Chapter Text
Happiness, it turns out, can be found in many places.
That’s what their storyteller, Michael Wheeler, had told them eighteen months after the tragic “earthquake” that hit Hawkins, Indiana. Hundreds of citizens lost their lives, with a few still missing. The military was still present; this time, more cautious with their appearances. No electrical fences, military base, nor supervised visits occurred, yet it felt like someone was always watching.
The town, appearance-wise, now looked normal; like nothing had happened. WSQK, also known as The Squawk, continued to announce the latest updates and safety protocols as per usual. Movie theaters, local diners, and grocery stores reopened with discounted prices. Schools prepared for the start of the semester. With the government’s assistance, Hawkins Public Library was rebuilt along with a memorial statue to honor the fallen victims.
The party broke up sooner than expected.
The Byers moved out of the Wheeler House and temporarily stayed at Hopper’s cabin. They stood outside the door for what felt like hours, just dreading the moment they walked in and saw everything that reminded them of a girl who was no longer in their lives.
Jim left everything untouched; a closet door still open with a stack of untidy but clean laundry, empty bottles of Gatorade on a desk, and a teddy bear sitting on top of a white box near the bed. He secluded himself inside her room, basically treating it as a sanctuary. The only time he went outside was he had to help Joyce with dinner.
Joyce often stared at Jane’s – now Jim’s – closed door for a couple minutes each day; never knocking, never intruding his space. After breakfast, she would drive her car and park it near the police station before taking a long walk to clear her head. Mornings hurt the most, because she had to open the fridge to make breakfast. She never threw out the unopened boxes of Eggos despite seeing the expiry dates.
Jonathan was accepted into New York University. He packed his camera equipment along with several photo albums. He spent one night taking out pictures of Nancy and Jane, frustrated that it took him only thirty minutes. He kept a few to gift to his friends, before burning the rest. Jonathan was the first to leave Hawkins. There was no farewell party.
Will found himself screaming in the middle of the night. Ever since the earthquake, his hand checked for a bloody nose. He sat up from the bed and his eyes landed directly on the mirror he cracked when Jonathan gave him a picture of him and El. The spider web of hairline fractures taunted him, forcing a glimpse of a disjointed version of himself. Sometimes he would hallucinate and see Henry. He never covered the mirror, but for comfort, he taped their picture in the middle of his broken mess.
Dustin’s threw his D&D posters, quiz bee trophies, comic books, and photos of him, the party, and Hellfire club in boxes, then locked them in his closet. He bought a gallon of disinfectant and poured its contents on the floor and began scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing. His palms burned, but the room still wasn’t clean enough. To add fuel to the fire, he and Suzie broke things off. He disclosed that it was due to long distance, but it was actually because her dad didn’t want her dating an atheist. A few weeks before graduation, he had gotten an acceptance letter from University of Chicago. He didn’t have anyone, besides his mom, to tell the good news to. He posed for the camera like always, except his toothy grin was replaced with a strained smile.
Lucas spent more time with Max than his family. If he was spending eight hours with them, he’d make sure to spend the remaining sixteen hours with her. It got to a point where the Sinclairs had to open their doors for Max to stay and sleep in the guest bedroom, just so Lucas could be home. Unfortunately, the more she was around, the more he hovered. The fights and accusations started. She told him he was scaring her. He didn’t know why, and he wished he could read her mind like – never mind.
Max, like Will, would have her own share of nightmares. Unlike him, she never screamed. Lucas suspected something and began sleeping in the same room with her, much to his parents’ dismay. He kept overstepping her boundaries. He stared at her for long hours as if she was going to disappear if he blinked. His hand would automatically catch hers when she needed to stand or move away from him. He missed classes to attend her doctor’s appointment. She started hating Lucas. She screamed at him, telling him he was acting like a real stalker, and that it scared her. She cried that day, because he slammed the door so loud that the sound echoed through her walls. Max blindly reached for the first thing she could break in frustration, but froze when she saw the green scrunchie in her hand. She held it against her chest, hugging it like she was still there.
Robin continued working at The Squawk every morning, sometimes she would be alone. She and Vickie didn’t work out, with the latter telling her they couldn’t trauma bond and call it love. She later found out Vickie started dating a male doctor from Louisville. Steve came by her house to apologize for being AWOL, but frowned when he saw her red rimmed eyes. He hugged her for hours. The day after her breakdown, she called Will. He told her Vickie was just another Tammy.
Steve left home. He moved into a small apartment. His mom never liked visiting, stating that the room wanted to swallow her up. Sometimes, just sometimes, sleep paralysis took over his body. He skipped baseball practice every time it happened, feeling overwhelmed with fatigue. For his peace of mind, Steve looked at three pictures every morning: 1) Him and Dustin wearing matching Scoops Ahoy uniforms for Halloween, 2) Him, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan inside the radio station, and 3) Him and the six brats he babysat posing awkwardly for the camera.
Nancy didn’t sleep. With Mike’s condition, she became his main support system. Their parents dealt with Holly. The visions Henry showed were plastered permanently in her mind. Every midnight, Nancy began opening everyone’s bedroom doors, one by one, and watched the slow rise and fall of their chests as they slept. She’d stand outside her parents’ and Holly’s room for a good hour before moving to Mike’s. She watched him until the sun rose.
Mike felt disconnected. He could vaguely remember what happened after she left. A few days after they were cleared to go home, he locked himself in his room. He positioned himself on his bed, lying on his side, as his glassy eyes stared at his favorite picture of El: fifteen years old, shoulder-length hair slightly curled at the ends, a beautiful, carefree smile on her face, chestnut brown eyes full of life.
He didn’t listen when Nancy broke his lock and told him she was gone. He didn’t listen when Karen and Ted asked him to tell them about her. He didn’t listen to Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Max when they asked him to hang out. He didn’t listen when Hopper started his stupid speech about two roads. Instead, Mike stayed in his bed and looked at his girl, memorizing every detail on her face, until he felt a warm feeling in his chest and fell asleep.
The routine kept him sane until the day Hopper decided to bury an empty casket with her name on the tombstone. He walked out in the middle of the funeral, his legs taking him home, and took his dad’s new razor. If Nancy hadn’t followed him, they would have buried a body that day. His parents checked him into a psych ward.
Eighteen agonizing months. Many still grieved, but a few began to hope.
Steve was the first to recover. After becoming the new head coach for the little league baseball team, he invited Robin and Nancy to watch their practice. Most of the time, it was just Robin. Nancy preferred to visit Mike.
It was their sixth hangout together (for Steve and Robin, it was their twentieth), and they accidentally bumped into Jonathan and Joyce outside the grocery store. The trio greeted them and were about to walk away when Joyce announced that her son would be joining them. He shot his mom a look of betrayal before begrudgingly tagging along.
So, here they were at the top of The Squawk building, embracing the awkward silence. Jonathan had met up with his stoner friend, Argyle, along his drive back home and bought a bag of Purple Palm Tree Delight. He smoked a joint before offering the bag to his… acquaintances. Nancy grimaced, Robin declined, and Steve wished he didn’t like the smell. Twenty minutes had passed.
“How are things with your family and Hopper?” Nancy asked Jonathan, though her eyes were staring at the view. Her posture was stiff as Robin made her sit next to Jonathan.
Jonathan coughed. “Will’s going to attend New York University, he’ll be taking a BFA in Studio Art. Hopper plans on proposing to Mom soon. He finally packed Jane’s things. He wants to give something to Mike, by the way.”
At the mention of her brother, Nancy sighed. She buried her face in her hands, wishing that whatever Hopper was going to gift him wouldn’t be a trigger.
“That’s not a good idea. Mike’s barely recovering.”
Robin turned to her female friend with a worried expression. Her hand found Nancy’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I heard he’s home. How’s he holding up?”
“He doesn’t have a grasp of reality yet. I’m not sure if it’s because of El or if it’s because he’s been isolated for so long. It’s been six months since he came back, but we still have to take turns watching him in his room. The only person he talks to is Holly.”
“Did Holly ever share what she and Mike talk about?” Steve wondered out loud.
“Just the same stuff. About that night. About how everyone just moved on and forgot about her,” Nancy took a deep breath. “Which is not true, of course, but holding onto the past isn’t going to bring her back.”
“Do you really think she’s dead?” Jonathan whispered, as if afraid the question could be heard by someone other than the four of them.
Nancy looked at her friends. Robin and Steve shared a look before nodding. She did the same. Jonathan frowned.
“You have eyes, Byers. We all saw her vanish,” Steve murmured.
“Holly says he repeats the same thing over and over again. The same words in the same sentence structures. She had to keep diverting the topic in case he spiraled. I don’t want Holly alone with him, but Mom and Dad think she’s good at keeping Mike from becoming mentally insane.”
“That’s an awfully heavy task for kid, Nance,” Robin pointed out with a frown on her face. Her hand gave another squeeze on her friend’s shoulder. Jonathan and Steve remained silent.
“I know, but they made me stop visiting every week. Mom said it’s because I barely sleep when I’m here,” she replied.
“What if I check up on them? I mean, I still live in Hawkins,” Steve suggested, looking at Nancy. She anxiously bit her lip, her face scrunched up as she thought hard on his words. Gradually, her features softened.
“Okay. Thank you, Steve.”
“Mike won’t be graduating this year?” Jonathan questioned out of the blue.
Nancy’s voice was sharp. “You know he’s not graduating, Jonathan.”
“Sorry.”
“I’m pretty sure Max isn’t graduating either. They both have a lot of catching up to do, right?” Robin intervened and Nancy shot her an exasperated look. This was not the time.
“Yeah, the Sinclairs have been helping Max with her studies, but she still won’t be part of Class ‘89. Maybe she and Mike can graduate together, Nance,” Steve added, shrugging at her.
Nancy stared at them. “We’ll see.”
“I heard Dustin’s valedictorian. Congrats, mama bear,” Robin teased, happy to see Steve’s face light up. He grinned at the group.
“The brat is a genius. I had no doubt he’d be the top of his class,” he laughed as he said this. Dustin tackled him in the middle of the baseball field to share the good news. They cried like babies.
Steve continued. “Lucas is getting an award too, some sort of athletic recognition thing.”
“Him and Max still dating?”
“Yeah, they worked it out. They’re planning on watching Ghost when it comes out.”
Nancy looked at her friends, well, her friends and Jonathan. “When is the graduation again?”
“March 16,” Steve replied.
An imaginary light bulb lit above Nancy’s head. A month ago, Mike’s doctor advised the family to start introducing him to social interactions. His medication was working, but without proper exposure to his past lifestyle, he would never recover.
“I’ll have Mom plan a celebratory dinner for them. Mike needs to see them anyway,” she announced, nodding to herself.
“Isn’t that a little insensitive, Nance? Celebrating graduation together as if Mike and Max graduated on time?” Jonathan questioned her, his face looking concerned. Truthfully, he’d rather have Will celebrate at home.
“It doesn’t matter. Max doesn’t care, neither does Mike,” she hissed at him. Jonathan looked offended.
“How would you know how Max feels?”
“How would you?” she countered.
“Okay, break it up, you guys. I’ll handle it. I’ll tell Henderson to round up the gang and go to the Wheeler House in the evening of March 16, 1989,” Steve stammered, his eyes looking between the ex-lovers.
Nancy was still glaring at Jonathan, who scoffed. He relaxed into his chair and began smoking another Purple Palm Tree Delight. She clicked her tongue at his reaction before turning to Steve.
“Again, thank you, Steve.”
Robin let out a low whistle before changing the topic to her stay in Massachusetts. She had slowly joined a fancy group of girls at Smith. They were pretty nice. In fact, one of them started flirting with her. She continued to do most of the talking, switching from her college experience to random things like how the sky looked a little too orange today. Steve added some bits to the conversation here and there, about his coaching career and how the school asked him to teach sex ed. Robin looked at him in disbelief.
“Sex Ed? You, Steve Harrington, are teaching Sex Ed?”
At this, some tension left and they all started laughing. It quickly died down. Nancy checked her watch. It was past three in the afternoon. They decided to call it a day.
Nancy drove her station wagon home, saying goodbye to only Robin and Steve. She gave Jonathan a wave. Sometime along the drive, her mind began replaying that night and the days that followed like it was her favorite movie.
Mike refused to leave after Eleven closed the gate. Nancy was the first to step forward, carefully placing a hand on his shoulder. When he turned, she saw the deranged look in his eyes as he roughly grabbed her Makarov pistol and pointed it at Dr. Kay. In response, several Colt M16A2 rifles positioned behind her. He was not backing down and Nancy had to shield him. Mike sneered at the US army, laughing maniacally as he taunted that their unfinished study. One of the soldiers clicked his gun, Dr. Kay ordered him to stop. Without a word, she left the scene along with her troops.
When they were gone, Mike still didn’t move an inch. Hopper had silently moved and took the gun out of his hand, handing it back to Nancy. He was trying to tell Mike they needed to go to the hospital. Her brother whimpered, like a child being scolded. He looked at Nancy and begged her to let him stay at the gate. He looked pathetic.
Nancy wanted nothing more than to take him away from Hawkins. Still, Mike was begging at her. She ordered Steve and Jonathan to lock his arms. He thrashed against their grips, straining one of his shoulders in the process. They had to tie him up on their way to the hospital. He wouldn’t listen to anyone, just kept pulling and pulling on the rope. She could see his skin start to tear. Holly was brave enough to hold her brother’s hand, who immediately calmed down when he saw her teary face. When they arrived, she had the doctors check him first. The second his wounds were treated, he tried running out of the hospital. Hopper had to pin him down. Mike struggled, screaming incoherent words, and Jim had to close his eyes because he saw the same kid who yelled at him years ago.
When their parents recovered, Karen pushed her to attend college. She had seen her acceptance letter from Emerson College. Nancy made her mom promise to keep an extra eye on Mike. The promise didn’t last long.
Mike was a ticking time bomb, set off with unknown time. He was quiet the first few months. He still ate and responded when asked, but people knew not to mention El in front of him. He got used to his coping mechanism, until Hopper held a funeral.
He wasn’t planning on attending, but somehow he ended up standing in the last row of chairs at the funeral. Joyce handed him a white lily to place on El’s casket after the ceremony. He didn’t realize he snapped its stem off as he watched Hopper, Joyce, and his friends stand at the center and recited their eulogies.
His first attempt shouldn’t be a surprise. They all knew he was depressed. He knew the thought of him killing himself was possible. His finger was fiddling his dad’s red-stained razor. The only sounds he could hear was his shallow breathing and the constant drip of blood oozing out of his wrist. He was so close.
Nancy could never forget the look on his face when she found him fully clothed in his funeral attire inside the tub. He tilted his head in confusion, his left hand was outstretched, clearly bleeding, while his right held up the razor. They stared at each other for a while before he spoke so quietly that Nancy had to step closer. “I finally get to see her, Nance.”
She screamed. Paramedics rushed him to the emergency room. His temperature dropped drastically, and if Nancy was a second too late, they would have lost him. She had to ban his friends from coming into his hospital room. Mike was in no state for welcoming visitors.
He was placed into a psych ward after that incident. Karen broke down in tears when Mike passively walked past her and Ted, not bothering to say goodbye, as the nurse guided him into his grey-tiled room.
Nancy visited as often as she could. During her vacant times, she’d call his attending nurse to see how he was doing. She found out he had attempted again when his doctor’s pen fell out of his pocket. He lunged and started stabbing himself. He sustained four stab wounds before the nurses knocked him out.
Karen barely visited, as Holly started having night terrors after not seeing Mike for a week. It was a surprise when Ted came by. He was accompanied by a nurse, who instructed him to remove any sharp objects from his body. When he entered the room, he saw his son on top of his bed, hugging his thin legs to his chest.
Mike didn’t look at him as harsh words escaped his lips.
“Well, look what we have here, folks. Ted fucking Wheeler, in the flesh.”
Ted approached him and sat at the edge of the bed. He eyed his son, who was still staring at the empty space in from of him.
“Language, Michael… I want you to come home.”
“That’s really not up to me, dad. I’m not the doctor,” Mike sneered as he made eye contact with him. Ted could see how sunken his cheeks were. He was dangerously thin.
“I agree, you can only come home when your doctor clears you. So, get better.”
His son gave him an incredulous look before raising a brow. “Are you stupid? I’m never getting out of here. You and Mom made sure of that. And why would I want to come home anyway? This place is nice. Shitty food, but I can just puke my guts out after. I’m free to do whatever I want as long as I don’t kill myself. It’s perf – “
“Holly wants you back home.”
Mike stopped talking. Ted took a deep breath, preparing himself for the speech he practiced while on his way here.
“I know you’ve been dealing with a lot of grief these past few months. I’m not sure if I know the entire story, but I am sorry that Jane isn’t in the picture anymore. I won’t say I understand what you’re going through. I won’t say I want you to leave the memory of her behind. I won’t say that I need you to come to your senses and move on.”
“Then… what?”
“I just want you to remember her and think that, maybe, her love for you was enough to keep you going in this life.”
Ted reached out and gave his son’s shoulder a comforting squeeze before standing up from the bed. He began walking toward the door. When his hand was on the doorknob, he didn’t look back at his son.
“Come home when you’re ready.”
Nancy heard that her dad visited. The nurse informed her Mike cried that day. She didn’t know whether to feel happy that he was finally showing emotion again, or worried that her dad said something awful. He didn’t, and she hugged him longer than usual when she came home.
She realized she was home when the engine shut off and she was on their driveway. It had been two weeks since her last visit. Finals held her back and she knew her Mom would chastise her for not prioritizing her studies. She got out of the car and stepped inside. She was still in the hallway when she heard Mike’s voice. He was talking to their dad. She peeked at the kitchen to see her complete family crammed inside.
“That’s blasphemous! Putting fruit on pizza?” Mike exclaimed, throwing his head back as he laughed. Holly was up in Mike’s arms, looking very much comfortable. Ted had his arm around Karen’s waist as she ordered on the phone. Mike acknowledged her first.
They locked eyes. Brown met blue. Brown, clear eyes met blue, teary ones.
Mike leaned his head against Holly’s before he gave her a shy smile, as if they were meeting for the first time. “Welcome home, Nance.”
They ate dinner like they used to. Mike was debating D&D campaigns with Holly. Karen and Ted were talking about their son’s education. Nancy was just happy she was there. She felt someone tap her foot. Mike was chewing on his meat pizza.
“I’m glad you’re home.”
Nancy ate hers. “I could say the same to you.”
“What do you mean? I’ve been home for six months,” Mike asked, confused with her statement.
“Nothing, I’m just… it’s good to be here eating pizza with you,” Nancy finished lamely, chuckling at herself as she took another bite of her pizza. Beside Mike, Holly gave her a thumbs up. A+ for the effort.
Mike volunteered to wash the dishes after dinner. Karen thanked him and gave his cheek a quick peck before she and Ted took Holly upstairs for bed. Nancy stood beside him, busy drying the plates and silverware.
“Hey, Nance?”
She looked at Mike’s eyes. They were still clear. She waited.
“Thanks for saving me.”
The siblings shared a smile before bidding each other good night. Nancy cried in her bedroom. Not from sadness, but from relief. She was a silent crier, but for some reason, Mike knocked on her door. He climbed in her bed and held his older sister as she let out all the pain she locked away.
Holly must have heard footsteps as she later opened Nancy’s door and joined them on the bed. The three of them barely fit. Mike used is body as a pillow for his little sister, apologizing for the lack of comfort he provided. Holly said he was the best person-bed ever closing her eyes. Mike placed one arm around her to keep her from falling while the other hugged Nancy. Their parents found them awkwardly clinging to each other the morning after. They slept until ten in the morning.
When graduation came, Steve kept his promise. Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Max visited the Wheeler House. They were early, so Karen instructed them to go play D&D in the basement. Mike was surprised to see them, but listened to his mom. The five friends silently sat around the table.
Mike was nervous, they could tell by the way his right leg kept bouncing under the table. Max raised her eyebrow as she spoke.
“Are you going to say sorry, Wheeler?”
Mike stared at her. Her hair was shorter, frizzier. Her face, although masking a look of irritation, wasn’t pinched like it used to be back when Billy died. She looked healthier.
“I’m sorry, guys. For everything,” he said, his eyes looking to a different person every few seconds. A part of him wanted to lock himself in his room again, but he had to make amends.
“I was a shitty friend. I focused on my grief and my grief alone. I didn’t consider yours,” Mike licked his lips, pausing. When no one replied, he continued.
“El was the most important person in my life. To see her get taken away, it hurt so much. I wanted to die with her. I planned on it. Nancy stopped me during the funeral, and I told myself I hated her for saving me,” his voice shook as he spoke.
“Last week, I had the urge to not die anymore. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Holly smiles at me like I’m the most important person in the world, or because my mom still leaves a lipstick mark on my cheek after a kiss, or because my dad asked me to teach him D&D, or because Nance clings to me every time we hug. Shit, maybe it’s my medication… I really don’t know, but I’m glad I didn’t die,” Mike confessed, hearing his heartbeat echo through his ears.
“I used to look at El’s picture all the time. After what happened, her face was all I wanted to see every minute of every day. Now, I only look at her before going to bed. When I wake up in the morning, I find myself looking for Holly, Nancy, my mom, my dad, and… you guys. The whole party. I’m… glad I’m still here,” he managed to finish his speech before wiping his face with his sleeve.
Max cleared her throat. Five heads turned to her. She bit her lip, contemplating on whether she should say something or not.
“She… she loved us, but she loved loves you the most. I know because she told me,” Max replied, her voice already losing its grip on firmness. A tear escaped her eyes, and then another. “She and I used to talk about our happy endings. I didn’t realize it before, but every ending had you in it.”
“I never thought she envisioned a life without you… I knew it killed her when she made her choice. She couldn't be selfish, so she had to let you go,” she hiccupped, letting the tears flow freely as she stared back at Mike.
Dustin looked away, tears already present on his face. Will was openly crying, he leaned on the table with his hands supporting his head. Lucas sniffled, and kept rubbing his eyes. Max knew how to put a shit ton of salt on Mike’s wounded heart.
“I know, Max. That’s why I can’t throw my life away. She sacrificed hers, so I could still live mine.”
They were still huddled around the table, crying, grieving the loss of their friend. Will’s sobs got louder, Dustin had to blow his nose from all the snot coming out, Lucas hid his face against his girlfriend’s shoulder, Max continued to weep in her seat, and Mike looked down when his eyes welled up.
None of them noticed Karen closing the basement door.
“Shit, man. We’ve missed you,” Dustin laughed while wiping his tears. He playfully punched Mike on the shoulder. His friend gave him a watery smile. Will sniffled before he shared a look with Max, who sent him a nod in return. Lucas was still hiding his wet face.
“Wanna play D&D?”
And so, for the first time in a long time, they played. The knight, the zoomer, the bard, the sorcerer, and the dungeon master together once again. It got chaotic quite quickly, and the dungeon master was about to celebrate his victory when the mage suddenly appeared to save the day. His friends cheered as Mike let out an aching roar before dramatically lying on the floor, defeated at last.
They were about to play another game when his mom opened the door again. “The lasagna’s getting cold, come upstairs now!”
One by one, they stored their player’s handbooks on the shelf of the Wheelers’ basement. Max, Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Mike.
The dinner table was loud and happy. Holly had invited her friends over too and Nancy came home early, which meant the table now welcomed thirteen people. The chairs scraped against the wooden floor as numerous hands reached for lasagna, beef stroganoff, potato skins, and Jello poke cake. Ted was lucky to get a spoonful of stroganoff.
After dinner, Holly, Mary, Debbie, Josh, and Derek called dibs on the basement, leaving the older kids to hang out in the living room. It was ten in the evening and his friends dozed off while re-watching Friday the 13th. Mike was still watching and his mom came over to drape a blanket on his shoulder. She bent down to kiss the top of his head before going upstairs for bed.
Ted followed her, already halfway through the steps, when he decided to turn back and rummage through their cleaning closet. He took out an old shoebox and blew the dust off its cover. Silently, he crossed the living room to reach his son, who was sitting on the floor. He sat on the empty chair beside him.
“Years ago, your mom and I were in a rough patch. We married young because Nancy came into our lives. We weren’t rich, but we were able to avoid bankruptcy. I was fortunate enough to get a job as a market analyst. I was good, great even. I had to travel a lot because of my job. Sometimes I couldn’t come home for months. Your mom was so upset,” Ted said in a hushed voice. His son looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
“I left for a trip to Europe one day, and Nancy had just turned one. I missed her first words, her first walk. Your mom wouldn’t speak to me. She stopped sending me letters. I was heartbroken.”
“Postcards were the first thing I thought of when I was away from home. Every town, city, and country I visited, I’d make sure to purchase one and write something down to cheer your mom up. Even though she stopped replying, I still sent two hundred fifty-four postcards. My favorite one has a picture of Háifoss and Granni Waterfalls. Maybe one day you could visit Iceland, take a photo for me. It’s worth the hike,” Ted murmured, his eyes making contact with Mike’s. He handed the box to him.
“Take some time to read them. I know Jane’s love was enough, but maybe these could help too.”
He placed a hand on Mike’s shoulder before standing up and bidding him good night. When he was out of sight, Mike uncovered the box and found pictures of places he had never been to. He searched for the picture with two waterfalls, and his breath hitched. The place was beautiful, serene even. He remembered talking to El about how he’d take her to a faraway place when they defeated Vecna. This was the place he dreamed of. He turned the card over and saw Ted’s smudged handwriting.
Open your heart to the world as you opened it to me, and you will find every reason to keep living in it.