23- I Wanted to Run
Summary: El's sad about the death of Hopper. Dustin and Steve comfort her.
Requested by: Bestestgirl6657 and strangerthingsfan
When El saw Joyce in the parking lot, she took one look into the older woman's eyes and knew.
Hopper was gone.
She wanted to run.
Run away.
Never look back.
Just keep running.
But she couldn't.
Joyce came over and hugged her, apologizing over and over again.
It didn't help.
So, El just stood there, crying.
Kept thinking to herself, no.
Just no.
This couldn't be happening.
But it was.
El was going through the motions for a few days.
Get up, eat breakfast, hang out with her friends, come home, eat dinner, go to bed.
Rinse, repeat.
After the 4th day though, El snapped.
She kept thinking about her first thought after she realized that Hopper was dead.
How she wanted to run but couldn't.
But now, El was wondering if she could run.
So, when she opened her eyes on the 5th day, she decided.
She was going to run.
El floated out of the house, mumbling an excuse about going to have breakfast at the Wheelers.
Nobody stopped her.
She grabbed Will's bike and started pedaling into the woods.
After the ground got too sketchy to bike on, she ditched her bike and started to run.
It felt so good to run.
To move as fast as she could, not looking back, not stopping.
But it soon came to an end.
Her leg was still sore, and her body was still in recovery mode.
She became tired after 5 minutes of running.
Panting, El sat herself down on a log.
Closing her eyes, she let tears run down her face.
She felt the wetness coming down her face... and her leg.
Oh no.
Quickly picking herself up, El rolled up her pant leg.
Great.
Her stitches had opened.
Blood was running down her leg.
She quickly took off her flannel and tied it around her leg to slow the bleeding.
Thank goodness for Max's first aid lessons that she "hadn't" been listening to.
Looking around, El didn't see any sign of human life.
Not that she was expecting it.
El supposed she could go back to the Byers, but she didn't want to bother them.
They already did enough.
El decided to slowly limp the direction that she had first started to run.
After several agonizing minutes, El collapsed against a nearby tree.
Leaning her head back, El looked up at the quite forest, sitting in silence.
She decided to stay for a few minutes.
Dustin had stayed the night.
Not that he minded.
Robin stayed for two nights right after.
At first, she claimed that she wanted to make sure he nothing weird happened with his head.
That lasted about 5 minutes.
Dustin didn't put up that act, though he was concerned about Steve.
They were both eating a breakfast of eggs and bacon when Dustin jerked up, looking towards the woods that surrounded Steve's house.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked.
"I thought I just saw..." Dustin trailed. "Never mind. Must still be skittish."
"What do you think you saw?"
"I don't know. It was moving slowly, then suddenly disappeared behind a tree or something."
Steve got up heading toward the back door.
"Stay here."
Dustin leapt out his seat.
"Wait what?!"
Steve turned, "I'm going to check it out. You are staying here."
"No!" Dustin ran forward and clung onto his arm. "I'm coming!"
Steve looked down and knew he was going to lose this argument.
"Fine," he sighed. "But you will stay next to me and listen to me the whole time."
"Deal!"
Dustin and Steve head toward the woods, stopping to grab Steve's bat and a stray shovel along the way.
"So, where did this thing disappear?" Steve asked, hiking the small incline.
"It was in this direction." Dustin said, slightly leading the way.
They hiked in silence, stopping every once in a while to listen.
They heard nothing to be heard except the quite sounds of the woods.
That is, until they stopped and heard something else.
Sobbing.
El only meant to sit down to rest, not break down sobbing.
She cried for Hopper.
For Max.
For Joyce.
For Billy.
For everyone.
Her leg was aching, but she didn't care.
Her sobs quieted, just enough time to hear something coming.
At first, she tried to get up, but she was too weak.
Crap.
She was going to die.
El grabbed the biggest stick that was near her.
Wielding it out in front of her, El prepared herself.
The thing was coming faster.
She swung the stick as hard as she could.
"Ow!" someone cried out.
Dustin?
"You hit me in the leg!"
"Sorry," the crying girl whispered, not looking at them.
Both boys stopped worrying about Dustin, instead using that same worry to examine El.
Crouching down, Steve slowly brought a hand to El's chin, gently guiding her eyes to face theirs.
"Are you okay El?" Dustin asked quietly.
El shook her head.
Dustin mentally slapped himself. What a stupid question.
Steve decided to take a different approach.
"I'm guessing you aren't out here for the scenery." Steve said. "Want to tell us why you are out here."
"I wanted to run."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Okay," Steve responded. "Can I look at your leg?"
When El gave him a single nod, Steve got to work.
Dustin took Steve's original place by El.
"Hi." El stated.
Dustin gave her a small smile.
"Hi."
"Why are you in the woods."
El asks it like she hadn't been in the woods in the first place.
"I saw something through Steve's kitchen window. We went to investigate."
"And that something. It was me?"
"Appears so."
El nodded, focusing on Steve, who was front of her inspecting her leg.
After a few moments of silence Dustin decided to speak up.
"I'm sorry about Hopper."
El tensed, then slowly turned her head, eyes glued on Dustin.
"He was..."
"Grumpy."
Dustin let out a surprised laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"I know so." El stated, looking up. "He was also nice."
"Yes, sometimes."
This got a small smile out of El.
Dustin took her hand in his own.
Squeezing he stated confidently.
"You're going to be okay El."
AN: I hope you liked it Bestestgirl6657 and strangerthingsfan! Requests are open!