Flower Girl (Billy Hargrove)

Chapter Twenty One

Mike and El hugged each other and held on as tight as they could Mike started talking about how he called El every day and how he never gave up on her and El said that she knew. This set Mike off he started calm only slightly raising his voice "Why didn't you answer, why didn't you let me know that you were there or that you were okay." El didn't know what to say so she kept quiet "Because I didn't let her." Hopper said as he pushed Mike out of the way softly so he could hug El "Where have you been?" They asked each other. Wait a minute, so he's known that El has been alive this whole time and he knew where she was and he didn't tell anyone at all for 300 something days. You've got to be kidding me.

Mike suddenly pushed Hopper "You kept her away from me!" Mike said as he went to push Hopper again but Hopper grabbed him by his collar of his shirt "Let's talk, alone." And with that Mike and Hopper left and went into Joyce's room. Me, Dustin, and Lucas all did a group hug with El we just kept saying how much we missed her over and over again and how we talked about her every day. We let go of her and stepped back "Teeth." She said which confused the three of us "What?" I said which caused her to look at me and stick her finger in Dustin's mouth "Teeth." She said again. I completely forgot that the last time she saw us Dustin's teeth hadn't grown in yet like they are now "Oh yeah, you like these pearls." Dustin said and then he purred like a cat which made El jump. She has a thing about cats that makes her scared.

"Eleven.." Max came over to us and stopped in between me and Dustin so she was right in front of El "I'm Max, I've heard so much about you." She stuck out her hand for El to shake but she just completely ignored her and walked to Joyce. They talked for a bit and then they went to the room that Will was laying in. I sent Max a soft smile to reassure her that she didn't do anything wrong. I went to the laundry room area and found a broom. I decided that I should clean up that glass from the window and then after that I can put a piece of cardboard and tape it to the windowsill to make it not so cold in here from all the fall night air that's coming in.

While I was sweeping the glass into a pile everyone got together in the kitchen around the kitchen table I couldn't hear much of the conversation until Hopper and El started getting loud because they were disagreeing on something. "I can do it." El said in a reassuring tone which I'm imagining was directed towards Joyce. I could hear Hopper say no which caused El to repeat what she said but in a harsher tone. "You're not hearing me." He said in that same harsh tone. "I am hearing you, I can do it." She had confidence in her voice. That's when Mike spoke up "Even if El can do it, we still have another problem. If the brain dies... the body dies." I stopped sweeping everything into a pile and stood there while looking at everyone so I could focus on the conversation. "I thought that was the only problem." Max looked at Mike with one of her eyebrows raised in confusion. "If El is able to close the gate and kills the mind flayer-" Lucas finished Mike's sentence "Will dies with them." The whole room feel quiet and Joyce looked like she was going to puke. She got up and went into the room Will was in and everyone followed her. I stayed back because I didn't want to be in anyones way.

A couple minutes later Hopper came walking out the room with Will in his arms and walked up to the front door which I opened up for him. Everyone followed him outside while Steve and Nancy went out to the backyard for whatever reason. Hopper put Will in the back of Jonathan's car and Joyce got in right next to Will and held him. Hopper was explaining directions to him for somewhere. Mike and El were saying goodbye and they were about to kiss but Hopper told El that it's time to go. Mental reminder to kill Hopper for that. Nancy and Steve came walking out the front door and Steve stood behind me while Nancy made her way over to Jonathan's car with heaters in her hand. She got in the Passenger seat and they drove off, then Hopper and El drove off behind them in his police car. Which left me and Steve with the kids. We all went inside and I went back to what I was doing. I dumped all the glass in the trash and then got some of the extra cardboard and a roll of tape and walked over to the window.