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Her eyes shut, she gasps desperately for air, like she’s drowning.
“ELEVEN!”
Her eyes snap open.
“M- Mike?” She registers the fact that she’s lying down and she pushes herself slowly up by the elbows, she feels disoriented and groggy.
“EL! EL!” Comes his voice again, but he’s no where to be seen.
“Mike?” Her voice trembles as she looks around. She’s in the classroom, but it’s not the classroom — it’s dead and decaying, it’s the Upside Down, and lying next to her is the withered, burnt corpse of the Demogorgan.
“ELEVEN! EL! PLEASE!” He’s crying, she can tell by the strains and cracks in his voice, and the sound physically pains her.
“Mike,” she says, louder than she had before, but her own voice breaks and tears spring to her eyes.
“Eleven,” he calls out one last time before he becomes consumed with sobs.
Eleven stands up, her knees wobbling slightly.
“Mike!” She calls, and a tear runs down her cheek. “Mike, can you hear me?”
No reply; another tear tricked down her cheek.
“MIIIIIIIIKE!” She shrieks so hard that her head rings and the windows shatter.
She waits for a reply.
Nothing.
He can’t hear her.
She collapses onto her knees, wracked with sobs; loud, painful ones; she is so exhausted, all the way down to her bones, and just can’t do it anymore, she needs a break.
“Mike,” she chokes between the sobs, “Mike,”
In that very classroom on the Other Side, Mike is on his knees too, crying and whispering her name.