Yes, yes, apologies for the wait. I don't know why I wait so long I gotta stop and update more lol.
Also congrats to Noah for coming out, I really hope he's happyy ❤️
Now, enjoy the chapter :)))
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《《WILLS POV》》
Jonathan, Mike and me all pressed our hands into Harmons wound, doing all in our power to try and stop the excessive bleeding.
Blood was everywhere, our hands were bloody, clothes were bloody, the entire van smelled of that horrid metal scent that blood gives off, and there was tons of it on the floor.
Everyone was panicking, freaking out, yelling about anything possible as the blood gushing from Harmons abdomen wasn't slowing down, if anything it was speeding up. No one knew what to do, especially the innocent driver, Argyle, who had merely been dragged into this whole situation because he delivered our pizza.
"Shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" He yelled, panick clear on his features as he swerved on the road, trying to keep up with what was going on with us while also attempting to focus on driving.
"God.." Mike spoke out of alarm, sensing the catastrophic blood loss that was alerting us agent Harmon didn't have much time.
"Keep pressure on it!" Jonathan yelled at us, seeming hopeful that Harmon could make it through the next however long it took to get him to a hospital and somehow not lose all his blood, and for reasons unbeknownst to me, it actually helped ease me slightly with the leader-esque tone in his voice.
But, in the midst of my ease, I noticed that even with 3 sets of hands pushing down on the wound, the blood continued to flow with no end.
And for a moment I faltered, fear arising in a great amount at how much blood Harmon was losing and how pale his face was beginning to grow.
"It's not slowing!" I yelled, every hair on my body standing as if there was a cold chill passing through, even though the California spring weather wasn't ever under 80°. I was terrified of what was happening, and I couldn't believe it was only now happening.
"Keep putting pressure on it!" Jonathan yelled again, blood continuing to flow and stain everything it touched.
"More pressure. Get the napkins!" I called, my hands cramping as I pressed as hard as I could into the open wound, scarlett colored napkins that were once white covering the man and the surrounding floor as we rushed to press them into his stomach.
"C'mon." Mike mumbled as me and Jonathan pulled more napkins and held them in place.
"Shit." Mike said as even more bleeding occured following our actions. "It's not slowing." I said to Jonathan again, panicked as Mike looked like he was about to faint and I wasn't entirely sure where Argyle was driving.
"Argyle! You gotta get us to St. Mary's!" Jonathan yelled back to him, the desired destination being the closest hospital.
Argyle turned around, face full of fear as he looked on at the dying man. "I don't think praying's gonna help that dude, man!"
"No, you idiot! St. Mary's hospital!"
As quick as Jonathan said that, Harmon started to sputter, a refusal of "No, no..." spilled from his throat, blood evident in his mouth that undoubtedly made it almost impossible to speak.
"What?!" Jonathan yelled to the man, a little too excitedly as he was so panicked. Me and Mike continued to press onto the wound, which seemed to be slowing, but by the looks of Harmon, wasn't a good thing at all.
"No hospital." Harmon replied weakly, using what little energy he had left to refuse help.
"No, no, we're gonna get you to the hospital." Jonathan insisted fairly quickly.
"You need to warn..." the man swallowed, trying his damndest to force out a sentence through his own blood. "O...Owens."
"Owens, okay.." Jonathan confirmed mentally, me and Mike still trying our hardest to conceal Harmons wound as we watched him curiously for what he was trying to tell us.
"The girls..." he went on, clearly speaking about El and Y/N. "They're...they're in danger."
Mike looked at me and Jonathan with a worried glance, and I looked back at him as I felt my stomach drop. Danger?
"Okay, how-how do we find Owens?" Jonathan asked, the only one putting in effort to speak to the man as me and Mike sat still in shock and worry for whatever the hell he was talking about.
"Nina...Nina..."
Me and Mike gave a quick glance at eachother, confusion arising immediatly.
"Nina? Who's Nina?" Mike questioned, voice high in concern.
"Come on, a pen!" I said, hoping the man could write a full name or an address or something.
Harmon pulled a pen from his pocket, clicking it with no issue even though it happened to be covered completely with his blood.
"Okay..." "Shit!" Me and Mike said similtaniously, surpised by the mans actions.
"Heres the number..." he stated, staring at the three of us as he held the pen.
"Number. Number." Jonathan repeated, staring down at Harmon with wide eyes as if he'd never heard that word before.
"He wants to write something!" Mike shouted, and I got up, moving from my spot to find anything he could possibly write on.
"We can call this Nina?" Jonathan asked the man, seeming as if he had only now gathered that.
"Grab a magazine or something! Will, get something!" Mike fussed as I searched Argyles floor for anything that could possibly be written on.
I pulled a magazine out from under the seat, quickly flipping it open to a bright page and fumbling back over.
"Oh, he's really bleeding a lot." Mike said as I placed the magazine down on Harmon.
Harmon looked to be almost gone, unconsious from the blood loss. But we needed something, anything to get ahold of Owens with. We needed to help El and Y/N. I was desperate.
"Come, on, hey!" Jonathan yelled at him, sounding determined and a little angry.
"Write the number!" I shouted to him, poking the magazine with the pen, tears forming in my eyes from the stress.
Finally, Jonathan broke.
"HEY! Look at me!" Harmons head barely turned, his eyes practically already glazed over when they met Jonathans.
"Hey, come on!" He shook the man as his eyes closed.
"HEY!"
But it was too late, me and Mike looked on with wide, forelorn eyes as the agent who had saved our lives had bled out right in front of us, and is now dead moments after informing us the girls were in danger.
"Oh shit." Argyle said from the front seat.
"Hey, yo, yo. Wait, wait, wait, wait! Why's it so quiet back there, huh?!" He asked, looking in the mirror and then turning around to look at us.
"Yo, is he dead? Jesus, man. Huh? Talk to me!" Tires squeeled from behind us, turning Jonathans head in the direction.
"We should get off the road." Jonathan said, forcing my eyes away from their shock ridden stare at Harmons dead body. I caught sight of a black car hot on our trail.
"Argyle, Ar-Argyle! Get off the road, now!" I yelled, turning to the shocked man in the drivers seat.
"Shit, he's dead, isn't he?" Argyle asked, focusing on the dead agent instead of the rest of our lives.
"This is real bad, this is real bad!" Argyle mumbled to himself, a state of shock consuming him. Though, the rest of us were far more worried about a much worse matter behind us, one that was getting too close for comfort.
"Get off the road!!" Me, Mike, and Jonathan turned and yelled in sync, having no more time for games as Argyle continued to play them.
Finally, he turned the steering wheel with a sharp jolt, flinging us all to the right as Argyle took us through the dusty, sandy, desert that was on the left.
《《 YOUR POV》》
-12 HOURS AGO-
I looked out the window, eyes cracking open from the long rest I had allowed myself. I noticed El was already awake, curious brown eyes searching the endless aray of hot desert.
I watched as sand blew with the wind that the car brung, sun blaring down with such intensity it almost felt like it had a grudge against us.
The car bounced up and down, big tires that were made for this type of off-roading still struggling in the sturdy stand. The morning sky was blue and sparced with white clouds, sunrise had probably happened not even an hour ago.
Owens was turned in his seat, seemingly looking as if he was partially guiding the driver on where to go.
He looked into the rearview mirror, meeting my eyes before turning to Eleven who was in his clear eyeshot.
"Sorry for the bumpy ride, girls. I would've paved the road for ya', but... of course I couldn't risk being found, kinda ruins the whole 'top secret location thing.' " he told us with a humorous smile, talking with his hands.
El gave him a soft smile, staying quiet, but I scooted to the middle seat and leaned forwards, getting a closer look out the windshield.
"Where are we?" I asked the man, and he looked at me as if I was the most ignorant person he'd ever met.
"You did hear me say 'top secret' just now, yeah?" His eyebrows raised, eyes looking down at me with an unreadable expression.
"So? Does that also mean you keep the secret from me?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow back at him.
He cleared his throat. "No, I guess not. But I'd rather wait and tell you when we get to our destination. If that's okay with you, that is."
I scoffed, leaning back to scoot back to my seat near the window, mumbling a sarcastic 'sure' to the man before remaining quiet.
"So, did you two get some rest?" He piped again, and I only turned my head and glowered at him.
"A little." El verbally answered, and I was still confused as to why we were trusting this guy again. Because she knew him? Ugh, maybe I'm just upset because my ass hurts from sitting so long. I thought to myself.
"Good." He told her, nodding. He offered ne a short glance, seeming to be waiting for an answer. I only shrugged.
"I have a feeling you're gonna need it." He told us, still nodding but quickly averting his gaze to the windshield.
I stared out my window, taking in the hot, sandy, scenery that I hadn't ever seen before. I'd spent my time in Hawkins, Indiana, a few years in my old town, and now maybe a day in California. This was entirely new to me.
I waited as we drove even further through the middle of nowhere, and I was suprised when suddenly the tires on the black car screeched to a stop, making indents in the sandy ground, and leaving no in-sight destination.
Owens gave a quick 'thank you' to the driver, pushing his door open and stepping out. Me and El looked at one another for a moment, but quickly stepped out of the car to go after the man.
"Are we here?" I asked asked as I closed the door, El stepping around the car to join us as the driver took off.
Owens didn't answer as me and El traveled close behind him, walking towards a giant door that seemed to lead to nowhere, one that I somehow hadn't noticed before now.
"Uh, is this it?" I asked again, but still no answer.
I listened as loud beeping sounds emmitted from the keypad as Owens typed something into it. I looked around again, even trying to get a peek behind the door just to make sure it wasn't some optical illusion. Nope, still just a door that leads to nowhere.
My eyes came back to the door when a loud buzzer came from it, the giant metal door squealing as Owens pulled it open.
I walked forward, standing directly beside El as we both stared down into the underground space that the door had revealed to us.
Owens gestured in front of him, telling me and El to go on. I gave El a quick worried glance but she didm't return it, she went head first into this, taking the first step down the stairs before I was even through the door. I was scared at how brave she was right now, I didn't trust it one bit.
I followed El reluctantly down the stairs, the big door closing behind us as Owens followed behind.
Owens got ahead and led us down to the bottom of the stairs and to what looked like a gate.
He pressed a button and the gate began to lift up, El almost walked into it and he held out his arm in front of her. "Oop-oop..." he said as if she was a small child.
He held his hand on her back as I stood behind them, once the gate was lifted up he pressed his hand into her to get her to go on. "Okay, here we go." He said as they walked in, me entering behind them with sigh.
Me and El stood on either side of him, watching as the gate shut back down and he locked it from the inside to keep us in. Only when it started to move did I realized we were in a elevator, making me feel suddenly unstable.
"You girls didn't really think we were working out of a shed, did you?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes as El looked over to him.
"I mean, no, but I also wasn't expecting a lonely door in the middle of the desert that led to an underground security bunker to be what it was either." I told him, staring forward as the elavator squealed loudly, going down with such force I thought it may have not been used since the 1800s.
After a minute or two the elevator reached the bottom, and once all the gates came up to let us out, I wasn't sure I wanted to do this anymore.
It really was a bunker, the inside dim and cold and 80% empty. There was a guard who stood at the entrance, he gave us a smile and me and El stared on with wide eyes.
Owens gestured us forward, and we hesistantly walked out into the concrete space. What even went on down here?
"You built all this?" El asked Owens as we walked through the bunker, head turning to him in curiosity, I stayed on my side, falling back a bit just in case this was some kind of ploy.
"More of gave it a face lift." He answered, and I could sense El not understanding.
"Do you know what an ICBM is?" He asked us, eyes turning from El to me, and we both only looked at him, confused.
"It stands for intercontinental ballistic missile. It's a fancy bomb." He explained, the three of us venturing further into the bunker.
"We used to store them underground in these silos, but we haven't used this one in years-"
"Whoa, whoa, so we're basically in the same place a bunch of...bombs used to be?" I asked him, and he turned to me, amused.
"You don't let anything get by, huh?" When I didn't answer he went on. "Well, technically yes, but there hasn't been any here in years. It's abandoned, empty, so I touched it up for us."
"There's...there's no bomb here at all, it's just a big ol' empty space. So, we repurposed it to hold things much more powerful than missiles."
"And thats you." He spoke generally, eyes looking into El's, and then into mine. Are walking had ceased, suprise etched onto our faces.
"So, this whole operation...is here?" I asked, curiosity seething from my words.
He merely nodded, a small smile accompanying his features as he walked into the room with all the professional looking science people.
"Anne, Tracy, morning." He called to the people.
"Morning, doc-" the words from the womans mouth cut short as she caught sight of us, she stared with awe, it was such a strange occurence to be stared at in a way that wasn't confusion or disaproval. And when I went to avert my eyes, I quickly noticed everyone staring at me and El, not one person was focused on anything else.
"You'll have to forgive the staring, you two are sort of celebrity's down here." He told us as we walked through, everyone we passed taking their time to stare.
"We are?" Me and El asked at the same time.
"Oh, yeah, are you kidding? You're bigger than Madonna and Whitney Houston to them." He told us with a smile, I turned around, eyes glancing back to the workers that were still watching our every move.
"They've all given up their lives, their jobs, their families to come work on this program because they believe in the cause." He told us, and I wondered what it must be like to leave everything behind for two teenage girls with superpowers.
"They believe in the two of you."
A loud buzzer sounded as the door we had been making our way to opened, me and El were still trying our hardest to fathom what had just been told to us, but once the guard had pulled the door open our minds were now fully focused on the huge metal...thing in the middle of the room, NINA was the word that stuck out on the front.
"We call her Nina." Owens told us as if we couldn't read, and me and El looked curiously at the...thing.
"What is it?" She asked, and just as she did I felt goosebumps arise on my skin, a feeling of being overlooked, watched, stalked in a predator type way overcame me and I felt my fight or flight sense kick in.
"If I told you it might ruin the suprise-" Owens realized we were no longer listening as we stiffened, standing firm like wild animlas as we heard footsteps above us.
But we knew they weren't just anyones footsteps.
Eleven lived in that lab her entire life, close to tweleve years of insufferable torture. He killed her mother, and chased and held her friends at gunpoint. This man held me against my will in his 'hopital' and forced me to stay quiet around my own mother. He had something to do with my fathers death, I always knew it. He had hurt us in so many ways, forced us to be around him against our wills, so I'll be damned if the sound of those atrocious shoes hitting the stairs didn't make us want to murder every living thing in a ten mile radius.
Martin Brenner looked at us, eyes bright and shining, a certain spark that yelled EVIL was held in his eyes, a smirk on his face that screamed I won hanging from his lips, and he kept himself held so formally it hurt to look at.
Why the fuck was this monster here?
"Hello, Eleven. Hello, Thirteen." The words out out of his mouth almost caused vomit to come out of mine.
"It makes me very happy that both of my girls have finally met." He stated, and I realized it was unbeknownst to him that we knew one another.
El was breathing fairly heavy from beside me, and I couldn't say much because I was too. I was terrified, but what was I even expecting? What was El expecting? I knew it wasn't going to be good...
"I know...you both are scared of me. Perhaps, in our time apart, you two may have even grown to hate me." The one and only thing this motherfucker ever got right.
"Damn right we have." I told the man, inching in front of El slightly as he came down the stairs.
"But...all I've ever wanted to do is to help you." He stated, and I felt my blood boil as he continued to speak. Help us? Thats a sick joke.
"And now...I think you very much need my help."
"We don't need anything from you." I snapped at the man, and he caught my eyes.
"Don't be so sure." He retorted, and I took a step back as he began to reach the bottom of the steps.
"Your gifts have been stolen, I believe I know why. And I believe I know how to get them back." I took a step back as he reached the bottom of the steps, joining El at her side as we faced Papa together.
He walked close to us. "Let us work together again. The three of us." He put a hand on each of our shoulders. I flinched, feeling as if he was burning right through me.
"Daughters, and Papa." I mentally lurched, my face scrunching up as bile came up my throat. I hadn't heard anything worse in my entire life.
I protested against his hand on my shoulder, eyes meeting Elevens in my peripheral vision, and somehow, I just knew we were about to do the same thing.
As if cued, we both ducked beneath Brenners hand, making a run for the gated elevator not far back.
An alarm sounded behind us, and I looked back to find Brenner and Owens unmoving, but a radio sounded as we passed the scientist, a voice that said 'Yeah, we got them." Made my stomach drop.
I ran even faster, hoping El would too as I watched the soldiers raced to get in front of us. I made it to the gate but El was caught up, three soldiers in front of her stopping her in her tracks.
She went to run though them but was caught, and I turned as I heard her yell.
I raised my hand, pushing one of them away from her and then another, the last one turned to me, fear on his features. I flicked my head at him, sending him flying backwards through the hallway like a ragdoll.
I ran to El to bring her to her feet, but something sharp and painful in my neck made me scream, kicking my legs as the cold prick made its way through my nerves.
I fell to the ground, vision beginning to blur. I listened to El struggling, but they ended up getting her too.
I watched with my last bit of concience as Papa strided down the hall, getting on his knees to pick up El and then me. He held us together, looking down at our drowsy faces.
"I'm sorry, girls. This isn't how I wanted things to begin. But it'll be alright. You're home now." And that was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed involuntarily.
~
I woke up in a small room, a closet like room that was dim and plain. I wasn't sure where they had placed me but I definetly wasn't in the hallway anymore.
I was still in the bunker that was for sure, nothing had changed. There was no one around and I didn't know where Eleven was either.
My head my spinning and my vision was blurry for a moment. I was on a small, leathery cusion-like seat, a pillow behind my head as if it was being used as a bed. I looked around the room, finding that the slideable door was pulled shut and probably locked, a white folded gown sat on the small table beside me. Besides that, the room was mostly empty.
I threw my legs over the side of the seat, seating up as I rubbed my forehead, feeling strained and tired, though I was restless down in this bunker. It was cold yet uncomfortably warm, plain yet there was too much inside, small and so large at the same time. Being in here made me want to curl up and cry. I had to get me and El out of here.
And suddenly I remembered why I was so out of it and in this room. Brenner put me in here. That motherfucker.
I was seconds from rising to my feet and breaking down the sliding door, but suddenly a loud beep sounded, and the door opened by itself.
I lifted my head and watched as Brenner stepped into the room. He stood, much too formal, his hands behind his back and his neck outstretched, the smallest smile on his face as he looked at me.
"I'm glad you're awake, Thirteen."
I glared daggers into the man. "Don't you dare call me that. I'm not your fucking number and neither is El." I informed him, standing up and walking towards him, having lost all fear.
"I see that, you both have grown into beautiful young women with lives of your own. But I hope you can understand all I ever did for you was what I believed to be the best." He resplied, bringing his hands down and placing one on my shoulder.
I shrugged him off, eyes still staring daringly into his.
"Don't talk about it like it was a good thing. You're a monster and you know it. You only made us this way for your own personal pleasure, like a psycho!" I told him, and a grimace fell upon him.
"I'm sorry you feel that way about it, but there's nothing I can do to change it so I suppose you work with me instead of against me. At least you will if you'd like to save your friends." He said, and I could just feel the manipulation.
"Work with you? Are you crazy?! Why would I ever agree to that? I don't need to anyways, my powers are fine. Why can't I just go home now?" I asked the man, taking a seat on the leather bed.
"Because you aren't ready. You may think you're strong enough, but in reality, you need this. Thirteen, you need me." My eyes looked back into Brenners, and for a split second I felt like that girl again, scared and unworthy, terrified of the white haired man who pricked and poked me for what felt like a lifetime.
I had grown quite a bit as a person since then. I came home and rediscovered my purpose, found my friends, fell in love with Will. Now, I was living happily with the Wheelers, now a Wheeler myself, a nice sibling bond with Mike, a group I actually felt worthy in at school with Eddie Munson and the other freaks. I had grown into a nice life, an enjoyable life. I guess I had convinced myself that girl I used to be was dead, gone, no longer the person I was.
I lost my mother, and my father both, and it broke me. I blamed papa-Brenner, and I was right to do so. I blamed every bad happening on him. But now, right now, I was just that little girl. Scared, forced to trust him, forced to keep my mouth shut. And that's all I'd ever be. He shaped me into who I am, and honestly, without him I would've never found my way back to Will. And I could feel my chest swell up and practically flood my eyes as I wondered if I was the monster all along for trying to convince myself I should trust him.
"Thirteen?" I questioned the words, as I looked at the floor, feeling brainwashed yet like the little girl, helpless and afraid, nowhere to turn.
Papa sighed, taking a seat beside me, grabbing my shoulder and holding me against him.
"You know, there's a lot I could tell you. I always should've, but now I really feel you should know." He started, pursing his lips as he looked down at me.
I lifted my eyes to look at him. "Tell me what?"
He paused his entirety for a moment as he stared down at me, seeming to be deliberating. Then it came out.
"Your father...he was a good man. A working man, one of, if not, my best. I saw the way he worked his way around the lab, and when I left I knew I needed him working for me. I requested him. It's the whole reason you moved." He told as if it was a story, staring forward.
"When you moved down there, I tried to keep him a fair distance away from everything important, everything I knew was too much for him. But he pushed, he continued to push. He desprately desired to be let in on my work, he felt as though we were close friends, close enough for me to tell him everything." I stared forward with him as he went on, rememering it all myself.
"I knew I shouldn't have, I knew he wasn't ready. But I told him. And he was petrified, he packed his things and fled the office. But he came back the next day, with research and very helpful results for my work. And he quickly became my top worker."
"I figured out about you, very soon into our work. I knew he had a child, but not of such...specialty. You were different, I always knew you were destined for greatness when he told me about you and your mother." I squinted, staring even further into the ground, ears perked and listening closely to every vowel.
"But he wouldn't let me have you. Months, for months I tried. I tried to convince him with anything, bribe him, with money, power, material things. He took nothing, though he did his work every single day just the same. His love for you was unconditional." My eyes flooded over, and I felt like sobbing.
"Though, I knew I couldn't let emotions get in the way of buisness. I had to have you." My heart broke at the words. No, please, no.
"I remember that morning, it was beautiful out. It had been raining all week, but this day, this day...it was bright, warm, sunny."
"He came to work, a smile on his face, and did his job. I even exchanged light banter with him, comments about the weather, about you, about our lives and our week. The last thing he said to me was about you, funnily enough. He said he had bought you a camera, and a photo alblum. He had dad engraved on it and planned to started taking photos during important moments with you and keeping them in there, and when you turned 18 he would look through them with you."
"I just...want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry you have no photos, nothing to look at when you reach your 18th year. But I did what I must that afternoon. And I shed my own tears that night."
"The rainy days that followed had never felt so lonely. But I did what I needed to with you. And when I went to retrieve you again, you had fled. But now I have you again."
My face was red, shoulders moving up and down as tears rolled down my face. What do I do with this? The first hand account of my fathers last days narrarated to me by his murderer.
Everything had came back to me, packing up all night, filling each and every box with my things, tears falling as I wondered what it would be like in a new town without all my friends. We all had one final D&D session two weeks prior, yet I felt like It had already been forever since I'd seen them.
I told them all goodbye one by one, I went to Dustins first, hugging him and bringing him the snacks my mom was just going to throw out before the move. Of course he appreciated it and we cried and at snacks on his couch and we recalled the comics we read together. And then I said goodbye.
I made my way to Lucas's, telling him he was strong, not to let Mike get in his way, and that he was always going to be my buddy. We hugged, and I watched him try to hide tears as he told me he would miss me, and never forget me. And then I said goodbye.
I then went to Mikes, told him he was the best leader, was funny and compassionate and a good friend. I told him he was going to find a girlfriend despite his adamancy that no girl would ever like him. I told him he was the brother I never had and that I would miss him a lot, he didn't want to get emotional but I managed to get tears, sniffles and a tight hug that lasted a long time before a promise to always remember me as the first and last girl to be in the party. And then I said goodbye.
The next day, the day before I moved, I spent it with Will. It was a saturday, it was cold october weather, just a few weeks before Halloween which the boys always took so seriously. Me and Will stayed most of the day in his room, he drew me, still to this day the best portrait of me I'd ever seen. We had play fought, him pushing me backwards and ending up awkwardly on top of me. I remember his red cheeks at which I laughed at him for. During the small storm that swept through we pulled out a flashlight and scared eachother with stories as thunder rumbled. Joyce had made us dinner, canned chicken noodle soup snd grilled cheeses. They never had much when Will was young, but we didn't even notice, we were too entranced with our day. We ran off right after dinner, to our hill. Our hill. And we all know what that moment was like as we watched that beautful after-storm sunset. He was my boy, even then. And he fell asleep on me after that long beautiful day. I threw my blanket on him, wrote him that night, walked away. And then I didn't say goodbye.
I watched Hawkins pass by out the car window, that brown sign that read Leaving Hawkins, come back soon.
Being my last memory of the town before I was headed for a life altering occurence, and back at home everyone else would go through things much more traumitazing.
I remember moving into that empty, souless, plain house that I never liked. Then within months my father passed, my mother stayed drunk on the couch, and then Brenner started taking me.
And then that day he never came back, and me and my mom got out of there. And we came home.
Now, after all of that, every little detail and moment I had to live through, I feel like I'm right back at square one. Saying goodbye to all my friends, to Will. Leaving Hawkins, and now here I am. With Papa, having been lied to about the whole ordeal.
"It's your fault." I whispered, loud enough for the man beside to glance at me over.
"All of it was because of you." I told him, tears still falling as I stared at the ground, and I couldn't even tell what his reaction was from beside me.
"Well, Y/N, have I not helped give you an incredible life? Do you not see how much good can come from one bad deed?" He asked me, and I turned my head to him, eyes staring back into his, unable to deny his questionings.
"So, my child, I've placed Eleven in Nina. She's already started and is making progress. Do you think you could do the same and work with me?"
"I could never work with you after what you put me through...but do I even have a choice?" I asked, tears in my eyes as I looked away, already feeling the horrors like I was back in that place with him.
"Actually you do." A voice spoke up, and me and Papa turned to the door to find Owens walking in, papers in hand as he pulled reading glasses from his eyes.
I stared at the man, lifting up from my slumped position as I awaited his explanation. I could sense a tense and angered Brenner from beside me.
"Martin, we agreed. We would bring them here, but we wouldn't force them to stay. They have to option to leave if they'd like." He told the man, and he glanced down at me.
He swallowed. "Yes, I know. Though I don't believe it's nec-" "I can go home?" I interupted, eyes on Owens.
"Yes. We'll have them bring you straight home if you decide that's what you want."
My face brightned as I jumped up. "Get El out of there, we're going home."
Owens glanced back to Brenner and the man stood up, grabbing me by the shoulder and turning me to him. "Eleven has already agreed to stay. I was hoping you would too."
I turned to the man, staring dumbfounded. "She's...gonna stay?"
I gulped as he nodded.
I took a breath as I stared at him, eyes closing and opening with an expression that seemed to scare them both. Determination.
"Okay, she's her own person. Take me home."
Owens gestured to the door he stood in front of, I left the room striding to the main door that led to the Elevator. I watched as guards stood in front of the door, seeming to be ready to pounce the moment I tried to leave.
"Down, doggy. I'm allowed to go." I said with amused eyes, watching as the guards moved aside.
I went to move forwards but was grabbed and turned around, Papa stood in front of me, hovering over with a disapointed grimace.
"Don't do this, Thirteen. I can help you, and then you can help your friends. You need this, you need me, remember?"
"No!" I shouted, stomping my foot down. "I don't need you. I never did! You're just obessesed with being a forced father figure to children. I don't care what El chooses, I believe in her and I'm happy for her. I can help my friends on my own I promise. My powers are fine, I don't need you. So, I'm going home. Tell El I love her, I wish her luck, and that someone will be back for her."
And with that Owens gave Brenner a look before following me into the Elevator.
There were no words spoken as we exited the building.
He ordered a helicopter down, and before I knew it I was sitting in the helicopter, being handed equipment for the ride.
Owens looked at me, offered me a small smile, and I could barely hear him but I could hear him enough to make out what he said.
"You made the right choice kid, don't dwell on it! Eleven will be okay! You go and help your friends, I'm rooting for you!"
I nodded, a gratful smile on my lips as I looked out at the man, and just as I did, the helicopter began to lift from the ground. We were leaving, I was leaving. I was going back to Will and Mike and Jonathan, and we were gonna figure this out.
I sighed, tears of relief escaping me as If I hadn't dried out yet. I know what Owens said, but apart of me does wonder if I made the right decision.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see when I get back.
When I get home.
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