Mileven in Heaven

Every Breath You Quake

On March 14th, El woke up to the smell of eggos, fresh out of the toaster. She got up out of bed and followed the smell to the kitchen. Hopper was fixing her breakfast.

"Good morning!"

"*gasps* Geez! *pauses* You scared me!"

"*laughs* Sorry, Dad."

"*chuckles* That's okay. Good morning, kid."

She set their plates and cups on the table. They both sat down and talked.

"Did you sleep ok? I heard you yelling something last night."

"I was having a dream about war."

"Oh. Have you been watching too many war movies?"

"No...You know, I was in a war, kid. The Vietnam War."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What was it like?"

"Well, it was really scary, kid. I think about it all the time. *clears throat* There was a lot of loss, but none of it compared to losing Sara."

He shed a tear and El wiped it away. She put her hand on top of his.

"Well, you've got me now and I'm not going anywhere."

He held her hand and they continued to talk until it was time for him to go to work. Before leaving, Hopper turned to El and said:

"Oh, hey, kid! I almost forgot to tell you that your Aunt Becky called last night."

"Really? What did she call about?"

"I'm not sure, I was half asleep when she called, but I told her that you would call her back in the morning."

"Okay, thanks, Dad."

"Alright, kid. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

El had called her Aunt Becky almost every day since she returned home, to keep in touch and check in on Mama. She was scared that something was wrong with Mama, so she picked up the sticky note with her phone number on it and called her back.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Aunt Becky, it's Jane."

"Hey, Jane. How are you?"

"I'm good. I heard that you called last night."

"I did. *pauses* I was calling because...*sighs* Well, there's no easy way to say this, but your mom's not doing well."

"What's wrong with her?"

"I can't get her to eat or drink anything."

*cries*

"*sniffles* I-I need to see her..."

"If Jim's ok with it, then it's fine by me."

"I'll ask him."

"Ok. Take care, sweetie!"

*hangs up*

She got together a duffle bag of her clothes and toiletries. She grabbed some cash and left a note for Hopper. She hitchhiked her way up to Chicago until she could get on a bus. She sat in the very back, so she could check in on her mama without worrying about whether people would interrupt her or not. When she finally made it to Aunt Becky's house, she opened the door with her mind and yelled:

"AUNT BECKY? IT'S JANE. I'M HERE."

She ran over and said:

"Wow, that was fast! Welcome home, Jane."