Unforgettable | Steve Harrington [1]

8 (INTO THE WOODS)

For the rest of the night, it was nothing but reading over what was in the folder. Jenna looked over the same files, articles, and pictures of herself, but her mind still had a hard time processing all of this at one time. Overall, it was mind-boggling.

When Jenna made an attempt to go to sleep, she felt her body go into a relaxed state. Her brain, however, was still going, where the lies she was told all her life dissolved into the truth of what she was told tonight. For some reason, Jenna tried to visualize what could've happened in the fire at Hawkins Lab, along with Dr. Brenner and her parents, to which she began to miss them, despite not remembering them at all.

Jenna couldn't remember how long it took for her to finally fall asleep, but by the time she woke up the next morning, she felt drowsy. She looked over at the alarm clock and widened her eyes when she saw what time it was: nine o'clock. Panicking, Jenna was about to scramble out of bed when she heard a soft knock at the door.

"Jenna? Are you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," she replied, raising her voice so that her mom could hear her. "You can come in."

The door opened, revealing Dorothy in her work uniform. She gave Jenna a small smile as she sat down at the edge of the bed. "How are you?"

Jenna sighed. "Tired."

"Yeah, I figured that," she responded. "Especially after last night, I'm sure you had a hard time getting any sleep."

Jenna let out a scoff. "Got that right." She paused and attempted to get out of bed once again. "Listen, I'm late for school, so I better get going."

"Actually, I called the school and told them you weren't feeling well," she explained. "I thought a day off for you was needed, so I came in last night and turned off your alarm clock." She paused, sighing. "I know what I told you last night was overwhelming, and I'm sorry that it was thrown on you like that, as well as hiding it from you for so long. I wanted to keep you safe. Hell, I still want to keep you safe. You're still my daughter, blood or not, and I'll always love you. You know that, right?"

Jenna nodded her head. "Yeah, I know, Mom." There was a tug at her heart, knowing that her mom's love for her remained the same, just as it was for Jenna, despite her trust for her mom not being in good shape.

"We can talk about it more after I get home from work, if you'd like?" Dorothy inquired, raising her eyebrows in a hopeful way.

"Sure," Jenna said, with so many questions from last night already coming back to her.

She leaned over and gave Jenna a kiss on the head, then stood up. "I'll see you tonight, then." With that, she turned around and left the bedroom, leaving Jenna alone once again.

When she heard the front door close, Jenna got out of bed and managed to drag herself downstairs, where she found a plate on the table filled with eggs, along with a piece of toast waiting for me. Before she sat down, Jenna went towards the stove to grab the kettle. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. This time, it was louder and faster. When Jenna went to open the door, she was surprised to see who was there.