Neighbors - Strangerthingsau

Chapter 23

The Upsetting Truth

"And the party knows, now so do you." El finished her retelling.

"I-I don't understand." Jonathan said quickly glancing at his mom worriedly. "How does he know you are here?"

"We all been asking that since we found out." Hopper spoke calmly.

"That was the reason I went to my Aunt's house so suddenly. It was to get out of town for a little bit." El said looking down at her hands that were placed on the table.

Joyce looked over at El and saw that her hands were trembling, probably out of fear. She sighed and reached over across the table to grab El's hand. The jester made El meet her eyes. All she could do was slightly smile at El hoping it would calm her nerves. And it did, just a little bit.

"We won't let him get you. Not again." Joyce said sounding confident. "We won't let him take you away from your family again."

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner, we would've helped." Jonathan said sounding a little hurt.

"Ask Hopper." El said making all eyes turn to him.

"We didn't want you guys to be in danger too." He said looking at his family. "I thought that in a few days, after not seeing El in town, they would think that she left, and pack up and go look someplace else. Obviously, that's not the case."

"So what do we do?" Joyce asked hurriedly, you could tell everything was starting to sink in at once. The fact that everyone you love is in danger and it's because of your stepdaughter's captor, can be really worrisome.

"We keep her in the house, while I figure out what to do about Brenner."

El sighed and looked at the clock. 3:40. The party should be at Mike's house right now. She really wanted an hour at least, to just get out of the house and go see her friends. She zoned out of the conversation just letting her mind wonder. What were her friends talking about right now? What was going on at school?

Before she knew it, she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder. She looked up on saw Joyce standing over her, giving her a small but sweet smile. El gave her the same smile back as a thank you for being helpful with this.

El looked over at Hopper who was rubbing his face with his hands. "Hop." She spoke quietly.

"What?" He sighed. She could tell he was stressed.

"Can I... can I go over to Mike's and hang out with the party?"

"You know the rules." Hopper stated crossing his arms.

"I know but-"

"Yes!" Hopper said cutting her off. "So you know my answer."

"Please!" El begged. "It's just next door! No one will see me! I'll be careful!"

Hopper sighed. "Fine! But, if anyone sees you, anyone other than your friends, you tell me immediately. Understand?"

El's eyes light up as she smiled brightly. "I understand." She hugged him and quickly left the house for the first time in a week.