Distortion [S. Harrington]

chapter 25

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"Nothing happens and you stay safe!" Hopper yelled at Eleven. It seems Lucy got back to her house at the wrong time.

"You lie. You lie!" Eleven screamed back.

"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. Three rules, and you can't even do that!"

Hopper slammed on the dresser in Eleven's room. The yelling match sounded like it had been going on for a while by the time Lucy got there.

"What is going on here?" Lucy asked, walking into El's room and being ignored by both El and Hopper.

"You're grounded," Hopper yelled, pushing past Lucy and going to the kitchen. "That means no Eggos and no TV for a week!"

He tried to lift up the TV but El was holding it down with her mind.

"Knock it off," Hopper said, attempting again. "Okay, no TV for a month!"

He tried to pick it up again but it didn't work, El was still holding it. Blood dripped from her nose and onto the floor but she didn't care. She was so stubborn.

"Great, you just graduated from no TV for a month to no TV at all," Hopper yelled, ripping the cord out of the wall, making the TV screen fade to black.

"No!" El screamed, running out of her room and towards the TV. "No, no, no."

El tried to fix it, pushing and pulling the antenna on top of it in every which way. Nothing seemed to work. Obviously she didn't understand how TVs worked or she could've just plugged it back in.

"You, you are like Papa!" El spat at Hopper, spinning around to point at him.

"I'm like that psychotic son of a bitch? Wow, all right, you wanna go back to the lab? One phone call and I can make that happen."

"I hate you."

"Well, I'm not so crazy about you, either. You know why? Because you're a brat. Do you know what that word means? How about that's your word for the day, huh? Brat. B-R-A-T."

Hopper picked up the dictionary off the table and looked up the word. As soon as he found it, he turned the book towards Eleven to show her, before throwing the book at her. The book stopped in the air and then was thrown back at Hopper's chest.

El shrieked and let out a huff of breath before storming into her room and slamming the door shut behind her. Lucy didn't know what to do. She didn't know what was going on, how this started, or how to stop it. So she just sat watching it play out from the back of the living room couch.

"Hey, open this door! Open the damn door!" Hopper shouted, banging his fist on El's bedroom door. "You wanna go out in the world? You better grow up!"

"Dad, stop! Stop it, you're acting crazy," Lucy said, standing up behind her dad. He was completely unhinged.

"I'm not acting crazy," Hopper snapped, turning around to look at Lucy with an insane look in his eye. Then he turned back to the door to yell at Eleven. "Grow up, Eleven! Grow the hell up then!"

Eleven began screaming uncontrollably. The sound grew louder and louder until all the windows in the house shattered, glass flying everywhere.

"Shit," Lucy hissed as a huge piece of glass flew across her cheek under her eye, creating a small incision as it flew by. Luckily, it just missed her eye.

"Lucy! Are you alright?" Hopper asked, going to help his daughter.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lucy said. She reached up to touch the blood that was lightly streaming from her face, but hissed and pulled her hand back when she touched the open wound.

Hopper went to go get a band aid and something to clean the wound and Eleven sobbed in her room. This was one of the worst days Lucy had had in a long time. This bad day was only a small contribution to the horrible week she would soon have.

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Lucy laid with the sheets pulled all the way up to her chin, accepting all the warmness it produced. She tried to fall asleep but then there was a small knock at the door. She sat up straight in her bed, wondering if she actually heard a knock or not. There was a slight pause before another knock sounded in the otherwise quiet room.

"Come in," Lucy whispered to the person at the door.

Hopper had put more than enough bandages on Lucy's face, and it surprised Eleven when she opened the door and saw her. El felt horrible for what she did to Lucy. She didn't mean for it to happen, but it wasn't like she could take it back.

She couldn't help but look sad when she came into the room. El was upset with herself and she thought Lucy would be furious with her, even though she wasn't.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Lucy asked, seeing Eleven in the doorway. El crawled onto the end of the bed and sat there looking at her hands in her lap. "El, what are you doing in here?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Lucy," EL said, starting to tear up.

"It's okay, El. You didn't mean it."

Lucy pushed the covers away from her and gave El a hug. They sat in the embrace for a couple minutes until Lucy broke away.

"You can stay in here if you want," Lucy suggested.

El nodded and sniffled. She pulled the sheets down on the right of Lucy and climbed in, curling up next to her. Lucy pushed back the small curls on El's forehead and gave her a kiss.

"Goodnight El."

"Goodnight Lu."