STRANGER THINGS 4

Episode 3| Scene 1

A/N
Just a heads up this chapter is a little deeper than the others.

Joyce, Jonathan, Funshine, Mick and El arrived back at the Byers early in the morning. The ride back had been silent. Everyone was processing what Eleven had done to Ray but no one talked about it. As everyone made there way out of the car and inside, Joyce pulled Eleven aside.

"We need to talk." Joyce said.

"About. What." Eleven replied angrily.

"You know what. How could you do that?"

"He was a bad man."

"He was trying to change. You don't seem to understand what you did." Joyce said.

"I'm sorry, but it's done. If I could take it back I would." El said, though she didn't sound very sure of it.

"Well you can't. You can't ever take that back because he is dead and now he will never see his children again."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore!" Eleven said and started to storm off. Before she could reach the front door, Joyce grabbed her arm, spinning Eleven around so she could look her in the eyes.

"You can't just brush this off." Joyce said. "What you did, was terrible. This wasn't to save your friends. This wasn't someone who was trying to hurt you. This was an innocent person that you murdered. You are a monster."

Eleven stared at Joyce, her anger was fading and being replaced my a heavy guilt that she had been trying to ignore during the car ride.

What she had done started to sink in and Joyce's words only made it worse, bringing tears to her eyes. Other thoughts began to surface in her mind; things she had been trying not to think about. Eleven chocked back a sob and then ripped her self from Joyces grasp.

"Don't try to find me. I'm not coming back."

Eleven turned and started to run into the woods. Joyce tried to follow but without looking, Eleven used her powers to throw her to the ground making sure she didn't hurt her. She had hurt her friends enough over the past two years and she wasn't going to let that happen ever again. She knew exactly where she was going. She was a monster.

***

Mike made it to the edge of the room and turned around the walk the other way for the thousandth time.

"Would you stop pacing already Mike." Dustin said.

"NO. I'm not going to stop because they should have been back hours ago and if I sit down I'm going to start thinking about all the bad things that could have happened to El."

"I'm sure they will be back soon." Lucas added.

"They lefts Ray's last night. How are they still not home?" No one answered and Mike returned to pacing the basement floor, trying not to lose it completely. Suddenly the phone rang and Mike dashed across the room, and answered it before the other boys could even react.

"Hello? Eleven?" Mike blurted out, still panting from his burst of energy.

"Mike honey." Joyce said through the phone. Mike's heart sank, not just because it wasn't Eleven at the other end of the line, but because of Joyce's tone.

"Where is she. What happened?"

"You best get over here." Joyce explained. "She okay but we can't find her.

Not 20 minutes later, Mike and Dustin pulled up to the Byers house on their bikes. Lucas had gone to get Max. Joyce was on the front porch, one hand covering her worried expression and the other holding a cigarette. Mike ran up to her, breathing heavily from riding his bike so fast. Before he could speak, Dustin thew up in the grass behind him. Both Joyce and Mike starred at him.

"I'm okay." he said, wiping his mouth. Mike shook his head, trying to ignore his friend and turned back toward Joyce.

"Tell me everything Mrs. Byers."

Joyce nodded and began to tell mike everything, starting with everything that happened at Rays. eventually she got her and Eleven's argument.

"...and then I called her." Joyce stopped, a feeling of guilt overcoming her.

"What? You called her what?" Mike said eagerly.

"A monster."

Mike put his face in his hands and sighed heavily. "This is bad."

"Really bad." Dustin agreed.

***

Eleven was exhausted from walking for so long but she barely noticed the pain. Her eyes were set on her feet, each step taking her closer to her destination. Every few seconds, a tear would fall onto the gravel beneath her sneakers.

Finally, even looked up and realized she had made it. To her left on the side of the road there was a gap in the bushes. She took a few more steps and stopped in the opening, gazing at scenery below her. The glass flat water of the quarry was reflecting sunlight into her eyes from far below.

She took two more steps so the front of her sneakers hung over the cliffs rocky edge. Eleven closed her eyes and thought back to the last time she had been at this location.

She had just saved Mike and Dustin from Troy. Despite this at the time she still felt guilty. She had opened the gate, allowing the the Demogorgan to take Will.

'You're not the monster,' Mike had told her. Eleven knew he was wrong. Joyce had literally said it, she was a monster. She was responsible for everything that had happened in Hawkins the last 2 years. She had brought pain to more than just will. She was the reason Barb was dead and the reason Joyce would never see Bob or Hopper again.

Eleven started to realize why Joyce had been so mad at her for killing Ray.. If she hadn't opened the gate, Joyce wouldn't have lost two of the people she loved most. Joyce saw Ray as another death on Elevens hands. Eleven kept her eyes shut tightly as she thought. She knew that everyone felt the same way as Joyce. Nancy blamed her for Barb's death. Max hadn't even spoken to her since billy died. Eleven knew her friends would be better off without her.

"Eleven!" Mikes voice rang out. Eleven opened her eyes and took a few steps back from the ledge wondering how Mike had found her.

"Eleven what are you doing?" Mike yelled from behind her. Eleven blocked out his voice and closed her eyes again. She let the image of Hopper settle in her mind and then started to run forward.

Sorry about the cliffhanger. No pun intended