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FOUR!
hello, stranger
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The last thing that Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson and Wendy Harrington expected to find in the woods, was a mysterious girl but they did.

Right now, the four preteens stood in the Wheeler basement as the mysterious girl sat in a frozen state on the couch. She was practically soaked to the bone and shivering as she only sported a long yellow t-shirt that hung to her knees and a jacket that Mike wrapped around her shoulders. She was definitely strange. She had yet to speak and had a shaved head, not very typical to see in your average preteen.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike questioned.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin pondered in disbelief at her shaved head.

"Did you run away?" Lucas asked.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Wendy worried.

"Is that blood?" Dustin asked, reaching out to touch the noticeable red stain on her shirt. The girl just leaned away in fear.

"You're freaking her out!" Mike exclaimed. He was fed up with everyone yelling over each other and could sense the tense atmosphere.

"She's freaking me out!" Lucas argued.

"I bet she's deaf." Dustin suggested before loudly clapping his hands together towards the mysterious girl's ears. She just flinched in fear at the sound and even Wendy flinched a bit as the harsh clapping sound was a little too loud for her hearing aids.

Dustin just grinned happily at his finding. "Definitely not deaf."

"Alright, that's enough. She's just scared and cold." Mike pointed out, hoping the two boys would settle down and shut up about the situation.

He then went over to a laundry basket that sat on top of the table and searched through it for a pair of clean and warm clothes for the girl to wear. He came back over with a sweater and a pair of jeans for her to wear. "Here, these are clean, ok?" Mike handed the small pile of clothes to the girl, who carefully got up from the couch to grab them.

The next thing that happened made everyone scream out in disbelief. The mysterious girl went for her shirt and tried to pull it over her head in front of the boys. Wendy wasn't weirded out because she was a girl herself but the boys were not accustomed to the female bodies yet, so they were in disbelief at the sight. Mike quickly stopped her from completely pulling her shirt off and guided her towards the bathroom.

"See over there? That's a bathroom, privacy." Mike clarified to get his point across. She just nodded and walked into the small room.

Just as Mike was about to shut the door on her, she harshly stopped him by pushing the door back with a scared look. "You don't want it closed?" He questioned in confusion.

"No." The girl shook her head, finally finding her voice. The other preteens stared at her in disbelief as they didn't know if she could actually speak or not.

"Oh, so you can speak. Ok, well, how about we keep the door just like this? Is that better?" Mike asked, leaving the door open a few inches for her.

"Yes." She nodded solemnly.

"This is mental!" Dustin exclaimed in a hushed tone to Mike, not wanting the mysterious girl to hear.

"At least she can talk." Mike pointed out.

"She said, yes and no. Your three year old sister sister says more." Lucas reminded.

"But look at her. Surely, she must be in some kind of trouble." Wendy added, trying to be the peacemaker of the stressful situation.

"She tried to get naked!" Dustin exclaimed.

"There's something wrong with her like in the head." Lucas pointed out.

"She just went....." Dustin pretended to take an invisible shirt off to showcase what she did.

"I bet she escaped Pennhurst." Lucas pondered.

"From where?" Mike asked in confusion.

"The nuthouse in Kerley county." Lucas clarified.

"You got a lot of family there." Dustin mocked, trying to lighten the situation but only received an eye roll from the others.

"Bite me." Lucas rolled his eyes in annoyance before going back to discussing his theory. "Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

"Why she went like that....." Dustin pretending to do the stripping of the invisible shirt again.

He was then met with a punch in the shoulder from Wendy. "Alright, we get it, Dustin." She rolled her eyes, getting annoyed at the constant reminded.

"She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho." Lucas pondered.

"Like Michael Myers." Dustin added.

"Exactly! We should've never brought her here." Lucas exclaimed.

"So you'd rather just leave her out there in the storm." Mike inquired.

"Yes! We went to find Will, not another problem." Lucas reminded.

"We should tell your mom." Dustin suggested.

"I second that." Lucas agreed.

"Yeah, I agree." Wendy nodded.

You could say that it was kind of hypocritical for the Harrington girl to agree with the two boys so quickly as she was currently hiding a total stranger from their dad but Nina was different. Nina immediately tried to form a friendship with the Harrington girl and instantly trusted her. This mysterious girl had done nothing yet that deemed her as trustworthy.

"Who's crazy now?" Mike questioned in disbelief.

"How is that crazy?" Lucas criticized.

"Oh, at least tell the police, Mike." Dustin suggested, trying to stop the two boys from arguing.

"We weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?" Mike reminded in annoyance.

"So?" Lucas shrugged.

"So, if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom and your dad....." Mike started his point but instantly clicked in all of their heads.

"Oh, man......" Dustin sighed.

"Our houses become Alcatraz." Lucas finished.

"Exactly, we'll never find Will." Mike pointed out. "Alright, here's the plan, she sleeps here tonight."

"You're letting a girl....." Lucas exclaimed.

"Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer it and she'll know exactly what to do. She'll send back to Pennhurst or whatever she comes from. We'll totally be in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out and this time we find Will." Mike explained his plan.

Two of the three preteens reluctantly agreed with Mike's plan but Lucas Sinclair was still very apprehensive about the situation and the girl herself. He didn't know if he could trust her as easily as the others did but still tried to understand Mike.

When the mysterious girl had opened the door, dressing in her fresh clothes, the two boys had decided that it was now time for them to go back home.

Wendy had decided to stay an extra few minutes at the Wheeler residence to help the boy set up a makeshift bed for the night as she felt that it would make the girl more comfortable. Mike greatly appreciated the Harrington girl's suggestion and allowed her to stay to help out.

The pair worked quickly to set up a makeshift tent underneath their Dungeons and Dragons playing table by pushing it against the wall. An oversized blanket was placed on top of the wooden surface and a pile of blankets and pillows were placed underneath to made the ground softer to sleep on.

Wendy them guided the mysterious girl to sit in the new makeshift tent that they had created. The two girls sat together in peaceful silence, a sense of trust settling between them as Mike searched for his sleeping bag that he would let the girl to sleep in.

The girl felt a sense of security in the Harrington teen as she was the only one who didn't fly off the handlebars and stayed calm throughout the night.

"What is this?" The girl spoke up finally, breaking the silence between them. She was pointing right at the preteen's sound box in confusion.

"This?" Wendy asked, playing with the wires that connected her hearing aids to her sound box. She earned a nod in return.

"It's a sound box. It helps me hear. I can't hear properly without it." Wendy simplified.

"You can't hear?" She questioned in confusion.

"I can but not well. This helps." Wendy assured.

"Wow......" She breathed in awe.

"What's your name?" Wendy asked, clasping her hands together, switching the conversation.

The girl just looked the Harrington girl straight in the eyes before pulling up the navy sweater sleeve on her left arm to reveal a tattoo. The numbers, 011, was tattooed in a deep black ink that permanently engraved her wrist.

Wendy's eyes widened in disbelief at seeing the preteen girl with a legit tattoo. "Is that your name?" She questioned, not wanting to accidentally startle her by bombarding with questions.

The mysterious girl just nodded in agreement, confirming that her name was indeed Eleven. Wendy was left confused again. This was the second time that she had met a mysterious girl who was only named by a mere code of number.

First it was Nina, who was named Nine and now this girl, who had confirmed that she was named Eleven. It was definitely strange but didn't want to question it further in case the subject was triggering for her.

"Wow, that's a cool name. Do you want to know what my name is?" Wendy continued awkwardly, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

"Sure." Eleven answered suddenly in a low tone.

"It's Wendy." The girl confirmed.

"Wendy......pretty." Eleven complimented, full of certainty as she glanced at the girl.

Another reason why Eleven gravitated towards the Harrington girl so easily was that they had similar but strange aura. An aura that she had only experienced when interacting with her former siblings from the lab.

There was something about Wendy that made her stick out like a sore thumb. She didn't know who she was but she might of seen the girl before but couldn't directly pinpoint the exact location or timeline. Maybe they were indirectly connected or something but she didn't quite know yet.

"Thank you." Wendy smiled.

"Alright, Wendy, I found my sleeping bag. You can go home now. Thanks for everything." Mike cut the girl off when he entered the room with his green sleeping bag tucked underneath his arm.

Wendy just nodded, standing up from her spot. She exchanged a quick glance with Eleven, who sat silently on the floor before walking up the basement staircase to go home.

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When Wendy Harrington had arrived home late, completely soaked to the bone in heavy rain water, she was instantly met with her worried father.

Thomas Harrington had arrived home only an hour before she did to find that she was nowhere in sight. Her own brother also didn't know where she was either. This sent Thomas into an immediate state of panic due to news Will Byers being declared missing. He couldn't have his own daughter disappear in the same fashion as the Byers boy.

When the girl arrived home, he immediately pulled her in for a hug despite her being drenched. "I was so worried about you." Thomas sighed in relief as Wendy awkwardly hugged her father back.

This was a kind of strange sight for the girl to see as her father had never taken on the worried or overly protective parent persona. He was usually the type to be super laid back and joke around but only get serious when he absolutely needed to be, so seeing the man in this worried state, broke her heart. She never wanted to worry him again, especially during a time like this.

"I'm sorry." Wendy mumbled into his shoulder, trying to hold back her tears from falling. She knew it was kind of foolish of her to cry as she was the one who ran off and worried their father but it was the whole situation at hand.

Her best friend had gone missing and they had no idea of his whereabouts. Her best friends are all worried sick. Finally, there was the mystery of the stranger in the Wheeler's basement and Nina. She had no idea how she was gonna tackle those situations.

All the girl wanted to was climb into bed and cry under her comforter for eternity as she watched SNL reruns but she knew that she had to stay strong, so she tried her best to suck up every ounce of gruelling emotion that was trying to eat her apart.

"It's alright, Wendy. I'm not mad at you. I was just worried." Thomas let out a heavy breath that he didn't know he was holding in.

He then pulled away from his daughter to look her straight in the eyes as he sensed her uneasiness. "Also, you shouldn't be running off in the rain without calling me or leaving a note, especially when people are going......missing." Thomas reminded.

He was trying his hardest to not say Will's name as he knew that could cause the girl to breakdown in tears. His daughter and the Byers boy were very close, so he knew that she was struggling to come to terms with the fact that one of her best friends was missing.

"Yes, dad, I'm sorry." Wendy apologized again.

"It's ok........Now, why don't you get out of these wet clothes and into something warm. I'll make you a bowl of soup if you want? I even got the can with the little carrots because I know you like it." Thomas suggested, knowing that soup was always the best cure for Wendy when she was feeling down.

"Yes, please." Wendy agreed, feeling a bit better. Thomas nodded happily before going back into the kitchen to finish up preparations for dinner.

Wendy rid the now heavy raincoat from her body, allowing herself to feel ten times lighter and pulled her soaked feet out of her rain boots. She then went upstairs to her room to change into a new pair of dry clothes as she was shivering on the spot.

Once she had finished changing into her pajamas, she had gone back downstairs in order to enjoy the hot soup that had been just taken off of the stove.

When the girl had entered the kitchen, her father had placed a fresh bowl of hot soup on the table for her to eat. On the side was a small stack of salted crackers as she was the weird type who enjoyed soggy cracker chunks in her soup broth.

Wendy happily took a seat at the table in order to dig into the hot soup. "Where's Stanley?" She asked suddenly, noticing her brother was nowhere in sight.

"He wanted to eat upstairs. He said that he had to feed to cat or something, which I had no idea what that means because we don't have a cat." Thomas explained in a confused tone.

She just shrugged as she was not in the mood to explain that they were secretly harbouring a total stranger upstairs.

"How are you doing?" Thomas asked, sitting in the empty seat next to her.

"Ok, I guess." Wendy shrugged, just aimlessly stirring the chicken broth in the porcelain bowl.

"I know it must be hard for you and the boys to deal with this whole situation right now but I can assure you that Will is tuff boy. I know that he'll come back home and everything will be back to normal again." Thomas tried his best to assure his daughter.

"Are you sure?" Wendy asked.

"I'm very sure. I've known that boy for almost as long as you've been around. You two are very close and I know exactly that he's not as typical as you may think. Deep down, I know he'll find his way back home in no time. You won't have to worry for much longer." Thomas explained to the apprehensive girl.

"You promise?" Wendy pondered as she slowly spoon feeder herself more lukewarm chicken soup.

"I promise." Thomas confirmed, "Also, maybe we can make cookies tomorrow and we can bring them over to Joyce and Jonathan to cheer them up?" Thomas suggested.

"Do you think they like butterscotch chips or should we only make chocolate chip?" Wendy questioned, causing a small grin to appear on her father's face.

Even during troublesome times, the younger girl still worried about the smallest things. "I'm sure they'll like the butterscotch chips as they're my favourite." Thomas assured.

"I know because you usually eat like twelve cookies when I made them." Wendy laughed.

"You can't blame me, they're just that good." Thomas defended his gluttony with a chuckle. It warmed his heart to see a glimmer of hope in the younger girl's eyes, even thought he knew deep down that she was upset with the world.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Stanley wondered, entering the kitchen.

"Nothing important but why did you grab a second bowl to eat soup in? You could of just refilled your original one." Thomas chuckled at the sight of the boy placing two empty bowls into the sink.

"I don't know. Don't judge me." Stanley shrugged, causing the other two to laugh at him.

Wendy knew exactly why the older boy had two bowls as he had gotten dinner for Nina but neither one of them wanted to actually reveal that information to their dad. For now, it was just their little secret.

"Alright but you're washing the dishes." Thomas reminded as it was Stan's turn to complete that chore since he hasn't done it all week.

"Fine......but I get to choose what we watch, I'm so sick of watching Happy Days." Stan complained in annoyance at his sister's obsession with the show.

"What's wrong with Happy Days?" Wendy pondered in disbelief at her brother's complaint.

"It's so sickly happy and I don't get the obsession with the fifties. Life got way cooler when people started taking psychedelics like rock music got cooler and the movies especially. Nothing compares." Stanley explained.

"Yeah, you're sort of right but you gotta love the Fonz." Wendy exclaimed.

"He's the only cool part but I'd much rather watch Saturday Night Live." Stanley sighed.

"Alright, how about this? Wendy and I will watch Happy Days until you finish the dishes and then we'll watch SNL afterwards, deal?" Thomas suggested, trying to end the childish arguments between the two teens.

"Ok." The two teens nodded in agreement. Their father just shook his head with a chuckle before going to the living room to set up the television system for them to watch.

💬 AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry it took so long to publish this chapter and sorry if it's mediocre. I already had it written but I decided to go back to the other three chapters to edit them since I decided to add in some new characters.

Also, we stan Thomas Harrington because he's played by daddy Bill Hader. And he's also one of the only fathers in this universe that's not an asshole to his children. Like all of the other fathers are either not involved in their kids lives or just full on assholes, so I wanted to make Thomas an actually good parent because we need another person to do that job with Hopper.

★ 𝐎𝐃𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ! stranger things fanfic ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)