You had never planned on being a mother. Hell, you didn't even like babysitting when you were in high school. But when you found that twelve year old girl in the woods, shivering and wet, you couldn't just leave her there. It took a minute to earn her trust, but you managed to coax her back to your cabin with you.

She'd said the "bad people" called her Eleven, but you just called her El. El seemed to like that, even if she didn't communicate more than a handful of words at a time. El seemed to like a lot of things about your home. Hot food, her own bedroom, a TV with a couple movies. She especially liked when you gave her hugs or left her door open at night.

And you didn't mind when she accidentally broke something with her powers. Or when the lights went out because she got scared. You'd calm her down and wipe the blood from her nose. El was safe with you.

You woke up in the middle of the night to the lightbulbs buzzing and flickering. It could be from the thunderstorm outside, but you knew better. Slipping out of bed, you went to El's room down the hall. Sure enough, she was tossing and turning with nightmares.