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Chapter 9

Voices

Joyce stood in the middle of El's room. She told herself after the one year she wouldn't step foot in this room again. But here she is, two days later, looking around at all of El's things.

El never really owned many things. Joyce has always thought it was because she didn't have much before she got adopted. Now Joyce knows it was because she didn't have anything before she was adopted.

Joyce looked around the room looking at her things just laying around. Her walkie was still on the bed from the other night, along with a green scrunchy that Max gave her. On the chair at her desk, there was a pile of clothes El forgot to put away. It was a mixture of Hopper's old shirts and her new ones she'd got with Max. She nor Hopper wanted to put them away. They just didn't want to think about it more than they already do. And putting away those clothes would bring up old memories. So now they just collect dust.

Joyce walked over to the bay window and looked out to see the Wheeler house. She knew El would talk to Mike for hours when she wasn't allowed to leave the house. She smiled at the thought of El enjoying her time with Mike and how it reminded her about how happy she was to be around Hopper.

Joyce didn't know why she came in here. It was something about this room, that night, that keeps drawing her to it. Maybe it was because she now heard El's voice in her head twice. Maybe, she wanted to hear her again.

She knew that hearing her voice was just her own mind playing tricks on her, making her believe what she wanted to believe. That El was still alive.

She sighed and rested her head against the wall. She hated this feeling of hopelessness. Just thinking about what she's doing. She's sitting in her dead adoptive daughter's room, hoping to hear her voice in her head. Yeah, she's totally not going crazy.

Joyce? Her voice came again.

Joyce sat straight up holding her breath. It felt like forever she just sat there in silence, hoping to hear it again.

Joyce! Her voice sounded more hurried and she started to get louder and louder with every word she said. Joyce! Joyce!

"Joyce?" A knock came from the front door making her mind go quiet once again. Joyce let out the breath she had been holding and looked out the bay window to see Mrs. Wheeler standing by the door trying to see through the window. She knocked again. "Joyce?"

Joyce got up from her spot and made her way downstairs to the door. Opened it and saw Karen's face instantly relax.

"Hey." Karen said bringing a small smile to her face. Joyce noticed that she had something in her arms and looked at it. Karen followed her eyes to the pan that rested in her arms. "It's a casserole. Mike told about what happened. Well, more like Mike told Nancy and Nancy told me."

Joyce smiled a tight smile at her. "Why don't you come on in?" She said holding the door open wider.

"Thank you." She said stepping inside letting Joyce close the door behind her.

Joyce took in a deep breath trying to calm herself. After talking to Karen for about an hour, she found herself back in the same spot in El's bay window. She sat there in complete silence hoping to hear her voice again.

She knew what she was doing was crazy. She knew what she was thinking was crazy also.

Hey, don't mind me, just sitting in my dead daughter's room hoping to hear her voice in my head...again. She thought as she closed her eyes just trying to listen. After about a minute of pure silence, she could only think of one thing, Why am I doing this?

Maybe it was because she wanted to hear her voice again, just to feel like she was still here. Or because she wanted some sort of closure and this is the only way to get it. Or because she wanted to believe El was still out there. She couldn't really tell which reason she was doing it for.

A soft knock came from the opened bedroom door. "Joyce?" Hopper's soft voice came through the silence.

She opened her eyes and looked over at her husband. She flashed him quick smile before looking down at the floor with sad eyes.

"What are you doing in here?" Hopper asked sitting beside her and wrapping his arm around her.

"I don't know, I guess these pass few days I've missed her more than normal." Joyce spoke truthfully leaning into him. "I came in here because you always talk about how you feel her presence in here. Thought maybe I could feel her."

"Did you?"

Joyce took some time to consider the answer this question. She was contemplating in her head whether she should be truthful or keep the answer short. Keeping it short seemed like the best option. No one would want to hear their wife has voices in her head, especially when that voice is someone who is gone.

"Yes." Joyce sighed.

Hopper breathed out a laugh and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah," he said standing up and walked toward the door, "I don't know, it's something about this room. It has like some sort of power with it."

Joyce watched him leave and stayed there just for a few more minutes. After about five minutes of silence, Joyce left El's room to get ready for dinner.

Authors note
Again, another chapter I really enjoyed writing. Although, I hoped it would have turned out a little longer. But, hey, what can you do? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Anyways, thanks for reading and I will see you guys next time I update.