Andy Hopper had enough to deal with. She hated her mom's new boyfriend, she was still grieving the death of her sister, and she hadn't seen her dad in years. The last thing she needed was to be packed up and shipped off to the small town of Hawkins...
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SECRETS BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER.
And the Hopper's shared a huge one.
They were hiding a wanted fugitive in an old log cabin deep in the woods. They had sworn an oath to Hawkins Lab that they would never talk about the situation that occurred little over a month ago and that they would definitely never tell anyone. Andy was sure that hiding the subject of that oath, was a breach of the contract. She didn't know whether she was angrier about her dad hiding the girl, or him not telling her about it.
They had argued for what felt like hours, as Eleven sat in her bedroom with her hands covering her ears, trying to block out the sound of their screaming voices.
"What happened to communicating, huh?" Andy had scoffed in her father's face, in outrage that they had been preaching the importance of healthy communication and trust when all this time he had been hiding a monumentous, dangerous secret from her.
"I didn't tell you, because I was trying to protect you." Hopper had yelled over her. Everything he did was in the best interest of his daughter and her safety, whether he went about it the right or wrong way or not. If the worst happened and the bad people found out about him hiding Eleven, then at least Andy wouldn't know and she wouldn't be dragged down with him. But that plan had now gone to shit.
Eventually, the yelling and the screaming settled down. They were both involved in it now and there was no going back. Andy came to terms with what Hopper had done. It was reckless and risky, but heartwarming. She would probably hold a grudge on him for not telling her the truth, but she understood at least.
Hearing the argument simmer to a stop, Eleven pushed the door to her bedroom open with a slow click. When Andy saw the little girl with the buzzed haircut, all resentment drained from her. She was going to give her a proper home.
And that took work.
Andy hadn't been around for the renovating and decorating of the cabin, but Hopper and Eleven had done a good job. It looked just as it did all those years ago, it made Andy's heart swell. She recognised objects she remembered from before and ones she had noticed had gone missing from the trailer, such as books and the radio that was once in the kitchen. The next day Andy moved all her own stuff in that was freshly delivered from New York. She took the third bedroom and made it her own.
One cold January morning, Hopper dragged both girls outside in the snow. They bundled up in coats and scarves but still shivered from the frost biting at their bodies. He held a circle of wire that he unraveled all around the outskirts of the cabin, attaching it to trees to keep it held up. Hopper gestured to Andy and Eleven to come crouch next to him at the final tree where a complicated-looking mouse trap was hung.
"This is called a tripwire." He said and both girls inspected it closely. "It's like an alarm." He wrapped the end of the wire around a bell at the top of the trap, teaching both girls what to do. "Anybody gets close, it's gonna make a loud noise like, uh, gunfire. Bang!"
