𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝔂 *{𝓐 𝓙𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂}*

A Drunk Mistake

Joyce sat up in her bed, feeling groggy and sad as usual. She had barely gotten any sleep the last night. She had just been having more nightmares about Hopper, which was normal, but she felt weird. She felt sick
"Mom? Are you okay?" Jonathan asked, "Are you sick again?"
"I think so." She muttered
"Did you sleep?"
"No, not really..." She admitted
"Yeah, you need to stay home today."
She knew Jonathan was right, but she still argued "Jonathan, I took a sick day a few days ago. I can't take another one."
"Mom, you need to sleep." Jonathan said, which her body agreed with him and laid down, though she knew she had to work. "I have to cover one of my friends shifts, and Will and El are going to Mike's house. Are you okay by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." She faked a smile. After the kids left, she pulled herself out of bed, pulled on some real clothes, and made herself a breakfast of toast, because she was becoming very sick and she knew she was going to puke. Which, no surprise, after breakfast, she found herself leaning over the toilet, vomiting. She never knew crying could make you vomit. After the vomiting stopped, she curled up on the couch, for some reason not crying. She just laid there in silence, not sure what to do. She hated her life, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't end the pain, nor could she stand the pain. So she made the stupid decision to get a glass of wine. Eventually, that lead to many glasses of wine and beer, which meant she ended up drunk and sobbing.
"Hopper..." She muttered, laying on the ground. Her intoxicated self-moved towards the phone, dialing the only number she could remember.
"Hello?" Lonnie answered
"Lonnie?" She sobbed
"Joyce? What the hell are you doing calling me?"
"You were right. I need you. Please, help me..." She slid down the wall, sobbing and still holding the phone in her hand.
"Okay." She knew the tone in his voice, but she was too drunk to realize it. After crying on the floor for hours, she heard a knock on the door. She slumped over to the door, almost tripping.
"Joyce?" Lonnie was there.
"Help me...." She threw herself into his arms
"Joyce, what the hell is going on?" Lonnie asked
"Hopper's dead." She sobbed into his chest, which smelled of cigarettes and beer, of course. "Please. I know I kicked you out, but I have no one to turn to."
"You're gonna be fine. Can I come in?" He asked. She nodded, which made her a little nauseous.
"You okay?" He asked, and only later when she would become sober would she realize he was being sarcastic and not really caring if she passed out right in front of her
"Y-Yeah." She lied, then threw up
"Jesus Joyce." Lonnie exclaimed, caring more about the floor than her. He led her to the couch, giving her a glass of water (Or at least what she thought was water) "Here."
"Thanks." She mumbled, taking the 'water'.
"I think I should stay a while." He said.
"Mh." She nodded slowly. He left for a little to pick some stuff up, leaving her to fall asleep.

"Mom? What the hell is going on?" She woke up slowly, groggy and a throbbing pain in her head.
"Wh-What happened?" She sat up slowly, her vision a little blurry.
"Why is he here?" The person she finally realized was Jonathan
"Who?" She mumbled, "Oh god, I don't feel good."
"Here." Jonathan gave her a liquid that was actually water "What happened? Did he hit you?"
"Who?" She still couldn't remember until Lonnie came into the room "What are you doing here?"
"She must still be drunk." Lonnie said. She started to remember some things.
"Can I talk to you?" Jonathan said, an edge in his voice.
Jonathan went into his room with Lonnie, and El asked "Who's that?"
"My ex. Oh god, I must've been drunk..." She muttered, cursing under her breath. "It'll be fine. I'll just get rid of him."
"Okay." El said. She was lying. She was pretty sure she let a demon into her house, and she wasn't going to be able to get rid of it. After Jonathan and Lonnie came back, she asked "Lonnie, can I talk to you?"
"Sure, Joy." She hated that nickname. No one called her that besides him. Even Hopper once accidentally called her Joycie, which was cuter. They went into her room, and he asked "What?" with a harsh tone that she hated.
"I don't know what happened, I was drunk. Can you please leave?" She was scared what his response would be.
She got a harsh cold look from Lonnie "No. I'm staying. And there's nothing you can do."
"What do you want? I was drunk." She said
"You need me here. The kids are a mess. You can't handle them. And who is this new girl?"
"That's El." She snapped at him "Hopper's daughter."
"So you two had sex?" He snapped back quietly
"No! She's adopted." She muttered angerly
He rolled his eyes "Besides that. You've become a mess. Admit it."
She started to feel small. He was right. There she was, just recovering from being drunk, tears in her eyes, and not strong enough to not get through a day without crying. She was broken
"You're right. I may be a mess, but you're no better. Get out of my house." She yelled quietly at him so the kids wouldn't hear
"Listen here you little-" He grabbed her wrist tightly, so tightly she couldn't get free "You are going to do as I say, or I'm hurting them." She knew he was talking about the kids.
She tried to resist but failed "Okay."
He smirked "Good. They're safe for now."
He walked out of the room, leaving her wrist hurting and her eyes tearing up. She had let him in, a terrible demon, and she had to let him stay.
"Mom?" Will asked "Are you okay? What happened?"
She knew Lonnie would kill her if she told them, so she said "Nothing. We were just talking."
Lonnie smiled a smile only she knew was evil and cruel. Because of her, the kid's lives had just became hell. Worst of all, El. She didn't know what was going to happen to them, and honestly, neither did she really. She knew if she spoke out he would hurt either her or the kids, but she wasn't sure how. She knew he was here for money.
"W-What time is it?" She asked the kids
"Five." El answered "What's for dinner?"
Crap. Had she really just slept through the day? "I don't know." She felt Lonnie judging her, so she quickly said, "I'll just figure something out."
Lonnie grumbled something, which she ignored and went to find something. After finally finding things for dinner and making tacos. Lonnie was making the couch his while she cooked, which she was used to. She was used to him not helping with anything.
"Guys! Dinner!" She called to the kids. They quickly came to the table, and so did Lonnie. They ate in an awkward silence, since she felt the tension between Jonathan and Lonnie, Will knew the truth about Lonnie, and El just didn't know what was going to happen. She felt so bad about accidentally letting Lonnie back into their lives. It was all her fault, and she hated herself for it. In one week, she had lost Hopper and he had been replaced by Lonnie. After dinner, they watched a movie. Lonnie tried to hug her (which was obviously just an act, like he really wanted to hug her), but she pushed him away from her. After they finished the movie, she went to her bedroom, which was a mistake to leave Lonnie alone with the kids, because she heard Jonathan said "You have to leave. Now."
"No. Your mom needs me."
"No she doesn't!" Will snapped at Lonnie
"Listen here-" She heard Will get slammed against something. She wanted to rush out and get Lonnie off of Will, but she was too scared
"Get away from him!" El yelled at Lonnie, and she heard El push him off of Lonnie, which was impressive.
"Shut up!" She could hear Lonnie smack El, which was her breaking point. She threw her door open, and rushed to stop him
"Lonnie, stop it!" She screamed, then checked El "Are you okay? Come here."
She brought El to her room, just to get her away from Lonnie. She was scared he would hurt Will and Jonathan, but luckily, she didn't hear anything. She grabbed a towel from the bathroom, made it wet, and dabbed the bruise.
"I'm so sorry about Lonnie. This is all my fault." She said to El
"It's fine." El muttered "I miss dad."
"Me too. Me too." She hugged El "Are you tired?"
"Yeah, but...." She could tell El was scared of Lonnie
"Don't worry. You can sleep in my room." She ruffled her hair. She locked the door so Lonnie couldn't come in
"Please? I'm scared." El admitted, tears in her eyes
"Of course. Come here." She got on the bed. She hugged El
"Can you tell me about dad?" El asked
"Of course." She sighed, running her hand through the little girl's hair "When he was in high school...he used to be a 'bad boy'. He and I would sneak out and smoke and sometimes, we would sneak out of school. He used to have this really wavy and long, like really wavy." She chuckled. She could tell El was interested in hearing more about Hopper "After high school, he was enlisted in the Vietnam War."
"What's that?" El asked
"The Vietnam War was a fight between America and Vietnam." She explained, then went on about Hopper "After the war, he moved to New York and became a detective. He married a woman named Diane, and had a daughter named Sarah."
"Oh, he told me about her. She died, didn't she?"
She nodded "He was a hero. He was kind and sweet, even if he didn't show it. He loved you so much. He always would try to protect us. But because of all the things that's happens, no one cared."
She began to cry, which El matched "I miss him so much!"
"Me too. Me too." She fell asleep with El in her arms

"Mom?" She woke up to Will knocking on the door "Are you awake?"
She yawned "Yeah, I'm getting up."
She noticed El wasn't there, but she heard El talking to Will, so she sighed. For a second, she thought Lonnie had hurt her. She pulled clothes on and went to the kitchen. Lonnie was still asleep, a beer in his hand. Of course.
She ignored him, then started on breakfast for the kids. She heard the kids come into the room, but before they did, they made sure Lonnie wasn't up, which made her feel worse. It was because of her they were cowering in fear. After they ate, the kids got out of there as soon as possible, but that left her and Lonnie alone. After she finished washing the dishes, he woke up.
"Joyce?" He called out, sending shivers down her spine
"Yes?" She was about to go to work, but now, she might be stuck there
"More beer." Of course. Out of pure fear, she gave him more beer, which probably was the worst thing to do, but after that, she went to the door, and right when she was about to leave, he asked "Where are you going?"
"Work." She said
"Be back by 2, or else." He threatened, drunk as hell. Her shift usual didn't end till 3:00 or 4:00, but she nodded and left.