Sunset
El
El watched as Mrs. Byers ran around the house throwing things into a suitcase making it look like a hurricane had blown through the rooms, jeans, and t-shirts laying on the floor.
She picked them up and went over to the suitcase and put them in and took out the ten mismatched socks, the dress that looked like it hadn't been worn in years and folding them she placed them in along with somethings she knew Mrs. Byers would need.
"There you are."
She turned and found Joyce standing in the doorway, her hair was a mess and a jacket hanging off a shoulder but she seemed happy in a way, having a energy she hadn't had in a month.
The older woman came over and looked inside before she snapped it closed and picked up the case. "Thank you, honey, " she said, giving her a soft smile.
"Of course," El said, her own smile on as they walked into the living room where the boys both stood. Jonathan said next to the kitchen, his arms crossed, but he didn't look mad….just hurt. Will stood next to the door, his arms folding the papers Mrs. Byers needed to enroll with.
"So you're all sure you're going to be okay?" She asked for what felt like the 100th time in the last hour.
"Yes," they all answered in unison.
"Okay good, dinner is in the oven it will be done in 35 minutes, make sure to use oven mitts and I left 20 dollars for pizza tomorrow night on the countertop," She said taking the papers from Will.
"Mom, we'll be okay you need to get going," Will said.
Joyce went around and hugged all of them before she opened the door and was just about ready to step out but stopped once again turning back to face them.
"And you know what to do in case of an emergency?"
They didn't even answer her this time only giving her a dry look.
"Nevermind," Joyce said realizing her choice of words.
"Bye mom," Jonathan said almost pushing her out the door towards the car. "Okay, okay I'm going," she said with a small smile on her lips.
They all waved as as she got in her car and pulled away from the house slowly. She waved back at them until she was nothing but a dot in the distance. Jonathan closed the door and the house was quiet a moment before Jonathan hit the wall, the sudden sound made her and Will jump. She looked at him surprised, he was never the one to get angry.
"You okay?" Will asked.
Jonathan was silent a moment before he finally said, almost whispered, "No."
He turned to them and El saw the feelings in his eyes. She couldn't pinpoint just one, there seemed to be to many for one person to have.
"No I'm not and I don't know how you're not pissed off about all of this."
"Because I want mom to be happy and maybe she's right, it's not like we've ever found happiness here that goes for more then six months," Will said.
Jonathan let out a broken laugh "You know that's something dad said before he left, he wanted us to leave for something better and when mom told him no because we were happy here he decided to go on his own."
"Were not dad and there was more there than that and you know it," Will shot back.
"So you're both okay with leaving everything and everyone we've ever known behind?!" Jonathan asked, his voice raised now. "Nancy, Mike?"
"Of course not!" Will shouted back, "I hate leaving Mike and the others behind, their my best friends I hate that I won't get to go to high school with them. I hate I won't have summer break here or Halloween or birthdays with them but I understand why mom wants to go, this place is hell! for the past two years, it's been a nightmare!"
El stepped back watching as they fought with one another, their voices rising. She didn't like this, hated it, the screaming bringing back the image of men in lab coats yelling at her, yelling that she needed to do better or she'll be hurt again, punished again.
"And you think running away is going to make all our problems go away?! Because it's not!" Jonathan shouted, "That's not how things work!"
"I know that!" Will yelled back just as angry, just as hurt.
El backed away from them more as she covered her ears as Will when on.
"I know it's not going to fix anything, but maybe it will help to make me feel like I'm safe, like the next time I wake up in the middle of the night in the dark and for a minute think I'm in the upside down! Fear making it where I can't move for a moment! Maybe I won't be afraid of a breeze on the back of my neck!"
Jonathan's anger seemed to die then. His expression changed into one of concern. "Will," he breathed, but Will didn't seem to hear him, his eyes swimming with unshed tears that El couldn't help but wonder how long he had been holding in.
Will moved then and hit Jonathan in the arm as he continued to shout in his face. "Maybe I won't jump every time the school bell rings suddenly or of thunderstorms!"
"Stop it!" El tried to yell over them but they didn't hear her.
Jonathan stumbled back, hitting into the side table next to the chair, more surprised than hurt by Will's hits as he kept shouting, tears falling from his cheeks now.
"Please!" El tried again, her heart pounding in her chest.
"I'm tired of hurting here! I want to be okay for once! I want to feel safe!" Will raised his fist this time.
El closed her eyes not wanting to watch but instead of a fist meeting skin, the yellow lamp that sat on the table exploded into thousand's of pieces. Glass flue across the room, landing all over the floor. The room went dead quiet as she looked at their faces both shocked, their eyes wide as they looked at her.
She looked down at her hands for a long moment, not believing what had just happened, were her powers back? She looked back up at them a moment before she turned and went into Mrs. Byers room slamming it shut behind herself without having to touch it. She sat down on the bed, her mind spinning with what had just happened. She looked up and focused on the clock that sat on the bedside table. She sucked in a breath and as she let it out that clock started to blink before flipping to 11:11.
She reached out slowly to touch it, a small smile on her lips but jumped instead, her heart pounding in her chest at the sound of the phone ringing from where it still sat on the pillow of the bed next to her.
She watched it ring for a second before she picked it up slowly and held it to her ear as she answered, "Hello?"
For a moment there was nothing but static on the other line until a deep voice rang across it.
"Max."
El felt her blood run cold as she listened to it and heard it again, sounding like the person on the other side was underwater, their voice muted somehow. "Max…." suddenly El felt something wet running down her cheek as the phone went dead.
She pulled it away and watched as black drops ran down her hand to the carpet from where it poured out of the phone. With a gasp she threw it to the floor and wiped at her cheek in a panic as the dial tone rang out around her.
For a moment she stood there fear cooling her every vein, as she ran her hands through her hair as she fught the scream that was building in her lungs. She was tired. Tired of all of this. She turned away from the phone and faced the window. She didn't want to be in this room, but she didn't want to go back out to the boys. She didn't want to see their worry.
She looked out the window and was met with the sunset. Yellow and orange mixed to make the world look like it was on fire. She let out a breath, a voice whispering to her from behind. "Go...go...go….find us…."
Without thinking about it she slid the window open and lifted herself up and out. Her shoes hit the ground and a warm breeze picked her hair up and flowed it around her face. She looked back at the window for only a second, something deep down telling her to turn back, stop this, it wasn't her idea that this wasn't going to end well. But she didn't listen, letting it fall silent as she started down the dirt path.
She walked through the trees letting the birds song mute the rest of the world as the sun went deeper and deeper behind the tree line the memory of another sun but this time it was a sunrise that came to her then, a small smile following it.
November 4, 1984
El
She was exhausted, every part of her hurt, Hoppers arm around her was the only thing keeping her upright as they rode up the elevator from where she had just closed the gate for what she believed was the last time. The only thought she could think of was that they were safe now. They were all safe.
She didn't remember much of what happened next, just that she was taken to a shower to wash away the events of the night, the blood from her nose was wiped away as the warm water fell down around her.
After she got out she was handed some clean white clothes and it was all she could do to not pass out then and there. Finally the last thing she remembered before falling asleep was the feeling of Hopper's hand holding her own as they drove away as she slipped into darkness, into silence.
Until she heard him.
"Are you sure she's okay?"
Mike. Her Mike. The voice she had wanted to hear, waited to hear for over 353 days.
He was here and she knew it wasn't a dream this time because in her dreams she could see him. She wanted nothing more than to see him right now, to be able to feel him again, but she didn't have the strength to open her eyes, couldn't even move, she must have used too much of her powers.
"She's still sleeping, kid," she heard Hopper answer, sounding just as worried as Mike was.
"It's been four days!" Mike hissed, "That's not normal."
"Like any of this is normal?" Hopper asked, "She's been through a lot and it took its toll on her, she could sleep for another four, we have no real idea."
"Can I see her?" Mike asked, his voice soft and filled with the same pain she had heard many times. Sounding just like he had all those times he radioed her over the last year. " I just…I need to make sure she's okay."
"...Fine," Hopper answered finally and a moment later she heard the door open.
Mike
Mike couldn't help but worry, it had been four days of nothing but waiting for her to open her eyes, worried that she would wake up when he wasn't there, but terrified that she might not wake up at all. That thought made him sick to his stomach to the point he constantly checked to make sure she was breathing sometimes.
The days at school were the hardest though. Because life had to go on, they had to go to school and act like nothing had happened. No one knew what had happened that night. They believed it was nothing more then a power outage and that Will had been out with the flu for the two days it had taken him to wake up.
Everyone was happy to see Will back to normal….well as normal as they could all be after going through everything they had seen. Normal was something none of them would ever really experience again.
That's something he had resolved himself to be okay with. Because normal….normal was boring, normal was something he was never meant for. He and his friends had never been normal in the first place. Not in the traditional sense anyway and El was definitely not normal.
That was the part he loved the most about her.
Why wasn't she awake yet?
He sat down next to her bed and looked down at her, she was pale but seemed to be sleeping peacefully. She was drained. He didn't know what closing the gate must have been like, or how much it drained her to do it, but it was more power she had ever used before.
She had to be okay because he couldn't lose her. Not again. Not when the last year nearly killed him...And if she didn't wake up...Mike stoppedhimself from that idea and looked down at her and smiled. He hadn't seen her curls until now and ran a finger thouht them gently.
He sat there thinking... he had heard that people could hear when you talked to them when they were sleeping….maybe it would help her wake up if he spoke to her.
"I...I like your hair El, it's ...pretty. "
He waited a moment to see if that would wake her up but her eyes remained closed, her breathing slow and deep, so he went on.
"You know everyone is dying to see you, Dustin and Lucas want you to read the X-Men comics because you're basically one, but Max...that's the redhead girl….she's actually pretty cool saved Steve's ass...But I'll leave that story for later, she wants you to read DC comics….oh and I can't wait for you to meet my mom, she's going to love you….well after she actually believes I have a girlfriend who is with me of her own free will and my dad will never believe it…..That's if you want to be my girlfriend that is," He added.
He laced his fingers with her's then, he didn't care if he had to sit here all night talking to her. He would sit here until she opened her eyes.
"El….you know we made a promise, so I'm going to keep it until you keep your end right?"
Still nothing, it would be a long night, but he didn't care, he'd wait as long as it took her to wake up.
El
It took a minute for her eyes to focus when she finally woke up. The room was unfamiliar for a moment until she realized it was the cabin, she was in her room. Her home. She felt something warm in her hand and went she looked down and found what it was she couldn't help but smile.
Mike was sleeping next to her, his hand in hers, his head resting on the bed.
She reached out even as her body ached but she wanted to make sure this was real. She ran a fingertip down his cheek before she moved them to his hair, she had wanted to feel the soft mess of curls for a long time now and now she was able to, no bad men after her, no monster's, nothing but time.
"Eleven?"
She looked down and saw his brown eyes filled with sleep before he seemed to wake up and realize she was really awake. When he did he sat up, wide awake now "You're awake!"
"You're….really…here." She said, her voice dry, letting her hand fall to the bed as they looked at one another.
"Yeah," Hopper's said from where he stood in the doorway, arms crossed watching them. "The kid refused to leave you all night, it's annoying."
She looked over at Hopper. He had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping. But then he smiled, "I'm happy you're awake, I'll go make your favorite breakfast, but don't think I haven't forgotten you ran away to Chicago, we're still going to talk about that."
"Chicago?"
Mike's voice pulled her attention back to him, his eyes worried once more.
"Umm…that's a long story," she said.
"I think we have a lot of those to tell each other."
"Jesus," Hopper muttered, "I'm gonna give you kids a minute while I make breakfast. A short minute," he added looking at Mike with narrowed eyes, "And the door stays open got it."
Mike nodded and waited a minute after listening to Hopper get further away before he looked back at her with a wide smile that made her heart melt.
"Thank you for being careful," he said finally, his words soft.
"I told you I would be."
"You promised," he added, the look in his eyes, it was the same look he had the night she'd come back. The first time he'd seen her in a year.
"It's something you can't break," she said quickly, "You were the one who told me that."
She watched his cheeks turn pink, and she knew why, he was remembering that day.
"I was so worried about you," he whispered after a long moment looking away from her and down at their hands, he flipped her hand over to reveal the number tattooed on her wrist then and rubbed it slowly in calming circles with his thumb and she remembered the first time he'd touched her. He scared her then. But now, now there was no fear, only comfort. "I've been so worried about you and not just for the last four days, every day since that night at school."
"I know," she said softly, "I'm…I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" He asked, looking at her confused.
She looked at him biting at her lip, "For staying away, from you. From all of you. I didn't want to….I just-"
"That's not your fault," he said cutting her off, "Hopper decided that, not you."
"He was trying to keep me safe," she said, "I hated it, but not all the time. I mean, I…I missed you. And I wanted to see you." She paused, looking down at their joined hands, and then she looked back up into his eyes. "But…but now, I think I understand."
Mike nodded because in a way he understood too, he would do anything to keep her safe. "How are you feeling?" He asked trying to change the subject.
"Fine," she said, but he wasn't convinced.
"Really?" he said skeptically, an eyebrow raised.
"A little tired," she finally said.
He nodded, and she wanted to say so much more. There were a million things she wanted to say, but all she could do was sit there, looking at him, holding his hand in her own. So, so grateful that he was there next to her again.
"I heard you while I was sleeping. Your voice talking to me though I can't remember what you actually said," El finally said, breaking the silence.
"You did?" He asked happily.
"It made me want to wake up, you made me what to wake up so I could see you for real, not just in a dream."
He didn't know what made him do it, but he leaned over and kissed her forehead, his lips soft and warm on her skin.
She allowed that feeling to wash over her in warm waves, before he pulled away from her, his eyes warm. They stay there a long moment just happy to be with each other until a sunbeam crossed over them. She looked towards the window and saw the sun peeking over the tree line. The sun was rising, pink and a light yellow painted across the world. The darkness washed away.
July 23, 1985
El
The smile faded as a cool breeze hit her then, the sun long gone now and the smell of rain in the air. Night bathed everything in its shadows making the world look far more sinful than in the daylight.
She sucked in a deep breath as she turned the corner and found herself in a neighborhood, one she had been in before when she had come to Max for help after Mike's phone call. Then it had been a sunny hot day, not like now, as lightning flashed in the near distance.
Max's name had been repeating itself in her head for the last hour and half as she had walked. The voice on the other end had sounded…different somehow, It didn't help that she had a bad feeling about….something. She stopped in front of a house, the lights on. She could see a woman with red hair cooking in the kitchen but didn't see Max.
Thunder sounded as she crossed the street, looking both ways as lightning lit her way up the driveway. She let out a breath before she knocked. As she stood there the first drops of the rain started to fall, hitting the warm ground making a mist rise around the houses and road in the few minutes it took for the door to open.
El looked up to see the same woman as before, but now seeing her up close she looked tired and worn out, Her eyes dark and bit od gray laced her hair.
"Um can I help you?" She asked, confused.
"I'm a friend of Max I just wanted to make sure she was okay after today."
"Oh well…"
El could see her hesitate a moment before she looked up to see the weather, the rain getting heavier now. "Sure, come in."
The older woman moved to the side to let her in and closed the door behind her. El followed after her as she led her through the room until she stopped a moment before stepping into the living room.
El looked around her and saw a man in a armchair, his eyes bloodshot, a beer in hand, a few empty cans sitting next to him on the small table. The t.v. was on but he didn't seem to be watching it, his eyes blank like he was looking at another world instead of the one he lived in now.
"Neil, one of Max's friends is here to see her."
Neil looked over at them a moment looking as if he was trying to focus, a second later El jumped as he threw his beer can to the floor, sending drops across the floor as lightning flashed. "I'm out of beer, get me another can Susan."
"Of course honey," Susan said smiling, but her eyes said something else altogether, fear. She turned to El and whispered to her. "Go down the hall. Max is in her room."
El nodded, not taking her eyes away from the man as she passed and went back to the kitchen. He sat there, looking like a mess but she didn't doubt he could get violent. She quickly walked past him but couldn't help looking at the t.v. and flicked her head to the side and switched the channel from a baseball game to sesame street and with a quick look she knocked the remote off the table where it fell into the shadows under the chair.
She jogged down the hall hearing him curses loudly, a small smile on her lips. Thunder shook the house as she rounded the corner and stopped. Billy's door stood open looking just like the day she and Max had gone looking for Heather. She coundn't stop from walking into the dark room, the smell of cigarettes hitting her and she saw the bed was still a mess, but someone had picked up the old beer cans and threw away the ash tray.
Lighting flashed then lightning the room and she saw a frame catch in the light. She walked over and picked it up slowly and she felt her blood run cold. It was a photo of Billy and his mother. He looked a little younger then the boy she had seen on the beach, a bright smile on as his mother held him in her arms at a birthday party.
El swallowed, the feeling of heat behind her eyes as she moved to put it back but stopped when she saw an envelope, dust caked on it.
She placed the photo down and reached into the shadows and looked at the front and saw it was addressed to Billy. The return name was ripped off but the return address was from California.
She opened the envelope and found a letter and seven-hundred dollars. Surprise went through her at the money but as she opened the letter and read it her heart fell.
Billy. My dear lovely Billy. I know it's been a long time, a very long time since we've talked, a long time since we've seen one another. You were in middle school the last time I saw you on your 12th birthday...it was a long time ago now and I'm sorry about that. There are so many things I'm sorry about, too many to write here or I'll be here for another five years but the biggest is leaving you with your is a lot to say and be sorry for but I will never stop hating myself for that. I was scared, so scared. But so were you. I'm your mother Tr and I should have saved you, you should have been the one to get away not me. I know how angry your father can get and I abandoned you with him alone and I'll understand if you never want to see me again...But if you do you have a place, a home with me. I got remarried a few years ago and after I started looking for you again only to find you in Hawkins. I'm not going to beg you to forgive me because I don't deserve it, but if you find it in yourself this is my address.
Love you always-Mom.
El looked down and saw the address but the ink looked like it had gotten wet in some way...almost like teardrops. She ran a finger down the page, noticing that it had been opened and folded back up multiple times with the deep lines in the paper.
"Hello?"
El jumped , almost dropping the letter but managed to put it back before she turned to find Max's silhouette standing in the door.
Max stepped into the room and flicked the lights on making El blink at the light, but once she could see a gasp escaped her lips.
Max's red hair was a mess, her eyes bloodshot but unlike the man downstairs it was from tears. What made El surprised and angry, so angry was the bruise on her cheek.
"What are you doing here?" Max asked coming further into the room, worry in her green eyes.
"I..I was worried about you," El said walking over to her concern in her words as she got a better look at the bruise. A dark mark that looked painful.
Max turned her face away from her as she spoke, "I'm fine."
"Did he do that to your cheek?" El asked as she gently turned her face so she had to look her in the eyes.
Max was quiet a long second before she nodded. "After everything today I...I said something I shouldn't have I guess, I don't even know what but it was...But it wasn't that bad, just a little slap," she added quickly, sounding like she was trying to convince herself more than El.
"He hurt you," El said alarmed that she was trying to downplay it but in a way she understood. Papa's men liked to hurt her when she didn't do what he said, they had looked at her more like a lab rat than a kid.
Max said nothing to her words, both knowing there was no excuse for his actions.
"Do you want-" El started.
"No!" Max said cutting her off, panic in her eyes.
"What if he tries to hurt you again?" El asked.
Again Max said nothing because what was there to say because if it happened again she would-
"What are you doing in his room!"
They both turned to see Mr. Hargrove in the doorway, his face red with anger or alcohol El didn't know but he was clearly out of it, his eyes unfocused and he didn't seem to be able to walk very well. But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous because there was power not being in control.
"We were just talking," Max said stepping in front of El.
"About what?! Billy? What kind of father am I to let him be out that night? For letting him die!"
He stepped into the room and Max took a step back but El didn't move.
"You think I don't know what you and your mother say behind my back!"
"We never talk about you!" Max hissed at him as thunder rocked the world outside.
"Don't lie to me you little b-"
El stepped forward but stopped as someone from behind them grabbed his arm stopping him. Max's mother stood in the hall, anger clear on her face. "Don't you dare touch my daughter!" She growled, like a wild animal ready to attack. But the moment was short lived as he pushed her back with the arm she had grabbed sending her falling to the floor, a scream raining out around them.
"Mom!" Max shouted running to go to her side but Mr. Hargrove grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her against the wall hard and held her there, Max swung out with her arm but he grabbed it and pinned it to the wall. "You and your stupid mother think you can push me about like I'm an idiot!? You think I don't know your dating that little n-"
"Let her go!"
For a moment he didn't move, surprised maybe. That, someone, had the nerve to yell at him when he was like this when he clearly believed he was the strongest person here. He looked at El then, his eyes looked like black pools of anger, and for a moment El wondered what had made him into this person that he was today, which path led him to be the man who believed beating on people was the answer to anything. Whatever it was it didn't matter now.
"Who the fuck do you think you are telling me what to do in m-
El tipped her head to the side cutting him off as he let out a scream as his arm that had Max's wrist snapped, the sound echoing around the room a moment before he was sent flying into the dresser on the other side of the room. He crashed into it hard, the piece of furniture rocked against the wall the things atop it fell around him, the lamp shattering, the lightbulb flickering, making the room match the storm outside.
El moved forward slowly as shrugged to get up but he was so drunk that he didn't get very far, falling back to the floor in a pile as he held his arm to his chest in clear pain.
With another flick of her head, the dresser was sent flying to the other side of the room a moment before she lifted him up and slammed him against the wall.
"What the hell are you?" he hissed through his teeth as he looked up at her from the wall.
She wiped at her nose and saw it ran black before she looked at him.
"I don't know."
The words were true because she knew this wasn't her. In the back of her mind, she knew something was wrong, these weren't her actions but it was drowned out by something else….something more powerful than her.
"Kill him...Kill him…...bad man…..They only want to hurt…..Kill him and make sure he can't hurt your friend again..."
El covered her ears but the voice still found her with its words that cut into her like a knife.
"You're a monster. Why don't you prove it!"
"Stop it!" El shouted, closing her eyes wanting to block everything out.
"El?" Max asked, worried.
"KILL HIM!"
"NO!"
Max moved to stand next to her but before she could the glass in the windows bused inwards and he was sent flying to the side of the room where he crashed into a bookshelf and stayed there unconscious. El fell to her knees, her body shaking and she felt the warmth of something dripping from her nose, the room going cold from the rain outside.
Through blurry eyes, she slowly turned to look at Max. Her friend slowly stood fear in her eyes as she looked at her before she went over to her mother who sat frozen, a long cut over her eye from where she had hit her head in the fall.
El stood, her head spinning though she didn't know if it was from the use of her powers or at what she had just done.
"Mom are you okay?" Max asked, going to her knees next to her. The older woman nodded, finally looking away from El to her daughter. "I-what-who-"
"It's okay mom, I'll tell you everything later but for right now we need to leave. Is there anywhere we can stay?" Max asked, panic clear in her voice.
Her mother nodded slowly as she started to get up and El watched the older women ball her fists up to stop the shaking before she walked into the room. El moved out of the way and into the hallway as Max's mother came in and looked down at the man who she had once believed loved her, Max behind her. "We can stay with my co-worker Alison…. I'm sorry….About all of this….sometimes I wonder if moving here was a good idea, if any of this was a good idea. Because he sure wasn't."
Max kept her eyes on the rain falling outside the house not knowing how to answer that question. When they had first gotten here it had been a nightmare but now….now this was home. It was here her friends where, where Lucas was. Where she made a life for herself, even if it wasn't the happiest.
Neil made a sound then and they both backed away.
Max turned away and walked back into the hallway to find El gone. Max spun around herself but El was nowhere.
Max felt her breathing pick up and started to run downstairs. When she got to the bottom she found the door standing wide open. Lightning flashed across the sky lighting the world as she ran out to look for El but saw nothing...she was gone.
El wiped at her face trying to see through the rain pouring down but it did nothing. She was walking blindly in this storm but it was better than staying there. She didn't want to be looked at like that by her friends. with fear. She didn't know what had come over her.
The sound of someone walking beside her suddenly made her look to the side and found Billy. He walked calmly as if they were simply taking a normal everyday walk but his eyes blacked out. "Why didn't you kill him?"
She said nothing in response and only kept walking, though she sped up a little.
"It's not like it's hard to do, you've done it before."
Thunder rumbled around them and El crossed her arms in a hopeless attempt to warm herself but it did nothing against the chill that had set in from being soaked to the bone.
"Is it because you can't?"
She stopped dead then and turned on him. "What do you mean!"
"How many times do I have to say?" Billy said as he kept walking and she had to almost run to keep up with him. "That's not an answer!" El yelled after him. This time it was him who didn't respond so she decided to ask another question.
"Why did you tell me to go and see Max tonight? It was your voice a heard on the phone before."
He looked at her then with a confused expression and it looked like he had no idea what she was talking about and stopped suddenly.
El stopped as well and when she looked forward again let out a surprised scream. She stepped back hurriedly as she looked down The Drop. A few rocks had come loose and disappeared into the dark waters below.
She realized then that she was standing in the same place Mike had when he had jumped off the edge to save Dustin. She had no real memory of walking here even passing the Byers house because it must have taken at least 20 minutes to get here after she left Max's house…..and she hadn't even noticed, it had only felt like five minutes.
"Why are we here?" El asked backing as a from the edge, even more, the memory of Mike jumping still in her mind.
"Don't you know?" Billy asked not moving from his spot next to the very edge of The Drop.
"Why do you keep saying that?" El asked, "I don't know why any of this is happening."
He let out a hard laugh, "Don't you understand? You did this. You are the person who decided to come here, you are the reason for people who let this all happen."
"I didn't want this to happen," El said, shaking her head.
"You may not believe that but you are the reason none the less. The reason the Demogorgon got out that night, the reason Will was taken, the reason people had to die. Not to mention the death to those Demodog."
"N-no," El tired but her words were cut off suddenly by a cold feeling, the temperature dropping to the point she could see her breath, mist starting to rise around them.
"Really? How many people need to die for you to finally see we all died because of you. The mind flayer wants you and….I..-it won't stop until you're dead. It doesn't matter how far you run or how many more people get in the way. He will find you. It's just the question of how many more need to fall before you get it and you couldn't even kill a man who had hurt your friend how are you going to save them?"
"He's gone," El tried, but not even she believed it at this point. How many times had she believed it was all over only to find out it wasn't.
"Look around you El. Tell me if this isn't enough to see what needs to happen to save your friends and family."
El let out a breath before she looked over her shoulder and felt ice form in her veins as people seemed to appear out of the mist as the rain slowed, people she hadn't known the names of until reading them in the death count of July the 4th. Kids, teens, grown up and older people of all kinds stood around her. Closing her in from all sides but she knew if she wanted to run they would let her... but she didn't want to. Those people of had been kill...murdered for her. Because that monster wanted her.
"How many more need to join us?" Billy asked, stepping back to join them. "How many until you see what the link is."
El closed her eyes for a long moment as her body began to shake because she understood what he was talking about now. This was her doing. Everything from the minute the time she had touched that Demogorgon everything and everyone who has been hurt was her fault…..And if the mind flayer goes after her somehow again…..More people she loved would be hurt, killed. She opened her eyes then and gasped.
Hopper stood in front of her his eyes blackened just like everyone else had but seeing him with them was like a punch to the gut.
"Hopper?" El whispered and took a step forward, her heartbreaking as she reached out for him but he stepped away from her, getting in line with the others that were lost.
Behind them she saw shadows. Shadows of people she knew. One of her friends...Will, Max, Lucas, Dustin…..Mike. Something in the back of her mind told her they were simply shadows and that was it, that it wasn't her doing. But it was once again drowned out by the one that had been growing stronger for the past month. That this was going to happen if she...if she was still around them. That's what they had been trying to tell her this whole time.
El felt tears in her eyes as she slowly turned away from them and faced The Drop.
Her body felt heavy as she stopped at the very edge, small rocks slipped away from the side and dropped, down, down, down until they hit the water.
A breeze hit her tear-stained cheeks then sending a chill through her and made her look up and saw then that the sun was rising. She had been out all night...all night and she hadn't even noticed and seemed like no one else had as well. But then again maybe that was a good thing.
She looked up at the sky as the sun just started to peek over the tree line before she tipped herself forwards.
An/
…..Well, that was a dramatic chapter to write but that's the best kind. Getting to beat up Billy's dad was a f*king lot of fun let me tell you. This is also one of the longest chapters to write with a word count of 7k! crazy that this story is hitting that number and it's the tenth chapter! I was never sure how many chapters it would be and I have a feeling it will be a few more like 4 or 5 but I'm planning to do my take on what season 4 could be if can't tell from the building blocks I've worked in. I would also like to write an off-shot to the latter from Billy's mother of the day he got it but honestly, I want to know if anyone will read it. As always 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 sooner then later :D ...ps the link to my book like a real-life book I wrote is in my bio...that's crazy... (sorry about the self-promo)