𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 - 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

12. will the wise

LATER THAT NIGHT

Aubrey arrived to the cabin, parking her car and trekking into the woods. When she finally reached home, her father was standing on the porch, in the pitch dark.

He stood up, fuck. Had he been waiting on her? "Hopper, I'm sorry, I'm late-"

"I thought you were Eleven." he said, not seeming upset at her lateness at all.

Aubrey's eyes widened, "What do you mean you thought I was El?" she asked him, walking up to the porch, "Hopper, where is El?"

"There she is." he said, looking behind her. She turned around and saw her approaching the cabin.

"What the hell?" Aubrey mumbled as El quickened her pace, storming up the stairs of the porch and into the cabin, not able to slam the door before Hopper pushed Aubrey inside and slammed the door behind them instead.

"Friends don't lie." Isn't that your bullshit saying?" He scolded her, taking his hat off, "Hey, hey! Hey!" he followed her as she hurried to her room, "Don't walk away from me!" he caught her door as she was about to slam it again. Aubrey followed behind them, extremely confused.

"What is going on?!" She asked then, looking between the two.

She was ignored, "Where'd you go on your little field trip, huh?" Hopper asked her as El took off her jacket. She was slowly putting the pieces together. El clearly left, but why? "Where?" he demanded. El ignored him, "Did you go see Mike?" he asked.

El frowned, "He didn't see me." she spoke finally.

"Yeah, well, that mother and her daughter did and they called the cops." he said, Aubrey's eyes widened. Shit, this was bad. This was really bad. "Now, did anyone else see you? Anyone at all?" he asked, she didn't reply, "Come on, I need you to think!" he raised his voice.

"Nobody saw me!" she hissed.

Hopper paced the room, "You put us in danger. You put yourself in danger, me in danger, Aubrey in danger." he listed off, "You realize that, right?"

"You promised... I go!" El became emotional, Aubrey hated this. She hated everything about this and what was about to happen. "And I never leave!" Eleven yelled, "Nothing ever happens!"

"Yeah! Nothing happens and you stay safe!" he yelled, slamming his hand on the dresser.

"Hopper..." Aubrey's voice cracked, she hadn't realized her own eyes watering as well.

"You lie!"

"I don't lie!" he stood up straight, "I protect and I feed and I teach! And all I ask of you is that you follow three simple rules." He continued to scold her, "Three rules. And you know what?" he asked her, "You can't even do that!" he screamed in her face before walking out of the room.

Aubrey turned to him, "Hopper."

"You're grounded." He ignored Aubrey's protests, "You know what that means?" he walked into the kitchen, "It means no Eggos." He opened the fridge, grabbing the boxes of Eggos and throwing them into the trash. "And no TV for a week." he headed towards the TV then, reaching down to grab it.

Suddenly he couldn't, he and Aubrey both looked over at El, who had her chin down, staring fiercely at the TV set. "Alright, knock it off. Let go." Hopper told her, reaching down to pick it up again, with no luck. "Okay. Two weeks." he went to pick it up again, El's nose beginning to bleed. "Let go!" he yelled. She didn't listen to him, "A month!"