broken souls of blame | mileven

chapter twenty-four

I LOVE YOU

"wait!" mike shouts, running towards el who was about to get into joyce's car, "i want to take you somewhere. an hour, that's all i'm asking and if you feel angry or uncomfortable by the end you can leave."

"mike-"

"PLEASE! i beg you, please!"

el bites down on her bottom lip and gives will and joyce a look. she sighs quietly, "an hour. no more." she agrees quietly.

he smiles widely, "oh, thank god. we need to take my car though."

she nods and gives joyce and will a quick wave.

"i'll bring her home safely!" mike shouts towards them as he runs to his car.

she gets into the passenger seat of his car and buckles her seatbelt quietly.

"you can have the aux cord if you want." he says.

she shakes her head, leaning her head against the window as she plays around with the loosened end of her bandage wrap.

"don't do that, it's easier to become unwrapped." he tells her.

"does it look like i care?" she asks, giving him a quick glance as he nods, "right."

the car ride was silent the whole time. el only responding with a word or so if mike asked her something or told her something.

arriving at downtown, he stops the car and she looks around her surroundings.

there was a park and a cemetery right next to each other.

this park was different to the one el goes to. this one didn't have much pretty benches, it didn't have a lake nor duckies, it was different.

this had a large pathway surrounding a grass field, with one of the most beautiful street lamps along it.

it did have benches, but not as much as the other one and not as pretty.

he gets out of the car, her following behind as he starts to walk away still with her following.

as she watched him walk into the cemetery, she was uncertain if she should follow, considering she had no idea what he had planned.

"what are we doing here? how did you find this?" she asks, staring at hoppers headstone.

"i knew hopper too." he murmurs.

"why am i here? i don't need you telling me where my father is buried." she turns to him with a scowl.

"when i tried to commit suicide, i felt like i didn't have a purpose but to hurt my family. i thought.. i thought they didn't want me and wished that i was dead. but then when it happened, my mom.. she rushed in crying and whilst i was dying, all she kept whispering was how much she loves me. until the moment i woke up in the hospital, that's all she said." he starts off she stares off at the headstone.

"you told me.. you told me hop died saving you. you think it's your fault and will and joyce and jonathan will be better off without you because you ruined their family. hop chose to protect you, he chose how he wanted to love you, he chose to give you a happy future with them. he chose to die protecting you so it's not your fault. he made that decision because he loved you endlessly and wanted you to be happy." he finishes.