The New Girl

chapter twenty two

chapter twenty two - november, 1984

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning, Will woke himself, Alex and Mike up as he gasped heavily. Alex was wearing Mike's jumper as she was half-asleep with her hair in a messy bun. Alex and Mike looked up at Will who was sitting in his bed, facing them.

"Will," Mike said from next to Alex, "what's wrong?" Will tared at them before the three of them left his room and made their way to Joyce who was sitting in the middle of the living room, surrounded b the drawings as she tried to understand them.

"Mom?" Will asked as the three of them walked over to Joyce who was staring ahead, looking lost in thought. "Mom? Mom?" Joyce gasped as Will put his hand on her shoulder, making Joyce turn around to look at her son.

"Yeah?" she asked as Alex stood next to Mike a couple feet away.

"I saw him," Will said as Joyce looked at her son confused.

"You saw who, baby?" Joyce asked confused.

"Hopper," Will told her, "I think he's in trouble. I think he's going to die."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Alex was standing next to Mike while Will was sat at the desk, drawing where he saw Hopper, making Alex think it was an intersection of tunnels.

"Hey, is this where you saw him?" Joyce asked, approaching her son when he stopped drawing. "I-is this where you saw Hopper?"

"I think so," Will said as Alex looked up at Mike, "yeah."

"Okay," she said softly, taking the drawing and turning to the other two. "We need to find the matching image." The two teenagers nodded before they and Joyce began searching around the flat, looking for the matching image. Joyce was looking around in the living room, Mike was searching the hallway and Alex was looking around in the kitchen until she found it.

"Here!" Alex called as Mike and Joyce ran over to her. Joyce held up the picture and saw it was a match.

"Okay, so, so Hopper is here?" Joyce asked as Alex nodded.

"Yeah," she said as she turned to Joyce, "now we just need to find out where here is, right?"

"Right," Joyce said. It was easier said that done.

"Did he say anything?" Mike asked as Alex turned to him. "I mean, before he left?"

"Uh," Joyce said, trying to think, "some, something about vines?" Before Alex or Mike could answer, they heard a car approaching the flat. "Hopper." The three ran to the window and a red car pulled up, but Hopper didn't walk out. Joyce's boyfriend Bob did. Alex looked at Joyce and saw she looked a little disappointed, but she said nothing. "You two wait here," she said as she walked outside to talk to Bob while Alex and Mike waited inside.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked as Alex looked up at him.

"I hope Hopper's okay," she said, "right now he's the only option I have left of finding El. So he needs to be okay."

"We'll find him," Mike said, "then we'll find El." Alex smiled and nodded as she looked up at him. "Alex?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Um, I need to ask you something," he said as Alex smiled.

"Okay," she said smiling, "what is it?"

"Well. . . ." but before Mike could finish his sentence, Joyce walked in with Bob at her side.

"Hello," Bob said smiling at Alex, "I don't think we've met before. I'm Bob."