A reason to fight for.//elmax-Madmage

Chapter 12:

A/N: I know, I know, I haven't updated in a while, but therefore here's a longer chapter. It has more than 1700 words, so fight meeeee. Thank you for your patience!

Hopper was clearly as shocked as Max, because they just stood there, not knowing what to say. Hopper thought that she was some criminal at first, well he wasn't completely wrong. Max got jealous over Eleven's sister, which she still couldn't understand why that would happen. Kali had a smile on her face from Eleven's reaction, but her eyes didn't leave Hopper's. 'What are you waiting for! She shot me! Arrest her!' Eleven elbowed him in the stomach, which made him bend.

Hopper was proud of Eleven's reaction, but of course hid it. 'Neil Hargrove, I am arresting you for trespassing, physical abuse on minors, illegal possession of wea-' Max built her courage up and stepped out of the house, her eyes still red. 'R-Rape.' Eleven looked at Hopper for an explanation of the word and Hopper was aware of Eleven's gaze on him but just couldn't bring himself to look at her.

Max's whole body was shaking and she was scratching her arm nervously, but she kept staring at Hopper for an answer. 'Liar! You slut! She is ly-' Kali punched him, knocking him out. Max teared up again. Hopper, feeling fatherly, was very concerned. 'Max? Did he...rape you?' Max shook her head. Eleven, still not understanding what they're talking about, walked up to Max, and pulled her into a warm and comforting hug. Max let her. 'I'll take him to the station. Eleven, take her inside, and you (pointing at Kali), you are coming with me.'

No one understood his reaction. 'Hop, she saved us. You can't arrest her!' Hopper chuckled and gave them a reassuring smile. 'Arrest? No. I can see that she's not a minor anymore. And she has everything to become a cop, so I was thinking that she could like, sign some papers and join a program for young adults to spend a few weeks with the chief of the police and learning from them, and the chief could decide to offer them a job. What do you say?'

Kali needed a few seconds to process all the information she just had and nodded without any further thoughts. 'Yes. It would be an honor.' Hopper nodded while lifting Neil up, trying to make him stand. 'Then let's get going.' He nodded at Eleven, to which she turned to the house, grabbing Max's hand gently. Max accepted the touch and followed Eleven into the house. As they entered the house she froze. There was blood all over the floor. As Eleven continued walking and got pulled back by Max's hand. The brunette followed her gaze and saw the blood.

Eleven gently put her free hand on Max's chin and made her look up at her. 'Go to my bedroom and get some rest. I will clean everything.' Max avoiding eye contact continued staring at the floor. So Eleven moved over to where her eyes were looking at, her hand which was on Max's chin is now on her cheek. Max moved into the touch and finally looked up. 'I can help.' Her voice was shaking and so was her whole body. Eleven shook her head kissed her on the cheek. 'Go rest. I'll take care of this.' That unexpected touch made Max blushed furiously and nodded, trying to get out of this situation.

After Max walked away Eleven realized what she did and blushed herself. What was that for? Why did I do that? Well I needed her to move, right? Yeah. That's the reason. The ONLY reason. She grabbed cleaning supplies and starting rubbing the blood away.

Max sat down on Eleven's bed and just looked around. She noticed details that she didn't see the first time. She had a few posters. A Cindy Lauper and a Madonna one. As she closed the door, she discovered another one. Phoebe Cates. Damn she's beautiful. I mean, the color. The color of the poster is beautiful. Of course. Uhm, come on Maxine, don't be weird. She laid down and stared at the ceiling. This is when it gets dangerous. Being left alone with her own thoughts. She then sat up again, grabbed a sheet of paper that was on Eleven's desk and a pen.

(LYRICS!!!!Songs: Exhale by Sabrina Carpenter and Mansion by NF)

She started writing what she felt.

Can I exhale for a minute? Can I get this out in the open? Can I sit down for a second? Can I breathe? Can we talk it out? I don't get it. Can I calm down for a moment? Can I breathe for just one second? What's reality with all these questions? My mind is home I'm trapped in. And it's lonely inside this mansion. Physical abuse, now that's a topic that I never get to talk about. I gotta thank you for this anger that I carry around. You used to put me in the corner, so you could see the fear in my eyes. Then took me downstairs and beat me 'til I screamed and I cried. Congratulations, you'll always have a room in my mind. But I'ma keep the door shut and lock these thoughts inside. My mind is a house with walls covered in pain. See, my problem is I don't fix things, I just try to repaint. Cover em up, like it never happened. This room's full of regrets, just keeps getting fuller it seems. The moment I walk in to it is the same moment that I wanna leave. I get sick to my stomach every time I look at these things. But it's hard to look past when this is the room where I sleep. And I regret the fact that I struggled trying to find who I am. And I lie to myself and say I do the best that I can. And I regret watching these trust issues eat me alive. And at the rate I'm going they'll probably still be there when I die. So this part of my house, no one's been in it for years. I built the safe room and I don't let no one in there. 'Cause if I do, there's a chance that they might disappear and not come back. And I admit I am emotionally scared to let anyone inside, so I just leave my doors locked. You might get other doors to open up but this door's not. 'Cause I don't want you to have the opportunity to hurt me. And I'll be the only person that I can blame when you desert me. I'm barricaded inside so stop watching. I'm not coming to the door so stop knocking, stop knocking. I'm trapped here, God keeps saying I'm not locked in. I chose this, I am lost in my own conscience. I know that shutting the wall down ain't solving the problem, but I didn't build this house because I thought it would solve 'em. I built it because I thought that it was safer in there, but it's not, I'm not the only thing that's living in here. Fear came to my house years ago, I let him in. Maybe that's the problem 'cause I've been dealing with this ever since. I thought that he would leave, but it's obvious he never did. He must have picked the room and got comfortable and settled in. Now I'm in the position it's either sit here and let him win. Or put him back outside where he came from, but I never can. 'Cause in order to do that I'd have to open the doors. Is that me or the fear talking? I don't know anymore.

(The whole "house" metaphor: her mind is like house with rooms. Like a mansion. She has different rooms for different emotions and feeling or fears)

Max stopped. She looked up and around herself, relieved that Eleven wasn't there or watching her. She felt better after letting most of her feelings out on that piece of paper.

Eleven knocked as lightly as she could, trying not to scare Max, but Max still grabbed scissors ready to stab whoever would come through that door. Eleven slowly opened the door, while Max was about to stab her. Eleven blocked Max's Arm and took the scissors away. The younger girl let Max's arm go, realizing that she's just scared. 'Max?' Max was shaking again. 'I'm sorry, I thought you were Neil, and I would never hurt you, it wasn't my attention to attack-' Eleven placed her hand on Max's cheek like she did before cleaning the living room. Max finally managed to look her in the eyes. The brunette gave her a reassuring smile. 'I know. It's ok. Calm down. Just breathe.' Max could feel the butterflies again and took a step back, releasing her cheek from Eleven's hand. Eleven watched her walk backwards, feeling quite confused.

Not understanding Max's reaction, Eleven took a step forward. Max shook her head and raised her hands. 'Please, don't touch me. Don't be any near me. Don't ever make me feel that again! I'm not like that! I am not! Stacey is wrong!' Eleven, shocked about hearing Max yelling at her, just nodded. 'Ok. Whatever you want.' She smiled softly, trying to make Max understand and she just wanted her safe. 'Stop! Just stop!' Eleven furrowed and looked Max in the eyes. 'Stop what?' The redhead's eyes were red, from crying, from exhaustion, from fear, from self hatred. 'I...Stop being so nice to me! You almost got killed, TWICE because of me! This is all my fault! All of it! I'm not supposed to feel this way! It's wrong! It's not right! It's disgusting! I'm disgusting! I'm a disappointment! I made everything worse! Why? Why am I the source of all this shit! All because of a stupid skateboard! A stupid skateb-' She didn't realized how close she was to Eleven. The brunette had cornered her while Max was shouting. Max was against the wall, and Eleven was a few inches away from her, looking her directly into her eyes. Her gaze changed and travelled to Max's lips. Max could feel the warmth coming up to her cheeks, making her blush.

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A/N: a little cliffhanger ;) I love you! K. Bye.