El is on some serious

by JaceHerondale21

With Hopper tracking down a sick psycho mauling and killing animals for the last year, he's never around, so El turns to smoking weed to get attention from him. AU where El has no powers, and so the Upside Down is never discovered. I will explain why El is still with Hopper, and not her mom, later in the story, so chill the heck out.

21. A nice Cherry juice bath

Ch. 21 EIOSS

Eleven POV/Hopper POV, 12 years before the events of the previous chapter.

5-year-old Eleven was not happy. Her mom had promised that she would play with her when she was done taking her bath. She had also promised that she wouldn't take long. It had been almost 30 minutes already! Eleven went to bang on the door but got no response. She walked away and came back 5 minutes later. She knocked again with no response.

She was starting to get worried about her mom. She started jiggling the door. Dang! It was locked! She imagined moving the lock, turning the door as she did so. It opened, causing El to slip, fall, and smash her nose. She wiped the blood from her nose as the door creaked open.

Her mom lay still in the bath with her eyes closed, like she was sleeping, but the water was red! So Red! El lifted her mom's arms and legs, checking for injuries, and saw that her mom had long cuts up and down her wrists and arms. (They look worse than they are, however, El's mom is in shock right now).

'Oh no! Some Bad men hurt mommy!' El thought. 'I need to call Hopper! He'll know what to do!' She dashed to the phone and called him. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey, what's up Terry?" He asked before El responded, "Bad men hurt Mommy!" He immediately asked, "El, are you okay?" while dialing EMS. "Okay, El, can you go get some towels? I want you to wrap then around your mother's cuts and keep pressure on those cuts." El hurried to comply with his request. He then told her to check her pulse, which was still there.

After that, he told El that the cops and ambulance were on their way, and to stay on the phone until they got there. "You're so so so so BRAVE, you know that, right El?" Hopper said. He kept saying how much of a brave little girl she was until the emergency services got there, which is when he hung up and started driving to Terry's house.

When he got there, he took El for some ice cream. She didn't eat it after looking at the cherry on top and remembering that it was the same shade of red as the bathwater. Hopper noticed but chose not to say anything.

He was taken aside by the paramedic, who told him that it was hands down a suicide. He told the EMS guys to let him handle it. He told El a heavily edited (read: almost complete BS) version of the events that they had reconstructed, going along with her narrative that 'bad men' had hurt her mom.

He then took her to his grandfather's house, which he had cleaned up to lease it out. She fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until noon, at which time Hopper had already received the news that Terry was completely verbally unresponsive.

Apparently, at one point, probably shortly before EMS arrived, her heart had stopped, causing brain damage. He had also talked to a social worker, who had gotten him started on the adoption paperwork. He wondered how she would react when he told her. The truth was, very well to the news she could live with him, and not so well to the news her mom was 'gone'. He hid all incriminating evidence in the basement and set the incident aside as best he could, preparing for his new life with Eleven.

A/N: Sooooo, big chapter I know. We finally see what could make El so very edgy and make her rebel against Hopper. The motivation behind said suicide will be explained, but first! Thank you SO very much for all your support on this story! The last time I checked, we were at 450 views! That is so awesome! However, most of them are just in the first chapter. If people would stay, that would be great, but whatever. Thanks for being so awesome, and I will see you next chapter!