𝚂𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙸𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕 | Steve Harrington

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚢𝚠𝚘𝚐

By the time I got home that night, everyone was already in their beds, asleep. Our bedroom door was locked shut, so I went around to the window to climb in, a tricked I learned to use whenever El and Dad had a fight. I walked in to see El, asleep in her bed, clutching her teddy bear close to her chest, so I, as quietly as I could, put on my pajamas and laid in my bed. I felt awful. My stomach hurt and my face with moist from the tears that had been dripping down it all night. I could hardly sleep so I laid awake for a lot of the night, thinking about everything that had happened. When I eventually fell asleep, I knocked out hard in one of the deepest sleeps I had had in a while.

The next morning, Both El and I stayed in bed, but I knew I still had to go to school. Dad opened the door and walked in when he realized neither of us had come out, something very unusual for a weekday.

"Rise and shine," He said once he was in the little room. I let out a small groan and put my covers over my head and El was giving him the silent treatment. "So that's it, huh? We're still not talking? And Jo, don't you have school?"

"Bleh," I muttered out as he turned to leave.

"Alright. I guess I'm just gonna have to, uh enjoy this triple-decker Eggo extravaganza on my own." He said with a sigh. Food. That was the only thing I wanted right now so El pulled a shirt over her pajamas and I rolled out of bed to go get some breakfast. Dad walked over to the table, holding, as he said, a triple-decker Eggo extravaganza topped with whipped cream, chocolate kisses, and M&Ms.

"Mm! Good right?" He asked as he took a bite of it. "And you know, the best part? It's only 8,000 calories," He said in an attempt to make one of us laugh. He looked over at me, a little disappointed seeing as I was usually the only person that laughed at his jokes. We were a team when it came to taking care of El.

"Jo, are you sick or something? You don't look great,"

"No. Just..." I didn't finish the sentence. I relaxed back into my chair and stared at the floor. "He cheated on me,"

"He what?" Dad asked. His smile dropped as he looked at me with concern. "That little son of a bitch. I'm gonna go to his house a-"

"Dad, it's fine. It's stupid anyway, its not like that relationship was gonna last more than another month or so," I said with a small sigh.

"Yeah, but that's not the way to-"

"I'm okay. I just wanna take a little bit to get over it all,"

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine," I say and then took a bite of an Eggo.

"And El, you visited him last night?" Dad asked when he saw the tv chord trailing into our bedroom. I noticed that too. Whenever El visits, she need white noise and a blind fold to act as a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, like the one we used last year. She frequently visited Mike to see what he was doing. I knew how much she missed him. It was hard not to see them after only getting to know them for a week or so. The first people to show her kindness and she wasn't allowed to see them at all.

"He says he needs me," She said quietly, looking down at her food.

"Do you want me to go check on him?"

"Or I could. He and the other kids go to the arcade all the time," I explained in a small voice. She shook her head.

"I know that you miss him, all right? But it's too dangerous. You're the last thing he needs right now. You're gonna see him. Soon. And not just in that head of yours. You're gonna see him in real life. I feel like I'm making progress with these people,"

"Friends don't lie," She said, leaning forward.

"What?" He asks. El said that phrase all the time. She learned it from Mike last year.

"You say 'soon' on day 21. You say 'soon' on day 205. You now say 'soon' on day 326?"

"What is this? You're counting the days now like you're some kind of prisoner?"

"When is 'soon'?" She asks seriously.

"'Soon' is when it's not dangerous anymore,"

"When?"

"I don't know,"

"On day 500?"

"I don't know,"

"On day 600?"

"I don't know,"

"Day 700? On day 800?"

"No!"

"I need to see him. Tell me!"

"I said I don-" He began as she flung the plate of waffles onto his lap.

"Oh shit! Shit!" He yelled out, jumping up from his chair. El popped up from her chair too.

"Friends. Don't. Lie!" She said. She then stormed into her room and slammed the door shut with her powers. Dad kicked the table a bit as I stood up from my chair. I didn't really know what to say after such a tense moment so I walked over to the sofa, grabbed the latest book I had been reading and sat down on it. I watched Dad walk over to the sink and begin cleaning himself off with a wet towel, muttering to himself as he did.

"Jo, you can take the day off of school today. I'll call in when I get to work. Tell them you got a fever or something," He said, brushing the remaining globs of whipped cream off of his pants.

"Okay," I said quietly. He then grabbed his hat and began to walk in the direction of the door. "Thank you,"

◦◦,'°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°',◦◦

A few hours later, I crawled out of bed and saw El laying in hers', staring up at the ceiling. I grabbed my green military style jacket and turned to look at her.

"I'm gonna go on a walk, okay? Just around the woods, you know? I'll be back in like twenty minutes if you need me," I explain slowly.

"Okay," She said quietly. I needed to clear my head and to stop thinking about everything that happened last night. The whole scene kept playing in my head, over and over. It was like a broken record player, driving me completely insane, more and more each time I saw it. I opened the door and walked into the forest of trees and around the perimeter, making sure not to go too far from the cabin, but far enough that I couldn't see it from where I was. I always forget how pretty it is out here until I see it for myself. It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was right up in the middle of the sky, but you could still feel the cold air as you walked through the trees. Today was the first day of November, and I was ready for winter. It was my favorite season for sure.