15- I was Drowning, But Not Anymore
Summary: Mike and the others help El cope with Terry having catatonia.
Requested by: Boris Yeltsin
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters! If I did, El's mom would be mentioned and seen more.
El was sad.
She didn't know what else to call it.
She couldn't get out of it.
As soon as she thought of Mike or Hopper, or any of her friends, she just plunged right back into the sadness.
She was drowning, and there was no life preserver anywhere around her.
She was trying, she really was.
But she couldn't breathe.
The past week El cried herself to sleep.
El hadn't left the cabin for the past week.
The past week became her breaking point.
Her friends knew something was wrong, but they didn't know what. They kept trying to get it out of her, but she just said she was "fine" and moved on.
Finally, on one shivery morning, they got it out of her.
It was a glorious Friday; the Party was going to meet up in the Wheeler's basement.
It wasn't a campaign night, and since the all the other Wheeler's were out, Steve was chaperoning.
El didn't want to come, but she thought, maybe just maybe this would get her out of her funk.
So here she was, in her boyfriend's basement, trying to feel something.
They were playing Monopoly, which everyone knew was probably going to end in 20 minutes because of Mike and Dustin.
Right after her turn, El got up and headed to the kitchen.
There were snacks littered across the counter.
El rifled through them, not finding anything appealing.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw them.
A bag of sunflower seeds.
El froze, and then suddenly started crying.
"El?" a concerned voice asked behind her.
She knew that voice.
It was Mike.
"El?" he asked again.
She turned, and when she saw Mike standing there with the most worrisome face, she started crying harder.
Mike was immediately there, enclosing El in a hug.
El stood there crying into Mike's shirt, knowing that she would have to explain this.
After she calmed down, she pulled out of the hug.
"What's the matter, El?"
"Mama."
Mike was confused. Sure, they learned that El's mama was alive and not quite right in the head, but why was that what was bothering El for the past two weeks.
"Bad men."
Now he was even more confused.
"Did bad things."
Suddenly things clicked.
"El," Mike asked slowly. "Did the bad men do bad stuff to your mama?"
El nodded, tears shimmering in her eyes.
That was what Hopper wasn't telling them.
"Would you like to tell me what they did?"
"Shocked."
That was all El said. And it looked like she wouldn't say anymore, but Mike was pretty sure she got it.
"I'm sorry El," he said pulling her into another hug.
His mind was racing. What was he going to tell the others? They would know that El told him what was wrong and would want answers.
Turns out, that wasn't going to be a problem.
"Ouch!"
"Dustin" voices hissed.
The couple in the kitchen smirked at each other, Mike turning to tell them that they were caught.
They all emerged sheepishly. Well, except Max, who was as confident as ever.
"Sorry," Lucas said. "We just wanted to make sure you're okay El."
"Well, that and we wanted snacks." Dustin obliviously said, causing to get elbows to the side.
El smiled.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good."
Everyone smiled.
El felt air rush back into her lungs.
She felt herself finally finding the life preserver, clinging onto it.
El wasn't drowning anymore.
AN: If you are struggling, depressed, or just plain sad just know, that you're not alone- we're all here for each other. Hope you like it, Boris Yeltsin. Requests are open!