Castle Byers
July 22, 1985
Mrs. Byers jogged out of her room throwing on her Melvald's General coat as she turned into the kitchen and found Will and Jonathan already sitting at the table eating bowls of cereal. Joyce went over to the kitchen cabinets and opening one she grabbed a granola bar and quickly unwrapped it. She didn't have a lot of time since Melvald's General had become the main place to buy groceries and everyday stuff since the mall went up in flames.
"Where's El?" Mrs. Byers asked seeing that the living room was empty and the bathroom door was open.
"Where is she always," Will said looking out the window.
Joyce followed his gaze and saw deep in the trees a flash of color that she realized was El.
Joyce let out a breath the mom in her wanting nothing more than to run out and comfort the girl, but she knew that El needed the space. Needed the time away from them to deal with the hurt she was going through like she herself needed after Bob.
"Do you know how long she's been awake for?" Joyce asked pouring coffee into her to-go cup.
"She's been out there since I got up at six," Jonathan said sounding almost as concerned as she was.
Joyce shook her head and headed for the back door.
El took another deep breath as she stared at the empty coke can she had set up on a tree stump a few feet away just as the sun started to peek over the trees, the sky a pale yellow. She focused on the can again. Focused on crushing it like she had all those years ago in that cold lab.
But just like every other time she had tried for the last week nothing happened. El let out a frustrated breath and kicked a pile of dead leaves angry at herself. It had been almost four weeks and her powers were still not back.
"What am I doing wrong!" El hissed under her breath kicking again at the ground.
"El."
Looking up she saw Mrs. Byers walking towards her.
"You need to come have breakfast, honey."
Breakfast was the last thing El wanted right now but nodded all the same and met the older woman halfway.
Mrs. Byers looked at her a moment and El knew she saw the dark circles under her brown eyes, her messy hair and too loose clothing that had fit perfectly fine beforehand.
Mrs. Byers let out a breath and put a comforting arm around her shoulder guiding her towards the house.
El sat down next to Will and looked down at the bowl of cereal in front of her. The fruit loops floating there soggy looking just as miserable as she felt but she picked up the spoon and took a few bites wanting to make them all happy. She knew they were worried about her, but she couldn't stop. Couldn't stop moving, couldn't stop trying to use her powers. Because if she did she would think of that hole in her heart left by Hopper or even worse the... others would start to talk to her.
"Alright, I'm going to work now. What are you guys planning on doing today?" Mrs. Byers asked grabbing her keys and purse.
"We're going to clean up castle Byers," Will answered.
Mrs. Byers nodded and was just about to leave when the phone started to ring.
Jonathan got up to answer it, but Joyce basically threw herself at it as she grabbed the receiver.
Jonathan stepped back a bit of surprise on his face matching El's and Will's own.
Joyce mouthed a sorry before she answered the person on the other end of the phone.
"Hello...Yes, this is Joyce Byers….Yes, I'm still interested….Yes, the one in Iowa…..I'll be there."
El shot the others a look thinking they would know what was going on but they looked just as confused as she was.
After a few more short words Mrs. Byers hung up the phone and bit her lip before she turned to them.
"What was that about?" Jonathan asked, " You said something about Iowa?"
"It was nothing," Mrs. Byers said and tried to hurry out the door but Jonathan caught at her hand, stopping her.
"That wasn't nothing mom, what's going on?"
Mrs. Byers closed her eyes a moment before she shook her head and put on a smile, though El saw it didn't reach her eyes.
"I'll tell you later tonight."
Jonathan gave her a worried look but nodded.
Joyce opened the door and smiled at them, "Have a good day, I'll see you all for dinner tonight, okay?"
"Bye mom," Will said as the door closed leaving them to themselves, the only sound the radio playing in the background.
"Well that was weird," Jonathan said looking after his mom. "I haven't seen her act like that since dad moved out."
El swallowed, a bad feeling coming over her but it disappeared a moment later as Will got up.
"Ready to go and clean up Castle Byers?" Will asked, and El heard the sadness in his words as they all got up and headed for the door.
They walked through the drying leaves from last autumn and green grass, the sound of crunching mixing with the morning bird song as the sun peeked through the leaves. She looked up at the trees trying to see what kind of birds they were, remembering those lonely days at Hopper's cabin. A memory of another time she had walked through trees coming back to her.
February 14, 1984.
El sucked in a deep breath as she walked through the darkness, following after the voice she so wished to hear in real life. His soft words ringing out around her in echoes.
"Hey El, it's day 94. Valentine's day...I don't know if you know what that is but it's a stupid holiday where people give each other candy and cards and sweet shit like that. I got a lot of them, even one from that girl Jennifer Hayes, she was at Will's funeral I guess she's moved on to me now that he's alive and everything."
El smiled as she walked through the cold water until she stopped and knelt in front of the fort where he sat. The same one he had made all those days ago for her.
"But you know… it's weird, most Valentine days are super fun, we get candy and cards... but I didn't have a lot of fun this time...it just didn't feel right. Dustin said it's because I've been moody since you disappeared and maybe he's right…. "
El felt her heart fall with sadness as his eyes filled with something she couldn't place as he looked down. She followed his gaze and saw a red folded piece of paper in his hand.
He turned it over and she saw the front was of a colorful bear with a rainbow on its tummy. Above it read "Friends like you…."
El wondered what it said in the inside and as if he could read her mind he opened it.
To El.
Friends like you make my heart happy.
From Mike.
Under that she saw that he had written something else.
"I miss you El, I miss you every day and I don't know what to do about it."
El reached out to touch the card but as always her hand only slipped through it and a second later he was gone in a blink of an eye, turning to smoke leaving her alone in that cold dark world.
El took off the blindfold and threw it across her room, wiping at her nose.
She got up and went into the living room, the cabin quiet since Hopper was still out at work. She let out a sound of frustration. She wanted so badly to go to Mike and see him, tell him she was fine and hear the relief in his voice.
She started for the front door and with a simple flick of her head the locks were undone and she was outside trying to think of the way to Mike's house.
With her breathing fogging up around her she had decided to just walk until she found it even if she had to wonder around in the dark all night.
But a sound stopped her. El looked around herself trying to place it and her eyes stopped on a tree, the small sound coming from the roots. She walked over to it slowly the ground still wet from the newly melted snow.
She looked around for only a moment then found where the noise was coming from.
A small baby bird lay on the ground. El went to her knees and reached out to touch it but stopped herself. She didn't want to hurt it, it seemed so small with its fluffy little feathers and too small body.
She looked up at the trees just now getting new green leaves as spring was just around the corner. And there, in one of the taller trees was a nest, it's siblings singing.
El bit her lip, thinking of how to help it get back up to it's family. Sure she could use her powers but she had never used her powers on something so fragile. She remembered when Papa had asked her to kill that white cat and she couldn't do it even when she had killed those bad men without a second thought.
But she didn't want to hurt it, she just wanted to put it back… No, she couldn't risk it. She still didn't have the best grip on just how strong her powers could be.
"Just wait here," El told it and ran back inside. She ran to her room and found what she was looking for.
She came back out a moment later a brown bag in hand that she would later take with her when she went to find Mama.
As carefully as she could she wrapped the little bird in a thin scarf and placed it in the bag. It gave only a quiet chirp as she closed the top so it wouldn't fall out.
She looked up at the tall tree. She had never climbed a tree…. hell she had never really seen a tree until last year but she could figure it out, kids did it all the time.
It would take her a few tries to find her footing but after she made it to the first few branches she was set.
She grabbed branch after branch until she reached the nest.
El braced herself against the tree so she was able to pick the baby bird up as gently as she could and placed it back with its siblings.
El smiled at them as they chirped happily. Finally, she looked up and saw just how far up she really was. She could see the top of the cabin from up here. even the tops of the houses so far from where she was...Mike was in one of those houses so was Will and Lucas and Dustin... Suddenly she flinched as birds flue passed her and she almost fell, her foot slipping and she started to tip backwards.
But she caught herself on the branch and watched after them. They landed on another tree not too far from her and she watched as three red and black ones seemingly talked to a little yellow one that sat next to them.
El had no idea that birds could be so colorful, so...pretty.
She had stood in that tree for hours watching them fly through the trees, free to do as they pleased so unlike herself at that time. Finally the sun started to set and she knew Hopper would be home soon.
She had climbed down and heated the TV dinners she and Hopper always had. She watched the clock until it read five, one five and she heard him pull up outside.
She had asked him that night for a book.
"Really and what kind of book would that be?" Hopper asked.
"One about birds," El said.
Hopper gave her a confused look but nodded all the same, "Sure kid, whatever you want."
The next day he had come back from the library with a bag full of books. For the next week she had been distracted on watching and learning what kind of birds lived in that tree-lined world with her. It would turn out that bird she had helped was a crossbill. She would watch from their back porch as the red-tailed hawks and kestrels flue around freer then herself, able to see the world when all she could do was look from afar in her head.
El came back to reality then as they came to a stop in front of what once had been Castle Byers.
Jonathan let out a deep sigh and in that breath she heard the hurt in it.
She had never really been in the small fort except for that time when she had found Will in the upside-down but she knew that it was something special to the both of them that she would never understand.
Jonathan started to pick up pieces of wood that had once made up the fort and so did Will.
El started to help them clean up, picking up the bed-sheet that had once covered the door and folded it, then she grabbed a piece of wood but as she went she found one with words written on it in red paint.
"Home of Will the wise."
El looked at it a moment before she moved it over to lay next to the sheet.
Then she found the one with the words in yellow
"All friends welcome." And then another bored with "Castle Byers," also in that same old yellow chipped paint.
"Where would you like me to put this?" El asked and Will looked up and saw what she was holding.
"You can put it with the rest of the wood we're getting rid of."
El was a little taken aback at his words as he turned back to cleaning up. She looked over at Jonathan and he nodded at the sheet where she had put the other one.
She put them all on the sheet and folded it up so Will wouldn't see. "How old is the fort?" El asked as she picked up a photo of Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will holding a first place ribbon for some math project.
"Four years old now," Jonathan said, "We built it the night are parents divorced so we wouldn't have to be around when that basterd left."
"What does divorced mean?" El asked picking up a few of Will's drawings.
"It's what happens when two people fall out of love with one another," Jonathan answered.
El felt confusion go through her. How did two people fall out of love? Sure she had broken up with Mike but she could never not love him and they were back to dating…..Wait was that what he had been trying to tell her that time in the grocery store?
She felt her eyes go wide then as realization hit her and the wood she had just picked up fell from her arms as she just stood there for a moment.
"You okay?" Will asked looking up at her.
El nodded and quickly picked up the wood she had dropped.
For the next few hours they cleaned up the wood, putting it in a pile to the side, before grabbing the pillows, blankets and other small toys, art and photos and started back home the sun high in the sky as the afternoon came around.
As they walked in the late summer heat El fell behind the two brothers noting that Will kept shooting looks at Jonathan as if he wanted to say something.
She slowed her paste until she was a few feet behind them and Will moved to walk side by side with his older brother.
El didn't want to hear what the two were saying but the warm breeze seemed to carry their words over to her anyway.
"I'm sorry," Will said.
"About what?" Jonathan asked looking down at him.
"We built Castle Byers together, we put those signs up that night, we both got sick afterwards from it raining and I was the one to destroy it. I'm so sorry Jonathan can you forgive me?"
For a long moment Jonathan was quite before he gave a short clean "No."
Will looked up at him with hurt eyes but a second later Jonathan let out a light laugh and shook his head.
"Of course I forgive you, Will. Honestly, I'm surprised it took you so long to take that thing down after what you when through in the upside down, it being where you spend a lot of time and all."
"You're really not mad?" Will asked, his smile back.
"Yeah, I would have helped if you asked, I'm pretty good at hitting things with a bat and all."
Will shook his head a smile lighting up his face.
Suddenly they fell back so she was walking in the middle of them. "Thanks for the help El," Jonathan said.
"No problem," El said as they walked into the clearing of the Byers house.
They all looked up then and stopped dead. Joyce's car sat in the driveway along with a black SUV that she had never seen before.
"Who's that?" El asked looking up and saw that both boys had no idea as well.
"No idea," Jonathan said as they all walked up to the front door.
El looked back at the car a bad feeling coming over her, though she couldn't say why.
Jonathan reached for the doorknob and was just about to twist it when it was opened by someone on the other side.
They all took a step back and came face to face with Dr. Owens.
El took another step back, her eyes going wide, her heart sinking as her nightmare came back to her about being back in that lab sending a wave of cold through her even in the heat.
Jonathan and Will moved to stand in front of her as Mrs. Byers stepped out beside him.
"Oh you guys are back early," she said, "You remember Dr. Owens right?"
"Yeah, why is he here though?" Will asked.
"I was just talking with your mother about a few things is all."
"And those things are?" Jonathan asked, his voice colder than it had been a minute ago.
"That's something you should probably sit down and talk to your mother about, I was actually just going so you'll be able too," Dr. Owens said giving them a smile as he walked passed them and got in his car, driving away a moment later.
All of them watched after him until he turned a corner before and they looked back to Joyce.
"What was he talking about?" El asked looking up at the older woman.
Mrs. Byers bit her lip a moment before she opened the door wider and stepped back inside.
"Let's talk."
All three of them shared a look before they followed her inside as she closed the door.
"Go ahead and sit down," Mrs. Byers said.
"That's not good," Will said under his breath as they sat down on the couch as Joyce took a spot in the green armchair facing them.
El swallowed unsure what was happening and both boys seemed the same.
"So what was that about?" Jonathan said, "Why was Dr. Owens here?"
"I needed to ask him something," Joyce said not looking them in the eye.
"What did you ask him?" Will asked.
"I needed to make sure that I could move El."
"What!" El said, panic seizing her, "Where are you moving me!"
"No, no it's not like that. I wanted to make sure we could all move and the government wouldn't want to stop us or anything."
"What do you mean move?" Will asked.
"To Iowa."
"Iowa?" El asked.
"Yes it's a-"
"Can I talk to you alone?" Jonathan asked standing up, cutting off his mom.
"Jonathan..." Joyce said her voice filled with pity.
"Please."
Mrs. Byers nodded and El watched them go into her bedroom.
El heard a soft sound beside her and when she looked at Will she saw tears in his eyes. He blinked once and then they were streaming down his cheeks. He got up a moment later and went into his own room slamming the door leaving her alone.
"Why would we need to move?" Jonathan asked, "Is it because of rent? Because I'm going to get another part-time job."
"It's not like that. This place...Hawkins...it's to filled with pain for all of us."
Jonathan shook his head his voice soft as he spoke, "Mom, is this about Hopper? Because I think this is more for you than anything."
"No, after everything that happened to Will in the last two years I think it's best to get as far away from all of it."
"What about El? She just moved in here with us, I'm not sure moving will help her right now."
"It will probably help El the most. To start a new away from all of this… this hell. All she's ever known here is pain, from that Lab in having to deal with that monster. The house I've found in Iowa has four bedrooms too so she won't have to sleep on that shitty couch."
Jonathan just shook his head again knowing she had points but so did he. He opened the door and went down the hall and stopped his heart falling to the pit of his stomach. The front door was standing wide open, the warm breeze making the curtains sway.
Jonathan went to the door looking out across the front yard to see nothing.
"Will!" He called.
"What's wrong?"
Jonathan turned to see Will standing in his bedroom doorway, his eyes red and tears still running down his face.
His mom moved to wrap her arms around him looking worriedly at the door.
"Where's El?" Jonathan asked.
"She was here a moment ago."
"Shit," Jonathan said and when outside looking around frantically, but there was nothing, El was gone.
An/
Alright, I hope you enjoyed a bit of a cliffhanger. I'm going to warn you now that it won't be the only one. I hope you guys don't mind seeing the flashbacks because I love writing them! I personally think it adds to the characters. I mean we have a good 353 days to make up for. (Random fact Mike began his attempts to contact Eleven via his radio on 1983 November 13 and the last time him talks to her on the radio is on October 30, 1984. So 353 days. But El returns on November 5 meaning they hadn't seen each other for 359 days) The more you know right? ;)
Also, I deiced to have them move to Iowa because it just seems to be the most likely since I think Illinois would be to close for comfort and I don't see them moving down south or to Missouri. lol, I saw someone on the ST Amino (Where I do a lot of polling for the story) say Maine (IT reference) I loved that idea but HELL TO THE NO!
(PS you can follow me on Amino (amino apps dot com p/1l3jdg ) (all one word)
Anyway, this was a longer chapter to write so I didn't get it out when I wanted which was Sunday but I'll try harder. As always thanks for reading again it means a lot to me. If you want to review and give me your thoughts and or any criticism on what I could do better or just that you liked it please feel free, it always helps.