body shaking. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if it really was the scientists that had taken Will, just like they had most likely taken Eleven. But Eleven surprised them all by shaking her head, sending relief through Alina, followed by confusion.

"Then from who?" Mike asked. As a response, Eleven set another piece beside the wizard. The Demogorgon. One of the most difficult monsters to fight in the game.

Sweat beaded on Alina's forehead at the sight of this monstrous piece by Will's wizard. What as Will really hiding from? Where was he? And if it really was the Demogorgon—or something of the sort, as Eleven had most likely just used the piece to represent the Demogorgon instead of it actually being the Demogorgon—how much longer could Will last hiding from it?

Dustin, Lucas and Mike's eyes were wide, their breaths heavy, all three of them afraid. Alina was glad she wasn't the only one.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: merry christmas if you celebrate it! i hope you have a wonderful day :)

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! i'm really enjoying all of your feedback/comments on this book, so thank you for all of the support! 'till next time!