4 Finally Safe

Twelve awoke from his slumber, he had drooled on the floor, he was refreshed. Careful to to wake her, Twelve carefully lifted Elevens arms off of his shoulder and stood up, stretching his stiff legs. Twelve silently crept around the basement, looking at all of the strange things these boys owned. A long wire that had some sort of charger on the end, but not any kind of charger, this was to charge bigger batteries. The board on the table was covered in little plastic figurine, a book was left open on a page that described a 'mind flayer' a photo of a large black cloud and underneath was written, "The Mind Flayer can control its enemies. The Mind Flayer takes over the dimension that it attacks and creates its own." Twelve thought it was just a silly game so he left it alone.

Twelve stared at the door that stood shut at the top of the staircase. Twelves feet scraped across the carpet, onto the hard, splintery surface. A quiet creeping of the wood woke Eleven. They lock eyes. Elevens eyebrows raised, she shook her head, warning Twelve no to continue up the stairs.

"no" Eleven mouthed.

Twelve nodded his head in acknowledgment and walked back down the the timber steps and kept looking around the basement. A giant fluffy teddy bear called out to Twelve, his heart slowly grew faster in pace. The teddy bear had thick, soft fur and a black button nose. The bear was a beautiful light brown apart from the belly which was an ice white, slightly shorter and softer fur. It's paws were soft and squishy but lacked the fur that the rest of the body wore.

The peace in the room was quickly shifted by Lucas and Dustin swing the door open, slamming it behind them and running down the stairs with a sense of urgency.

Panting, Dustin said with a lisp "Okay. we got you breakfast." only pausing to catch his breath. "I hope you like Pancakes."

Twelve nodded and took the cold china plate off Dustin and grabbed one of four of the slightly toasted pancakes, oozing and dripping butter all over the plate, Twelves teeth easily pierced the soft treat. He walked over to Eleven and handed her the plate. But Eleven wasn't interested in the food.

"Something else?" Twelve asked Eleven, curious as to why she didn't want to eat.

"No." Eleven politely denied.

"we're off to school. Don't leave until we get back okay?" Lucas told them.

Eleven and Twelve Both nodded hard with their eyes wide open. Dustin and Lucas ran back up the stair and rushed through the door, again slamming it behind them.

A few minutes later, Mike calmly walks down the stairs, "Okay i told my mom i was sick so i could stay home." Mike said "come, no one's home, we can go upstairs."

They followed mike upstairs. The first room Mike showed them was the dining room. "Here is where we cook food and eat" He explained. The dining room was filled with a large table, it was made of wood and was sanded to a shine, the chairs also wood, matching the large table. Underneath the table was a huge rug, it felt deep, like you would sink if you stood on it. The soft threads on the rug warmed the spaces in between their toes.

Then Mike lead them into the living room, carpeted with a soft woollen layer that made Eleven and Twelve feel like they were standing on a cloud. There was a couch, unlike the one in the basement, this one was very comfortable, Eleven sat on the cushions and immediately sank into the sofa. Twelve was occupied sitting on the equally soft armchair. Twelve ran his hands across the sides, discolouring the parts his finger scraped. He felt a kind of button, he clicked it in and Twelve was instantly startled by the chairs ability to lean back and lift a leg rest to comfort him. In the centre of the living room was a coffee table. covered in ring marks left dotted around from spilled coffee.

"Let's go upstairs." Mike abruptly stood up and walked up another flight of stairs, followed by Eleven and Twelve. "This is Nancys room," he stood by a door way, inside was a room decorated in pink-ish wallpaper, a large queen-sized bed, a night stand with a lamp and boxes all over it. Without wasting time they moved on to mikes room. Mike had a much smaller bed, his nightstand was a radio on it, in another one of those charger things, "nothing special" Mike said. Eleven was busy staring at a photo on Mikes drawers, "Eleven?" Twelve curiously looked over Elevens shoulder at the photo, Eleven pointed at a boy in the photo "Will?" Eleven asked Mike, turning her head to look at him. Mikes face filled with shock, "You know him?" he asked. Eleven gave a small nod.

After school, Dustin and Lucas went over to Mike's after an urgent radio call. They were desperate to here the news Mike was saying was so important. They met up in the basement and discussed what to do next, "We need to question her." Lucas said

"No." Mike disagreed, "We don't want to scare them."

"Scare them?!" Lucas was furious, "We found them in the woods. ALONE." Lucas raised his voice even more "They are FREAKS, If anything WE should be scared of them!"

"Shut up" Dustin interjects "You guys are being total assholes." he continued "we ask what they know."

"How do you know Will?" Dustin asked, he got no response.

"SEE. she's a freak!" Lucas shouted. Eleven jumped back, catching herself from falling onto her back

"Stop you're scaring her." Mike reminded Lucas "I told you not to do that!"

"why are you even here?" Lucas talked down to Eleven and Twelve like they meant nothing. Eleven looked at Twelve, she knew if the woman in the suit found out about this, the boys would be in danger. Realisation covered Eleven and Twelves faces.

"What is it?" Mike read their facial expression "why are you here?"

Eleven swallowed, getting ready to talk. Twelve speaks instead, "Bad man" referring to Papa. "Bad people"

"What do you mean, bad people?" mike questioned. Eleven made a gun shape with her fingers and pretended to shoot herself and Twelve. The three boys stared at each other, They all understood.

Trying not to panic, Mike and Dustin said good night, Mike lightly nudged Lucas until he said goodnight as well. Eleven and Twelve couldn't get any sleep. They didn't know how much longer they would feel safe for.