𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 - 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

07. the bathtub

THE SAME DAY AS LAST

Aubrey, Beatrice, and Ruth sat together while Jonathan and Nancy sat at Callahan's desk. They all waited impatiently and nervously for Mrs. Byers or Hopper to walk in.

"Oh shit." Aubrey mumbled as she saw them finally walking into the station. Everyone sat up straight and braced themselves. At least now she knew Hopper wasn't missing like she had feared yesterday.

"Hey, Jonathan? Jesus, what... what happened?" Their mom asked, "Aubrey?"

"Ma'am." Callahan stood up.

"I'm fine." Jonathan said.

"Why is he wearing handcuffs?" She asked immediately.

"Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That's why." Callahan replied to her.

"Take them off." She demanded.

"I am afraid I cannot do that."

"Take them off!" She yelled then.

"You heard her. Take 'em off." Hopper raised his voice, stepping beside Joyce.

"Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see." Officer Powell said then.

"Oh, god." Aubrey mumbled, looking between Rue and Bea, "The supplies." She whispered, each of their eyes widened then.

Hopper came back in and threw the box of supplies on the desk, Joyce leaned over and looked into it, "What is this?" She asked.

"Why don't you ask your son? We found it in his car." Hopper said.

"What?"

Jonathan looked up at him, "Why are you going through my car?"

"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Hopper replied to him, "I wanna see you in my office."

"We were all with him when we purchased that stuff." Aubrey stood up and interjected them.

"Aubrey!" Joyce yelled.

"Perfect, then all of you, my office, now."

"You won't believe us." Aubrey told him.

He looked her, then at all of them, "Why don't you give me a try?"

Joyce passed Hopper the photo of the monster they've been after, after they explained everything to them.

Hopper looked at the group, "You say blood draws this thing?"

"We don't know." Jonathan replied.

"It's just a theory." Nancy added.

Joyce brought her children outside of Hopper's office.

"We're sorry, mom." Aubrey said to her.

"What, you're sorry? You're... you're sorry? That is not good enough, you two." She said.

"I know." Jonathan replied.

"That's not even close. That's not even in the... in the ballpark." She continued to scold them.

"We wanted to tell you, we just—-"

"What if this thing took you guys, too?" She became teary eyed, "You risked your lives... and Nancy's, and Rue's, Beatrice's."

"We thought we could save Will... we still do."

"This is not yours to fix alone. You guys act like you're all alone out there in the world but you're not. You're not alone." She told her kids, Aubrey felt her eyes tear up again.