Number Four

Stay Blind

"What was that for?" Bonnie stomped her feet as she came down the stairs and into the dining room.

Henry sat in his chair, the shadows lovingly stroking his face. "I think we need to have a talk."

"Yeah. We do." Bonnie pulled out her chair, but did not actually sit down. "I'm sorry if I ruined your little game... challenge... task... whatever it was, but you do not get to manhandle me like that—!"

"The truth is, Bon, you're not supposed to be here."

A chill ran down Bonnie's spine, stopping her cold. All the notes, all the signs that suggested the same came to mind— but this was not right; why was he saying it?

"Stuck in this house?" Bonnie scoffed. "I think so, yeah." She quieted, looking away for a moment. "...Where am I supposed to be?"

"Not here. Anywhere else. Far away. Not involved. But, you are here. And there are things going on that you can't know about."

"Oh, really?" Sitting down, Bonnie raised a sceptical brow. "You can't just keep me in the dark forever."

"I know. And I don't plan to." Standing up, he walked around the table, running his fingers down the length of Bonnie's hair as he crossed behind her. Pulling out the chair beside hers, he sat down. "But choose to stay blind a little longer, Bon. Trust me to lead you out safe."

"Don't open your eyes, said the Gorgon to Perseus, although all you want to do is look."

Henry swept a strand of hair back from Bonnie's face. "You'll have your mirror to look at the world soon." Softly, he picked up her hand in both of his, fingers stroking over her knuckles. "I really wish that you would wear my ring."

Bonnie retracted her hand. "I think I've made my opinion quite clear on that."

"Yes, you have." Henry wore an expression that could almost be described as sorrowful. "Bon... Just... be smart. Keep your head down."

"Aw, don't look so sad!" Bonnie exclaimed. Standing, she crossed to him and sat on on his lap, hands clinging tight to his shoulders. "I think I know how to cheer you up." Forehead pressed to his, she lightly kissed his mouth. He smiled against her lips.

***

Her head resting against his bare chest, Bonnie was listening to his breathing, the two of them tangled together beneath the sheets. Henry was playing with her hair, twirling strands around his finger.

"...I wish I had come for you in solitary." He said at last. "Shouldn't have wasted so much time with Eleven. Should have snapped that silly little girl's neck and had done with it."

Bonnie walked her fingers up his ribs. "If ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we would all have a Merry Christmas."

He laughed at that, hand behind her back pulling her closer still. "So, what was life like, after you escaped?"

"Honestly?" Bonnie pursed her lips in thought. "It was... interesting."

"Interesting." He chuckled.

"It was. Freedom is a heady drug. I could go anywhere, do anything, be anyone. Some days, it was the greatest thing in the world. And some days... I was bored out of my goddamn mind." They looked at each other across the pillows. "It's true." Bonnie insisted. "There's a trick to it, you see. It's hard to find when you've been told what to do your entire life. But once you figure it out, it can get pretty awesome."

She stretched sleepily, curling up like a cat who had got the cream.

"And what about people?" Henry asked.

Bonnie cracked open an eye. "What about people? ... I'll admit, I have difficulty connecting with people sometimes. It's hard to, when you truly know what they're feeling— hard to have a genuine conversation. I try though— I make it work."

"... Friends? Family?"

Bonnie opened both eyes to narrow them at him. "Are you fishing for the names of my other partners? Because I'll not tell you." She rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. "Family... I have some." It was offered with an uncaring shrug.

"Children?"

Bonnie snorted loudly at that. "Can you imagine me as a mother? Children are tiny bundles of untempered emotion and I would not handle that well."

He laughed loudly at that, hands on his stomach, head back against the pillows.

Bonnie smiled. "In truth, I like not being tied down. I'm free to drift, to do what I like. To act on my impulse."

"Oh dear." Henry said, voice layered with playful sarcasm. "So you mean to tell me there is no one else and I have you all to myself?" He crept towards her across the bed, lips hovering a hairs breadth above hers. "What ever are we to do?"

***

Tick, tick, tick,tick...

Bonnie sat on the end of the stairs, fingers patterning over the white lace on the hem of her black dress as she watched the clock at the end of the hall, its hand ever jumping in place.

If things here were ever going to change, something would have to be done.

Getting up, Bonnie crossed over to the grandfather clock, pulling open the door in front to watch the swinging pendulum.

Then, reaching out, she grabbed it in one hand.

Clunk. The gears ground to a noisy halt.

A/N: Hey, so it turns out all I needed to do to get through my writer's block was float on my back in my pool for a while— hang on. 😳 Right then... Well, at least my authorial powers came back.

Anyway, me watching Stranger Things— "Oh, it's really effective when Henry uses his powers to jump the clock hand back by one second. Let's have Bonnie do something to echo that."

Bonnie, sticking her hands in the clock— "Totally the same!" 😂