Trauma - Hopper Fan fiction

11. Mom and Dad

It was 1 A.M, approximately 13 hours after the accident, and about 8 hours after Hopper's shift would've ended, yet he still wasn't home.

El and Jamie were still awake. Jamie watched tv after being unable to find her phone that her dad confiscated while El paced back and forth watching the clock.

"Late", El said finally stopping on the side of the couch where Jamie sat.

"What?", Jamie replied without breaking eye contact from the tv.

"Dad's late. I think something is wrong."

Jamie looked over at El and saw the level of concern on her face. She turned on her side to give her sister her full attention as she looked at the clock.

"Let's call him", Jamie finally responded with a little worry to her voice.

Jamie and El went over to the phone that still hung on the wall and dialed their dad's number. As both girls held their ear to the phone, they both sighed as his phone went straight to voicemail.

"Should we leave a message?", El asked.

"No... he might think we're worrying too much or that we've burned the house down. Let's just try one more time, maybe he was trying to call us at the same time?"

As El redialed the number, Hopper's phone went to voicemail again. El hung the phone back on the wall and thought for a moment. She reached for a sticky note on the table nearby and started dialing someone's number.

"Who are you calling?", Jamie questioned.

"Joyce"

As Joyce's phone rang on her nightstand, she mentally cursed as she thought about letting it go voicemail. On the final ring, Joyce answered in a raspy voice and sat up in bed.

"Hop, a demo-whatever better be knocking on your front door becau-"

"It's me", El said quietly as she wondered why Joyce would want a demodog to be knocking on the cabin's door.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Hey, honey. Is everything okay? It's late", Joyce said as she instantly changed her tone and used her soft, mother's voice.

El looked at Jamie and Jamie took the phone to explain.

"Hi, umm it's Jamie. Dad hasn't been back for a while. He left about noon saying he would be back later, but he hasn't called or anything. We aren't allowed to leave and ... we're hungry."

Joyce was now wide awake as she got out of bed and scurried around the room looking for her pants.

"Have you tried calling him. Did he say where he was going?" Joyce tried not to sound as panicked as she was. She knew Hopper would sometimes leave El alone in the cabin, but he would atleast give an estimate as to when he would be back or send a signal. It's also unlike him to leave El alone without enough to eat.

"Yes we've tried but his phone went straight to voicemail", Jamie responded now sounding hopeless.

"Okay, you girls stay put. I'll be over there in a second. Let me figure out what's going on, okay."

"Okay, bye."

Jamie hung up the phone and looked at El.
"Said she's on her way, she'll be here in a little bit."

El nodded her head but was still afraid of what could've happened to their father. Jamie noticed El was still worrying and dropped her shoulders.

"Hey, I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe he's working late? Let's watch some tv until Joyce comes okay?", Jamie said as she pulled El's arm and sat on the couch.