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1: Home
It’s the morning after- the morning after everything, after all the tension that had been boiling under the surface reached a head, after Billy could have killed Steve and the shadow Monster could have killed Will and Eleven could have killed herself in summoning all her energy to seal off the gate. Exhaustion doesn’t even begin to cover the mood right now, the way they all feel.
Camped at the Byers home, the party- that may as well be a family, with all the emotions they’ve shared in the past 24 hours alone- are all crammed into the tiny lounge room; the same room Joyce strung lights up in, the same room that’s still covered with the web of sketches Will maniacally churned out. Joyce and Will are on one couch, Joyce protectively holding her son to her side as they snooze. She’s risked losing him so many times, now, that even while sleeping she’ll be damned if she lets him go. Hopper’s planted himself on the other couch, sleeping still with his boots on- and the kids are all grouped on the floor, resting on whatever pillows and blankets could be found in the Byers home. Will and Jonathan may have their own rooms here, but none of them- not even the adults- wanted to sleep alone after what had happened, with the images still fresh in their minds.
(The only one alone is Billy. Steve and Jonathan happily dragged his unconscious form outside, and dumped him in the mud to sleep- it’s just a shame they couldn’t find a pile of manure to rest him in. Then he would be a literal shithead, not just one in personality alone.)
The first one of them to wake is the unquestionable hero of the hour- and she wakes from a nightmare, heart racing so loudly she’s afraid it’ll wake the others up.
The past few days have brought both her worst nightmares and her gentlest dreams to life. Because she killed people, but she found her sister. She was faced with the demons that she still fears she’s responsible for letting in- but she finally saw Mike again. Everyone she loves almost died- but they didn’t. For every hideous thing that happened, it is countered with something good. It’s a confusing feeling, one that whirls around in her head.
It’s hard to believe that only yesterday, she was in the city, in a group of people with dark clothes and strange haircuts and metal pieces in their skin. And at first she thought it was where she belonged; her home. It felt good to be Jane, the member of that gang; to be with her sister and fight back. But now, surrounded by all these people… it feels better than good. She’s El, she’s their friend and she’s weird compared to them, but she’s the one who helped them and that makes it okay. She likes it.
Shifting in the makeshift pile of blankets and pillows she’s been sleeping on, El looks around the room at the people she came back for. She remembers Joyce holding her hand and guiding her; Hopper dancing to a tune on the radio as he cleaned the house for her. Dustin said she was cool, Lucas said she was awesome. Max, she doesn’t know that well- and she hated her, but then she saw the way Max and Lucas looked at each other, and it reminded her of the way Mike looks at her, and that made her like Max a bit more. And Mike; Mike is the person who believed in her right from the beginning.
Maybe her sister was family, and it stings to leave Kali behind- but she has a family here, as well. They sleep in the room surrounding her, and that makes El feel pleasantly warm inside, almost like the way she did when Hopper brought her hot chocolate for the first time (January; the sixteenth day; a very long time ago.)
“Home.” She smiles to herself, resting her head back on the pillow. That word never gets old.