HE REMEMBERED THE MORNING when she first told him about the bad people. Mike didn’t know anything about them, except with the quick passage of days he became furious at the thought of anyone who could possibly want to HURT her --- including the bad men she was hiding from. In Mike’s eyes, despite the short time he had known Eleven, he already couldn’t imagine a world without her. The impetus behind his struggle to find the right words in her presence so often paled in comparison to the sheer strength she exuded on a day to day basis. Mike reached for her, flinging his arms around her. Time expanded until it filled the whole entire fort, flooding the rest of the basement. With the deepest of breaths, he gathered his words and said, ❛ It’s okay. ❜ He was trying to soothe her, to sweep away any lingering traces of fear and loneliness. ❛ You’re safe now, ❜ he murmured softly.
cont.
