A/N:
I'd like to apologize in advance for the heartbreak you are all about to go through.
enjoy ;)
(also i changed the timeline a bit so Josephine is now 18 not 21)
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Three Years Ago, Hawkins Lab
Doctor Martin Brenner stood pondering by the window of his office, pursing his lips as he always does.
"Martin, she's almost grown by now. You can't expect her to be like your little experiments, to comply with everything you say without hesitation," a voice warned.
In front of him stood a short, stocky man whose suit was worn and hair was greying. He had a look of both knowledge and innocence. His eyebrows were creased with concern as he folded his arms.
"She deserves to have a normal childhood," the man continues.
"You don't know my daughter, Sam," Brenner snapped, turning away from the window. "Four years ago she tried to escape after only one year of staying. And who was responsible for that? Henry. He corrupted her, fed her mind with little lies-"
"And now he's contained. That Soteria you put in him took all his powers. You altered your own daughter's memory for goodness sake," the man now known as Dr. Owens interrupted. "She's fifteen, and has been here for five years. You aren't planning on keeping her here forever, do you?"
Brenner remained silent for a moment. His jaw tensed and his eyes remained locked on Owens'.
"Sooner or later her memories will resurface, and her powers will come back. The only reason she isn't breaking down walls right now is because that incident drained her-"
"Which is why I can't let her out," Brenner snarled. "People know that she is my daughter, and if she goes out into the world, there will be people hunting her down. To blackmail me, use her for the Soviets. There are chances that I just can't take."
Sam shook his head dismissively, letting out a sigh as he held his forehead in his palm. He knew the potential consequences. But he also knew that Brenner's daughter wouldn't last in this facility. They could not keep Henry and her apart for much longer, and they both knew it. Sooner or later Brenner will have to allow them to see each other again, whether Josephine recognizes him or not.
"This is your daughter, Martin. Unlike the little children you've 'tamed', she knows of the outside world. She knows its dangers, and she knows its freedoms. Unless you want her to edge slowly into insanity you need to grant her these, even if it's not all the way. Let her be a normal child for once. You've already gotten her a proper education here, so she might as well go to college. Get a job. Live like a human."
An eerie silence suffocated the room.
"Just promise her freedom. It's the least you could do for your daughter, after you've locked her in this hospital for years. Let her know that this shouldn't be a prison for her, and that when she is of age, she will let out. Of course, she can always come back to continue the project, just as you wish," Owens finished.
Brenner let out a small sigh and re-pursed his lips. He supposed it couldn't hurt. He would move her to work as an Orderly before she turns eighteen, and reward her with outside privilege.
"We'll see that her powers are contained," Brenner warned.
The compromise was set. Owens couldn't argue any further, unless he wanted to risk the doctor changing his mind.
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Another dream had commenced before I awoke. It was more of a memory than a dream. Unlike the memories of One, this one was quite vivid. I could remember faces, and it wasn't all a blur. It was like a real memory, one that had been left untouched by scientists. It was, what, three, four years ago? It had been before my relocation to the Rainbow Room, when I had no specific job; my main duty was to focus on my studies, which occurred privately in my own room with various teachers. Of course, most of it was about science, so that I could "follow my father's footsteps".
I had a fight with my father, asking relentless questions that were left unanswered, as usual. I had strived to live a normal life, to live outside the walls that forbade me from anything more than the smell of clean hospital gowns and chemicals from experiments. I wanted sunlight. I wanted to feel the cool wind tickling my skin or the warm morning dew on a humid day. I wanted the scent of fog after a rainy day. And I still do.
And finally, he had given me a promise.
A compromise, he called it.
"I understand it's hard for you right now, as you're growing," I vaguely recall. "And it's hard to see you struggle. I want to give you... a deal. A compromise. I let you work as an Orderly when you turn eighteen, and if you show hard work, I'll let you go to college. It might be a little later than others, but it's college."
I remember breaking into a smile, hugging him for the first time in years.
It was a memory I always kept in the back of my mind, and I'd never forgotten it.
I expected to open my eyes to blinding fluorescent lights when my sight only met darkness. I lazily turn my head to face the clock that sat beside my bed. Bright red numbers flashed at me and I groaned.
It was only 4:43 AM.
I rose slowly, making my way towards the light switch.
My hands reached out for the wall, feeling around. I felt no knob, no handle to turn, strangely enough. Normally the switch would be perpendicular to my bed, near the door. I turned my head upwards, figuring I'd have to use the hard way. I closed my eyes and raised my arm pointing to the ceiling. A wave simmered through my body, and a small vibration rang in my ears. I could see the lights flickering, even from beneath my eyelids. I let out a stronger surge and the lights came on.
I opened my eyes to see a completely different room. A smaller, more confined space with tile walls. A sink stood in one corner close to the metal bed that sat in the middle of the room. The mattress was clean but worn, with what seemed like old bloodstains on the rims. My reflection from the mirror above the sink stared back at me with terrified eyes and blood running down the nose.
I found myself running to the door and fiddling with the handle, but it wouldn't budge. I willed my hand towards it but it was no use, I couldn't focus. I spotted a familiar blinking red on the side opposite the door, where a camera pointed at me.
"What the fuck," I mutter to myself, pinching my arm to make sure it wasn't some sort of illusion or nightmare. It was real. It was all real.
"Let me out!" I scream at the camera. Hot, salty tears stung my cheeks and my throat blocked up. The cold, tile floors seemed to freeze my bare feet, and the room felt so frigid. I let out more screams, hoping that it'd get me out of this nightmare.
This couldn't be happening.
It was like I was eleven years old again.
The door clicked behind me and I turned around to meet my father. He stood with one hand on the door, his other in his pocket. He gave a cold smile before walking closer.
"You're quite the early riser, my daughter," he flashed his pearly white teeth.
"Where the fuck am I, you bastard?" I asked, although I knew very well where I was.
"I hope you don't mind the relocation, I'm afraid it'll be for a while." He turned his head behind him, and two Orderlies stepped inside.
One of which was Peter.
He stood solemnly in front of the door, his head lowered and his hands behind his back. He didn't even dare to look back at me as I whispered his name in a shaky breath.
"I'm quite impressed with your ability to work the lights," my father chimed, directing back my focus.
Shit.
"Oh don't bother fretting, even if you hadn't pulled that stunt I already know."
I froze, though I wasn't really moving in the first place.
"I must say, you've improved quite well these past few weeks, especially with the help of... a friend."
I glanced back at Peter, who still avoided my gaze. Thoughts and questions fired quietly at him, those that I hoped didn't have the answer that I expected. Had he told Brenner? How else would my father have found out? Was it all a lie, this whole time?
Anger boiled up inside, a type of rage I knew all too well. He was just like all the other Orderlies. He worked for my father, for God's sake, why have I ever trusted him in the first place?
"I'm sure you have so many questions, which we will answer in a moment. But for now, let's put your abilities to the test, shall we?" My father beamed his white smile again.
His eyes were small slits now from his wide smile, which was so obviously fake, but the shine of the light bouncing off his grey-blue irises was still eminent. The creases on his cheeks were folded even deeper than usual. My eyes flitted around, and my breathing was quick and uneasy.
"Fuck you."
"I feared that might be your response," he sighed, the smile still there, but now unfriendly. Guards appeared from behind him, striding towards me with tasers and batons. I backed away, but I knew I wouldn't be able to run away much longer.
Their rough hands grabbed me, pushing me forward. I screamed and pushed, sending one of the guards flying to the other side of the room. I felt a strike at my shoulder, paralyzing me momentarily to the floor.
"Let go of me you bastards," I cried, resisting the hands that grabbed my arms harshly.
"I hadn't planned for it to unfold this way, my child," I heard my father say amidst my screams and the guards' grunts. My ribs and shoulder were splintered with pain, sending bright waves to my head. My sight was blurred by my tears, but I could see a fuzzy image of blonde and white approach me.
"Peter," I choke out between sobs. The guards' grip on me was firm, holding me to the ground on my knees.
I could feel his warm touch at my neck, followed by a sharp needle-like pain. I winced, and for a moment I could see his piercing blue eyes. His mouth hadn't moved, but I could somehow hear his soft, low voice.
"I'm sorry, Josephine."
And then the world seemed to darken, and the voices faded.
All that was left was darkness.
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Peter's POV
"You said you wouldn't hurt her,"
Peter yelled as he pointed at Brenner, making his way toward him as he spoke. The other Orderly had set the girl strapped to the chair, looking lifeless almost. She had been changed into the hospital gown distributed to all of the children, and her hair was yet to be shaved. Every aspect of her showed no signs of life except for her pulse. Her skin was paler than usual, and her eyelids dark. Blood stained the tip of her nose and lip, which no one has bothered cleaning.
"Would you have rather tranquilized her while she was thrusting about, risking to damage her nerves?"
Brenner was watching his daughter plainly, as if expecting her to wake at any moment. He didn't pay any mind to Peter, as he was no threat as of now. He stood still with his hand on his chin and his other folded across his lower chest. His eyes were squinting while his white hair glistened under the bright lights.
"Her shoulder was nearly broken by your men, how do you expect her to participate in your little 'experiments' now, Brenner?"
"Well luckily for you, you're still assigned to the infirmary until the other nurse comes back. You'll have enough time with her then, I suppose," Brenner huffs, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "But I suppose by then she'll already despise you more than she does me."
A burning rage turned in Peter.
"So that was your plan all along? Bring me into this so your precious daughter would hate me, all so you can separate us?"
"You knew the consequences the second you agreed to train her, Ballard."
He was right. Peter knew that helping her would be dangerous for the both of them, and yet he continued to follow her request. He wanted to make her stronger so that she could protect herself, so she wouldn't need Peter like she had years ago. But even so, Peter wasn't the type to help others without thinking of himself. Something in him had changed, but he didn't know what. Was it love? Was it desire? Or was it just an impulse, something he wasn't conscious of doing?
"I won't let you shave her head or treat her like those other little lab rats you keep running around. You will treat her like your daughter," Peter ordered, eyeing Brenner with a look that, if he had his powers, would've killed Brenner instantly.
The doctor faltered, and though he tried to hide it, he was scared of Peter, even without his abilities.
"We'll see."
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Harsh, white lights penetrated through my lids as I fluttered them open. Everything was a blur. I blinked a couple times, adjusting to the light as my vision started to focus. My father stood in front of me with a stern face and his hands clasped behind his back. I look around, finding myself in an unfamiliar room with other people in white uniforms. A bright lamp was directed towards my face, stinging my eyes.
Everything felt so painful: my shoulder was nearly killing me, and I couldn't feel my legs. My ribs sent a shot of pain up my spine with every breath, making me groan.
I tried to get up, but I couldn't move. My wrists were tied to the arms of the chair I was sitting in. There were small needles plunged into my arm, with tubes that connected to another machine. I jostled and shook, trying to defy my containment.
"Let me OUT! Stop it- augh!" Pain flowed through every vein in my body, every vessel. I screamed, only making the pain even worse.
"The more you move, the more it'll hurt," a voice muttered from behind me.
Peter.
"You."
"Well, my daughter, it seems that your powers were even stronger than I first assumed," I heard my father call in front of me. I glared back at him, straining my eyes to show as much hatred as I could. "We've run some tests, and it shows that your little training has progressed you very much. I'm happy to say that I'm proud."
"You promised. You said I would get out of here, that I'd finally be normal."
"Well, plans have since changed. I can't possibly let you roam around and become a danger to society," he said sharply.
"A danger? Is that what I am to you? You've kept me locked in here for, what, eight years? And you expect me to just sit happy with it, let you control me like all of the kids you endanger every day?"
"I suppose I haven't told you much about One, have I?"
The room stiffened. I heard a small, sharp breath from behind me. Everyone seemed uncomfortable at the last name, eyes glancing around, most landing behind me. I tried to turn around, but my neck could only turn so far without sending bullets to my nerves.
"Henry," I corrected in a low voice, feeling even my throat tense up. He looked around, as if to tell the others to leave the room. Soon they filed out one by one, and I could see Peter follow from behind me. His eyes were fixated on my father, unbothered by my stare. The door closed shut, and my father's shoulders seemed to relax a centimeter before stiffening again.
"You know that he was the start of this project, don't you?"
I nodded, though it wasn't much movement through all the pain.
"But what you don't know," he paused, looking at me directly, "is how I found him."
I furrowed my brows, hanging on to every word. It was the first time he'd said any information on Henry in years.
"I found him through a phone call from an old friend friend of mine," he said in a distant voice, as if recalling a fond memory. "She was calling about her son, Henry. She'd always known something was wrong with him, something vile and terribly wrong. A week later she was killed. She and her daughter were found dead with their bodies mangled into inhuman proportions. His father was arrested after Henry was found unconscious, but you and I both know that no ordinary mundane could be capable of this. It was Henry that did this."
"No," I choked. "You're lying. You just want me to stop searching for him, you want me to believe that he's a monster-"
He tossed a folded newspaper on my lap. The cover was faded but legible, reading Hawkins Family Murder, Creel House Murders. The front showed a photograph of what looked like a happy family. A man stood beaming with an arm on his wife, a beautiful blonde woman with a smile so radiant that it melted my heart. Between them stood a pretty little girl in a bright dress, who looked too familiar. In the far right, a small boy whose face looked blurred by the poor quality of the photo, but I could tell that he wasn't smiling like the rest of the family. He looked distant and shut off.
Underneath I read, Victor Creel was found guilty for the horrifying murders of his wife, Virginia Creel, and his two children, Alice and Henry Creel. The family was found in inhuman positions, their bones twisted and broken with their eyes nowhere to be found. Henry was the lone survivor, but died days later in a coma. Victor has been sent to Pennhurst Asylum after ...
I stopped reading when my father put more photographs on my lap. If my hands weren't restrained I would've covered my mouth in horror as I stared at the ghastly images. The woman was unrecognizable if it weren't for the hair. Her eyes were blank dark holes, dried blood trails staining her cheek. Her jaw was unhinged by a force a human could never be capable of. Her arms were placed in positions that no one could naturally do.
"Still believe I'm lying? Henry was dangerous, and could not be trusted alone, and so I rid of him, for the safety of everyone in this lab, including yours. You don't really think he was your friend after what he did, do you?"
I felt the tears sting my eyes and kept silent. My father sighed and sat in the stool to my left. A tray and pen-looking machine sat on the rack between us.
"Everything I do, it's for the best of you. Of us. So please, try to understand for your old man's sake."
I avoided his eye and held back my tears. I knew what was coming next. As I predicted, I heard him pick up the electric pen and scoot closer.
"Turn your wrist for me."
I did so, wiggling my left hand through the straps so it could face upwards. There was nothing I could do now.
"It'll sting a little, so try not to move as much."
"What lucky number will I be now?" I sigh sarcastically, looking away from the bright lamp.
"Zero. Since you're older than the rest, I suppose it would be strange for you to be a higher number. I'll just tell the rest you've always been one of us, just with a different job."
I felt the gnawing feeling on my arm and grit my teeth through the buzzing sound. I shut my eyes, trying to focus on something else as tears were squeezed out, but not from pain.
"Peter, escort her to her new room please. Make sure she doesn't try to run off or do anything stupid," my father ordered.
My hands were cuffed in front of me, the metal clinging to my new 'tattoo'. I stared sharply at Peter, who still avoided my stare. He simply nodded and took me by the shoulder gently, turning me to face the opened door to the hallway. There was a slight shove, pushing me to walk forward to the open corridor. I could hear his breath from behind, and his warm hand on my shoulder stung me. After several steps and the noise of the door closing behind us, I stopped dead in my tracks before the door I was assigned to, causing Peter to stumble slightly. I turned around, forcing him to look at me.
"You said no one would know. You said I'd be safe, that I wouldn't become one of those experiments." I glare up at him as he gulps, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down subtly.
"Josephi -"
"Why did you tell him?" I cried. He shifted uncomfortably.
"I didn't tell him."
"But you helped him, didn't you? You put that needle into me, you watched as I was beat up. You watched." I uttered the last word with a heavy breath as my stomach sank. I looked up at him through tears, holding a face of betrayal. He looked away, as if holding back tears of his own.
"What am I to you? What, now that you've fucked me you can turn me in to get 'daddy points' from Brenner? Did you enjoy it while it lasted? Was it worth it, Peter?"
He still didn't meet my eye.
"Answer me. Was it worth it ?" At that point I couldn't speak any longer; I choked through my held-back sobs.
He said nothing at all, and I couldn't even hear his breath. He stood still as guilt clouded his eyes.
"Fuck you."
I opened the door with my cuffed hands and closed it shut in front of him, the newly arranged sign '000' meeting his eyes. I stormed off into the new unfamiliar room, sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't care if Peter had the key to my cuffs. I didn't want to see his stupid eyes or his stupid hair. I sat against the wall close to the sink, choking and gasping for air.
I couldn't deny it.
I was in love with Peter Ballard.
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Hawkins, Indiana
Murray Bauman sat in the living room of his hiding place, hands clasped over his mount with his elbows resting on his knees. His glasses were already fogged up from his breathing. In front of him, a map of photographs were laid out on the rectangular coffee table. The daughter of this scientific genius-doctor he's been researching about caught his interest. He felt a spiritual connection to her, as one would say. She was completely off the records; no photos, no news, no appearances. It would be strange to be a famous scientist, who's all over the papers, and have a daughter with no mention after a certain age.
As Jim Hopper said, it could all be one major coincidence. Maybe the Hawkins Lab is just a place for weapons against the big ol' commies.
But what if the weapons weren't things at all?
What if they were live children, those that have gone missing?
Bauman looked through the old paper on Terry Ives, who sued Martin Brenner for the false record of her daughter's death, claiming that he's taken her. Of course, the media portrays her as a woman who's been crazed with grief, but what if she was telling the truth?
He stood up, nearly knocking over the glass of Vodka. He collected the photos and files and returned to the back room, where a wooden board sat on the wall. He carefully pinned each photo and news article, in positions where they were most correlating with each other.
He stopped, hesitating on an idea that flashed through his mind. He picked up another article that sat on a table near him: the Creel murders.
AHHHHHHHHH IM FINALLY DONE!!!
THIS CHAPTER TOOK TOO LONG BC OF EXAMS AND STUFF, HOPE YALL UNDERSTAND <333
Ik this chapter is pretty sad and anger-inducing, so i wrote an apology letter to you guys so pls dont hate me too much :,)
Dear readers,
I would like to formally apologize for the pain I have just put you through. I will reflect on my actions and try to better myself, but I cannot promise that there won't be any more heartbreak later in the novel ;)
Get ready for a rollercoaster of the slow burn you've all been waiting for- this is where the real story starts >:))))