Neighbors - Strangerthingsau

Chapter 8

Mama

"El! Come on, we need to get going!" Hopper shouted from the kitchen.

El opened her eyes to see the daylight seeping into her bedroom. Mama. El thought as she quickly pulled the covers off herself, rushing to the bathroom to get ready.

20 minutes later she walks into the kitchen ready to go. But first... breakfast! She got her breakfast from Joyce and sat down quickly eating her... wait for it... wait for it...

eggos.

"You ready to get going, kid?" Hopper asks, already by the door.

"Yes!" El says, walking over to him.

"Wait!" Joyce exclaims, running over to them giving them both a hug. "Have fun."

After driving for what El thought was forever, but really it was only an hour, they arrive to a small, one story house at the end of the road. Hopper parked the car and turned to face El only to see that she was already out of the car and walking up to the front door.

"Jesus!" He mutters under his breath, as he gets out of the car himself and quickly walks toward the front door. By the time he reaches her, she is trying to gather up courage to knock on the door.

Hopper understood why she was so nervous. Behind this door was reminders. Reminders of her past, her mother's past, who she was supposed to be. She was supposed to be Jane Ives. She was supposed to be living under this roof. She was supposed to be a normal 15 year old girl. She is none of those things.

El looked at Hopper for reassurance. He gave a little nod as to say, "it's ok, kid. You got this." El raised her hand in a fist and knocked quietly on the wood door.

"Coming!" A woman's voice shouted through the house. El knew the voice belonged to her Aunt Becky, the woman who has been taking care of her mom for years. The door swung open to reveal her aunt with a bright smile on her face as she locked eyes with El.

"Jane!" Becky said extending her arms out to hug her.

"Hi Becky!" El said giving into the hug.

"Hello Jim!" Becky said as she released El from the hug, turning to shake his hand.

"Hello Becky!" Hopper said releasing her hand from his grasp.

"Come in!" Becky motioned from them to come inside.

El immediately took off to the living room. Looking for someone she knew would be there. And, of course, she was right. There in the living room, sat her mother, Terry Ives. She sat on rocking chair, like always, gently rocking back and forth, muttering the same words over and over again quietly.

El walked over to her mom, stopping when she is right beside her, and went down to her knees, looking up at her mother.

"Mama." El said catching her mother's eye. "It's me. It's Jane. I'm here."

Terry looked at her daughter in silence for a few seconds before turning back to the television and muttering the same words she was repeating before.

"Mama?" El tried again. Hoping to get her mother to look at her just one more time. That time didn't come. Not in that moment anyway.

El looked down at her feet defeated. Tears started to cloud her vision as she thought. And she could only think of one thing at the moment, how could they do this to you?

El tried to blink back her tears, but she failed miserably. Instead, every time she blinked more and more silent tears would slip down her face.

She didn't realize that Hopper and Becky were in the room watching her, until Becky walked over and wrapped her arms around her. El didn't see, but Becky was crying too.

When El and Becky had finally calmed down and decided to catch up somewhere else. That is how the three of them ended up sitting at the round dining table. El made sure to get a seat where she could look at her mother in the living room.

Becky made Hopper and herself some coffee, and the two were discussing adult stuff that El didn't really care about, so she just sat there looking at her mom.

"So Jane." Becky said grabbing El's attention. "Hopper tells me that you had just recently started school! How's that going?"

"Good." El simply replied.

"Do you like your classes and teachers?"

"Yes."

"Have you made any friends yet?"

"Yes, I have."

"Tell me a little about them!" Becky asked hoping to get more than a one word answer.

"Well, there's Will, my new brother."

"Is he nice to you?"

"Yes, I met his friends."

"Really? Are you apart of their friend group now?"

"I think so."

"Who are they?" Becky asked trying to get anything out of her.

"There's Max, my best friend. She brought me shopping and we hangout a lot after school. She said that she is going to teach me how to skateboard."

"That's cool!" Becky commented.

"There's Dustin, he's funny! He tells jokes a lot. Then Lucas, he's Max's boyfriend. He's nice. And then there's Mike, he helps me with my homework. He has been really helpful and nice to me."

"Do they know about you?"

"Not all of it."

"Are you going to tell them all of it?" Becky asks.

"No." El replied. She couldn't tell them. If they knew she had powers, that would put the party in danger. She didn't want her friends in danger, because if something were to happen to her, where she couldn't protect them and they knew about her. They could end up like her mother.

El turned her head to look at her mother. She's still in the same exact place as before. Still rocking gently, muttering to herself.

I can't let that happen to anyone else I love.

Authors note!!!
Thank you guys so much for reading chapter 8 of Neighbors. This one was a little bit longer than the others, but it was either make one really long chapter or two really short chapters. I personally think I made the right decision.
I'm sorry if this chapter was a little bit sadder, I promise much happier chapters are in the future. And I promise Mileven will be starting here soon. I'm so excited!!!
Thank you guys for almost 300 reads!!! That is amazing!!! I never thought this many people would be interested in my book. I thought one maybe two people would read it when I started writing this. To be honest, I was writing this more for myself because I had this idea in my head and I just wanted to see it on paper.
So learn from me if you have a good idea in your head, write it down because some other people might want to know about it.
Alright, this authors note was too long, I'll stop writing now.
See ya next week!!! 😘