𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑, elmax [ discontinued ]

ch. 11

another flashback - sorry if you find it boring, but i think it'll be important for the story line

Fall 1983. Brenner had just gotten the now 13 year old Eleven, into Hawkins Middle School. Which was exactly what she had wanted her entire childhood, and she genuinely thought it would make her so much happier.
But it didn't really.

It wasn't easy for the poor, anxious girl, who barely knew how to socialize, to find any friends. She had Mike from english class, who she'd made good friends with, but Mike had other friends he wanted to spend time with, so El would feel very lonely very often.

Her home-life wasn't much better. Her uncle Brenner had never shown much interest in the girl, but after she'd insisted on going to public school, he had ignored her completely. It was clear that he was mad at her, for making him spent time on enrolling her.

Eleven was young, dumb and rebellious back then. She craved other people's attention so much - especially her uncle's - that she one evening went to the bathroom to cut off her hair. She knew it would catch other's eye.
Her hair at the time was wavy, light brown and about chest length. She liked her hair, she had never before thought of getting rid of it, like she was about to do now.

She opened a drawer beneath the bathroom sink and dug though it, looking for a scissor. No scissors to be found. But she did find an electric razor.
The young, confused girl knew what it was, yet she had never used one or seen it it use.

El pushed the button, but immediately turned it back off, slightly flinching at the sound it made.
She looked at it for a few seconds, before turning to face herself in the mirror. She took a moment to run a hand through her hair, mentally saying goodbye to it, before placing the razor on the top of her head.

Uncle Brenner wasn't amused by the result. He wasn't mad either. He didn't even seem surprised. He didn't seem to care at all.
As El had finished her haircut she had went into the kitchen to grab some food - not saying a thing, trying to seem as casual as possible - and Brenner had just looked at her with no further comment.

Her Uncle's total ignorance started to piss Eleven off.
What shall I do for him to notice me? For him to pay attention to me?

El went around, thinking about that for a few weeks.
Mike was very surprised by her new haircut, but other than that she didn't get much response on it. She usually blended in with the crowd pretty well, but now students would constantly stare and send her glares. El wished people would just walk up to her, and ask her about her hair, but the other kids suddenly seemed scared of her.

The day of her life's so far biggest decision came around. The day she decided to run away from Hawkins. Run away from school, her uncle, everything.
She thought if nobody notices me anyway, why would I stay here?
And with that, she packed a little food, a little money and some clothes, and silently went out the front door.

It was a Sunday night, 2am. Therefore it was very dark out, and since she didn't own a bike nor a flashlight she decided to only go down the roads lit up by streetlights.

She reached the last street lamp of an unknown road she'd followed. It stood by a bus stop, just exactly lightning up the bench beside the Bus sign.
The young girl casually sat down and waiting on the bench, without thinking further about it.
She suddenly felt the exhaustion hitting her, and she tiredly rested her head against the cold pole of the streetlight.

She woke up - though not even noticing falling asleep - by the sound of a bus pulling up in front of her.
The doors opened and a male voice, from the driver's seat yelled:
"Hop on, kid?"

Eleven rubbed her eyes as she stood up from the bench, grabbing her small backpack. She stepped into the bus, curiously looking around. She'd never been on a bus before.
"What time is it?"

The driver seemed surprised by the young female voice, probably had assumed that she was a boy, due to her nearly bald head.
"3.50 am," he raised an eyebrow, "what are a youngster like you, doing out this late?"

"Where's this going?" Eleven ignored the man's question, being too tired to explain.

"Pennsylvania, my friend," he said, smiling at her behind his mustache. She smiled back weakly, nodded slowly.

She walked down, the almost completely empty bus, and sat in an empty seat by the window.
She fell back asleep almost as soon as she had seated herself.

a/n
i'm so sorry the chapter started of that bad lol, but it was lowkey really boring to write, so i was very demotivated
better stuff to come, hopefully

also i'm sorry if there's any typos or grammar mistakes, i'm tired