𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 {ᵐⁱˡᵉᵛᵉⁿ}

Chapter 5: One Life for the Two of Us

This chapter is based off of 'Two of us' by Louis Tomlinson, give it a listen if you haven't already and maybe even play it while reading!

El watched as the car slowly pulled away, "Come back.." she whispered under her breath. She slowly held her shaky bruised hand up to the window and let a few tears out. Will, Jonathan and Joyce watched her and let out a sigh.

"Are you okay sweety?" came a squeaky voice.

El knew she was going to break down any second. She took a wobbly breath in and went up to the phone. Hop's not dead. He's not. He's just not. I need to call him so he can pick me up and take me home. She was in denial. "I j-j-just n-need to call h-h-home." She didn't listen to anybody speaking around her, and she instead picked up the phone and dialed the number of the cabin. "H-Hop. Y-y-you there? C-come pick me u-up. I'm at Will's. Hop? I want to go home. Please."

No answer.

"Hop! Answer me! Dad," she shouted through sobs, she had only ever called him dad once. It was the day he showed her the birth certificate. Will put his hand on her shoulder but she ignored it and instead focused on the memories racing through her head.

- Memory -

Hopper came back to the cabin holding the certificate in his hands. He hit his boots off of the side of the door and took off his hat and jacket, placing them on the hook on the wall next to El's mint green sweater. He slammed the door shut, locking it firmly. He let out a toothy grin and stomped over to his 13 year-old daughter's room, knocking on the door, rubbing his hand over his forehead. Slightly nervous, but excited.

"Hey, uh, El? I got something you might want to see."

El was practicing styling her short curly hair for the Snowball, which both Hopper and Mike promised she could go to. She was getting slightly frustrated when one of her curls were not staying in place; El looked to her right at her bedroom door hearing a familiar knock and gruff voice. She stood up and gently opened her door to see Hopper. The smile on his face being contagious.

"What is it?"  She tried to contain her giggles. Hopper leaned down so he was at her level and looked into her shiny hazel eyes. He gave a toothy grin as he took her hands in his.

"What would you say if I said I am legally your dad?"

El looked at him for a moment, completely shocked yet jumping with joy at his words. There was a long pause of not knowing what to say before happy tears began to creep into her eyes. She took her hands out of his and engulfed him into a hug, squeezing him tight; they stayed like that for a few moments until El's squeaky voice began, "You will be with me forever?"

Hop smiled and let out a few tears himself. "I'll always be with you kid, always."

El let go of him and looked up at his tall figure. "Promise?"

"I promise kid. I promise."

"I love you dad."

-----------------------------------

El snapped back into reality. Lie. That was a lie.  She slammed the phone against the wall and let out a huff, causing everybody to jump, and broke out into hysteria. "Lie!"

She pushed passed Will, Joyce and Jonathan roughly, completely ignoring their words. The teenage girl swung the front door open and began running off barefoot in pajama shorts and a t-shirt, and a leg which was throbbing, the pain going through all of her body.

She ignored the pain, blanking the shouts for her name behind her and didn't stop running. She didn't pay attention to where she was going, or what was going on behind her. She just ran. Memories of Hopper raced through her head as his voice was like a never ending buzz in her ears. Before she knew it, she couldn't hear or see anything but Hopper, and she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, causing a car to slam its breaks as she ran across the road. She didn't even flinch. However, she also didn't realize that it was Nancy's car that nearly ran her over. Hell, she didn't even realize a car nearly ran her over.