✓ | ODD , ˡᵘᶜᵃˢ ˢᶦⁿᶜˡᵃᶦʳ & ᵐᵃˣ ᵐᵃʸᶠᶦᵉˡᵈ

¹⁴ Woman in the Rocking Chair

El glanced at him before opening it, both of their eyes scanning the newspaper before them.

' INDIANA WOMAN SUES D.O.E. CLAIMS HER TWO CHILDREN WERE STOLEN.'

Seven's breath hitched, his eyes going to the bottom of the page where he saw a picture of a woman with long hair, who he thinks is 'Terry Ives'.

' TWINS, JANE AND OLIVER, TAKEN WHEN THEY WERE JUST BABIES, IVES CLAIMS.'

"Jane," Eleven whispered, putting a hand on her chest before pointing to Seven. "Oli."

Seven hid his discomfort at the name, his attention going towards a falling piece of paper from behind a page, his fingers plucking it from the folder.

Eleven saw his lost look, staring over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, her heart jumping. "Papa."

It was a picture, one of Terry Ives and a Young Dr. Brenner walking side by side.

El glanced at the T.V, the wires torn apart before her eyes went to the radio on the shelf where Ven had placed it.

Seven wanted to stop her, really he did, something in his gut saying 'don't do it' but, another side was curious, was this really his mom, what happened to her, was she really gone as Hopper said?

Eleven sat on the ground with the radio in her hands and a blindfold hanging from her neck, the girl fiddled with the knobs on the radio before setting it on the ground in front of her before lying the blindfold over her eyes.

Ven bit his lip, sitting on the floor in front of her, the static from the radio in between them, his eyes glancing at the photo of Terry and Brenner in El's hand.

The boy's eyes snapped up to El's face when she began breathing heavily, his attention going to the radio when he heard the mumbling of a woman coming from it.

"Three to the right. Four to the left. Four-fifty...Jane. Where is... Oli?"

"Mama?" Eleven whispered, Seven furrowing his brows in worry when the girl began screaming for her mama.

He scooted towards the girl, pulling her into his arms, the girl snuggling into his chest as she sobbed, Ven tugging the blindfold off her eyes gently before leaning his cheek on top of her head as he rocked them.

──

He did not like this.

He was in a permanent state of caution as he sat in between El and an unknown man in his big semi-truck.

Maybe he shouldn't have let El talk him into this.

There was an awkward silence in the air, he could feel the man's stare as he glanced the sibling's way, making Ven scowl.

Ven turned his head to look at El who was already looking at him, an amused smile was on her lips but in her eyes was an apologetic look.

'Sorry Venny.' he heard her thoughts making him smile sarcastically at her as she bit her lip to hold a giggle.

The moment was broken when the squeak of the truck's brakes ringed loudly in their ears making El wince though Ven smiled since he had his headphones on making El roll her eyes with a sarcastic smile.

"All right. I think this is it. Five-one-five Larrabee, right?" The man stated, looking at the kids in curiosity and concern.

Eleven nodded, opening the door and hopping out of the tall vehicle, Seven following after, giving the man a firm stare.

El closed the door watching the man drive off before she turned to Ven.

The boy took his headphones off and set them around his neck, his hand going into his pocket to stop the music.