-march 25th 1986-
-reader's pov-
el and I sat on her uncomfortable bed, I was lay with my head resting in her lap as she played with strands of my hair. the room was silent but it wasn't awkward, it was nice, just sat in silence with the girl I love dearly.
- - - - -
"do you know what happens when someone has a stroke?" brenner inquired, he had repositioned us into a new room. el and I sat on two chairs, leaving him to stand and point at x-rays on the wall. "the blood supply to the brain is cutoff." he explained, "it scrambles the signals in the brain to the point where the mind can forget how to do things." he then leant down into a spare seat in front of us.
"to eat, to speak, to walk." he continued, "when you were attacked last year, eleven, I believe that your signals were scrambled in much the same way but just as a stroke victim can learn to walk again. I believe you, too, can return to your full power." he leaned forward and cupped el's face, "your abilities are still in here, you just need to remember." he then booped her on the nose.
- - - - -
brenner tapped on a few numbered buttons on a keypad, unlocking the door with a beep.
"everything that took place in my lab," he began, leading the way into the room that was full of videotapes, "was captured on videotape." he then shut the door, "every success and every failure. it's important for you to not just see your past but to fully
re-experience it. in doing so, I believe we can repair your broken signals. and as we saw tonight, that process has already begun."
- - - - -
we had now returned to the room we were formally in, brenner inserted the selected tape into the tape player.
"if this all happened," el began, "why don't I remember?"
"because you do not want to." brenner replied, "our brains have a defence mechanism in place to protect it from bad memories, from trauma. you buried these memories long ago."
"papa," el said with tearful eyes, "when I was in there, I saw something. there was blood, so much blood."
"that was another memory." brenner told her, placing a hand upon her shoulder, "a.. a more powerful one, invading from your subconscious. you have demons, eleven. you have demons in your past. that is why we must proceed carefully, one step at a time, one memory at a time. if we go too fast, I'm afraid you could become lost in the darkness."
I was immersed in a light train of thought but perked up at the words 'lost in the darkness.' el could become lost forever? she could die because of this?? hold on, owens never mentioned that, it wasn't in the terms and conditions or whatever.
"and if you are lost.." brenner continued, "so are we all. thirteen can't win this battle alone, it seems if she tried that would be.. almost suicide."
I'm sorry, what?!
"wha- what do you mean?.." I asked, my eyebrows furrowing as my eyes focused on brenner's face. alas, he didn't respond, he just strongly held our gaze.
———————
I was back in the dark room again, the same one where brenner interrogated me yesterday.
"oh my god, man." I yelled out, my voice echoing, I knew they could hear me, "hurry up!"
not even a second later, brenner entered the room, closing the door behind him.
"hello thirteen." he greeted me, taking the chair opposite me, "I'm sure you heard what I said earlier, about you fighting this battle would lead to your own death."
"yeah, I heard it alright." I replied, "and I want answers."
he sighed deeply before readjusting himself in his seat, "when you attacked the girl at the roller rink, you told me everything went red and your hand took a new form." I nodded along, "now, I'm going to tell you something but you cannot tell eleven, okay? telling her would destroy this whole process."
"yeah, okay, okay. I won't tell her." I said, trying to hurry this all up.
"good. because I'm going to tell you how you're linked to this.. monster, as you call it." brenner spoke, "so now, do you remember when your friend, will byers, disappeared and when he returned he was.. almost possessed."
"yes, of course I remember." I sassed, "it's when my whole life turned to shit, well except from meeting el-"
"okay yes, now.." brenner interrupted me, "when will was possessed, according to dr owens this shadow-like monster took over his brain. will became a host of this monster and I believe the same has happened to you."
my facial expressions creased, shit, this made sense.
"I believe this monster has now taken over a section of your mind, this monster formally being 001." he continued, "the first ever person to acquire telekinesis at my lab. and now, eleven killed him, I have video footage of it. but when he died he turned into this monster and he plans to conquer this planet. but in order to do that, he must get rid of the very few people in his way first. these people being you and eleven. he's already tried killing eleven but he has failed, I fear he has now turned to you except he is taking a different approach. he is attacking you mentally, not physically."
brenner then pulled out a folder that contained many photographs, he held the small book to me and I peered over to look.
there were photos of three dead bodies, all of their bones were cracked and snapped in every way possible. their eyes had been gauged in also, it was extremely difficult to look at.
"do these photos mean anything to you? do they trigger any unknown memor-" brenner was halfway through his sentence until a sickening sight appeared in my mind.
it was a young, blonde-haired girl being killed, her bones snapped just like the ones in the pictures. she wore hawkins high cheerleader clothes and I recognised her to be chrissy cunningham, she was a sweet girl.. she even helped me when I got lost on my first day.
after, I saw a boy, about the same age as chrissy, he wore thin-framed glasses and I recognised him from the hawkins high post, I think he might've been nancy's friend. until all of his bones dislocated, of course.
it then showed a ginger haired girl, I quickly realised this girl as max mayfield. no! no! please don't say max was dead.. please. but thankfully, it didn't show her being killed, she lunged forward and tugged at the neck of the creature that my eyes saw through.
and now, another boy could be seen, he looked a little older than me and he wore the hawkins high basketball kit. I think he was one of lucas' friends from basketball.. but it all ended quickly when the familiar hand plunged its claws into his head. the same had happened to all of the others, besides from max of course.
the real world suddenly came right back to me, I was sat in the same room. just a nervous brenner was at my side, he held his finger under my nose before wiping the stream of red blood that drizzled from it.
"he- I- they're all dead." was all I managed to say, did I kill them.. or did the monster kill them?..