Time After Time (a Stranger Things fanfiction)

American Girl

"American Girl"

After all it was a great big world

With lots of places to run to

Yeah, and if she had to die tryin'

She had one little promise

She was gonna keep

- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Joyce huddled in the back of Yuri's van, trying not to think about how cold she was, trying not to meet Yuri's resentful eyes over their gags, trying not to be terrified that Hopper was already dead and she would get there too late to save him.

After what seemed like hours of driving, the van finally pulled to a stop. She couldn't see whether they had arrived at the prison or not, but she certainly hoped so. She wasn't sure she could take any more waiting.

Murray had rolled down the window, and suddenly a light shone into his face from outside. He smiled, in that annoyingly ingratiating way Murray had. The guard asked a question in Russian and Murray responded. The only word Joyce could pick out was Yuri. She hoped the guard would be fooled. Otherwise ... well, there was no plan B.

Waiting as the guard looked over his papers, Murray said "Hello" in English, laughing, and then kept talking in Russian. He sounded as annoying as Yuri, Joyce thought. Of course, right now, she probably would have found anyone annoying. Except her children. God, she missed her children. She hoped they were all right. She hoped, whatever was happening in California, that they would forgive her for the lying and the abandonment. It was in a good cause, she told them silently across the thousands of miles that lay between her and them. The best cause.

The light suddenly lit up the back, shining straight into Joyce's eyes. Across from her, Yuri started yelling through his gag, desperately trying to assert his identity. Fortunately, they had gagged him well, and none of it was intelligible.

The guard's light was withdrawn, and then Joyce saw it shining on Murray's face again. His papers were returned to him, and then the light went away, and in front of the van, the gates slowly, jerkily, came open.

Joyce breathed a sigh of relief. They were in. One more obstacle between her and Hopper was behind them.

Murray drove forward into the snowy night.

The prison was huge. Joyce hadn't thought it would be so big. And so forbidding, and cold, and stark. This was where Hopper had been all this time? She wanted to run through the halls screaming his name until she found him. To be this close to saving him from all of this, and still so far away, was almost unbearable.

But she played her part, keeping her head down, glaring at Murray as he grinned that insufferable grin and yammered away in Russian at everyone they met, until they were led into a room lined with cots to wait.

As Joyce fidgeted and Yuri growled, Murray practiced his speech. "Warden! Beautiful prison you got here. How about this, huh?" His voice changed from ingratiating to what he must have thought of as menacing. "How about that, huh?" as he drew the gun.

Joyce groaned into her gag.

Murray ignored her, continuing his conversation with the phantom warden. "That's what I thought, yeah." Then he shoved the gun back into his pocket and started over. "Warden! So nice to meet you. Uh, I'm Yuri, of course, but allow me to introduce you to my very spe—" In yanking the gun out of his pocket, he fumbled it and it fell, sliding across the floor, as Joyce rolled her eyes and Yuri continued his muffled yelling through the gag. "Shit!" Murray ran after the gun.

"Murray!" Joyce yelled into her gag.

"I'm sorry." He came to her and pulled the gag down. "What?"

"Can you, please, stop playing with that thing?"

"I am not playing! I am practicing. Will you please stop trying to talk to me and stay in character? Remember: You are frightened. Scared. Confused."

"Yes, I am frightened, scared, and—"

He put the gag back in her mouth before she could finish. "Okay. All right. Yes. Good."

Finally, the metal clang of the door opening interrupted everything, and all three of them looked up to see a man in a heavy wool uniform come toward them.

Yuri kept yelling, Joyce ducked her head while trying to watch everything that was happening, and Murray and the warden started talking in Russian.

The warden went toward Yuri, still talking. Murray followed, grinning, also still talking. Suddenly he reached out and backhanded Yuri across the face, sending him crashing onto one of the cots. "Silence, American scum! Enough from you. Enough!" he shouted in English.

Even that didn't shut Yuri up. He just lay there on the cot and continued to protest through the gag, albeit more quietly.

The warden didn't spare Yuri any more attention. His eyes had settled on Joyce's face. He stepped deliberately toward her, still talking in Russian. Joyce wanted to kick him. Instead, she settled on glaring at him over her gag as Murray put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing hard to remind her of her role.

He pulled her gag down, and Joyce got right to the point. "Where is he? What have you done with Hopper, you vile Commie pig?"

The warden just stared at her, no change in his eyes or expression.

Laughing, Murray put the gag back.

As Murray kept talking, Joyce caught the word "American" and hoped he was trying to get them to Hopper.

The warden stared at him, too, then started talking again. Joyce could see Murray holding his breath, the fake smile fading off his face, as the warden stepped toward him, tapping the side of his head. Suddenly he laughed, and after a moment, Murray did, too. So did the guards surrounding them.

Joyce let her eyes close, just for a moment. Let this be it, she thought. Let this be the way they got to Hopper. Let this be over soon. Please.