chapter thirty-two
rosemary's baby
🖤
"SO, HERE'S WHAT you're going to do."
Martin Brenner stands in front of Ruby. Through the powers of creepy government dealings, her grandpa acquired an underground bunker in the California desert, which has since been converted into a mix of Hawkins lab and the Soviet bunker under the mall. The long corridors lead off to testing areas and offices, all working for Brenner's secret plan to 'fix' the Upside Down.
Those people are unaware of Ruby's involvement, so she has to go somewhere just as shady. An old warehouse in downtown LA.
His deal with Ruby was that she'd come here, once a week, to improve her powers. He'd let her live a normal life, and he'd help pay her rent so she wasn't missing out on work, being here. He wouldn't kidnap her like those other kids at the old lab — Ruby knows her grandpa's not a nice man, but she appreciates that this feels more like a partnership, rather than her grandpa trying to take advantage of her powers. She knows about the Upside Down, she chose to get involved with the lab again. She deserves to know the truth... She's earned her right to know.
The only downside is that Ruby had to agree, when the Upside Down acts up, she has to drop everything and stop it. But she decided that for herself anyway. Ruby, despite spending her entire life running from this, wants to stop whatever's wrong with the Upside Down. It ruined her life, it killed her mom, her aunt, her dad... She wants to stop this thing, for good — and once she's prepared, that's when she'll step foot in Hawkins, ready to finish this off.
It's just that she isn't ready.
"You're going to avoid using your abilities, including subconsciously. You'll have to open and lock your own doors."
Ruby nods. She lays out her hand, about to use her powers to zoom a straw over to her, but frowns, deciding now is better than never to stop using the abilities for meaningless things.
"Eleven is correct — if you don't use your powers, there's no reason for anything to realise you're there. Your power has been given to you by the Other Dimension. So if you're not taking from it, it won't be able to sense you."
"What if something does happen?" says Ruby.
"Then you call me," says her grandfather. He gives her a Post-It Note with a number on it. "This phone is for Area X." (He means the place in the desert... She likes to think it's named after her.) "We're being spied on, yes, but they don't know where we are, or that you're involved."
Ruby nods, rolling her eyes. He told her this at the start, why she needed to lie to El. And, as powerful as Ruby thinks she is, she doesn't want to deal with the FBI, or the CIA, or whatever Area 51 bullshit hunt her down.
"So it's crucial you only say a code word when you use this number. If they hear any details, they'll be able to track us down. So, use the code word Rosemary's Baby."
"Nice," says Ruby.
"I thought you'd like it," says Brenner, with a small smile.
She does. A demon child that kills their mom? She's just like the movie!
"We'll know it's you," says Brenner. "And we'll come to help."
Ruby nods. It's a weird dynamic these days, between herself and her grandpa — or rather, it's changed since he faked his death. Ruby's always been confident in herself, but before this nightmare involved other people, she never really paid attention to the inner workings of the Upside Down. It was more just the monster's here, but since Will's disappearance, she's been forced to learn about it. After all, she was possessed by one of its monsters last summer.
She thinks that's changed her relationship with her grandpa. He can't intimidate her with his knowledge of the Upside Down, because they're on the same level now. Sometimes, though, he seems to look guilty about her possession, an emotion she didn't think he could feel. It makes her question how much he knows, and if there's something he's hiding... But she doesn't want to torment him. If she keeps the peace, if she plays his game, she can improve her powers like she wants to, and she can fix this mess.
And then, she can return to Hawkins, finish off the Upside Down for good, and it'll be over. She won't have the looming fear of monsters creeping out from the shadows. She can live with a weight off her shoulders, without any multi-dimensional war resting on her ability to fight back. She won't worry about more people dying because of her, she won't worry about the world collapsing around her. If she stops being normal, just for a little while, her entire life can be normal. She can finish this, then move on for good — and that's better, to her, than pretending to be normal, with a massive weight on her mind.
"How confident do you feel?" says Brenner.
Ruby raises an eyebrow. "In general, or...?"
"About Hawkins." He still finds her jokes annoying. She guesses, anyway — her grandpa's always talked in such a monotone voice, she's got no clue how he feels. "Is there anything there that could upset you, that could set your abilities off?"
"Uh..."
God, this is awkward. She's gone this far without talking about her ex-boyfriend to her grandpa. But when her grandpa asks her this, her first thought goes to Harrington. Harrington and his stupid brown, fluffy, soft hair. Harrington and the hoe phase he's probably going through. Harrington, and the fact that he sounded so unbothered when they spoke yesterday...
"You remember... Steve, right?"
Her voice struggles to say his first name. Harrington is easier. Harrington's a dickhead, Harrington's a step away from the name she used to say I love you to. Steve is... Steve was hers.
"Your friend from school?" her grandpa says.
Ruby sighs. "We, uh, dated..."
Brenner gives her a look. "Of course you did."
"What does that—?"
"You're your mother's child," he says, sighing.
Ruby feels defensive. "There's nothing wrong with my dad or with—"
"I don't care for teenage love lives," says Brenner, unimpressed. "Stay away from him. If you're already this bothered about him—" Ruby begins to protest, but knows this reaction is what's making him think that. "It isn't wise to be around him."
Ruby nods, although she didn't plan on seeing Harrington anyway.
"I should probably go," says Ruby, getting to her feet. "I need to pack before I drive down tomorrow..."
Brenner nods, understanding, and gets his keys to let her out. Next door this abandoned lot is a Pilates studio, so Ruby slips through the door connecting this warehouse to the women's changing room, does a class, then goes home. It's long-winded, Ruby knows, but she has abs now, so it's whatever.
"Ruby," he says, before she leaves. He looks very serious — more serious than usual. Ruby frowns. "Look after yourself. Call me — my normal number — if it's too much."
Ruby looks at her grandfather, shocked by this sudden outburst of kindness. She takes a minute to respond. He's always had such a thing about calling her, convinced the government will track them down and figure out it's him, alive still, but him to offer... It's nice of him. He's still bad, she knows that, but it's appreciated, him being conscious of how difficult this is going to be.
But, what's Ruby's favourite phrase, folks?
What else can go wrong!
"I'll be fine, Papa," says Ruby. "I've dealt with worse."
I've dealt with worse, she tells herself, as she squeezes her way into the back of the next Pilates class, billed as 'STEEL'-AR BUN WORKOUT! I've dealt with worse, as she drives home and spends her evening packing her bags, unsure how long she's actually going to stay in Hawkins. I've dealt with worse, she tells herself, swallowing take-out noodles and watching Grease on the television.
I've dealt with worse, she reminds herself the next morning, as she packs her bags into her car. She's made a copy of her mixtape, the one her and her grandpa use when she's practising her powers, and she loads the original one into her car's stereo. It's loads of 60s classics, with a couple of newer songs sprinkled in. For some reason, when she thinks about music to ground herself from the Upside Down, she feels drawn to older music...
Carly Simon's You're So Vain blasts through the speakers as she drives out of Los Angeles, mentally preparing herself for the thirty-hour drive. She knows she should've flown back, but how will she survive without her car? Robin can't drive, and it's a lot to spring onto Nancy... It's not like Ruby has someone in Hawkins anymore, who will look after her like that. Either she drives, and she spends a couple of nights in motels on the way, or she has to figure out rides the entire time she's back. It's a tough life, being independent. Being single, she thinks bitterly.
I probably could've rented a car, she thinks, as she stops in a motel in Colorado. She dumps her stuff in the room, grimaces at the life she's ended up with, laying a towel over the bed to sleep on (she does not trust the cleanliness of the sheets). She wakes up, sighs, and drives some more.
It's two days later — late into the day, too — when she arrives in Hawkins.
The sun is setting, a golden glow falling upon the tall green trees. It's this time of the year where the surrounding woods transition from the spikey corpses into leafy trees, as if the entire town wakes up again at the start of spring. She thinks of Persephone, the world resurrecting with her return, and feels a bitter relatability.
"I walk along a thin line darling..."
Her car radio sings Elvis' The Edge of Reality, and she frowns. She drives past the last of the resurrecting trees, noting the right-turn that leads towards the old lab.
"Dark shadows follow me..."
She passes the turning to the farms, the ones where the pumpkin patches were destroyed two years ago. (How has it already been two years?) She knows that if she were to go on the road, she'd eventually drive around to lover's lake, to the little hidden part nicknamed Skull Rock.
The song bursts into its chorus' trumpets and fanfare, as Ruby leaves behind the trees, reaching Hawkins itself. She drives past the Welcome to Hawkins sign, now graffitied with WELCOME TO HELL.
Welcome to hell, alright, she thinks.
She didn't think she'd be back so soon, in her own personal hell. She feels a weight in her chest, every single nook and cranny she passes memorised in her mind. She hates Hawkins, but it's her hometown. She knows this place like the back of her hand.
"Oh, I can hear strange voices echo, laughing with mockery..."
She passes Maple Street, driving towards the town square. Her gas is low, and the only one in town is the one opposite Family Video. She grimaces, deciding to get this over with.
"The borderline of doom I'm facing..."
Ruby turns the car into Family Video's parking lot. It's one of those shopping strips with a couple random chain stores attached to each other, with a big parking lot in front. They're a concrete bell scape — but, she decides if she does this first, she can use the excuse of needing to get gas to leave.
"The edge of reality," Elvis sings, alongside the fanfare, just before Ruby switches off the engine.
She gets out of the car, placing her sunglasses on top of her head. She can feel her heart pounding in her chest — but if she doesn't do this, and they see her across the street, they'll think she's avoiding Harrington. Which she wants to do, don't get her wrong... She just doesn't want him to know that!
(She also doesn't want to go home, and seeing Harrington feels better, right now, than entering the home she killed her auntie in.)
Ruby walks up to the door, the bell ringing as she steps through. She squints, adjusting to the darker lighting of the video rental store, before her gaze settles on the teenage boy in front of her.
Dustin grins. "Ruby, you're back!"
🖤
STEVE PICKS UP THE STACK of horror movies, taking them back to their spot at the back of the store. All of the employees look after the store, but Robin has made the horror section Steve's area when they work together, ever since he spent all of October bitching about Rosemary's Baby. Yeah, it was a bit of a reach, that it reminded him of Brenner, but he was five first dates into singlehood — all of which were bad — and he was bitter.
"It's so cool," says Henderson. "You'll love it. It's not a kids game, I promise. There's so many adventures, it's just like one of ours in real life!"
"I'd rather shoot myself than play D&D," Steve tells him, and in spite of their lives, he means this. "Not happening."
"But we need a sub!" says Henderson, desperate.
Steve shrugs. "Cry about it."
"You're getting grumpy with age," says Henderson.
This isn't true. Steve doesn't think so, anyway. He's just feeling at a loss recently — he didn't go to college and he knows he can't, so he needs to figure out a career plan. But what does he even want to do? He used to feel so confident in his life plan. He didn't have a job in mind, but he had an image of marrying a certain girl, having a family later down the line. But with all of that down the drain, what does he do? Stay in Hawkins forever, hope someone else just as good comes along? Or does he move — or does he admit defeat, and become a grumpy old man, like Henderson says? He really doesn't know.
"I can't believe she's dating him now."
Steve looks across at Henderson, who's standing next to a cardboard cut-out of the guy from Star Wars. Not the dorky one, the hot one with the gun.
He frowns. "Who...?"
"Rubes," says Henderson.
Steve's jaw drops.
"No she is not," he says, shaking his head.
"She is!"
"Says who? How do you know?" Steve starts walking back to the desk, watching a car pull up outside. Henderson follows him along, as if hearing that his ex-girlfriend is dating Harrison fucking Ford is going to make him want to play D&D. Spoiler: it will not.
"Steve." Henderson looks at him seriously. "I'm a nerd. We have our ways."
"I'd know if she was dating him," says Steve.
"How?" Henderson raises an eyebrow. "Robin?"
"... Yeah," Steve shrugs.
"Think about it," says Henderson. "This is Ruby we're talking about. Do you even think she knows what Star Wars is?"
Steve considers this. "... Good point."
The door opens, the bell ringing. It takes Steve's eyes a second to adjust to the light, as a brunette girl saunters in. His mind goes instantly to her, but that's stupid. Why would she come here? To see him? He doubts it, now she's got Harrison fucking Ford.
But, Henderson confirms his thoughts, exclaiming, "Ruby, you're back!"
🖤
"Hey, Dus," she says. "How have you been?"
"I've been better," says Dustin. "Mainly because he won't admit that subbing in my super-cool D&D game is better than going to the game tonight!"
And that's when Ruby looks at Harrington.
They both stare at each other for a minute. Her heart is hammering, as if the entire world is collapsing around her. He looks a little older, with a little moustache grazing his upper lip, scruff on his chin. She feels like melting into the carpet.
"Hi," she says.
"Hey," he says.
Dustin looks at the two of them, rolling his eyes.
"So, I need someone to play D&D with me later," says Dustin.
Ruby looks away from Harrington, and raises an eyebrow. "What?"
"For Hellfire!" he says.
Ruby's eyes widen, horrified. She finally notices the t-shirt Dustin's wearing, the same ugly thing the freaks in her grade wore around school.
"You're friends with Eddie Munson?" she exclaims.
"I hope so!" says Dustin.
"But he's a freak!" she says.
"No, he's awesome!" says Dustin.
"Apparently," says Harrington, rolling his eyes.
Ruby smirks. "Jealous?"
Harrington looks pissed off.
"Where's Robin?" says Ruby, wanting to leave.
"What do you mean—?" Her ex starts, but she interrupts.
"I know you made her write to me. Real smooth, Harrington." Ruby crosses her arms. "But the jokes on you. She's actually super cool, and I'm now her best friend. Not you, me."
"You think I got her to—?"
"RUBY!"
Robin appears from the staff room, and rushes forwards. She looks like she wants to hug Ruby, but is unsure; Ruby rolls her eyes, pulling her into a hug. Robin grins, her cheeks going pink.
"Why are you here?" says Robin.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," says Harrington.
Ruby gives him a dirty look. "Gas station's across the road," she says plainly. "Don't flatter yourself, Harrington."
Harrington makes a huff. "Oh, okay, Miss I-Got-Robin-to-Write-to-You—"
Robin and Dustin exchange a look, unsure what to do.
Ruby turns back to Robin. "So I thought I'd say hi. To you," she tells her, and glares at her ex-boyfriend, to prove that she is not here for him. "How are you, though, Harrington? Still hanging out with children?"
"How are you, Brenner — how's Harrison?"
Ruby tilts her head. "Who?"
"Harrison Ford?" says Dustin.
Robin frowns. "... What's going on?"
They must've been talking about her, because Dustin blurts out like a child in trouble: "Is it true you're dating Harrison Ford?"
Ruby's still confused. "... Who?"
Dustin's jaw drops, and runs over to the Star Wars poster, pointing to a hot guy holding a gun. Ruby's head tilts. Spring Boyfriend?
"I think so," says Ruby. "He said he was in some movie...?"
"I told you!" says Dustin, to Harrington, confirming that they were talking about her. He must be forgetting that her and Harrington aren't in speaking terms, because Harrington looks mortified at the comment. "What's he like?"
Ruby looks at Steve, then back at Dustin
"He's a nice change," she says.
"Ohhhh-kay." Robin whistles. "Shall we go and talk in the back room, Ruby?"
She doesn't get the chance to say no, before Robin grabs her hand and marches her away from the boys. Ruby gives her a funny look, but trails behind her, glad to leave her ex in the other room.
Robin shuts the door behind them, and turns to Ruby.
"Harrison Ford?"
"Apparently," says Ruby, sitting down at the desk. She looks at the shelf containing the store's supply of popcorn, and turns to Robin. "Can I have one?"
"Yeah, sure," says Robin. "... If you tell me how you managed to date one of the biggest movie stars of our generation without realising?"
Ruby looks up from her bag of popcorn — salty, of course — and shrugs. "The world revolves around me," she says.
"But how did you not—?"
"I just don't really care about who I'm dating, you know? Not in, like, a mean way... I just know it's not gonna last, so it's whatever." Ruby eats a handful of popcorn. Robin crosses her arms, as Ruby extends the bag to her. "Want some?"
"I'm good," says Robin. "Had M&Ms for lunch."
Ruby raises an eyebrow, and rustles the bag.
"OK, fine." Robin takes a handful. "You know, I'm relieved. I heard you were dating Tommy Lee."
"Oh." Ruby laughs. "That was Winter Boyfriend."
Robin goes quiet, stunned. "You can't be real."
"All naturale, Rob," says Ruby. "But, it's whatever. How are you? Have any cute boys walked in here recently?"
Robin shifts her feet, looking uncomfortable. "Um, no one that's caught my eye..."
"Really?" Ruby raises an eyebrow, surprised. "Well, if you want, I can help you find someone..."
Robin looks across at Ruby, scratching her arm uncomfortably. "Um, about that... There's no easy way for me to say this, but—"
The staff room door opens, Dustin falling through, as if he'd been trying to listen in. Ruby looks at him, feeling embarrassed for him, and lets out a sigh.
"Did he put you up to this?" says Ruby.
"... No," says Dustin, clearly lying.
"Pathetic." Ruby rolls her eyes. "As if I'd start talking about my dating life with him nearby."
"Like I care!" Harrington calls out, obviously caring enough to listen from across the store.
"I'm going home," says Ruby. "What were you gonna say, Rob?"
Robin's eyes widen, and she shakes her head in a panic. "Oh — it doesn't matter. I can come see you later?"
"Sounds cool," says Ruby with a smile. "See you, guys."
She makes her way to the front of the store, passing her ex-boyfriend standing back at the front desk. She makes the effort not to look at him, her entire body tensing up as she walks past him, reaching the door. Part of her wonders if she should acknowledge him, but she feels her hands tingling, as if her powers are itching to get her out of here. She remembers what her grandpa says about avoiding Harrington, so she opens the door, and walks straight back to her car.
Things could be worse, she reminds herself, sighing.
Although, right now, she's not sure how things could be worse.
i'm proud of steel-ar buns hope u enjoyed xxx