"Where are we going?! What's going on?!", Jamie frantically asked as Joyce pulled her by her arm out of the back door of the police station. As Jamie climbed in the back seat of Joyce's car, her eyes searched the back window for her dad through the smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. Jamie's eyes grew wide as she saw her mom's car parked crookedly outside the front of the station.
"That's my moms car! Is my mom here?!", Jamie said in a panicked voice that concerned Joyce.
As Joyce debated on responding and as the cloud of smoke grew thinner, Jamie saw her mom and dad arguing on the side of the building. Right before Hopper slammed Diane against the wall, Jamie turned around as Joyce called her name.
"Umm, Jamie. A little help here?", Joyce said as they sat at the red light.
"But my dad said-"
"Jamie, do you want your mom to see us?"
With a bit of concentration from Jamie, the light turned green. Joyce accelerated slowly as the other cars came to a screeching halt and then sped off. Jamie assisted with all upcoming lights, planning ahead this time, until they reached the road that would lead them to the cabin.
As the two got out of the car, Hopper pulled up and jumped out.
Jamie stopped in her tracks and watched as Joyce rushed over to her dad. Joyce's attention immediately went to the dried blood and scratches on Hopper's knuckles.
"I'm alright. Don't want to talk about it", Hopper said to Joyce as he discreetly nodded towards Jamie who started walking towards the cabin.
"Some shit is about to go down, and I don't want her to be in the middle or see any of it. She's staying here from now on. I have to go back to the trailer for a bit, make it look like I'm still there to not draw any attention over here."
Jamie barely heard her fathers muffled voice as she entered cabin. Jamie noticed a couple of bikes outside of the front door, but payed no attention.
Hopper stopped in front of Joyce and placed his hands on her waist.
"Jim?", Joyce questioned. The look on her face told him that she knew something was on his mind.
"Look, I want you to know that I will NEVER hurt you. I will never ever lay a finger on you, (in you, maybe, he thought). I love you too much to do that Joyce. But I fucking lost it back there. I just fucking lost it."
Hopper started pacing and grabbing at his hair and Joyce wasn't too sure if she wanted to know what went down after they pulled off. As she diverted his hands elsewhere, screams were heard coming from inside the cabin as El ran to the front porch.
"DAD!!!"
Hopper and Joyce ran to the cabin and in the front door. A herd of kids stood in a circle around the kitchen while the lights flickered as Hopper pushed his way through to the middle while Joyce frantically tried to turn the tv down which was at a screeching volume.
Jamie sat crouched down on the floor with her eyes squeezed shut while covering her ears. Hopper looked at all of the pots and pans, broken dishes, and utensils that covered the floor surrounding Jamie.
"Jamie, what's wrong?!", Hopper frantically asked as he looked to El to see if she could explain, remembering her first tantrum that blew the windows out of the cabin.
El looked speechless as Hopper wiped the abnormal amount of blood falling from Jamie's nose.
"The void", El whispered. "It must've been her first time there", she thought to herself as she remembered waking up in the dark place before.
"Jamie! Listen, Baby", Hopper said as he removed her hands from her ears. "Tell me what's wrong. Is it your mom?"
El left Mike's side and squatted down next to Jamie and Hopper. Hopper looked at El desperately hoping she could get Jamie to say something. Anything.
El awkwardly placed her hand on Jamie's knee, attempting to comfort her like Mike does for her.
"Did you see something?", El asked quietly.
Jamie's face was wet with tears and sweat as she looked up at El and slowly nodded her head.
"What... what did you see?", El asked timidly as everyone stared at her and Jamie.
Jamie's voice started shaking as she looked at her dad. "A faceless monster."
"Where. Where did you see it?", Hopper asked now on his knees in front of Jamie. The horrified looks on the faces of everyone in the room scared her. They know something she doesn't, but she's too afraid to ask.
"I... don't know", Jamie slightly shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
"C'mon kid, I need you to think! What did it look like? Did it look like here except darker or cloudier or—"
"Dark", she whispered.
"Ok, just dark? Was it cold or—"
"Wet" , Jamie continued.
Hopper looked confused while El gasped.
"Was it quiet... eerie?", El asked as she tried to remember the meaning of eerie.
As Jamie slowly nodded her head, El whipped her head back towards the crowd.
"The void", El mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear as she pushed past the group and made her way to her room.
"It's okay, Jai", Hopper said uncertainly as he rubbed her back.
"It got me dad", Jamie said attempting to hold back her tears as she leaned into the pit of his arm.
"What?"
"The monster, it got me." Jamie started to hyperventilate as she looked around frantically as if she realized something.
"They're going to find me, dad. They're going to find me."
"Woah, woah. Jamie, calm down. No one's coming. No ones going to find you, okay?", Hopper looked confused at Joyce as to what his oldest was talking about.
Joyce saw the look on Will's face. The same look he made when he felt that tingle on the back of his neck when the mind flayer returned. Joyce noticed the looks being exchanged between Jamie and Will and immediately grabbed Will bringing him back to reality.
"Come on, let's get you home, we are not doing this shit anymore" she said as she grabbed him attempting to break his eye contact with Jamie.
Hopper gave Joyce a heartbroken, disgusted look and Joyce quickly corrected herself. "I mean, all of you, come on I'll take you all home. You guys can properly meet at another time", she said frantically as she tried to sound more concerned for the other children besides her own and rushed the kids out the door, including a worried Mike, and left Hopper to deal with Jamie alone.
Hopper wiped the sweat from Jamie's forehead as he looked around the cabin.
"El?", he called out realizing that she ran off somewhere not too long ago.
El emerged from her room with two blindfolds and her radio.
Hopper rolled his eyes and tilted his head backwards.
"Ughh, C'mon El. No. Seriously?!"
She ignored him and handed Jamie a blindfold while she scanned the radio for static. Hopper sat against the stove with his arms resting on his knees and shook his head.
"What do you plan on do-"
"Shh!", El interupted. "Quiet..."
As El and Jamie put their blindfolds on, El took Jamie's hand.
"Jamie, focus okay? I need you to concentrate on what you just saw. I want you to show me", El instructed.
Hopper listened as Jamie's breathing steadied and watched cluelessly from the outside. Jamie's breathing became slower and she thought about the headless monster.
-
Jamie suddenly opened her eyes and was back in the dark, wet place. Her breathing got faster as she frantically searched for El but found her not too far off to the side.
"It's ok", El mumbled from the kitchen floor. Hopper watched Jamie closely as her breathing calmed down again and took a deep breath. "It's ok", he told himself. "They've got each other."
El and Jamie watched as if they were two outsiders looking in on what El found out to be Jamie's first time in the void. El watched as Jamie frantically called out for their dad and ran until she fell onto her knees.
El held her breath as when Jamie looked up, she was face to face with the mind flayer. Jamie screamed and El figured that this triggered the mess in the kitchen. El gasped slightly, but it was enough to cause the mind flayer to look over and notice the two girls watching in present time.
El grabbed her sisters arm and they watched as the mind flayer screeched and attacked Jamie before the two evaporated into a cloud of particles.
-
El yanked off her blind fold as she was heaving attempting to catch her breath. Hopper snatched Jamie's blindfold off and noticed the blood dripping down both of his girls' noses. He leaned in and grabbed them both while El held him for comfort and Jamie was full blown crying.
El looked up to Hopper and a single tear fell from her eye.
"It got her, dad."
Hopper took a shaky breath as he squeezed them tighter and thought why the fuck wasn't Joyce there to help him with this shit.
"Girls", Hopper said as he pulled back and looked at them both. He sighed and wiped the tears from both of their eyes before standing up and helping them up.
"Look, I... I need to be at the trailer. It's not safe for me to be here with you guys", Hopper said as he fidgeted his fingers on the counter.
Jamie sniffled. She was upset, but she understood.
"I will have Joyce come check on you guys periodically, okay? But from now on, no more visits", he said aiming that comment towards El. "And, no one leaves"
Jamie swallowed spit before speaking.
"What if mo-"
"Your mom's not going to find you, if you listen", he interupted and glared at her.
Jamie quickly nodded her head as Hopper made his way out the front door. He turned around to his kids as his head peeked back into the cabin.
"I'll be back later, I have some business to take care of. Love you guys"
"Love you", his daughters replied simultaneously as he shut the door.
As Hopper got into the blazer, he quickly threw it in drive and listened as his phone dialed a number on speaker. When the number didn't answer, Hopper tried again once he reached the first red light.
"Hello?", a voice said on the other end.
Before Hopper could respond, he proceded through the green light when another car blindsided him and knocked him off the road. The driver of the other car slowed down and briefly made eye contact with an almost unconscious Hopper before speeding off in the opposite direction.
Hopper slowly tried to reach for his phone as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Before he could speak, his eyes grew heavy and his body went limp.