AN Hey look at that I'm not dead, cool. Sorry about not updating for 3 months but I'll let you read the story now, more about a crazy life at the end ;) July 23, 1985 Mike Mike awoke to the sound of whispering, he opened his eyes and seeing pass the dim morning light coming through the small window saw Dustin and Lucas standing over them, smiling at them. Mike jumped up remembering where he was and what it may look like to other people but in his sleepy not very awake mind he had forgotten how small the loveseat really was. The next thing he knew he and El were on the floor. El let out a sound of surprise and pain as she sat up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes just having woken up on the floor. "Why the hell are you two watching as sleep!" Mike shouted as he stood up before helping El off the floor. "Well we woke up and saw that you were gone then found the two of you….sleeping," Lucas said wiggling his eyebrows at him. Mike rolled his eyes at them, "We were just sleeping, that's all." "Whatever you say," Lucas said. "What do you think we were doing?" El asked confused. "Nothing," Mike said at the same time Dustin commented "Messing around." El looked at them looking tired, "Messing around?" "They're just crazy," Mike said shaking his head looking at them annoyed. "Yeah sure we're the crazy ones," Lucas said. "Oh shit what time is it!" They all looked over to see Max sitting up, her eyes wide with panic. Lucas looked down at his watch before he spoke, "7:48." "Your joking right!" Max said jumping up from her spot in the armchair and started for the staircase in a run. "Um yeah because that's the sense of humor I have," Lucas said giving her a weird look. "I'm late!" Max shouted back to them as she took the stairs two at a time. "Late for what?" Dustin called up to her as she threw open the door. "Billy's funeral." Mike felt his mouth open in shock and looked over at the others to see the same. Without saying a word they all turned and followed after her, running up the stairs sounding like a stampede. They turned into the kitchen and found Mike's mom making breakfast. "There you are all, I'm making-" she was cut off as they ran past her. She watched after them in surprise. "Well okay then." They reached Max just in time to find her opening the door and took a step out into the morning light. "Max wait," Lucas said grabbing for her hand and turned her to face them and when he did they saw she had tears in her eyes. "I need to go, my mom and stepdad will be wondering where I am," she said, but she didn't turn back to the door. "Why didn't you tell us today was his funeral?" El asked. Max stood there a moment and looked away from them before she spoke, "I didn't know if I wanted you there...I don't know what my family is going to be like today….my stepdad isn't the best person to be around on a normal day, let alone a day like this." "That doesn't matter," Lucas said, "But we're your friend's, we're here for you no matter what happens. We're here for the better or worse, I think July 4th proved that." "Yeah," Mike agreed as Will nodded along. "I can't ask you guys to do that," Max said. "You don't have to ask," El said. Max swallowed and nodded. "Okay." "We'll go with you," Lucas said. Max nodded and looked at them one at a time, thanks in her green eyes. "I'll get my mom to drive you home, then we'll meet you there," Mike said. He leads them back to the kitchen where his mom was making fried eggs as his dad sat at the table, flipping through the pages of the paper. Holly and Nancy listening to the news playing on the tv. His mom looked at all of them with a warm smile, "There you all are, I just finished folding your clothes and I'm making breakfast now so if-" "Mom can you drive max home?" "Right now?" His mom asked not looking up from what she was doing. "Yes," he said. Mike's mom looked up at them, surprised. "Well can I at least have the reason then," she said. "I have to go to a funeral, Billy's funeral," Max said not meeting her eyes. "Oh," was all Mike's mom said as she gave Max a pitying look. "Of course honey, I'll drive you home, I'll go get ready now." She wiped her hands off and started for the staircase. Max turned back to them, "I need to get ready I'll…..I'll see you all later." Lucus nodded and stepped back letting her go back down to the basement to dress. "What should we do now?" Dustin said looking after her. "I don't know," Lucus said watching after her as the basement door closed. "Mike?" Mike turned around to find El looking up at him. "What do you wear to a funeral?" He let out a breath unsure how to answer the question. His face must have shown it because Nancy stood up. "I'll help you El. Follow me, let's head up to my room." El followed after her, leaving the rest of them standing there, still not sure what to do with themselves. "You have anything black to wear?" Dustin asked. Mike let out a breath as he watched El disappear as she turned the corner on the second floor. "Yeah," was all Mike said as he started for the stairs wondering what else this day could bring. El "Have you ever gone to a funeral?" Nancy asked as she went through her closet as El sat on her bed. "No," El answered watching her pull out a long dark black dress before she threw it back into the closet before she went back to looking. The room was quiet a moment before she spoke again. "Why do people wear black to funerals?" Nancy paused a second before she slowly pulled a black short dress out and looked over at her. "That's a good question," Nancy said and joined her on the bed, "I don't know when it first started but black is the color for mourning, wearing black shows that you're mourning the loss of someone that matters," Nancy said and handed her the dress. El took it and held it for a moment before she looked up at the other girl. "Can I wear this to Hopper's funeral?" "Of course," Nancy answered, her eyes soft. El swallowed, a burning feeling behind her eyes. "Am...am I a bad person for not wanting to go to funerals...not even Hoppers funeral?" Finally, she had said it out loud, it had been haunting her for so long now, the feeling of dread at the idea of saying goodbye forever. "No! No you're not." Nancy took her hand, "El you've seen and been through so much pain in your life. No one would blame you for not wanting to go through more of it. But this is the last goodbye to the people we knew that we have in a way, but it's your choice and no matter which one you make everyone will understand." El nodded before she stood and held the dress out in front of her. It would be the perfect fit. She was just short enough that it would reach just past her knees. "Go try it on," Nancy said. El went out into the hall and closed the door to the bathroom. She looked down at the dress before looking at herself in the mirror. The girl from the beginning of the summer was gone. As August rolled in she was no longer the girl who had nothing more than to do than worry about when she could see Mike, what she would do on the warm days besides watch tv before coming home to have dinner with Hopper. Now she didn't know what to do with herself. Every day seemed to go on and on until finally the sunset and she could close her eyes. But not even the arms of unconsciousness could save her from the pain that was just being awake sometimes with the nightmares that found her in the darkness. With a deep breath, she slipped out of her clothing before she stepped into the dress. Pulling it up she found that it fit well. The skirt hit just past her knees, the sleeves hit just above her elbows. She reached back and zipped the zipper up. It was a perfect fit. She looked back at the mirror and felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. Her nose was bleeding. But this time it wasn't blood, it was black ink. "No….." El breathed wiping at it. She looked at it a moment before quickly turning the water on and let it run down the drain. She let out a shaking breath, the words that had been circling around her head for the past month she finally spoke out loud for the first time to herself. "Why?" Why was this happening to her! Why did everything bad have to happen to her! God the very moment she was born the world seemed to have only wanted her to hurt. From being in that lab for 11 years, to finding Mike and then for her safely being taken from him and only having Hopper and now even he was gone. And now whatever was happening was just something else to add to the list… "Maybe the world is trying to tell you something." El didn't even jump at the sound of Billy's voice now, the sound of it almost comforting, though she couldn't say why. "Go away," El said, but her voice was small even in the little bathroom. "You're not looking so well there El," Billy said from where he leaned against the door blocking her only way out. "What do you want now Billy?" El whispered as she closed her eyes. "You know what I want El," he said, and she noted his voice sounded softer then it had ever been before. She bit her shaking lip and opened her mouth to speak scared of the words she was thinking but a knock stopped her. "El you okay?" She heard Nancy call standing outside the door. "Yes," she answered opening her eyes once again and turned to find no one in the doorway before she opened it to find Nancy there, waiting in her own black outfit. Nancy looked her over with pitying eyes that El decided to ignore, tired of always seeing them when people looked at her now. "You look nice," Nancy said handing her a pair of flat black shoes. She took them and put them on before she looked at herself in the mirror in front of her. Somehow she looked like someone else. Not the girl she knew but someone who has seen too much of the pain the world tried to hide. "You ready?" Nancy asked. El nodded and they both walked down the steps to be met with everyone else, even Mrs. Wheeler was dressed up. They opened the door and headed out to the car. El watched everyone get in, not sure where to go. Finally, she felt someone take her hand, she knew who it was the second they touched her, the smell of his clean clothes, his hand warming hers, the beat of his pulse steadying her own. "We can sit in the back together," Mike said and she nodded in agreement. He opened the back and they got in, she sat on one side and him on the other. They looked out the window, not saying anything. The quiet seemed to be filled with the things they wanted to say but couldn't. Then I don't want to leave you's. Then I can't lose you again. Then why did this have to happen to us. Mike took her hand and she looked over to find him looking at her, but unlike everyone else, he looked at her not with pity but knowing. Knowing what she was feeling right now. "It's going to be okay, we'll get through this then we can talk about this morning," Mike whispered to her. She nodded but didn't reply, she wanted to tell him everything, needed too. But for some reason, she couldn't make herself. It was as if it was a waking dream that kept slipping away from her everytime she reached out to it. The car turned into the cemetery and suddenly the feeling in the air when heavy, like a stone dropped into the water it hit them all in a wave. They parked at the end of the line of cars that sat in front of the gates. El looked at Mike one last time before they all got out. She watched as people walked by in blacks and dim gray's. They joined them, walking in a line towards a tent and white fold-out chairs, a hole in the ground. El felt her heart pounding in her ears, the feeling of guilt hit her head on then, making her choke on it. They stopped in the back of the crowd, a sea of darkness in what would be a normally beautiful day. "What a day to be thrown in the ground, doesn't seem right does it?" Billy said. El looked over and saw him standing next to a tall tree, a pool of black under him, soaking into the green grass, turning it yellow from the roots. She turned back to see Max standing in a black dress looking uncomfortable in it, a tall man and woman with red hair stood next to her, the man with his hand on her shoulder, seeming to hold her in place. Max looked up than from where she had been staring at the ground and found them, El watched as she seemed to relax as she looked at each of them in turn. El tried to give her a reassuring smile but it didn't feel like it helped. "Not going to lie I'm surprised you and your little friends decided to come, after all your the reason I'm and so many others are in the ground in the first place." El stayed quiet watching as they started to lower a long box into the ground, she had no idea what it was called but she knew it was empty. After all his body was burned to ash that warm 4th of July night. "You really have nothing to say to me?" Billy said, sounding closer. "We all will bow our heads in a moment of silence in remembrance of this lost soul," a guy with a large black book said. She watched as everyone looked down and followed suit a second later. "Don't you think you should be the one in that hole El, why are you the one who gets to stand on the grass and I'm six feet under it?" She looked up as everyone else did, they watched the Hargrove's stepped forward as dirt started to fill the hole. She didn't know how long it took for it to be covered completely, didn't know how long she stood there or when Mike slid his hand into her's again. But finally, it was done and people seemed to break away from the lines they were in and started to mill around. Mrs. Wheeler headed over to Max's mother and father to talk in whispers. Lucas went over to where Max stood a few feet away from her parents, kicking at the grass with her red sneakers. the others followed him a moment later and started to talk in low whispers much like the adults around them. El stepped forward to join them but a voice. Not Billy's, but someone else's. She turned towards it and noted that it was the same direction as the Byers house. Without thinking about it she took a step away from everyone, then another. The world seemed to fall away from her as she quickly walked towards the voice...no it was voiced, more than one mixed to make a noise that sounded like her name. "El…..Eleven…..Jane….." She moved faster and faster now through the graveyard, stepping over old graves and plates that read the names of the long-dead as it repeated over and over again. She reached the back of the graveyard and stopped in front of the tall gate. She reached out to open one of the latches, her mind telling her to stop, but that thought seemed far away now. The gate opened and she took a step, her eyes focusing on a dirt road that would take her to where she needed to go. Suddenly a hand grabbed at her arm pulling her back. Back into the graveyard and back into reality. She heard herself gasp and looked up to find Mike. "El….where were you going?" He asked, looking at her then the gate before he grabbed the latch and locked it again. "I.. I don't know," she answered, looking around to see she was a good ways away from everyone, how Mike had seen her from so far away she didn't know. "El….your nose," Mike said nodding at her face. She reached up and felt something wet, she pulled her fingers away and found the black ink again. She quickly wiped the rest away on her sleeve, before she looked back up at him. "We need to tell the others," Mike said, his eyes filled with worry for her. "No!" El shouted suddenly, she covered her mouth in surprise, her eyes going wide. Mike looked more confused now, as he spoke, "Why, it's not like they won't believe it's happening." "Mike...I haven't told-" El started but was cut off by the sound of footsteps. They turned and found Dustin behind them. "What are you guys doing over here?" "El's been-" Mike started but she cut him off. "We were just talking about….periods." "What!" Mike said, his jaw dropping. "Oh…" was all Dustin said with raised eyebrows, "Well I was coming over here to tell you we're leaving in a minute." "Thanks," El said as he turned back and walked away from them. Once he was out of earshot Mike turned on her. "Periods? Why periods," Mike asked. She shrugged, "Max said boys don't like talking about them and it's a good way to make them stop talking and leave." Mike rolled his eyes, "She really doesn't think very highly of us does she, we're not that easy to get rid of." El couldn't help but look towards Dustin then back at Mike with a knowing look. "He doesn't count," Mike said quickly. She let out a breath that almost sounded like a laugh at his words. "Lets go," Mike said, "But we still need to talk to the other's about what's happening." El said nothing as they walked back to meet with everyone. Mrs. Wheeler still talking to the Hargrove's. Max was talking with Lucas and Will, looking paler then she had seen her before, almost sick looking... though could she really say anything. After all, she knew too well she looked the same. She reached out and took Max's hand. Their eyes met and El saw that Max's eyes were ringed with red from where she had been crying. Without even thinking about it she pulled Max into her arms and hugged her for a long moment. "I'm sorry," El whispered. Max opened her mouth to say something but El broke away from her before she could, knowing that she would tell her it wasn't her fault, but it was, all of this was her fault. "Ready to go?" They both looked up to see Mrs. Hargrove stop in front of them. "I guess," Max said. Mrs. Hargrove wrapped an arm around her shoulder to guide her away. El watched them for a moment before they disappeared into the sea of black as it poured out of the graveyard, like a cup of coffee tipped over to spill across the ground. "Come on," Mike said. He took her hand and weaved through the crowd of people before they made it back to the car where everyone was already getting back into it. Mrs. Wheeler was next to the car, but she was looking off towards the graves. El watched as she closed her eyes a moment and whispered something to herself what looked like a sorry before she got into the car herself. El stood next to Mike as he opened the back door for them wondering what she had to be sorry for, but the thought was cut off a moment later as she and Mike got in and they were off once again. The funeral seemed to have got on her what felt like hours but it couldn't have been more than an hour. But her body felt heavy as if she had been there for days. "Do you want to come back to my house after we drop the others off? " Mike offered. She thought about it a moment before she shook her head. "No, I need to talk with Mrs. Byers." "About what's been happening?" Mike asked in a whisper. "Yes," El answered. Mike nodded. "Do you think she'll know what to do?" "I don't know," El said as they dropped Lucas off. "I'm sure we'll figure it out. We always do." El nodded but she couldn't help but think about everything they lost after they do figure things out. They turned into the Byers driveway. She, Will and Jonathan got out and saw that Mrs. Byers was waiting for them on the porch. El bit her lip as they walked up the short steps, El in front. She had been the one to run off yesterday, even if it wasn't in her control, she was the reason they had ended up in that storm. El stopped in front of Mrs. Byers expecting her to yell at her or at the very least to be mad but she didn't see what Mrs. Byers did next coming. She hugged her. The older arms strong around her own shoulders. El stood there frozen a moment not understanding what was happening for a second before she wrapped her own arms around Mrs. Byers. "I'm sorry," El whispered, "I-I don't know what's happening anymore." Mrs. Byers shhhed her. "There's no reason to be sorry." The older woman pulled away and with an arm around her shoulders, she guided El inside. Mrs. Byers looked over at her son's and gave them a soft smile. "Come on, let's have lunch." They walked into the house and found lunch already on the table, PB&J sandwiches and red kool-aid. El couldn't help but smile at the food, it reminded her of what Hopper would have made if they had t.v. dinners it would be….like he was here…. They sat down at their places, no one even looked at their food or drink, simply looked at Mrs. Byers all unsure what she was going to say. She cleared her throat and let out a long breath. "I'm sorry for springing that on you yesterday, I should have told you before now, I've been thinking about it since last October….maybe even before that after we got Will back, but after this 4th of July, I knew. I know it was time to get out of this messed up little town." Jonathan looked confused, "How are we going to pay for that? Moving is a lot of money we don't have." Joyce nodded, "You're right, that's why we're not the ones paying for it." "What do you mean?" Will asked. "The government is." "What! They all said in unison, shock going through the room. "Mom there not just going to give us money out of the goodness of their hearts, it's the U.S. government," Jonathan said. El nodded in agreement, she knew all too well what they could do, and giving money to them didn't seem to be high on their list. Joyce put her hands up to calm them. "I know, but it wasn't my idea. It was Dr. Owens. After I took in El he agreed that it would be for the best to get away from all of this and said if I kept him updated on El he would make sure we didn't have to worry about money to move and some money to put into a college fund for you all." "What do they need to know about me?" El asked. "Just basic information. School grades, doctor records." El nodded not really caring about that stuff, they probably had all of that already, it's not like it was hard to find. "We're going somewhere no one will know us?" El asked the idea felt weird and almost unreal to her. She was the weird girl that Hopper took in last winter, the girl that didn't talk to other people, the girl who didn't go to school, the girl no one here cared about outside of her family and friends. The girl who could be someone different in a new place…..maybe the ghosts that followed her here wouldn't find her there. "Yes," Mrs. Byers said, "We can start everything new there." "But what if we don't want to do this?" Jonathan asked, "What about school? I still need to graduate….what about the people we have here already?" "I know it's going to be hard, but this is what we all need now," Mrs. Byers tried. "Why are you the one who decides that?!" Jonathan asked, sounding more and more upset, "What about Nancy? What about the people we leave behind here?" Mrs. Byers let out a sad breath, as she looked at her son. El couldn't guess what the others were feeling at the moment, for her Hawkins had only been a place that had brought her pain for eleven years of her life until Mike and the others found her in the woods that rainy night, but Will and Jonathan had lived here all of their lives, they had people who had known them their whole lives, they had lived in this house for as long as they could remember probably. Mrs. Byers opened her mouth to respond but the sound of a ringing phone cut her off. She got up and answered it. She listened a moment, nodding along to the person on the other side. She bit into her lip as she shot them a look before she mouthed a "sorry" and walked into her bedroom closing the door as much as she could with the cord in the door. Jonathan got up and left them sitting at the table, going into his room. Will looked defeated sinking down in his chair. El looked at the table for a moment thinking, a second later she got up and went into the hall. She didn't know if this was the best time to tell Joyce about what had been happening to her but it couldn't be the worst. She stopped at the door and listened for a moment. "I know….but you see this isn't the best time…..Okay but...right….okay..thank you." El opened the open after she hear silence for a long minute and found Mrs. Byers standing, the phone against her chest, her eyes far away somewhere she couldn't see. "Can I ask you something?" El asked. Mrs Byers snapped back to reality then as she looked at her with a soft smile. "Of course, but I need to tell you something first." El nodded walking further into the room. The older woman hesitated a moment before she spoke. "When we move I want to go back to school, but not a normal school, I want to study criminal justice. I want to be a detective." El felt her mouth open a little in surprise but it was quickly replaced with a bright smile. "That's amazing, you're going to be a great detective." "Thank you, but there's a problem. I've got all my papers ready and I was just going to send them in the mail, but my school just called and told me I had to have the enrollment paper's in tomorrow morning if I wanted to start this Autumn. Meaning I would need to leave tonight to hand them in so you would be left alone all day tomorrow with the boys." She kept her smile on, her plan to tell Joyce what had been happening to her died. If she told her about it now she would want to stay and try to figure it out with her and El wouldn't let that happen, she wouldn't be the reason Mrs. Byers missed this opportunity. "I'll be okay," El said with as much truth as she could muster. "Are you sure?" Mrs. Byers asked, "Because you've been looking unwell and have been through so much this month and I just don't want to leave you suddenly if you need me. El nodded, "I'm fine, I'll be fine, you need to go, you don't need to worry about me." "You're my daughter now I'm always going to worry about you," she said wrapping her arms around her and laid a soft motherly kiss on top of her head. El closed her eyes a moment, the feeling of being safe was so comforting she didn't want to leave it. But a second later she pulled away. "Like I said I'm okay, you need to go." Joyce nodded "I'm going to go tell the boys and pack." El turned and watched Mrs. Byers leave the room leaving her standing there by herself. A light flickered above her. A sound made her turn back around and she felt something wet and cold hit her on the forehead. She stepped back surprised and saw a drop fall pass her. She reached out a hand and the next drop landed in her hand. Black ink ran down her palm and dropped off her finger to land on the white carpet spreading out like a pool, steeping into the white. In the next blink of an eye it was gone. AN Well, it's been a while now, right? Sorry about that. But see! I would never just leave something unfinished...3 months later. There's been a lot going on in my life, the first is that I got a job. It's a retail one so with the holidays it was kinda been crazy like crazy, crazy. Second is I became a published author like a publisher published a story I wrote. That is kinda awesome! It's Daisy Chains by Samantha Evergreen….yeah I'm an author and I'm using my pen name for fanfic too. But to be honest I've never, like really never believed I would actually be published so I never cared that it was under my pen name that I was trying to get published under, and I'm okay with it. I'm having a lot of fun writing this. I, of course, hope you enjoyed it. Something that I will be doing is working more on is quality than speed. Before I was just trying to get it out to you all as fast as I could. But rereading it I saw it needed to be a bit more detailed and the grammar, of course, needed work, I hope that's okay with everyone. (Tho it won't be another 3 months) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, anyway thanks for reading, 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 please feel free, it always helps. again this is really fun to write so the next update so be soon :D ps the link to my book is in my bio. (sorry about the self-promo)