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English
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Published:
2026-01-20
Updated:
2026-02-24
Words:
3,866
Chapters:
9/?
Comments:
3
Kudos:
24
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Still Here

Summary:

What happens after you save the world?

Life goes on.

Still Here takes place in the space left behind—after the final battle, after the noise fades, after everyone is supposed to be okay. Friends drift in different directions. Some learn how to wait. Some learn how to survive. Some keep reaching for someone who might never come back.

Set in the aftermath of the finale, with moments reaching back into the months that followed, these vignettes trace the quiet, unfinished work of living after everything has already happened.

Chapter 1: Dear El (Letter 1)

Chapter Text

6/12/1989

Dear El,

Today is day 584. I can’t believe it’s been that long. Or maybe I can. It feels like just yesterday that you left, and also like ten years ago. I don’t know how both can be true, but they are.

Everyone’s doing okay.

Dustin and Will left for college this past week—they both decided to start in the summer. Hawkins feels emptier without them. Without you.

Lucas and Max are doing alright too. Max is finally well enough to skate again. We still don’t know what happened to her mom. I think she probably died when the gate opened, but no one really knows. Max doesn’t talk about it. She wouldn’t with me, anyway. She’d talk to Lucas. Or you.

I really hope you’re out there, El. I hope you found a place where you belong.

I miss you. I love you.

Love,
Mike