Mike's point of view...

It was the next morning, and that morning was a rainy Friday one. On Fridays, the boys and I would stay the night at one or the other's house. We alternated weekends. This weekend was my weekend, and like I had told the boys yesterday, anyways, we were going to talk about our connection. I wasn't going to let a second go to waste.

As soon as I was awake enough to do so, I picked up my intercom and attempted to talk to Lucas to see if he was up.

"Lucas, its Mike. Do you copy? Over."

Silence.

"Lucas, do you copy? Over."

"I copy."

...

...

"You have to say 'over' whe-"

"I'm awake! Over!"

I chuckled lightly at his annoyance.

"Anyways," I began to say. "Remember, you're coming over for the night after school, and I plan on discussing-"

"We know. Eleven. I'm all in. Over."

"Good. Make sure you bring your intercom, too. You never know. It might come in handy. Over."

"Sure. I'll see you at school, Mike. Over and out."

I pushed in my antenna and got out of bed to get dressed and do the rest of my morning routine.

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I sat beside Nancy at breakfast, and I had to admit, she looked slightly different. She looked as if she were guilty of something. Apparently, my mom noticed, too. "Nance, are you alright? You look a bit pale." Nancy didn't answer. "Nancy?" My mom asked, trying to get her attention. Nancy was busy staring at her breakfast plate to talk, I guess. I snapped my fingers in front of her face. "Earth to Nancy Wheeler," I said. She jerked her head up and glared at me. Before she could yell at me, my mom interjected. "Nancy! What's wrong with you this morning?" Nancy's face scrunched. "I- I- Nothing, momma. I'm fine," she lied. Her lying has only gotten worse and worse.

I rolled my eyes and continued to eat my breakfast. My mom decided to leave Nancy alone, but Holly didn't. "Nancy okay?" She asked. Nancy smiled at our little sister. "Yes, Holly, Nancy's okay," she said as she stood up and kissed her forehead, then proceeded to put her plate in the sink. Soon enough, I was done, too, and I had put my dishes away in the sink.

I ran upstairs to my room to grab my rain jacket and backpack for school. When I returned downstairs, I heard Holly say, "More juice! More juice!" I came down at the wrong time. "Michael, honey, before you leave, could you just go get Holly some more juice, please?" My mom asked. I softly sighed, but agreed to anyways.

I grabbed Holly's cup and took the top off. I went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, taking out some apple juice and pouring it back into her cup. As I was putting the lid back on Holly's cup, I heard a noise and turned around. It was the sink. The sink was on. My mouth gaped open as I remembered what Will had told us yesterday about the sink in his house. "Eleven? Is that you?" I whispered, only halfway expecting an answer. It could have easily just been in my head, but I swore I heard a voice say "Mike." Going with my instinct, I replied, "Contact me around 3:30 today, okay, El? That's 3, 3, 0, understand?" I asked, once again in a whisper tone. The voice returned. "3, 3, 0," it said. I smiled. The voice sounded extremely hushed and as if it were very far away, but I knew it was her. I knew it was Eleven. I knew her voice as well as I knew my own. "El, I have to go now, but remember, 3, 3, 0." "Goodbye, Mike," the voice returned.

My smile dulled as I put away the juice and returned the cup to my little sister. "Bye, family," I said as I walked out the door to the garage. I lifted my hood, grabbed my bike, and began to pedal off into the rain. This was going to be a long day, for sure.

As I began to pedal along, all of the boys joined me in the ride as they saw me on the road. First Lucas, then Dustin, then Will. They all actively engaged in conversation while I remained quiet like I typically would ever since November. We left our bikes in the bike rack before heading inside of our school and getting ready for our first class. I didn't tell any of the others about the water. At least, not yet. I will tonight when the time as right, but for now, I decided I should probably allow all of us to enjoy our favorite subject.

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Steve's point of view...

It was lunch time and I usually sit with Nancy and Jonathan for lunch. Yeah, Jonathan. A while ago, I ditched my old friends Tommy and Carol after I realized what jerks they both were. Plus, a while after Jonathan found his brother, I knew I needed to apologize. My old friends and I treated him awfully. That's, of course, another reason why I bought him another camera. No matter how much of a messed up thing it was to take pictures of us without our permission, I shouldn't have broke his camera. I should have been a better person about that.

Jonathan and I have become good friends since then. I've started to hang out with him more, and me doing so has gotten him a better reputation with the school. What many people thought of him before is best left unsaid. Realistically, Jonathan is a cool guy and we have a bit in common, too.

As I walked into the cafeteria, I saw Nancy and Jonathan already sitting down with their lunch and talking. I smiled as I went to go get my lunch to join them. As I made my way over to the table, I waved. Jonathan looked up and saw me and waved back while saying something to Nancy at the same time. I took a seat next to Nancy, wrapped my arm around her, then kissed her head. "Afternoon," I said to them. "'Sup," Jonathan replied while Nancy gave me a kiss on the cheek as a response. Jonathan just continued to eat.

"So, Nancy," I began to say. She raised an eyebrows. "Yes?" She replied. "I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie with me tonight. Just the two of us," I offered. I noticed Jonathan picked his head up and glanced at Nancy for a second. They made eye contact before Jonathan, once again, continued to eat. Weird. "I'm- um- I'm sorry, but I can't tonight. I have to babysit Holly..." she explained. "But I can tomorrow if you're able to," she bargained. "Deal." I smiled and pulled her closer to me as the three of us continued our lunch conversation. During the time, however, I couldn't help but think that the two of them were acting weird today. They way they look at each other, Nancy was stuttering, and Jonathan being so quiet doesn't add up to me. Is there something going on between the two of them that I should know about?

Nah, Jonathan wouldn't do that to me. Nancy wouldn't do that to me. Would she? Would he? Would they?

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Will's point of view, after school...

"Where were you at lunch today?" Lucas, Mike, Dustin, and I had just met up to ride our bikes to Mike's place after school and that was the first thing that was said to me since I had walked out of the building. Mike was the one to ask. "Oh," I was about to answer. "Just- Um- Around, you know.." I mumbled. "Right," Lucas said rolling his eyes. Before I could protest, Mike interrupted. "Stop your bickering. We should get to my house." We all shrugged, grabbed our bikes, and started to make our way away from the school.

"Why are you in such a rush, Mike?" Dustin asked as we were walking to get by the road. I didn't know why Mike was in such a rush today, either, but if I were to be in a rush for any reason at all, it'd be because of all of this rain. It started in the middle of the night sometime, I think, and it hasn't stopped since then. It hasn't been a stormy rain, but it's been enough to make you want to stay indoors. "I talked to El-" "Well won't you have a look," a voice interjected. "Shit," Lucas mumbled. We all knew who it was. It was Troy. "Oh, my my my, how the freak show has come to town." "Shut up," Lucas instantly fired back. Troy raised his eyebrow, taken back. "You want to say that again?" "Sure! I said shut up," Lucas replied again. This is a bad idea. "Lucas, let's just leave," I tried to talk him out of what he was doing. "You should probably listen to the little fag, dumbass. It'll save you the trouble," Troy had said as he smirked at Lucas, getting closer and closer to him. Dustin pulled Lucas away. "We're leaving, we have more important things to do than dealing with your bullshit." Wow, Dustin. That was a good one.

We all quickly hopped on our bikes and started to pedal away as Troy continued to yell at us from back where we were. As we were far enough on the road, Dustin spoke up. "Mike, continue what you were saying before he showed up," he said. Mike was silent for a moment, remembering what he said. "Oh, yeah, well, I talked to Eleven this morning-" "Wait, how? I didn't hear her or you on the intercom this morning," Lucas said, cutting Mike off. "If you'd hush, I'd explain," Mike retort in annoyance. Dustin and I shared a glance as we chuckled.

"Anyways," Mike continued. "The same thing with the water that Will was talking about happened to me this morning. But not only that, Eleven talked to me. I think- I-" Mike stopped speaking. We all waited in anticipation. "This is too complicated to explain right now. Let's just wait until we get to my place," he said. We all nodded in agreement and continued to pedal our way through town.

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We arrived at Mike's house not too much later. We parked our bikes in his garage and entered his home, where his family greeted us. After that, we all brought our backpacks and things we brought to stay the night down to the basement. The first thing Mike did was set down his intercom on the small table where we usually play Dungeons and Dragons. Then he motioned for us to come sit with him on the floor after he did that.

As we sat, Mike looked at his watch. It was 3:24pm. "Okay," Mike began. "I don't have much time to explain. But anyways, like I said before, the water had turned on in my house this morning. I asked El if she was there, not really expecting an answer, honestly. That was just kind of my way of comforting myself, I guess," Mike began to say and then sighed. I looked down at the floor and bit my lip. I wasn't around when Eleven was, but wow, they must have been really close. "The thing is, though, Eleven did answer me. At first I thought it was in my head, but she kept responding exactly to what I was saying. Her voice did sound far away and quiet. It also sounded like it was echoing, and I mean, that can't be all in my head, can it?" We all just sat in silence, assuming that question was rhetoric. Actually, more like hoping it was.

"Come on, guys! Show some faith," Mike pleaded. "I mean," I began to say. "There is a possibility that it could have been her. A pretty big one." "Thank you, Will,"  Mike said in reply. I smiled, but then Dustin chimed in. "I don't know, dude, that seems a little far fetched," he said, which, I also have to agree with him as much as I agree with Mike. "Well how about this," Mike challenged. "I told El to contact us at 3:30 while I was talking to her earlier which is any minute now. If that was really her, she'll contact us. If it wasn't, and if it was all in my head, you can make fun of me all you want, but I know her voice," Mike finished. We all looked at each other. "Alright," Dustin was the only one to answer.

The next few minutes were pretty silence. We were all at a loss as to what to say. Mike was checking his watch about every thirty seconds. It came by 3:30 finally, and sure enough, after a few seconds, we heard a static noise coming from the intercom. Our eyes all widened with shock and Mike immediately rushed over to it and pulled the antenna up. We waited until we heard a voice.

"M-M-Mi-Mike?" The intercom spoke. Mike smiled. "El, it's me, Mike. Where are you? What's going on?" Mike asked her. You could tell just by his voice that he was eager for answers. El spoke. "It's raining. Cold and wet." I saw a light smile slowly form on Lucas' and Dustin's lips while hearing her voice. "That's good, El. What else? Anything, just, tell me anything," Mike urged on. "I miss you...I miss you, Mike, and my friends," she said. Mike bit his lip and stared at the device. "I-I miss you to, El," he said. I rolled my eyes, but smiled. I'm happy for him.

Dustin, who I suppose was fed up with the display of affection, snatched the intercom from Mike. "Eleven, this is Dustin, and we all miss you very much, but we need to help find you. Tell us more about where you're at, please," He said to Eleven. There was a pause before she spoke again. "Beast wanted to hurt me, but I stopped it. Big, golden-brown, with lots of long hair around it's head," El explained. Dustin looked up at us and mouthed the word 'lion.' We all nodded, agreeing that that was a good possibility that that was what she encountered. "How can we get to you, El?" Lucas asked. We heard a slight crackle from Eleven's end. "I d-don't know," she said, crying. My mouth slightly dropped open and my face grew soft. I feel awful now.

Mike grabbed the intercom from Dustin. "Eleven, I know you can't hold the conversation much longer," he began to say over the cracklings sound of the intercom. "But I just want you to know that- that we're all thinking about you here. All four of us. And I know that I will not stop until I find you and bring you back home, understand?" Mike asked. His voice was cracking, and though his back was currently toward me, I knew he was crying. "Ok-k-a-...ik-ke," the intercom's reception continued to fail, until we heard nothing but static. Mike set the device down on the table and then wiped his face, probably trying to hide the fact that he was crying.

He went over and sat back down where we had been before the call. I followed him, and soon after I did, so did Lucas and Dustin.

"So," Dustin began to say, breaking the ice. "We have two new pieced of information that are very useful. Eleven said it was raining. If it was like our weather the other day, and if it was like our weather today, then wherever she is must be built like our dimension. Plus, she described what can very easily be assumed a lion, right? Well, if we piece that with our bear and mice theory, we start to have a pattern," Dustin continues to explain. All of us nod in agreement. "I think what we really need to focus on the most now is where exactly is she and how do we get her out of there," Lucas added, which we all agreed on.

I frowned. "Well, I don't honestly think we can truly know where he is unless we're actually there, you know? And Hawkins Lab closed down long ago, so there shouldn't be any sort of gate to anywhere..anywhere," I said. "Will's right," Mike said sadly. "We can't figure out where, but we're going to have to figure out how." "Well, the Demogorgon always just emerged from walls and stuff, but I don't think El can do that. I mean, I could be wro-" "No, you're right, Dustin," Mike said, responding to Dustin who was explaining his thoughts.

"Wait," said Lucas suddenly. We all looked at him. "Back in November, Eleven did that connection thing to talk to Will through the kiddy pool tank thing, through the water," he said. Mike and Dustin nodded, but I just sat, slightly confused. "If she could connect from here to the Upside Down through the water, what if she could connect from there to here with the water?" Lucas theorized. Dustin and Mike suddenly looked like they had just seen God. "Lucas, you could be right!" "But," Dustin cut off Mike's happy exclamations. "Eleven didn't actually travel to the Upside Down that way, she just connected to it, like, foreshadowed it," he finished. Lucas thought for a second. "Well, what if we could connect someone to there from this side at the same time as El connects from wherever she is?" Lucas suggested. "But none of us have mind abilities like she does," Dustin protested. "Yeah, but El does," I chimed in, semi-understanding the conversation. "If she has enough power, and since she would be connecting to us, anyways, maybe she could have enough power within herself to have someone from here meet her halfway through that special connection thing from this end," I finished saying. Lucas, Mike, and Dustin looked at each other with bright smiles.

"You just struck gold, wiz kid."

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I made this chapter extra long to make up for the last chapter! Sorry again for that! All the love xx