𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝔂 *{𝓐 𝓙𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂}*

Talking To The Lights

When she woke up, no one was in the house.
"WILL? EL?" She was freaking out, looking around the house in a panic. She was scared about the fact that not even Lonnie or Jonathan was around until she found a note on the table

Hey mom

Don't worry, we're okay. Me and El are at Mike's house. Jonathan drove us, and I don't know where Lonnie is

Don't worry, we're safe. We might be home by 3:00-4:00 PM

Will

Thank god She thought. She had the day off, so maybe today she could find some way to talk to Hopper. She put on some better clothes, ate a simple breakfast, and then tried to find all of the Christmas lights that she still had from when Will was missing. She eventually found them, and also found the black paint that she had used. She didn't care that she would look crazy. She began to paint letters on the walls and put nails in the wall so she could talk to Hopper the same way she talked to Will
After she was done putting everything up, she said "Hopper. I'm here. Talk to me."
The lights began to light up, spelling 'I'm here.'
"Great! Great...okay, what's going on on your side?"
'Well, I almost got eaten by a monster last night, so pretty bad'
She smiled to herself, just thinking about him "You're going to be fine."
'I know. Is El okay' Hopper asked
"Yeah." She lied. She hated lying to him. Suddenly, she began to cry. She wasn't sure why, maybe just because of everything that had happened in the last week
'Are you okay' He asked her. Usual Hop. He was probably about to die, but when she began to cry, he would worry more about her than himself
"No. This week has been the worst. You almost dying, the nightmares, the kids always feeling bad for me, everyone always like 'Are you okay?' or 'Can we help?' Because nothing's gonna help my situation besides to make sure you're safe!"
She realized two things. One, she had just spilled basically everything out to Hopper. Two, she said she cared about him, which she prayed he didn't connect the dots and figure out she had a crush on him. She wasn't ready to tell him yet. Once he was safe, she would tell him, but she wasn't going to tell him through a bunch of Christmas lights
'Y-You care about me? But I've been a jerk' He said.
"I forgive you. As long as you stop."
'I will. I've learned my lesson you have no idea how terrible I feel'
"Hop..." She blushed, which she was glad he couldn't see. After a few hours of them just talking about random stuff to take their minds off of the current events, she heard a car pulling up into the driveway
"Crap! Hop, don't talk!"
'Why'
"Just don't." She told him. As the lights stopped flickering, Lonnie threw the doors open.
"Joyce, what the hell is this? What did you do to the wall?!" Lonnie yelled at her. And, of course, that's when Hopper decided to ask through the lights 'Who's that?'
Lonnie began to laugh "Do you really think your little boyfriend still is alive, you stupid little girl? Well, news flash, you aren't getting him back. He probably never even cared about you."
"Yes he did! He does care about me!" She yelled at him, crying
"Yeah, right. In your dreams." Lonnie shoved her into the wall, then let her fall to the ground
She wiped away her tears, and turned back to the wall
'Joyce? Are you okay? What happened? Who was that?' Hopper asked
"I'm fine, Hop."
"Stop talking to yourself!" Lonnie yelled at her from another room. She blushed out of embarrassment and stopped talking to Hopper. She wasn't sure if he tried to say anything else through the lights, but she didn't see it.
After another hour, the kids came home
"Mom? What's this?" El asked about the wall
"Your mom is having mental problems." Lonnie lied
"No I'm not!" She yelled at him
"Yes you are! You were talking to lights!"
"It was Hopper!" She snapped at Lonnie
"Mom, I know your sad, but he's dead, and you know that." Jonathan tried to 'reason' with her
"HE'S NOT! WILL PEOPLE STOP ACTING LIKE I'M CRAZY!" She ran to her bedroom, crying and locking the door
"You happy now, Jonathan? You made mom cry!" Will snapped at his brother
"I'm sorry. But she needs to understand he's gone. But I didn't mean to make her cry..." Jonathan trailed off "And you. Why were there bruises on mom?"
"None of your damn business, kid." Lonnie snapped back.
"Don't 'kid' me! You hurt mom, didn't you!?" Jonathan yelled.
She heard the kids getting slammed against something, or at least she thought that was what it was. After an hour of fighting, everyone quieted down. She was sobbing on her bed as she heard a knock on the door
"Mom? It's just me." Thank god it was only El.
She opened the door slightly, and luckily, no one else was around "Hey..."
"Hey. Can I come in?"
"Y-Yeah." After El came into her room, she quickly locked the door just in case Lonnie was around
"Where are the others?"
"Will and Jonathan are in their rooms. What's-his-name left."
"Oh." She forced a smile. She had told Hopper that El was fine, but here she was, covered in bruises and almost crying.
Quickly, El gave her a big hug "I bealive you."
"W-Wait, really?"
"Yeah. I've been having weird dreams" El told her
She hugged El back "I know it sounds crazy, but your dad might still be alive."
"I know. I really hope so." El let out a sob "I miss him so much."
"I miss him too, El. I miss him too."