Harrington 3

This Means War

"I can do it," she says through whimpering sobs, "I can do it."

We all look at each other before back at her, her panting the only thing heard as she hovers her shaky hands over her leg. She grunts again as the thing begins to move.

"God!" She cries out, and there's an awful squishing noise that intensifies as she wails. Her wail turns quickly into a scream, and I step back towards the wall, watching with terror.

In a split second, the glass of the store behind me shatters, and I'm showered with shards that embed into my skin. I yelp, but my sounds of pain are lost by El's war cry as the small, slug looking animal flies from her leg and she flings it across the floor. I yank a chunk of glass from my arm as we all look to the writhing, bloody slime worm with heavy breaths.

Suddenly it's crushed by a boot. A steel-toed boot I recognize all too well. I drop my hand from where it was going to rip out more glass shards as my eyes trail up to Hopper's face. By his side are Joyce and a bearded man I don't recognize, and they all stare at us as if they've been chasing us around all day. I don't doubt they have been.

Hopper looks from El to me before beginning to walk forwards. I stand up, looking not unlike a mangled porcupine with all the glass sticking out of me. Mike and Will help Eleven up, and we meet him partway, Joyce running to her two sons and hugging them tightly. As the chief of police reaches us, I break through the crowd.

"Took you guys long enough," I say jokingly, but it's a weak attempt, "what, did you run into traffic?"

Hopper ignores me, not stopping at my feet and instead pulling me into a hug that I'm half sure is meant to shut me up. I freeze for a moment before wincing.

"Uh—while I appreciate the sentiment, you're kind of pushing shards of glass deeper into my skin," I tell him, and he pulls away with a small, almost relieved smile, as if thankful that I'm still making jokes in this situation. He places a hand on my head affectionately before turning to El. I watch him help her over to the edge of the plant display, talking to her softly as she hugs his side. For a moment, I'm struck with an intoxicating feeling of jealousy, something I feel rarely. For one moment, I remember that my dad is in jail, and I have nowhere to go, and Hopper has El now so he won't want me. For a moment I think about the fact that I'm so unbelievably screwed, and all of a sudden I want to kick something. I try to remember the moment Eleven swooped in and took Hopper from me.

But then they sit down together, and she curls up against him, and the feeling goes away. I watch as he cradles her head and talks lowly to her, and I know I never can have that. I'm damaged goods; she's shiny and new. He deserves something shiny and new, and if I can't give him the daughter he never could have, then I'm glad he found her somewhere else.

"Ow!" I say loudly, tearing my eyes from the sappy scene as Max yanks out a shard of glass from my back. She snickers before throwing it on the ground, and I give her a narrow-eyed look as we head back to where the group has gathered.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins," Mike is explaining, "to stop El. To kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did," Nancy adds, glancing at me and Max as we join on either side of Steve, "that was just one tiny piece of it."

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asks, still cradling El, who elevates her leg on Joyce's lap.

"It's big." Jonathan sighs, "Thirty feet, at least."

"Yeah," Lucas says, scratching the back of his head and nervously looking to Hopper, "It sort of destroyed your cabin."

Hopper stares at him, unblinking. I wonder briefly whether he's picturing strangling Lucas or is just deep in thought.