𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝔂 *{𝓐 𝓙𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂}*

I'm Going To Get You Out Of There

Joyce woke up, in fear as usual. And she heard screaming. Like it had been for the last few days
"We are not your servants! We're not just here to fetch your beer or whatever!" Jonathan yelled, obviously at Lonnie
"Don't talk to your father like that!" Lonnie yelled, then a sound was made which she prayed wasn't any of the kids getting shoved. She wanted to get up and help, but her body forced her to stay there, mostly out of fear
"Don't you dare go anywhere near her!" Jonathan half-yelled
"Why? She doesn't matter!" Lonnie drunkenly yelled. Now, she could hear El sobbing. Poor El. She hadn't even told her (or anyone) about her incident with Hopper and the lights, mostly cause no one would bealive her
"She's all that's left of Hopper!" Jonathan screamed again "I know you don't care about us I know you're just here for the money. And mom knows it too."
"Who cares? Your mom is too scared of me. She won't kick me out if she knows what goods for her. I bet Jim was happy that he didn't have to deal with her anymore."
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT DAD LIKE THAT!" Suddenly, she heard a sound that she was sure that was El pushing Lonnie
"You little-!" Okay, that's it. She got up quickly and came to the hallway
"What's going on here?" She asked, pretending that she didn't hear all of what happened. It looked like Jonathan and Lonnie wanted to strangle each other, and El was hiding behind Will
"Nothing." At least Lonnie had the decency to stop trying to punch El.
"Good." She said, suddenly feeling impowered again. She made the kids breakfast, her feeling the tension between all of them.
"Did you guys sleep well?" She asked, not sure what to say after hearing that fight.
"Yeah..." El answered awkwardly, picking at her food. Lonnie wasn't eating with then; he was still on the couch sleeping, and obviously drunk.
"Did you have a nightmare last night mom?" Jonathan asked
"No, why?" Actually, she had a dream about Hopper being in the Upside Down, but that had happened with Will, so it wasn't that weird
"I heard you mumbling 'Hopper' over and over." There was an awkward silence at the table
She knew it was a risky question, but she asked, "Do you think there's any way Hopper's alive?"
Jonathan sighed "Mom, I wish, but there's no way-"
"No, I know he's dead. I've just been having weird dreams." She half-lied
After breakfast, she told Lonnie she was going to work, and the kids headed to their friend's house. Was she going crazy? It was just a stupid light. All of the lights have been flickering.
But it was Morse code, Joyce. It has to be him. She told herself. She wasn't being crazy.
The day went by pretty quickly, with only a few customers coming by. After work, she headed home, preparing herself for whatever Lonnie was going to do, but luckily, no one was there. She threw on some comfy clothes, and when she was going to either start on dinner early or watch TV, the phone rang.
She picked it up, and said "Hello, this is Joyce Byers."
"Hey Joyce." It was none other than Murray, who she hadn't heard from in a week
"Hey Murray."
"How've you been?" She knew, like so many people in the last week, he was talking about Hopper
"Mm, not the best." She admitted
"I'm sorry. I know Jim cared about you."
Just hearing his name made her heart hurt "I loved him. I was just too stupid to not tell him"
"Oh Joyce, I'm so sorry. I'm always here if you want to talk."
She smiled "Thanks."
"JOYCE! Who the hell are you talking to?" Only then had she realized that Lonnie was home
"One sec, Murray." She turned to Lonnie "What do you want?"
"Who the hell were you talking to?" He snapped, half-drunk
"A friend." She said
"STOP LYING TO ME!" He shoved her into a wall "YOU AND YOUR LITTLE BOYFRIEND SLEPT TOGETHER YET?"
"WHAT? Murray? Ew, no! He's my friend." She exclaimed.
He tried to grab her, but she pushed him away
"When they get home, those little punks are done. Because of you." He threatened, then slammed the bathroom door closed. She picked the phone off the floor, ignoring the bruise that was beginning form
"Joyce, that seemed pretty intense. Who was that?" Murray asked
"I-I can't tell you. Everything's fine." She lied
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. It's fine." She lied again, though she badly wanted to tell him, or anyone, what was going on
"Okay, see you."
"Bye." She hung up and sighed. She rubbed the bruise on her shoulder, thinking of what she could do. She was stuck. If she told anyone, the kids were as good as dead. But if she didn't, she and the kids would have to live like this forever.
Eventually, the kids came home.
"Sorry we're so late." It was later than they would usually, but she could tell by the fear in their eyes (or at least El's eyes) they were trying to stay away from Lonnie as long as they could.
"It's okay. Dinner's ready." She smiled half-heartedly, feeling bad that they were scared to come back to their own home
"W-Where's Lonnie?" Jonathan asked as she gave all of them dinner.
"I don't know." She admitted. He had left a few hours ago, and he hadn't come back "Did you guys have fun today?"
The kids went on about the video games they played and how they biked around the town. She missed it just being them.
Suddenly, as they were finishing dinner, the door slammed open.
"Lonnie!" She quickly got up, using her eyes to tell the kids to go to her room, since he was obviously drunk
"Where's my kids, Byers?" He asked, saying Byers as if she was one of him
She ignored the Byers part, but was furious about him calling them his "THEY AREN'T YOURS!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot. They're Jim's." He mocked her, then shoved her out of his way
Quickly, he got to the room, and began to hurt El and Will. She tried to do something, but every time she tried, he shoved her off
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Jonathan suddenly jumped in front of Lonnie, shoved him out of the room, telling her with his facial expressions 'Stay.'
Quickly, she closed the door and locked it.
"Are you guys okay?" She asked Will and El. They could still hear the sounds of Lonnie and Jonathan fighting.
"Yeah, we're fine." El and Will said, hugging her for comfort "When will this end?"
"I'm not sure." She admitted. She noticed the lights flicker a little, but no one else did. After the noises of the fight ended (which was after a few hours), the kids begged her if they could stay with her, which of course she agreed to. After the kids fell asleep on her bed, she went back over to the light
"Hop? Are you there?" She asked quietly
The lights began to flicker, and she quickly could tell it meant 'Here what was going on earlier?'
"N-Nothing." She lied, "How are you holding up?"
'Not the best I miss clean air.'
She began to giggle, but quickly hid it "You're going to be fine. I'm going to get you out of there."
'Thanks'
Then, the light stopped flickering and went back to normal, which made her very nervous. Was he hurt? What happened? Oh god, she couldn't even communicate with Hopper through the lights without getting nervous. This was so unlike her. She had never gotten nervous around any boy until she started having feeling for Hop, which had been going on longer than she wanted to admit.
"Mom?" She heard a quiet knock on her door, which almost gave her a heart attack. She prayed that no one had heard her talking to Hopper.
She quietly unlocked and opened the door "Hey. Are you okay?"
She noticed a bruise near her son's eye, which made her sad "Yeah, I'm fine. Lonnie's asleep."
"I am so sorry about him."
"Why do you let him stay?"
"I-I don't know. I'm not strong enough to get rid of him."
"Yes you are, mom." Jonathan insisted. The pure stubbornness that he got from her made her begin to cry "Everything's gonna be fine."
"I-I'm going to bed." She said
"We're going to be fine." Jonathan reassured her
"I know." She lied. She laid down on her bed next to Will and El, and eventually, fell asleep.