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━━━━ " 📂  "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

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JONATHAN HAD DROPPED SADIE back at the school so she could pick up her car, their trip to Indianapolis proving absolutely nothing; Will was nowhere to be found and all Jonathan got out of it was angry that his father could leave them and then have the audacity to tell him what Joyce should have done.

Thankfully, seeing as the drive wasn't so long, Sadie got back in good time, pulling out of the car pack and driving as quick as she dared through the streets of Hawkins, parking right outside of the Wheeler house on the end of the Maple cul-de-sac.

For the second time that week, she knocked on the front door, which was answered by Mrs Wheeler this time. "Sadie, are you here for Nancy? She's just in her room." The woman stepped aside. "Holly's having her nap." Karen explained, seeing the blonde look around for the little girl.

"Right.. I'm not here for Nancy actually." Sadie explained as Mrs Wheeler looked confused. "I'm here to see Mike? I think my brother and Lucas are here as well, and Dustin was telling me about some science thing - or it was to do with Dungeons or Dragons, I don't remember really."

"Of course. You're such a good sister - Nancy hasn't shown any interest in what Mike's doing for about a year now." Karen shook her head. Her children used to be such good friends, now they argued at the breakfast table over orange juice. "Mike and the boys are just up in his room."

"Alright, thank you so much Mrs Wheeler - and is that a new blouse? It looks really good on you." Sadie smiled as she headed towards the stairs. That was how she always did things. Make sure to be nice and offer a compliment or two. Now, if one of the office ladies came and asked her about her not being at school or they called hole, she could easily say she had a headache and they wouldn't bat an eyelid. It was perhaps a little cruel, but she did mean all the compliments and it was only so she could do things like helping Jonathan look for Will.

Sadie climbed up the carpeted stairs, past the door into Nancy's room and instead to the one beside it, knocking twice. The voice she could hear inside fell quiet. "Dustin? It's me."

The voices got loud again, tones more harsh and accusatory. "I'm coming in." Sadie pushed open the door and closed it behind her, a flash of movement and her eyes landed on Lucas holding up a shirt, Mike and Dustin stood in front of it. "You can give it up, Dusty already told me."

"Dustin!" Mike gasped, turning on his friend, who only shrugged.

She stepped forward and lowered the shirt, jaw dropping and eyes widening. "You weren't kidding... Holy shit - you've kidnapped some poor kid." Sadie stared at the scene in front of her; on the bottom bunk of Mike's bed was a child, around the same age as the the three boys. "You have some kid... a girl?"

The girl blinked at her, eyes wide in fear. "No - no, I'm not going to hurt you." Sadie saw the panic and sat beside her. "I'm Dustin's sister - his family."

"Her name's Eleven." Dustin inputted, Mike getting more annoyed by the second.

"I don't think this is a good idea - I just told you about what she said about the bad men!" Mike hissed, trying to keep his voice low. "Sadie should've just been kept out of it, it's safer that way."

"Mike - in case you haven't noticed, we're all dudes. And Eleven's a girl. Who almost stripped in front of us." Dustin pointed out. "She could use someone like her."

Lucas looked confused. "When Dustin mentioned this earlier he said you were going to be here after school, why were you late?" It was a lot of information all at once, and Sadie held up her hand and shushed them.

"First of all, I agree with Dustin. If Eleven's a girl in a group of three guys.. and I'm assuming somethings happened to her? But she needs someone to make an example for her and help her with things." Sadie sent a smile in Eleven's way, hoping to make things a little more comfortable. "Second.. I went to Indianapolis with Jonathan to see if Will was with Lonnie. He wasn't. And come on Mike, I've saved your asses more times then I can count and if this could get you in trouble then I need to hear it - I don't care how dangerous it is, I know about her now, so you should just tell me."

And as Sadie say besides Eleven, Mike told her everything, from how they had found Eleven the night before in the storm, how she had stayed there overnight and cried whilst locked in the closet to hide from Karen. To how she recognised Will and could apparently control things with her mind.

"Like Yoda or some shit?" Sadie raised her eyebrows. "Do things with her mind like what?"

"We've just seen her move things." Dustin shrugged. "We don't really know. And she has a tattoo."

"You do?" Sadie turned to the girl. "Can I ask you a few questions Eleven. Is that okay with you?"

Eleven hesitated, glancing over at Mike before nodding. "Can I see this tattoo?" She didn't hesitate, holding out her arm and pulling up her sleeve, revealing the numbers '011' tattooed in her arm in a digital style. "Thank you." Sadie smiled softly. "Now, do you speak Eleven?"

"El.. for short." Eleven replied. "And yes. I can."

"El, right." Sadie was rather aware of the three boys watching the two girls but she didn't move her attention away from the younger one, the same relaxed expression on her face. "El, can you tell me how you recognised Will?"

"Will?" Eleven repeated, Sadie looked around, Mike handing her the photo frame. Sadie pointed out the boy.

"Will." The Henderson girl nodded. "Do you recognise him?"

"I saw him." Eleven replied. "There."

"There?" Sadie repeated. It was almost like she was dealing with a young child, but of course she wasn't and instead just trying to be as nice and calming as possible. "Where is there, is it where you come from?"

Eleven shook her head. "I.. come from a bad place." She didn't elaborate, even when Sadie asked if she could elaborate. "Bad place. Bad."

"And what about what you saw last night?" Sadie asked. Eleven shook her head again. "Hm.. then what about the bad place? Why is it bad?" 

"Bad men." Eleven said, voice the same, even tone. "Bad, bad men."

"I see." Sadie decided that those sorts of questions for too much for now and stood up, taking of of Eleven's hands. She just held it for a moment, letting her get used to it before pulling her to her feet, turning her slowly. "I can bring her some of my clothes.. I can go to the Big Buy and get a few things for her. Tomorrow I think, I might be going somewhere with Nancy tonight."

"Some of your old clothes are kept in the bags in Mom's room." Dustin reminded her, Sadie nodding.

"I'll do that, okay?" She smiled at Eleven again, still holding her hand as she turned towards the boys. "I have a bag in my car of stuff for her but I don't think it's enough.. I'll grab it for you anyway but then I'll put another one together, with some clothes and some wet wipes to clean herself with and some tissues for when she uses her mind power things.. I'll get her a few girl things as well. But for now I think I should ask what you're planning on doing with her?"

"We don't know yet." Mike admitted. "We don't know about the bad men after her and how far away they are, but I think she knows where he is and how to get to him, right El?"

Eleven didn't react at all really, just nodding her head slightly. "You're so skinny." Sadie frowned, examining her frame before pulling Eleven into a hug, which she hesitantly returned.

"Aren't you freaked out at all?" Lucas still looked skeptical. "We literally just have this random girl from Pennhurst or something and you're calm about it?"

" Oh I'm freaking out right now." Sadie admitted. " More than I have in my life I think. But if you're trying to make El feel safe, then that isn't the way to go about it. She needs to feel comfortable."

"Kids!" Karen's voice shouted up the stairs, and everyone glanced at each other, worried for a split-second. "Can we all come down for dinner please? And yes Sadie, that includes you."

Sighing, Sadie let go of Eleven and turned to the boys. "Do we have to just leave her here?" She asked, receiving only nods in return.

✧

"Sadie? I didn't know you were here." Nancy looked confused as she saw the Henderson girl following her brother, Mike and Lucas out of the room, Mike promptly slamming the door shut behind them.

"Nancy - sorry I didn't tell you. The boys just wanted some help and it's taken longer than I thought. Your mom invited me to stay for dinner." The blonde smiled, waiting behind the boys for Nancy to close her door before making her way downstairs. "How did things go with..." She trailed off, a look in her eyes that gave Nancy the end of the question with ease.

"Oh good." The Wheeler girl replied, lowering her voice. "I'm guessing you didn't find Will in Indianapolis? Does this mean you can come tonight."

"I'm still thinking about it. I'm not sure yet." Sadie shrugged as they made their way down into the dining room, an extra place already set for their extra guest. "Thank you so much for having me, Mrs Wheeler. I know this is a surprise."

"Well yes, I can certainly say it was. But... there's a reason I always make extra." Karen placed a plate in front of Sadie, who was smiling and waving at Holly.

The others received their plates as well, and Mr Wheeler actually managed to hold a conversation with Sadie and Dustin about their scientific interests whilst eating - he didn't do that often.

They made their way through their meals - or at least attempted to. None of the boys could manage to get more than a couple mouthfuls down. Sadie on the other hand had only eating a packet of chips from the gas station during her trip. She didn't particularly want the sandwich that Cynthia had offered to make her either; she could've sworn she saw some sort of creature running across the floor and the place was a tip either way.

"Something wrong with the meatloaf?" Karen asked, noticing this change.

"Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch." Dustin said. "I accidentally took Sadie's as well. I don't know why I ate both."

"Me too." Lucas quickly agreed with him, offering Mrs Wheeler a smile.

"It's delicious, Mommy." Nancy smiled at her mother, and from beside her Sadie watched the interaction, suddenly understanding Nancy's attitude and what she was doing. The same thing she did for every adult.

"Thank you sweetie." Karen Wheeler was none the wiser to Nancy's plan, and Sadie took another bite.

Nancy wasn't planning on waiting around. "So, there's this... special assembly things tonight." She began. "... For Will at the school field. Barb's driving."

"Why am I just hearing about this?" Karen asked.

"I thought you knew."

"I told you? I don't want you out after dark until Will is found." Mrs Wheeler replied.

"I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I'm not there." Nancy turned to the girl beside her. "Besides, Sadie's going as well - so everyones going."

"Just.. be back by 10. And be careful both of you. I'm sure Claudia is just as cautious about this, so stick together, okay?" Mrs Wheeler gave in without much of a fight. "Why don't you take the boys too?"

"No!" A chorus of replies came from the three. Sadie glanced at them all, meeting Dustin's eyes and slowly shaking her head.

"Don't you think you should be there?" Karen looked confused, and as Sadie looked back at her she felt her heart drop. El was making her way down the stairs. "For Will?"

Mike promptly choked on his milk, Dustin slamming his fists against the table.

"Sorry. Spasm." Dustin excused his actions with what he hoped to be a light hearted expression.

"They happen all the time." Sadie added, leaning closer to where Holly was and smiling at her. "It's okay!" She smiled, reaching forward and talking the little girl on the nose. "Dustin just made a loud noise by accident!"

Holly whimpered, Nancy glaring at her brother and Sadie sitting back up, letting out a sigh as she picked up her knife and fork.

Jesus. That was far too close for Sadie's liking.

✧

"Nancy, I don't know if this is a good idea." Sadie had parked her car up behind Barb's, having come to a stop several streets away from Steve's. Barb had come to pick Nancy up, surprised that Sadie was there, and they set off  after the Henderson girl placed the bag for Eleven under a nearby bush. She could always ask to borrow Steve's home phone to get out of any awkward situations that arrived.

She was rather nervous about leaving the boys with Eleven at Mike's house. She was terrified that these 'bad men' would somehow find her and take her away, when she was clearly terrified of them, and if El was terrified of them and she had powers, they were in a whole lot of trouble if they came after her.

Sadie didn't even have any idea who these bad men could be. Most likely the government - considering America's political position with Russia they would do anything for power and success in that, including somehow getting a girl to have mind powers, and who knew just how much Eleven could do.

And seeing as Eleven had run away, if it were the government that she was running from, then the closest place that held any government officials was Hawkins Lab - it might be the Department of Energy, but from what Sadie had researched she had a good idea of how they dealt with nuclear weapons, and how else would they further their position in war other than with a weapon like no other.

She was almost 100% sure that there were people still around involved in MK-Ultra (another thing she found herself horribly invested in and did far too much research on) because quite frankly they couldn't catch and prosecute them all, which meant that of somehow their experiments had worked, Eleven could be a product of that.

But she doubted it, most likely Eleven was just the biggest freak she had ever met, and in the best way.

Alas, she had no time to think of Eleven, Mike, Lucas and Dustin, her gaze landing on Nancy, sat in the passenger seat of Barb's car.

"And why are we stopping three blocks away?" Barb shared the same thoughts as Sadie; that this was not a good idea. Neither of them were popular or on the good side of Carol and Tommy - Carol downright hated Sadie for being friends with Jonathan and tried to get her kicked out of the plans.

"We can't park in the driveway!" Nancy looked at them as if they were both crazy. "The neighbors might see."

"This is so stupid." Barb shook her head, glancing at Sadie leaning against the open window. "I'm just gonna drop you off and then me and Sadie can go to her place and hang."

"I've got to organise all my tapes - Bob said about making sure they don't get dusty and I've not had time for ages.. but we can probably find one." Sadie nodded.

"Barb, come on." Nancy leaned forward. "You promised that you'd go, you're coming. Sadie, you just need some time to relax, you've had a busy day. We're gonna have a great time."

"He just wants to get in your pants." Sadie was never normally so brutally honest, but it was the truth.

"No he doesn't."

"Nance." Barb joined in now. "Seriously... He invited you to his house. His parents are home - come on, you are not that stupid."

"Tommy and Carol are going to be there." Nancy continued, reaching for her bag in the footwell.

Sadie sighed. "Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, the seventh grade." She replied.

"It'll probably just be like a big orgy." Barb nodded.

"Can you both just stop ganging up on me?" Nancy asked, turning towards them as she pulled a shirt out of her bag. "First of all, that's gross, second of all, we're just gonna have fun. A great time, okay? You two can be my guardians, make sure I don't get drunk and do anything stupid."

Barb and Sadie shared a look as Nancy began to change, pulling off her shirt. "Is that the new bra you made me help pick?" Sadie rose her eyebrows as Nancy pulled the striped top over her head.

"Shut up." But Nancy was smiling and Sadie shook her head, returning to her car to retrieve her bag and closing the door, locking them as well. Nancy and Barb had gotten out of her car as well. "Let's go."

"Before I change my mind and me and Barb get out of here." Sadie sighed, following behind Nancy as they began to walk the short distance to Steve's house.

It wasn't long until they got there, but in the dark it was a little disorientating. Finally, they were at the end of his drive, muffled music playing inside.

Nancy reached and pressed down the doorbell, waiting patiently as she stared up at it, glancing her friends way. "Chill, both of you."

"I am chill." Sadie rolled her eyes, arms clutched around her stomach, shivering. "Just a little too chill if you get what I mean? Where the hell is he, I'm freezing."

As if on cue, the doors were pulled open and Steve faced them, a smile on his face as he looked at the three girls. "Hello ladies." He grinned.

Sadie had no idea why she'd even come.