AFTERMATH - Stranger Things 3

Chapter 6

El woke up a few minutes later on the cold bathroom floor. As she started to sit up, she grabbed her head in pain from hitting the floor too hard. But when she looked up, her eyes widened as she covered her mouth in shock. She quickly felt underneath her nose to see if there was any blood, but there was nothing.

The door to the stall she was in had blown off and crashed up against the wall. It left a huge crack and a sink was broken from the impact of it. But that wasn't the worst of the situation. A girl was sprawled out of the floor, bleeding from the back of the head. El felt tears pouring down her cheeks when she caught sight of the girl, terrified as to what could've happened.

All of the sudden, El looked up when she heard the door open. She saw Beverly enter the room, but freeze when she saw the situation. The redhead then took notice of El on the floor, so she ran over to her. She knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"El, you okay?" Beverly asked her. "What happened in here?"

"I don't know," El sobbed. "I blacked out and I woke up to this. I don't know what happened!"

"I believe you, don't worry," Bev reassured her as she helped her stand up. "But I'm not going to let you be blamed for this. Let's get out of here."

Bev took her hand and led her out of the bathroom, but not to class. Instead they snuck out through the back entrance of the school. They went into the woods behind the school and sat down on a fallen tree.

"Isn't this against the rules?" El asked.

Beverly shrugged and chuckled. "Honestly, it doesn't matter. I'm practically invisible to this school except to the other losers," she said. "There's nothing wrong with a little rule breaking though."

"We make our own rules," El said with a smirk as she thought back to her and Max when they had a sleepover together at the cabin. 

Bev smiled at her and reach into her pockets. She pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter and started to light one up as El watched with interest. Beverly then turned on the lighter and lit up the cigarette. El remembered seeing Hopper do what she was doing a few times and people telling him that it was unhealthy. She didn't know why Bev was doing it if it was bad and unhealthy for someone.

The redhead noticed El staring and handed her a cigarette. "You want to try?" She asked her.

El shook her head. "No thank you," she replied. "I don't want to be unhealthy."

"That's cool. I just do it to let off some steam," Bev said. "Before I came into the bathroom, Greta and all her friends decided to call me a slut. Some of their material is getting old now and I'm really sick of it."

"What's a slut?" El asked her.

"A bad term that people use for girls who sleep with guys," Beverly explained. "Which is not true in my case. I've only kissed two guys and I'm dating one of them right now. He's my first boyfriend and everyone thinks that just because you kiss a guy, you're a slut."

"I don't think you're a slut, Beverly," El reassured her with a smile.

Beverly smiled back at her. "Thanks El," She said. "Just don't go calling anyone that, okay? It's just a horrible word in general and it constantly degrades girls all the time."

"Is it because we are a different species than boys?" El asked, recalling what she heard Mike say when she had spied on him and the other boys. She knew he didn't mean it in a bad way afterwards though.

"I guess you could say that," Beverly said. "Guys sleep with multiple girls and they are congratulated for it and are called a player. A girl kisses one guy and is called a slut, a whore, and other words that demean them. It's fucked up."

El nodded in agreement. Before going out into the real world, she always thought that life would be easier than being stuck in a lab. Sadly, it wasn't easier because life was full of loss and troubles and she didn't like it. She moved away from her home, lost her father, separated from Mike and the party, and Will didn't even like her. Now she was learning that girls could have trouble and she was scared because she was a girl.

The bell rang from the school and the two girls stood up. "I guess we have to go back to class," Bev said with a sigh. "Maybe we can hang out after school together? Just the two of us? I need some time away from those guys right now."

El smiled at her. "Sure," she agreed. "I'll have to ask Joyce. She's like my mother."

"Like your mother?" Bev asked. "Why not just mother?"

El shrugged in response. "Just because," she replied.

Beverly shrugged it off and the two girls walked inside the school. As they walked back inside, they saw the girl who got knocked out from the stall door being taken away by doctors. El froze when she noticed this, knowing that it had to do with her and no one knew it. She wanted to say something, but she didn't even know what happened.

Beverly noticed the look on her face and put a hand on her shoulder. El gave her a weak smile as they walked to their next class, which happened to be the same one. El noticed that Will was in the class too and she went to go sit by him. Will shook his head and moved over a few seats, which made El look down.

"Can we please be friends?" El asked him in a small voice. "Why don't you like me?"

"Can you shut up?" Will asked her in a stern tone. "I wish I was around that time when you couldn't speak."

El flared at him, offended. "I'm sorry that I want to be friends. I don't know what I did to make you hate me and I want to make up for it," she said.

Will turned to look at her with an angry expression. "Maybe you shouldn't have stolen my best friend away. Ever think about that?" He said. "Ever since you came back, Mike has only ever wanted to hang out with you. He didn't want to spend time with me or Lucas or Dustin. All because you opened the gate, which ruined our lives and for some reason Mike doesn't care about that!"

El felt tears pouring into her eyes, but she blinked them away. "Opening the gate was an accident," she said. "The bad men forced me to. I didn't want the Demogorgon to take you away. All I wanted was friends and a life. I didn't mean to nearly end the world. I didn't mean to ruin your life."

"And I bet you didn't mean to steal away my best friend," Will added in a demeaning tone. "You don't feel sorry about that at all. All he wanted to do before you came along was play D&D and hang out with the party. But ever since you showed up, all he's wanted to do is swap spit with you! Maybe you should've stayed hidden or stayed in the Upside Down"

A tear rolled down El's cheek and she became even more angry by the second. "I love Mike! I'm allowed to spend time with him! I'm not a pet! I make my own rules! I didn't see Mike for 353 days and he thought I was dead! Mike has his own free will and I have mine! I'm sorry that he didn't want you hang out with you, but now he does. And we were both taken away from him and the others!"

"You still ruined everything!" Will said.

"NO I DIDN'T!"

El blacked out again.

When she woke up, Will was in the corner of the room with books covering him. All of the windows were broken and the bookshelves had fallen. The classroom was a huge wreck. All of the students were staring at El, who was lying on the floor. Beverly helped her up and rushed her out of the classroom.

"What the hell was that? Was that what happened in the bathroom earlier?" Bev asked her.

"I-I don't know!" El said in a worried tone. "I'm scared! I don't know what's happening!"

"It was really freaky," Bev started to tell her. "After you yelled at Will, you started screaming as these black lines appeared in your skin. Then the windows shattered, Will flew back, and the bookcases fell. Not to mention that your eyes were black!"

El's eyes widened and she ran away as fast as she could.