When Wishes Come Half True

The Fear in Her Eyes

Everyone looked at Hopper in confusion. He opens up a draw and takes something from it. He turns round and makes eye contact with Joyce. He takes a deep breath before throwing a knife at Joyce. As she ducks down, she screams. He takes another knife out and jumps over the counter. Joyce stands back up looking around at everyone and noticing that everyone looks confused and sacred. Hopper runs over to her. Joyce tries to move out of the way, but she doesn't move in time and Hopper rams into her, because of her small size she gets knocked down right way.

"Mom!" Both Will and Johnathan yell. El is just standing there confused. Why is her dad doing this? She knows that something was wrong. This is not the Hopper she knows and loves; this Hopper is an evil version of his former self. It was almost as if something in him snapped or even that someone was controlling him.

"Hop!" Joyce says shocked as he tries to stab her. She has no clue with what has made him change, but whatever it is it scares her. He keeps aiming for her and keeps missing. Joyce gets up and runs, but is not fast enough. He pushes her into the next room. This time he gets her arm and she screams in pain. She can hear people yelling in the other room, but right now she can't do anything. She knows that it's a big cut, it's from her shoulder all the way down to her elbow. Just as he's about to stab her, she hears El yell from the other room. Everything freezes. She can't move and nor can Hopper. He looks shocked. El comes walking in the room and takes some thing out from her pocket.

"Dad stop! This is not you." Hopper just grunts and looks like he's trying to move, but of course he can't.

"I even have prof!" She opens up the piece of paper she took out from her pocket just moments earlier. She starts to read it and Joyce realizes that it's the hart to hart letter he wrote to her.

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you both about. I know this is a difficult conversation, but I care about you both very much. And I know that you care about each other very much. And that's why it's important that we set these boundaries moving forward, so we can build an environment...where we all feel. Comfortable, trusted, and open to sharing our feelings.

Feelings.

Feelings. Jesus. The truth is, for so long, I'd forgotten what those even were. I've been stuck in one place, in a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave. And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life and for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. But, lately, I guess I've been feeling...distant from you. Like you're - you're pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravagances at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off. But I know you're getting older. Growing. And I guess...if I'm being honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change."

Hoppers whole demeaner changes, but he still hasn't said or done anything yet. Joyce doesn't know with how to think about that.

"So, I think that maybe that's why I cam in here, to try to maybe...stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that's naive. That's just...not how life works. It's moving. Always moving, whether you like it or not. And, yeah, sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's sad. And sometimes...it's surprising."

Joyce now notices tears falling down from Hopper's face. She takes this as a good sign. Now that Joyce thinks about it, she didn't even know that El kept this with her at all times. Not that she could blame her for keeping it though.

"So, you know what? Keep growing up kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from 'em, and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave. But, please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches."

Hopper finally drops the knife. He looks at Joyce than at El. He looks at Joyce again. Johnathan comes running in. As goes to get Joyce he glares at Hopper. El notices the hurt look on Hoppers face.

"It's not your fault. You didn't kill anyone, but I have." She just walks up and hugs him.

"Yes, it is! Joyce now fears me and so does everyone else."

"What the fuck. What the fuck!" Mike keeps repeating to himself. Everyone turns around when the hear both Johnathan and Joyce walk out of the room. The first thing anyone notices is the big cut Joyce has on her right arm.

"Mom!" Will says while running up to her.

"I can't believe that Hopper would do something like this says Max.

"It was ont Hopporrrrrrr." Joyce says slurring some words because of the blood loss. Murray comes out from one of the bed rooms with a first aid kit. He comes at sits near her and bandages her wound.

"T-t-thanks." Joyce says before passing out.