𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝔂 *{𝓐 𝓙𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂}*

The Next Day

"Mom?" Jonathan opened her door at what she guessed was 6:00 or 7:00 AM
"Mh." She muttered, her back facing Jonathan
"Time to get up." He said that in such a sympathetic voice, she hated it. She hated people feeling bad for her.
"Fine." She was too tired to say anything else. She pulled out her usual clothes, only to shove them back into the drawer, since she immediately had a flashback to Hopper. Instead, she pulled on an extra big black shirt that draped over her and a pair of black jeans. She had heard of when a person was morning they would only wear black, but that's not what was happening. It was just the only clothes that wouldn't remind her of Hopper, cause he had never worn black.
Immediately when she came out of the bedroom, she knew the kids could tell something was wrong. She had almost never worn black.
"Morning mom." Will said awkwardly. She hid her wrapped-up wrist behind her back, trying to make it so they wouldn't bring up last night.
"Morning." She muttered.
"Here." Jonathan gave her a plate of breakfast. She tried not to look at them, feeling bad for last night. Luckily, no one brought it up.
"Are you okay?" Will asked
"Yeah, just tired." She was trying so hard to stay strong, but she had been pretending to be okay for so long, she couldn't keep it up. "I should be heading to work. Bye guys."
She grabbed her keys and got into her car. Once the kids couldn't see her, she started to sob. She wanted to stay home all day and just wallow in her misery, but she knew she couldn't do that. She tried to get her crying under control and started to drive. When she got into town, everyone seemed to be just worrying about the mall and how the 'fire' started. No one was caring about where Hopper was. She quickly wiped a tear away, and she knew she had at least twenty minutes before her shift started, so she did the one thing she didn't want to do. She headed to the police department. She tried to keep herself from crying as she opened the door
"Hopper isn't in yet, Mrs. Byers." She was so used to Flo saying that in the mornings, she began to sob. She couldn't control her feelings. Everything around her made her think of him.
"What's wrong?" Flo asked, as some of Hopper's other employee's seemed concerned
"H-Hopper's dead." She managed to say
"W-What? Chief's dead? How?" One of the police officers asked
"He died in the Starcourt fire." She wiped away a few tears.
Flo gave her an kinda awkward but kind hug. "I'm so sorry. He always spoke well of you."
"I-I've got to go. Sorry." She left before she teared up again. She wiped her tears before heading to work.
"Morning Joyce." Her boss Donald said
"Hey." She pretended that everything was fine so no one would ask her anything, which got her through most of the day until Karen came by
"Hey Joyce! I was so worried about you cause of the fire."
"We're okay." She fake smiled
"W-What happened to your wrist? Are you okay?"
She didn't want to tell her about last night, so she said "I-I-Hopper's dead."
After saying those words, she broke down crying again.
"I-W-What? H-How?" Karen knew she had a tiny crush on Hopper, but she never had told anyone that it was anything more than a tiny crush, though she did know it was love
"He died in the fire last night." She tried to not cry, but she knew of the tears rolling down her cheek.
"I'm so sorry. I know you two were close." Karen stood there awkwardly "D-Do you want to have lunch?"
"My break just started, so sure." Finally, she smiled. She didn't really feel happy, just glad she knew Karen was still there. She had brought her lunch, so they sat together eating
"H-How's Mike doing?"
"I don't know. My kids don't talk to me anymore."
"What about Holly?"
"Oh, she's fine. Yeah, she's starting Pre-K soon."
"I remember when Will started Pre-K. Just be warned, he cried for the first few weeks."
"Oh I know. Mike did the same."
"Really?" She chuckled. She was barley feeling better, but just a little, which quickly disappeared when she remembered laughing with Hopper while eating lunch together.
"Hey, I know it hurts, but it'll be okay." Karen reassured her
"Thanks. I- I don't know. I loved him." She realized what she had said
"Oh, Joyce...I-I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry."
"I-It's fine. You don't have to say anything." She wiped her eyes as she was starting to cry.
They ate lunch together, just talking about the kids. She had to go back to work, so Karen said goodbye and left. At least she knew she still had one friend.
As she was working, she kept glancing down at her wrist, which made her remember last night. She didn't know what had happened. She had had anxiety before, but she had never tried to commit suicide. It was like a voice was speaking to her, telling her to end the pain, almost like a demon, which also meant to end her life. She felt so stupid and selfish. If she had died, the kids probably would have to go live with Lonnie, and she hated that thought. She knew he would hurt them, but she just wanted it to stop. All the pain, she just wished it went away. Her shift ended, then headed home. Jonathan said he would pick up the kids, so she just drove herself home, trying to keep her head clear. She knew she loved Hopper, but that was the worst part. She had never told him. If she knew what was going to happen, she would have kissed his stupidly adorable face. But she didn't. She got home, changed, then threw herself on to the bed, just wanted to lay there and...cry? Maybe just lay there blankly. No surprise, she ended up crying. SHE JUST WANTED HOP BACK!
"Is she here?" Jonathan asked
"I think so. I think I hear her crying. We probably should just leave her alone." El whispered
"Yeah, probably." Jonathan agreed. She actually was starting to hate this. She knew everyone was gonna feel bad for her, but this was annoying. They were using a soft voice only people use when they felt sorry for someone. A tone she hated. She didn't know why she hated that. She just did.
She knew she had to get up, so she pulled herself off her bed and started on dinner.
"Hey mom." Jonathan said, the same soft tone in his voice.
"Hey.." She rubbed her eyes, starting to feel tired from the lack of sleep, but she ignored it. She pulled out some stuff to make dinner, but then Jonathan interrupted.
"Mom, you don't have to make dinner. I can do it."
"Jonathan, it's fine."
"Mom just let me-"
"STOP IT. STOP TREATING ME LIKE A BABY! JUST BECAUSE I'M GOING THROUGH SOMETHING DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T FUNCTION!" She broke down, sobbing and yelling, which was a bad example of being able to function.
"Mom, just calm down." As Jonathan said that, she slid down on to the floor, crying and began to vomit. They were right. She couldn't function. She was broken, all because of Hopper.
"Mom!" Jonathan exclaimed, picking her up into his arms and placing her on her bed "Mom, just rest. I'll take care of dinner."
She hated being taken care of by her kids. She knew she was an adult, and shouldn't be having emotional breakdowns, but she was too tired and sick to argue anymore.
"Mom?" Will came in "Are you okay?"
She tried to reply, but the second she opened her mouth, she puked into a bucket next to her bed.
"What's wrong?" Will whispered to Jonathan, though she could still hear them
"I don't know. She just stared puking."
She honestly wanted to die. She never really believed in an afterlife, but at least if there was one, she could be with Hopper, which was all she wanted.
After Will and Jonathan left her room, she continued to puke.
"Mom, you okay?" El came into her room
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She realized that El was also wearing black, "How was your day?"
"Terrible. I miss dad." El said
"Me too." She wiped her eyes
"You loved him, didn't you?" El asked.
She wasn't sure what to say, but what was the point of lying? "Yes. I loved him."
El smiled, "I knew it."
She chuckled. After Jonathan gave her dinner in bed, she decided to try and get some sleep, even though she knew she would have nightmares, but she did it anyway