Intro note: You're not an ordinary girl, you're born with unusual abilities but nobody taught you how they work and why you have them and you don't make a show of them. You practice then secretly. You lost your parents few years ago and you live with your aunt. You never heard of Hawkins Lab and of other people like you.
Story request by Sukuna154 💕
***
You've felt overly stressed for days for no apparent reason.
You kept yourself from using your weird abilities for a while, for not worrying your aunt, but you suspected that was why you didn't feel well.
At night you go to sleep and hope to find some peace there.
Instead you find yourself in a dark place, walking on a wet floor.
You look around and see only darkness. No noises to alarm you.
It feels like a boring place, good maybe for meditation, but you want your mind to rest.
You roam around, trying to find a way out of that dark void.
"Wait".
You freeze at the unexpected sound.
A stranger male voice spoke softly somewhere around you.
But you look around and you can't see the source of that voice.
"What?" you ask nervously, scanning your surrounding and preparing yourself to an eventual attack.
"You're in danger, Y/N Y/L/N".
You hear that voice again close to your back. You turn, but only see shadows.
"How... how do you know my name?" you ask aloud, trying to hide how that situation was upsetting you.
"You don't know me. But I know something about you. I know that they are coming for you".
You shiver at the warning tone in his voice.
"Who's they?".
"Evil people who know what you are".
Okay, this is going to be a nightmare, you tell to yourself.
"And what am I?" it sounds almost silly to ask, but you are impatient to get an answer, maybe a right answer, to justify the unusual things you can do and that nobody has ever been able to explain properly.
"You have abilities" the voice says "Abilities that nobody else has. You were born special, Y/N. Just like me".
You breathe more deeply. Abilities. Born special. That feels accurate. He proves that indeed he knows.
"And who are you? Why I can't see you?".
"I'm like you. Just, the evil people caught me and now I'm trapped. I don't want you to be caged too. I don't want you to lose your powers. That's why I struggle to be here. I've been trying to find you in the past days, I felt too weak to succeed, but now here we are. Now you hear me".
You feel petrified. His tone feels too serious for him to be kidding.
Past days? Was it why you felt unwell, stressed?
You turn around and you bet that with the corner of your eyes you caught the shadow of a tall man.
It makes you more uneasy to be in that weird place, alone with a stranger.
"I'm sorry to hear. About what happened to you" you say with uncertainty "Do you have a name? How can I call you?".
The voice doesn't reply for a long moment. You think he is gone, when suddenly he answers softly.
"You can call me Henry".
Henry. You repeat to yourself to memorize it.
With a name the shadow feels less scary now.
"You need to leave your home, Y/N" he says with urgency "They are coming within few days, maybe even tomorrow. And nobody can protect you from them".
"The police?" you suggest.
"Not even the police can stop them" he kills your hope with no mercy "Pack your things and get away from where you are now".
The idea is so insane that you can't accept it.
"Where would I go? You don't understand. I can't afford to move. I can't afford to travel and sleep in hotels. I barely saved some money to keep studying...".
"How much is your life worth to you?" he interrupts you sharply.
You gape, suddenly speechless.
"Your destiny will be worse than death. They will kill your aunt if she tries to defend you. But you, you will be exploit for your abilities. They will try to tame you, break you if you resist. They will make other people have your powers".
It is definitely a nightmare. The idea gives you a faint hope.
Because it was just so insane.
"Trust me, Y/N" he says more softly and you can swear you feel a caress on your face. You shiver but can't see where the touch came from.
"I really want to help you" the voice says softly.
"Why?" you ask. You learned that rarely people are so generous to help others, unless they can get something in return.
"Because I hope that someday you can return the favour. That you will learn to master your abilities enough to help me out of here".
Okay, that didn't sound so nice to hear, but you appreciate his honesty.
He helps you and you will help him. Seems a fair deal.
"Let's keep in touch at night. Find me here before falling asleep. I will help you to stay away from their reach. Just dont don't let them catch you. No matter the cost".
You open your eyes and see the dark ceiling of your room.
That dream still feels so real. You can still remember the full conversation.
Usually you forget your dream when you wake up, they fade away quickly.
But that dream is still vividly there.
Maybe because it gave voice to your inner fears.
You replay the conversation again, then try to forget about it and fall asleep.
On the next day you avoid going to school blaming it on your headache.
You persuade your aunt to accompany you for a walk in the open air, but you roam near your house, spying it to make sure that the warning in your dream was pointless.
You are tempt to share your fears with your aunt, but you know how worried she would turn, so you wait for some real proof before telling her anything.
You have your bag with you, with your few savings and the few indispensable to survive away from your house.
You are about to give up and tell your aunt that you want to go back home, when you spot some black cars stopping by your road.
You stop and grab your aunt's arm as she follows your stare and halts by your side.
Some elegant men with sunglasses step out and walk to your door, ringing the bell.
"They are looking for me" you murmur, sweating cold and realizing that the nightmare is becoming reality.
Your aunt grabs your hand and pull you away from there, before anyone could spot you.
"You need to leave" she says with a familiar urgency "They can't have you".
"You don't come with me? Where do I go?" you ask shivering. Why your life can't be normal?
"I don't trust the police. If we travel together, we will attract more attention" she leads you to the bus station "I'll stay around, see what happens. Once the way is clear, I'll let you know and you can come back".
It doesn't sound as a good plan, but you are too shocked to think clearly.
She pushes you on a leaving bus and pays your ticket, then you watch as your life flies away behind you and you are forced to face the unknown.
You find yourself in a far town and go to find an old friend of your family, an old, lonely woman who welcomes you happily as her guest.
You are too frightened, but at night you try to fall asleep.
It takes a while to find that dark void, but once you succeed you find Henry waiting for you. And you impatiently tell him everything about what happened to you.
I told you so, you expect him to say, but he never says it aloud and tries to comfort you, having faith in your skills.
You realize that you can finally see him, at first he seems like a ghost, then he looks more real, although he looks like an angel in his white clothes.
He says that it's because you're getting used to that place in your mind.
On the next day he insists that you have to move again.
"They won't stop searching for you. They will involve the police, use cameras and even using public means of transport will be too dangerous. You are alone" he says mercilessly.
You don't want to accept it. That's not life.
"I don't want to run forever" you complain, hating how he seems unmoved by the tears that are pooling in your desperate eyes.
"You don't have a choice. If you want to own your freedom".
You glare at him, he didn't look like a prisoner as he claims he is.
He wears clean clothes and looks healthy. And he's asking you to travel the world like a penniless, homeless girl?
"What if you're the leader of the evil people that are hunting me?" you tease staring intently at his reaction "I don't know anything of you. You ask me to trust you. But you're telling me that now my life is being a homeless criminal, that I can't contact my aunt anymore. You know what? I'm sick of it!".
"You're a fool" he spits "You don't know what you risk if you don't do as I say".
"You are the fool if you think that I can trust you!" you raise your hand and try to hit him, expecting to slap thin air, but his arm snaps and his hand catches your wrist before you can hit his face.
The iron grip kills the voice in your throat.
The physical pain proves you that he isn't just a vision, that he's there with you. That he can hurt you.
"You said this isn't real" you whisper when you manage to push your voice out.
He doesn't let your wrist go, like to remind you the gesture you meant to do.
"I said this place is in our minds. Are our minds not real?" he says sternly "You can create a better mindscape if this one is boring you. I can't help with it because the only place I'm familiar with is the place I want to save you from".
"I don't know how to do that" you say helplessly.
He lowers your arm, but doesn't let you go. His thumb presses on your pulse and he can easily read your emotions, how that touch upsets you.
"It's alright. All you need to focus on now is to run. Find a place where nobody knows you. I'll try to find where the evil men are searching for you and update you. Take care of you, okay? And come back here".
You wake up feeling his piercing blue eyes still on you, although you're all alone in the guest room.
You massage your wrist, feeling his strong fingers still wrapped around it.
You can't think of how to plan your next moves because you're distracted by his look and his attitude.
You are grateful if he can't read your thoughts, but you're not even so sure about it.
On the next day you're in the road again.
You can't feel safe if any stranger you see can potentially take advantage of a lonely girl like you. But you remember your abilities. They can protect you. But they can also attract the hunters to you.
Each night Henry updates you and tell you what to do next. You start to depend on his opinion, his teaching, his presence. He is the only person in the world that is supporting and helping you.
Until one night you don't find hin waiting for you.
You think he's just late, so you wait in the dark void, impatient to feel his presence fill the void in your heart too.
But that night he doesn't come.
You start to suspect that he abandoned you, or maybe he errands that kept him busy for the whole night.
You know nothing of Henry. His life could the better than how he depicts it. Maybe he's less lonely than you.
On the next night you are disappointed again, but the world crushes on you.
You paid a room in a cheap hotel for the night and you are not prepared when the evil men find you early in the morning.
Henry isn't there to tell you what to do against them.
And you're so tired and sleepy for the few hours of rest you got in the last nights.
You are forced to use your powers for not letting them catch you.
They have scary weapons you've never seen before and it's just your instinct of survival that helps you to fight them back with all your being until you grab your bag and jump from the window to land badly on the grass at the back of the hotel.
Aching and panicking, you run into the near woods and don't stop until you are out of breath and you don't feel sounds chasing you.
You let your tears run and cry, hating to be so alone.
When you feel a little better, you start walking again, impatient to find a safe place and take some rest, although you fear going back to the black void just to be alone there too.
You find an empty hunting hut and hide there.
Your stomach complains for the few wild berries you've eaten and that weren't enough to feel fed, but you focus on falling asleep.
That night Henry was back.
But he didn't look healthy anymore.
You walk to him and grab his shoulders when his stammering suggests you that he can collapse at any moment.
"Henry! What happened to you? I've been attacked today! I don't know how I escaped, I fear they can find me again" you say quickly.
"They started to suspect me" he says and a dark shadow crushes your heart. Fear makes you tremble.
"They punished me until they tracked you. I'm still too weak, but I needed to see you. I'm glad you escaped".
"They will get me" you say, slapped by that sudden realisation.
He grabs your face into his palms "I'm sorry, Y/N. We need to change our plans. You have to come in the last place they expect you to come".
"Where?" you think of your home, your aunt... what happened to your aunt in the meanwhile? She's the only family you have...
Instead...
"Come to Hawkins" he says, with a new light in his tired eyes.
A/N
Sunday 11th September 2022
A weird plan to ask "Come to meet me in person" 😂
But who would regret to meet Henry? Unless he decides to absorb your powers and mind.. 👀
Requests are still open, I'm starting to love the challenge of creating something from little details 💕