Stranger Things: The Lost Family (Part 1)

Bonding

Hopper made a new rule with El that she could see the outside world, since she loved it so much. Dr. Owens thought it wasn't a bad idea, just to be outside for an hour or so. On one day, El and Hopper were taking a walk through the woods. "Not such a bad rule, is it?" Hopper asked. El nodded. Hopper looked at her. He remembered he had work that day, and he had to leave pretty quickly. But they hadn't even been out for an hour. Hopper didn't want to bring El back early. Then, he had an idea.

"Uh, listen kid." He said. "I have to go to work." El was disappointed. "But, how about this. You can keep walking, and be back at the cabin in a half an hour." El felt relief. "I will be back in... Half an hour." She said. Hopper nodded. "Have fun." He said.

As Hopper went back towards the cabin, El kept walking. She enjoyed everything about the outdoors. So much open space, so many new smells, so many sights. As she was walking, she heard thumping. She looked toward the noise. She saw someone hitting an axe on a tree. She thought that person was also getting a christmas tree, even though it was a bit big. El looked better at who the person was, and saw this person wasn't exactly a stranger. It was Max, Mike and the other boys friend. El was never fond of her, because she was jealous when she saw her and Mike laughing together. Max didn't seem fond of El either. She acted friendly, but El never talked to her.

But as El saw Max hit the axe into the tree, she knew something might have been wrong with her. El walked forwards. "Uh, hey Max." El said. Max stopped, and looked at her. Max gave a small smile. "Hey." She said, and continued hitting the tree. "What are you... Doing?" El asked. "Letting off some steam." Max said, striking the tree again. El was confused. Max looked at her, and sighed. "It means having your own way of dealing with stress." Max said. "I usually let it off with hitting things." She said. "What are you stressed about?" El asked. Max looked at her, annoyed. "None of your beeswax." She said. Max took off the other way, then stopped. Some thoughts came back to her. El was acting nice, wanting to talk to her. Max thought she could do better.

She walked back to El. "I'm sorry." She said. "I know I can be a jerk sometimes." El looked at her. "Mouthbreather?" She asked. Max smiled. "You can call it that." Max said. "It's just... I confronted my asshole Step-Brother Billy last year, when he tried to hurt Lucas, and almost killed Steve." She explained. "But now, it's like he forgot about what I did. Over the last few months, he's been acting mean like he used to." El could tell Max was upset. "Are you scared of him?" El asked. Max gave a confused look. "Hell no." She said. "I just... I can't understand him anymore." Max said. El looked at her. They had their differences, yes. But they also had similarities. They grew up knowing they had to be strong. "I have to deal with stress too." El said. Max looked at her, and smiled.

Max offered El the axe. "Take a swing at the tree." Max said. "What?" El asked. "Think of the thing that upsets you the most. And picute it on that tree." She explained. El looked at the axe. Then, took it. She went to the tree Max was hitting. "Are you sure this is safe?" El asked. Max chuckled. "It's dead, El." She said. El saw the tree was rotting, and leaves and twigs were falling off. It was going to fall over eventually. El kept a good grip on the axe. Then, hit the tree. "Good!" Max said. "A bit harder this time." El thought of when she saw Mike and Max laughing. El felt the anger, and hit the tree. She kept thinking of that moment, hitting the tree again and again. Then she thought of Brenner, forcing her to be put in the solitary room, as well as when he tried to take her at the school. She swung harder and harder. Then, she thought of when she had her tantrum, and Hopper took away her TV, the only way she could see Mike. And how she screamed, breaking the windows in Hoppers cabin. The anger was coming out of El each time she hit the tree. Suddenly, the whole tree fell over to the ground.

Max was in shock at first. Then, she started laughing. "Holy Shit!" She screamed. She ran over to the tree. "You knocked the whole thing over! That was so awesome!" She said. El smiled, wiping blood away from her nose. "Thanks." El said. Max kept laughing, looking at the dead tree. El felt bad she brought the entire tree down, but also happy she found something she liked about Max. How she could help El find a creative way to deal with her stress and anger.