Home Strangerthingau

Chapter 31

The Aftermath

Hopper managed to get the school cleaned up before the next morning when kids would start to arrive. He cleaned up the blood and bodies while managing for it to stay in confidence between him and the state, stating that the town didn't need to worry about this.

The party ended up going to school the next day since they had to skip the day before. No one had seen or talked to El since they brought her up to her room that night. No one wanted to go and bother her if she was still sleeping. The truth was that she was up since four in the morning, sitting in her bay window. She saw Hopper return from the school at five o'clock and saw Mike and Will heading to school on their bikes.

She wanted to do see her family, who were probably eating breakfast downstairs, but she couldn't. Not after the events of last night. She was worried about what they would think of her, after what she had done. She killed not one but three people in under ten seconds. Brenner was right, she was dangerous. They were probably scared of her and what she could do. Therefore, she stayed in her room, refusing to leave even when her stomach growled from hunger.

At around ten o'clock a soft knock was heard from El's door, followed by Joyce's soft voice. "El? Honey, are you awake?"

"Yeah." El replied even softer.

"Can I come in?" Joyce asked.

"Yeah." El repeated.

Joyce opened the door and saw El in her bay window with her knees brought up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. El didn't turn to face her. Instead, she kept her gaze on her window.

"How are you doing, sweetie?" Joyce said sitting in the spot next to El, who still didn't look at her.

"Fine." El whispered as she hugged her legs tighter.

Joyce sighed looking at the broken little girl in front of her. "If you're worried about him. Hopper took care of it, he won't hurt you. Not anymore."

There was a beat of silence as El tried to form a sentence. "Do they hate me?" She finally faced Joyce with a tear running down her face. She started to shake from all of her fear, worry, and guiltiness building up in her. "Are they scared of me?" She asked shakily.

"No." Joyce stated trying to comfort the girl. She moved closer to El and wrapped her arms around El as she finally let go of her legs. "No, of course not." Joyce couldn't believe she thought this way. "I promise you, no one hates or is scared of you. You had to do what you had to do."

"I killed him." El let some tears slip silently.

"And he was going to kill you." Joyce stated as she looked El in her eyes. "You did what you had to do." She explained hoping El would understand.

El nodded slightly, but still felt that pain of guilt in her. A low rumble from her stomach broke the silence between her and Joyce, making Joyce laugh slightly.

"You hungry?" She smiled kindly at El. "We have some leftovers from breakfast that I can reheat for you if you want."

El nodded again with a small smile on her face as she and Joyce stood up and walked to the kitchen where Jonathan was on the phone and Hopper was reading the newspaper. Hopper looked over the paper when El walked in the room and he gave her a small smile.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Hopper asked folding up the newspaper.

"Fine." El said softly as Joyce put some food on the plate and reheated it in the microwave.

"So, I have an idea to tell people you're back." Hopper stated as El took a seat across from him.

El perked up at his words. She couldn't wait to leave the house and go out to live her life. "What is it?" She asked wanting all the information.

"We tell people you got kidnapped and the body we found was someone else's." Hopper explained.

Joyce put El's breakfast in front of her as she gave Hopper a look that said, do you actually think people will believe that?

"Look," Hopper explained more to Joyce than El. "I know it sounds stupid, but what other ideas do we have that doesn't involve telling people what really happened. Plus, it's not a full lie. El was kidnapped and that body wasn't her."

"Fine." Joyce shook her head. "But you are in charge to make sure everyone else knows the story and make sure they stick with it."

"Done." Hopper said getting up from the table and heading to the door.

"Wait!" Joyce called after him. "Where are you going? You just got home a few hours ago."

"To the station." Hopper said grabbing his hat and jacket. "I got to tell the news that El's back home." He smiled and left the house.

Joyce smiled and shook her head. He was right, El was home and here to stay. She went back to the dining room where El still sat, eating her breakfast. El looked back at her and gave her a small smile before returning to her food. Joyce went up to her and her wrapped her arms around El again.

"Welcome home, El." She smiled. "I promise, no one is going to hurt you again."

That's a promise I will keep to the end of my life. Joyce thought.

Author note
I think there is probably two more chapters left in this book. Which is insane, I absolutely love writing this book and I don't want it to end!

Also, thank you guys for 7k reads on neighbors! It's getting so many reads so fast I can't keep up! 😂

Seriously, thank you! It's truly amazing!

Love ya!!! ❤️❤️❤️