Her body went numb, like she was floating around in space and nothing was holding her down.
Her heart sank as she stared across the mall parking lot to Joyce who was hugging her son.
El immediately knew the moment their eyes met that Hopper wasn't coming back. He was gone. Her only chance at normalcy had been taken away from her.
Gone.
In an instant.
She couldn't move.
Her entire body felt cemented to the pavement, completely helpless knowing that her father was never coming back to her.
Her eyes began to water, and she felt herself getting choked up. Tears now blurred her vision of the bright helicopter lights and the soldiers heading in every direction, running frantically like the thoughts which clouded her mind.
Mike watched El from the ambulance where he was was wrapped up in a safety blanket. He saw her standing frozen in the middle of the lot unable to see her face, as soldiers tried to cut around her.
Worried, Mike unraveled himself from his blanket and hurriedly walked toward El. When he finally caught glimpse of her expression, noticing the tears which streamed slowly down her face.
"El, are you okay? El?" Mike asked, concern now spreading across his face and in his tone of voice
"Hopper, he's- ." El said. Devastation took over her expression for a moment.
"He's dead." She said, and she began to sob. Mike's heart sank immediately, his own eyes now filling with tears. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling.
She could barely feel herself fall into his arms.
Her loud sobs muffled against his chest as he held her, both of them cemented in the pavement together.
"I'm sorry, El. I'm so sorry." Mike said in a gentle whisper, gently stroking the back of her head, trying his best to calm her down.
He didn't really know how else to console her.
Her sobs eventually turned into screams and for her the reality began to sink even deeper.
Not only had she lost her chance at a normal life, but she lost her father, someone she could look up to, admire, talk to in times of trouble. She lost a best friend. One she was able to watch westerns with and eat Eggo extravaganzas with for breakfast. All of their memories, and shared times together floated around in her mind for a while, and the sting of loss and grief struck her like a meteor. It came crashing down upon her and there was nothing she could do but scream.
She clutched Mike's shoulders, just barely able to balance on two feet as she continued to scream in agony.
"He's dead! He's dead and it's my fault! It's my fault, Mike!" She screamed into his chest.
"El, please, don't say that." Mike said, tears of his own now beginning to stream down his cheeks.
"I.. couldn't... save... him!" She yelled between sobs.
"El, stop." Mike said quietly, his voice tired from hearing her cry. She tried to silence her sobs in an effort to hear what Mike was about to say.
"None of this is your fault. You haven't been blamed for anything. No one is accusing you of anything. Please, El." Mike said, still clutching her into his chest, hot tears now streaming down his face.
El's screams quieted down, and she was able to lift her face from Mike's chest.
Through blurry, tear covered eyes, she was able to see the concern drawn all over Mike's face. His eyes were reddened and puffy, presumably from crying as well. He wiped her tears away with his thin fingers, brushing away the stray hairs which stuck to her face.
There was nothing else he could say. He couldn't find the words, but El was somehow okay with that.
In that moment, all they needed was each other.
To feel each other's warmth, each other's light. It was the only way they would be able to see amidst the darkness of this moment.
Mike was really all that El needed, no matter what.
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Hello y'all! I'm excited to go on this Wattpad journey! I had been debating creating one for a while, and I decided to cave 😅
I wrote this one a while ago. It's pretty short and pretty angsty, but this is how I interpret what happened after El found out that Hopper was "dead."
Hope y'all enjoy 😉
