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TWENTY FOUR!
el's journey outside
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

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The morning after Halloween was still as awkward as ever between the family of three.

Eleven was still not on speaking terms with Hopper and barely spoke a single word to Wendy. She had practically refused to indulge in the candy brought back and barely touched the bowl of spaghetti that Wendy had brought to her to eat. She had resorted to barricading herself inside of her bedroom, enclosing herself into a safe little bubble that would easily allow her to ignore the outside world.

Hopper was frustrated as he couldn't break through the younger girl's walls as she was acting stubborn towards the situation, in his opinion.

And Wendy Harrington was stuck in the middle of their petty fight, trying to soothe both sides before they exploded.

It was almost nine in the morning and Eleven had yet to drag herself out of bed for breakfast. Hopper sighed in disappointment at the lack of her presence as he got dressed in his chief uniform. He was hoping that the younger girl would of cooled off due to a good night's sleep.

But his hopes were instantly crushed, when Wendy had announced Eleven's lack of disinterest in leaving her room.

He didn't know how long this awkward situation would last as he had never had to deal with the unexplainable moodiness of a preteen girl.

Luckily for him, the other preteen girl in his care, was trying to her best to step up and calm the situation. Wendy stood in the kitchen, watching her Eggo waffles cook in the toaster.

The girl had come up with the brilliant idea of making a peace bond for the two, in the form of Eggo waffles as food often brings people together, even in tense situations. She spent a whole half an hour, piecing together her masterpiece, that she named the 'Eggo extravaganza.'

Her master plan was three Eggo waffles, cooked to golden perfection, stacked on top of each other in a tower with each layer slathered in a thick coating of fluffy whipped cream that she had found in the fridge. For finishing toppings, she had added a layer of crushed up Reece's pieces and some miscellaneous chocolate bar to the waffle tower to complete the meal.

It was definitely too many calories and sugary for one person but was the perfect remedy to this awkward situation.

"Breakfast is served!" Wendy announced happily, placing her sugar loaded creation on the table.

"What is that?" Hopper questioned in confusion, his eyes widening at the sight.

"This is the key to you and El talking again. She will not be able to resist my Eggo waffle creation." Wendy explained happily. "Plus, I purposely only made two, so that you'll have to share one."

"That's kind of......a smart idea, kid." Hopper complimented, kind of intrigued by her plan.

"Yes." Wendy nodded. "Now, go talk to her and if that doesn't work then offer her to eat the triple decker Eggo extravaganza." The girl instructed.

"Alright, alright." Hopper sighed in annoyance before walking over to the closed bedroom door.

He knocked on the wooden surface but received no answer in return. He resorted to gently opening the door to check on the girl.

As soon as the door opened, Eleven had pulled her comforter up higher on her body to avoid eye contact. She was still clearly annoyed with the older male.

"So, that's it, huh? You're still not talking?" Hopper questioned to the disinterested girl, who just rolled over, so her back was now facing the door.

"Alright, I guess I'm just gonna have to enjoy this triple decker Eggo extravaganza on my own with Wendy." Hopper suggested dramatically, hoping that would get the girl to get out of bed.

Wendy's idea ended up working like a charm. As soon as Hopper had left the room, Eleven jumped out of bed in pure excitement.

Just the thought of being able to eat the delicious breakfast dessert, was enough to get the girl to break out of her isolated shell and join the rest of her family at the table. The girl pulled herself out of bed and dragged herself all the way over to table, where Wendy and Hopper had already sat down.

Her eyes practically popped out of her head upon spotting the beautiful breakfast dessert on the table. She sat down in anticipation, closely watching Hopper cut the waffle stack in half for them to share. She picked up the fork and began to happily dig into the treat, once the older male had finished cutting the stack.

"Good, right?" Hopper asked, happily cleaning the whipped cream off of the butter knife. "Know the great thing about it? It's only 8000 calories." Hopper exclaimed sarcastically.

"That's good." Wendy nodded.

"You visited him again last night?" Hopper asked suddenly, glancing over at Eleven.

He quickly realized that the girl had confiscated the television set by dragging it into her room, just so she could use the device to contact someone else that wasn't him or Wendy.

It was always Mike Wheeler, as she constantly contacted him.

"He says he needs me." Eleven answered.

"Want me to go check on him?" Hopper suggested but received no answer from the girl. "I know that you miss him, alright? But it's too dangerous. You're the last thing he needs right now."

Eleven just silently sulked in response, in between bites and Wendy sat silently in the middle of the two, silently stuffing her face with her personal Eggo stack.

"You're gonna see him soon and not just in that head of yours. You're gonna see him in real life." Hopper assured. "Same with Wendy and her family."

"I'll see my dad soon?" Wendy asked excitedly.

She tried her best not to get her hopes up but she still couldn't feel a burst of excitement when Hopper had announced a nearby reunion.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm making progress with these people." Hopper confirmed happily.

"Friends don't lie." Eleven announced suddenly, feeling a rush of anger bubbling up inside of her.

"What?" Hopper questioned in confusion.

"You say soon on day 21. You say soon on day 205. You now say soon on day 326?" Eleven protested.

"What is this? You're counting the days now like you're some kind of prisoner." Hopper questioned in disbelief and confusion.

"When is soon?" Eleven pondered in frustration.

"Soon is when.....it's not dangerous anymore." Hopper asserted, unsure himself.

"When?" Eleven demanded.

"I don't know." Hopper shrugged.

"On day 500?"

"I don't know." Hopper answered, his tone becoming sharper as he was losing his patience.

"On day 600?"

"I don't know." The man was frustrated at this point as the younger girl would not back down.

"On day 700? On day 800?" Eleven desperately questioned in annoyance. "I need to see him. Tell me!" She demanded in frustration.

But this also accidentally enabled her to use her powers. She had gotten so frustrated with the situation that she had used her powers to throw the plate of Eggos off of the table and onto Hopper.

"Oh, shit! Shit!" Hopper snapped in disbelief, jumping out of his chair. The entire bottom of his shirt was now stained with whipped cream.

"Friends don't lie!" Eleven exclaimed, harshly standing up from her seat.

She sent one more look of frustration towards Hopper before stomping away to retreat back into her bedroom. She roughly slammed the door shut, causing the frame to shake.

Hopper sighed in annoyance, picking up a napkin from the table to clean up the mess on his shirt. "You seem to be taking this situation better than her." He stared at the other preteen girl.

"I'm annoyed too, of course but I understand that the situation is serious, so I'm willing to swallow my own frustration if it means I'm safe." Wendy explained to the older male.

"And that's the kind of attitude I like." Hopper sighed, somewhat content that at least one of the preteens is acting reasonable.

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The rest of the morning was awkwardly silent after Hopper had left the cabin from work.

The cabin wasn't usually silent. It was usually filled with laughter or banter from the two girls, who often confided with each other or even the television as that was constantly turned on to help fill the long days.

But not today, there was no banter or laughter or even some cheesy sitcom playing on the screen.

It was just pure awkward silence that Wendy Harrington couldn't stand. The girl just sat by herself in the main living space, completing a puzzle by herself as Eleven had still refused to leave the comfort of her bed.

There was a part of Wendy that so desperately hoped that the other girl would finally open the closed bedroom door and reveal herself again but there was nothing.

It felt like time had officially stopped as soon as the clicking sound of the door knob filled the air. Even with a lack of hearing, Wendy could still pick up the sound and quickly understood that it was her bedroom door's knob.

That means Eleven was finally freeing herself from her isolation and that's what exactly happened.

Wendy had met Eleven's eyes as soon as the wooden door had opened. The girl awkwardly stood in the door frame, dressed in a set of clean clothes. She had the intent of going out into the outside world but Wendy didn't know that.

"Hi." Eleven awkwardly greeted.

"El, hey! Come sit down." Wendy invited.

"No." Eleven shook her head.

"No? Why not? Are you mad at me?" Wendy pondered in confusion.

"No, I'm not mad." Eleven assured. "I just don't want to sit down. I'm going outside."

"What?" Wendy jumped up in shock at the girl's announced. "You know the rules? What if Hopper finds out or worse, someone from the lab?!"

"It won't happen, I promise. No one will see me." Eleven tried her best to assure but her tone was so monotone that Wendy found no comfort in it.

"You're going to see Mike, right?" Wendy pondered.

That was the only probable reason on why Eleven would actually want to leave the cabin and enter the outside world.

"Yes." Eleven nodded. "He needs me."

"I understand but it's dangerous. Let me come with you, at least." Wendy offered, trying to compromise.

She knew she couldn't change the girl's mind but this was the best solution she could come up with that wouldn't anger her.

"No, I need to see him alone." Eleven ordered.

"If you don't want me to come with you then you have to promise me that you'll be home before five, alright?" Wendy begged, hoping that would get her point across.

She knew Hopper got home late in the evening, so she knew it was better to just ask the girl to get home at a certain time instead. It was her only way of getting through Eleven's thick skull.

"I promise. I'll be home before five." Eleven confirmed with a nod.

"Alright then I'll let you go outside by yourself." Wendy sighed in confirmation.

"I'll be safe, don't worry." Eleven assured.

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Wendy was starting to get a paranoia type of nervous when she noticed the sun had began to set.

Glancing down at her watch, she realized that it was way past five pm, the curfew she had set for the girl. It was already a struggle to get Eleven to promise to be home by a certain time but that asking clearly didn't stick enough as it was already past the designated time.

Wendy was worried beyond belief. She began to beat herself up over letting the girl go out on her own. Did someone see her? Did the lab take her? Is she lost in the woods again? There was so many different scenarios that could of occurred to the young girl that was definitely not well equipped with dealing with the outside world.

Wendy dreaded the moment that Hopper would finally arrive home from his long and tiresome shift from the police station. She knew that the man would immediately explode on the spot as soon as he recognized Eleven's missing figure. She knew the cabin would become more of a battleground then it was before.

Halloween night was terrible but tonight, the girl was about to be carefully stepping over the land mines laid down by each side. She could no longer handle being stuck in the middle of their petty fights.

How was she supposed to handle another outburst between the two?

As soon as the infamous pattern of knocks sounded on the door, Wendy's heart officially stopped. Hopper was already home from work and Eleven had yet to return.

The girl sucked in a deep breath to calm her panicked nerves before quickly getting up from her spot on the couch and waltzing over to the door. Her hands were shaking so much that it was difficult for her to even grasp the door knob properly without her fingers slipping off. She grasped the brass knob, carefully turning it to the right to allow the door to unlock.

She stepped a foot away from the door to allow Hopper to enter the cabin. "Where's Eleven?" He questioned immediately. 

He had already heard from another officer about the stunt that the girl had pulled.

"I.......I don't know?" Wendy stuttered worryingly, feeling her own throat close up in a panic.

"You don't know?" Hopper asked, his tone getting shaper due to the anger that was building inside of him.

He had terrible anger issues, so the slightest thing could set him off but something like this, would make him explode.

"No! I don't know! She must of slipped out when I was in the bathroom! I don't know and I'm sorry!" Wendy exclaimed, lying through her teeth.

"I'm going to look for her, stay here." Hopper demanded in annoyance.

Wendy just nodded in agreement as she watched the older male stomp out of the annoyance, fuming with anger.

"Friends don't lie? Isn't that your bullshit saying?" Hopper pondered in annoyance as the two frustrated family members made their way into the house.

Wendy practically jumped in the process, all worry leaving her being at seeing Eleven alive and well.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't walk away from me!" Hopper called, watching the younger girl stomp over to her bedroom in annoyance.

It was definitely surprising to see that she actually did indeed stop herself from going into her room and turn towards the male.

"Where'd you go on your little field trip, huh? Where?" Hopper questioned in frustration. "Did you go see Mike?" His patience was being tested.

"He didn't see me." El assured.

"Yeah, well, that mother and her daughter did and they called the cops." Hopper announced in a now panicked tone. "Now, did anyone else see you? Anyone at all." He ordered but was met with complete silence again.

"Come on, I need you to think!" Hopper demanded.

"Nobody saw me!" Eleven confirmed.

"You put us in danger. You realize that, right?" Hopper pointed out.

"You promised......I go! And I never leave! Nothing ever happens!" Eleven vented in frustration.

"Yeah, nothing happens and you stay safe!" Hopper reminded angrily.

"You lie!" Eleven debated.

"I don't lie! I protect and I feed and I teach! And all I ask of you is that you follow three simple rules." Hopper explained. "Three rules and you know what?! You can't even do that!" His voice was practically booming from the amount of anger he was currently dealing with.

"You're grounded! You know what that means? It's means.....no Eggos."

Hopper walked over to the fridge, harshly ripping the door opened to empty the ice box out. He grabbed the three boxes of Eggo waffles that sat in the freezer and threw them onto the floor to throw out afterwards.

"And no TV for a week." Hopper exclaimed, walking over to the television stand in order to move the device somewhere else.

The man was quickly stopped as Eleven had decided to use her mind powers to keep the television from being moved. "Alright, knock it off. Let go." He demanded.

"Okay, two weeks." Eleven had yet to disconnect from her telekinesis powers. She continued to harshly hold her own ground.

"Let go!" Hopper demanded, getting annoyed and frustrated by the situation. "A month!"

"No!" Eleven shook her head.

"Well, congratulations. You just graduated from no TV for a month to no TV at all!" Hopper announced, harshly ripping the electronic cables out of the television set. The delicate cords snapped immediately upon contact.

"No!" Eleven screeched, quickly running over to the television to try and fix the problem. "No! No! No!" The girl was desperate to have her source of entertainment.

Even Wendy was saddened by the fact that she could no longer watch anything. She wasn't even the one in trouble but yet she lost her privileges as well.

"You have got to understand that there are consequences to your actions." Hopper reminded.

"You are like papa!" Eleven argued.

"Really? I'm like that psychotic son of a bitch?" Hopper pondered, finding some sort of amusement in her comment. "Wow! Alright, you wanna go back in the lab? One phone call and I'll make it happen." The older male threatened, which caused him to receive a look of disgust from Wendy.

"Woah, that's a little too far, Hopper." Wendy admitted in disbelief but was ignored.

"I hate you." Eleven exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah, well, I'm not so crazy about you either." Hopper sighed in annoyance. "You know why? Cause you're a brat." He was met with a look of frustration from both younger girls.

"That's a little harsh to say." Wendy pointed out.

"You know what that word means? How about that be your word for the day? Huh? Brat." Hopper announced, picking up a dictionary to flip through the pages until he found the word.

"Why don't we look it up? B-R-A-T. Brat." He threw the book towards Eleven but she used her telekinesis to catch the book in mid air, causing it too float.

"El, don't." Wendy begged, knowing exactly what the other girl was thinking of doing.

Eleven clearly didn't listen to the Harrington girl as she didn't exactly the opposite. She had used her telekinesis powers to throw the book back at Hopper, hitting the older male right in the chest. He flinched upon contact.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?" Hopper demanded in disbelief and Eleven ignored the older male, turning around to run away from the situation.

Before entering her bedroom, she used her mind powers to move the couch in front of Hopper. The man tripped over the couch edge, almost stumbling as he desperately called for her. Eleven then knocked the bookshelf over in front of her bedroom door before locking herself inside.

Hopper quickly ran over to the wooden frame, fuming beyond belief and threatening to knock the door down. "Open this door! Open the damn door!" He demanded angrily, pounding on the door.

"You wanna go out into the world! You better grow up! Grow the hell up!" The older male was met with a strangled scream, indicating that Eleven was sobbing on the floor.

The girl's sudden outburst of anger had caused her to accidentally set off her powers. Her sudden power influx had caused an immense amount of pressure to be applied to the glass windows, that shattered upon contact.

Wendy Harrington covered her ears in pain, diving straight to the ground to avoid the sudden shattering of glass. She curled up into a ball in front of the couch to protect herself as every little object in the main room came flying down towards her.

She was scared about the situation as no fight had ever escalated to this sort of thing before. It was always just a screaming fest but never any physical harm. She had no idea if their family unit would ever recover after this incident.

★ 𝐎𝐃𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄 ! stranger things fanfic ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)n