January, 1985.
Saturday was Eleven's favorite weekday.
At first, Joyce worked only in the afternoon. This meant that El would wake up to the smell of Jonathan's breakfast and his and Joyce's voice in the kitchen. Their laughter made the mornings even brighter, a constant assertion that they were real and not the fruit of a beautiful dream.
When she appeared in the kitchen, Jonathan would smile and greet her with a happy, "Good morning, sunshine! Did you forget to close the curtains again?". Eleven never draped the curtains from the bedroom window (which was Will's bedroom, which now slept with Jonathan). She liked to wake up with the sunshine on her face. This helped her remember every morning that she was no longer on the upside down.
He would sit down at the table and enjoy Joyce's presence. She liked Joyce, like a lot. Before she even moved in with them, she loved Will's mother with all her strength. Joyce was kind, careful, always explaining everything to El, even the simple things. She helped Eleven read and talk, caressed and combed her hair, and they always watched television together on Joyce's days off.
She was so unlike Papa. El felt a shiver creep up the back of her neck as she remembered him. She liked him one day. Long ago, when she believed that he only wanted her good, that he was helping her as he himself had said. But she met Joyce, her friends and Mike, and discovered how people really treated each other when they liked each other.
Papa did not like her, and she sure reciprocated the feeling.
Eleven pushed the thoughts of the man into the back of her mind. She did not like to think about him and realized in the first weeks after her rescue that absolutely everyone hated him too.
Joyce twisted her nose and looked disgusted whenever El commented on Papa. Many times this happened unintentionally. When she saw someone with white hair or doctors, his name escaped her lips.
"Do not think about that horrible man, sweetheart, he will never return," said Joyce.
Mike and Seven always had the worst reactions.
Near Christmas, Mike wanted Eleven to have the real Christmas experience, so he agreed that they would watch all the Christmas movies that have been created. One, in particular, had a white-haired man who was a doctor. El had not even noticed that the word "Papa" had escaped her mouth, but Mike heard. He stiffened and became red, but not in a good way. There was the pretty redness when those specks on his face stood out and he began to stutter as he spoke. And there was the bad redness when his eyebrows were wrinkled and it looked like smoke would come out of his ears as she had seen happen in a cartoon.
"I'm sorry, El. I did not remember him when I chose the movie, do you want me to take it off? I do not want to make you uncomfortable when you watch, we can see something else."
She did not mind continuing to watch the movie, but Mike's words left a warm sensation in her chest.
When she let the word escape near Seven, the first week after being rescued, she thought her friend was going to explode. Seven was taking her to Mike's house when, from inside the car, the girl saw a man in a lab coat. When she whispered "Papa" the car braked abruptly.
"What? Where?" Seven asked furiously as she looked down the street. Eleven pointed at the man, but murmured,
"Looks like him". Seven relaxed, but continued the rest of the trip growling profanity Eleven did not understand.
Eleven missed Seven. The girl had left a little over a month ago and did not give more news. The phones, Hopper had said, were clipped. Whatever "clipped" means. She sometimes slept wishing she could dream of Seven again. Their farewells were still fresh in their memory, the words echoing in their minds:
"I'll come back and I will not leave your side anymore, I promise."
The second best part of the Saturdays were the walks with Jonathan.
After spending a few hours with Joyce, Eleven and Will wandered around town with Jonathan. He would take them anywhere, always willing to show everything to Eleven.
She adored Jonathan, like an older brother. He looked after her and always seemed to be worried. Will said he was just like that, very protective. But Eleven was not complaining. It was he who cooked for her, convinced her to try new foods and taught her to take pictures. He also showed the musical world to her, something that she enjoyed very much.
She still remembered the pride in his eyes when she managed to sing (and understand) a whole sentence from one of The Clash songs.
"This is my little sister," he had said.
And, finally, there was Eleven's last and greatest motive to love saturdays.
It was the night of the Dungeons & Dragons game.
The first time Eleven did not understand why Will was so excited and he was one of the few people she could read the emotions. Their relationship was very good, in fact, El dared to say that (after Mike) he was the person with whom she most had intimacy.
When the two met for the first time out of the upside down, he hugged her tight. Without any word exchanged, El understood everything that was stuck in his throat. That night she slept at Mike's house with the boys and he arranged the bed for her and told her all about his brother and mother, trying his best to ease the anxiety she felt.
"Mom's going to take good care of you, she always wanted us to have a little sister. Her food is not the best, but it's Jonathan who cooks most of the time. You're probably going to stay with my room, but I do not care. Jonathan is going to college, so I'm going to stay with his room. You will like it, El, I promise. My brother will take us to the movies and we will listen to music in his car and I will teach you to draw or anything else that you want to do!".
Will was gentle, more than the other boys. He also understood feelings better than anyone else. At home he always knew if she had slept well or not or whether she was frustrated, restless, anxious. He also kept his promise and began to teach her to draw. El was not good like him, she knew, but he was always pretty cool about it.
"You're making progress too fast! When I started, I could not do it!".
So when she could not understand the excitement of going to Mike's house, El was a little frustrated. What was different? They went there almost every day. Of course, she was also anxious to go because, for some reason, she was always anxious when it came to seeing Mike.
When they arrived, she understood, but only a little. She quickly learned that the boys loved that game. They spent ten hours playing and they just stopped because Mike's mother kicked them out. At first she did not like to go because she never played. The boys tried to teach her, but her vocabulary was still very limited and her imagination was not yet as developed as that of her friends. El did not understand the rules, the names or the commands, so she quickly gave up trying.
She wanted to play, wanted to be part of what her friends liked so much, but not understanding things made her very frustrated and, above all, embarrassed. Will said they played the game since they were eight. Eight years old! She was thirteen and could not understand simple tactics.
So for a few weeks, El just stayed in the basement while they played, improving her writing and reading. She did not mind studying, but she was envious that they were so smart.
Until one day, when the lyrics were already shuffling in her head, El was tired of being bored. This gave her an idea and she sat on the couch, pretending to read a magazine, but looking at the boys with a smile.
"The forest is dark," Mike was telling. "You walk silently, looking over your shoulders, expecting any reaction, but there is nothing there, just the sound of your breath. But then... a great gale takes you by surprise!"
Suddenly, the basement window opened and the wind came so hard that papers flew all over the room. The boys were startled and Dustin shrieked loudly.
"What is it?" Lucas shouted.
"I do not know!" Shouted Mike back. The window closed as quickly as it opened, and the wind stopped. The only person who did not seem affected was Eleven.
"El...?" Mike said looking at her playfully. "Do you know what happened?".
She shook her head with an innocent look, denying it. But Mike smiled because he knew her very well.
He continued and Eleven remained still. In a certain interesting part of the story, she smirked.
"The house that you enter is dark and silent, there is no one besides you. You scream, but the voice just echoes through the walls... Suddenly... what is it?... this sound? Some door has opened!"
The basement door opened with a huge creaking sound. The boys shivered and Mike grinned.
Oh, he knew very well what was happening.
He continued, but anxious than the boys and he was the narrated. At one point it occurred again:
"But wait ... A noise in the distance. It's getting closer, getting closer, getting louder! BOM! BOM! BOM!".
The table jumped. One, two, three times. The boys screamed and Mike laughed. When El can not contain her own laughter, Dustin shouted,
"El, you almost give me a heart attack!".
It has become a tradition.
Eleven still did not play, but she made it all a thousand times more real and fun. And when Mike smiled at her and said, "We're the best team!", she was sure of one thing.
Saturdays were the best days of the week.
Hey guys! Thank you sooo much for the reviews (: i'm so happy! You are the best! Love you all, and hope you like it! Remembering that I am always open to creating scenes for you! Just talk in the comments
Kisses 3