The Overcomer, Stranger Things

Goodbye, Gwen part 2

It had been one day since Gwen and El defeated the mind flayer and ever since then she had been staying with Hopper at the cabin. Right after the mind flayer was conquered, Gwen and her mother hashed out everything that happened. It didn't turn out exactly as they had hoped.

"Okay," Joyce started as she took her daughter's hands in her own and looked into her eyes, "tell me what happened, sweetie. Why didn't you come home?"

"Mom," Gwen shook her head as she looked down at her lap, "you know why I didn't come home. Hopper told you."

"I still don't get why one of you couldn't have told me you were safe," Joyce stood up and ran a hand through her hair.

"Mom--"

"All I was asking for was a phone call, just one phone call to ease my mind."

"It's not that simple, mom. You know that" Gwen tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before crossing her arms.

"How is it not that simple? Explain it to me, Gwen."

"Because we both know that wouldn't have been enough for you," Gwen sprang to her feet, "you would've wanted contact and you would've tried to convince Hopper to let me come home. It would've put you and Will and Johnathan and everyone else in danger! That's why I didn't come home."

"That's not your decision to make, Gwen," Joyce threw her hands up. "I'm your mother! It's my job to take care of you. Not Hopper, not El's, not yours, mine!"

"Well, what if I want to take care of you too, huh?" Gwen questioned as she took a step toward her mom. "I did what I did to protect you and everyone else and I don't regret my actions."

"Gwen--" Joyce started before her daughter cut her off.

"This conversation is pointless," she stepped toward the door, "Barb wanted to call her parents and let them know she's okay."

"Yeah," Joyce chuckled dryly as she put her hands in her pockets. Her next statement made her daughter freeze in her tracks. "Barb loves her parents so she would be sure to tell them that she's safe."

"Are you joking right now?" Gwen slowly turned around, her eyes turning into daggers as she glared at her mother.

"You were just twenty minutes away from me that whole month Gwen," Joyce crossed her arms as she looked at her daughter. "Right under my nose and you didn't even care that I was going crazy without you! Will would've told me."

"I cannot believe you just said that," Gwen shook her head, still in shock from her mother's previous claim, "did you seriously just compare me to Will?"

"You were gone, Gwen! You were gone for —"

"42 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes, and 16 seconds," Gwen nodded as she looked up at her mother with teary eyes, making the woman's anger melt away. "Don't you dare compare me to your golden child or say I didn't care or miss you. I called you every day to listen to the answering machine just to hear your voice."

"That was you?" Joyce whispered, putting a hand over her chest. She felt like her heart had just been crushed after hearing her daughter's revelation.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded as she twisted the knob and opened the door. "Yeah, it was." And then she walked away.

~:~

Gwen Byers moved like a dead girl walking as she came up the front steps of Hopper's cabin. The 8-year-old seemed completely unaware of her surroundings. She didn't even realize that her mother had been tailing her the entire way back to the cabin from Barb's house. With her sagging shoulders, prominent dark circles under her eyes, and her complete lack of energy, Gwen acted as though she were a zombie. She sighed before bringing her fist up to the door.