Papa had stopped visiting altogether. One couldn't even remember the last time she had left her room. She was starved for human contact. She was also physically starved. She didn't care about food anymore. She only got excited during meals because it meant for a brief moment that her door would open and she would get to see another human being.
But today would be different.
One waited patiently by the door for her dinner. They fed her twice a day at the same time without fail, and as such her body had developed an internal clock. Rather than feeling it in her stomach when it was meal time, she felt it in her gut.
The door clicked open and swung back to reveal a surprise. One of three people usually brought her her meal, and she knew every detail about them. She could trace their faces in the air with her eyes closed. But this person was new.
One stared at the new person inquisitively, trying to process the change in her head, but it was hard since everything had been the same for so long.
"They needed Joey elsewhere," the woman explained, reading her confused look. Another change: she talked. They never talked. They just threw the tray on the ground and slammed the door.
"Joey," One mouthed, feeling the name in her mouth. It had been so long since she last talked that she had almost forgotten what her voice sounded like.
The woman didn't respond but she continued to linger outside her door. One wasn't sure what she was waiting for but she wasn't going to question it because this was more human contact than she had had in a long time.
At that moment, One could hear two more sets of foot steps come down the hallway; the heavy step of an adult and the lighter footfalls of a child. The woman turned to look at who was coming and opened a larger window for One to see through.
A guard was walking down the hallway accompanied by a boy that looked about her age. He had untamed dark hair and a complexion riddled with freckles. Almost instantaneously, his dark eyes met hers, and she had a strange feeling that they had met before. Although, perhaps not directly.
"Come along, number Seven." the guard put a firm hand on the boy's shoulder and pushed him ahead. One's eyes remained glued on him the entire way, and for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that encapsulated her when they made eye contact. One continued to stare at him until the woman shut the door in her face, but even then her gaze didn't move from its spot.
"Seven," she whispered.
The party sat in their own silence for several minutes after the portal snapped shut, each of them unsure of what to do or say next.
"But that's impossible, Dr. Brenner is dead," Mike said after he could no longer take the unnerving quiet. "He was eaten by the Demogorgon!"
"No," Eleven said quietly. "The man said he was alive. The man that Eight and I..." Eleven couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence as she relived the terrible memory.
"Eight? More of us escaped?" One asked hopefully. Eleven nodded her head and triggered a relieved smile on One's face. That smile disappeared quickly when she remembered the other bit of recent news. "But the message came from the Upside Down, so that means Papa..."
"Yes," Eleven agreed solemnly. The relief they had held at never having to see that terrible man again quickly dispersed and was replaced with a deep dread that spread through their bodies. "He's in the Upside Down."
"So the Demogorgon took him back to the Upside Down, like it did with Will and Barb," Dustin said.
"Um, are we not going to talk about whatever Future Me and Future One were hiding from? Why was it just us two?" Steve asked impatiently, trying to hide his ulterior motives. While he was definitely worried about whatever was making that dreadful noise in the portal, he had secretly brought it up just so he could address the fact that him and One had been alone together in the cabin. He had his own hopes for the reason why...
"Yeah, what was that?" Lucas asked. "A new monster?"
"I don't know," One answered. The party didn't get much time to deliberate further when the sound of the basement door opening interrupted them.
"There you are," Hopper's voice echoed into the basement as the heavy clomps of his feet made their way down the stairs. Joyce's lighter footfalls followed behind.
"Hopper," One greeted him in surprise.
"You want to explain to me where you disappeared to last n—,"
"What was the message?" Joyce cut Hopper off with her own question before he could finish his. Hopper's mustache furrowed angrily at the interruption.
"C-coming," One stammered, taken aback by the abruptness of the question.
"Who was the message from?" Joyce put her hands on One's arms and stared determinedly into her eyes.
"W-we don't know..." One strained her eyes to look back to her friends for support. She couldn't tell if Joyce was angry with her about the wall or not.
"Who or what is coming?" Hopper asked, stepping beside Joyce.
Finally able to turn her neck, One shared a look with Eleven. "Papa," they said together.
Hopper immediately covered his face with his hand and turned away. A muffled "Jesus" came from his mouth. Hopper paced a few moments before speaking again, "When?"
"We also don't know that," Eleven took over for One.
"Is there anything else you want to tell us?" Hopper's eyes landed on One as he said this and she shrunk back in shame. She assumed he was insinuating Joyce's wall.
"No," Eleven said determinedly as she locked eyes with her father. After a few moments of intense staring Hopper put his hands up and backed down.
"All right, well whatever you kids are up to is going to have to wait. You're all going home to your respective families," Hopper instructed. "Now."
"B-but," Dustin tried to argue but Hopper wouldn't have it.
"I'm sorry, do I need to repeat myself? There's a psychopathic maniac on his way so get a move on."
"You don't need to be so harsh, Hop," Joyce muttered, although she did agree with him. If Dr. Brenner was coming back that only meant bad things. She needed to keep Will, Jonathan, and now One, safe. "Will, One, come along."
Will whined as he begrudgingly stood to meet his mother, but One remained glued to her spot in shock. Joyce had asked her about the message so she had to have seen the wall. Yet she still wanted One to stay with them?
"It's okay, sweetie, I'm not mad about the wall," Joyce assured her. One had uncovered a warning about a lurking danger and that was much more important than her new wallpaper.
Once she felt confident that Joyce was telling the truth, One slowly followed after Joyce and Will up the stairs and to their car. On the way she caught eyes with Steve and blushed a bit as she recalled what she had seen in the portal. She wanted to look down but she felt drawn in when he flashed her an understanding smile. She had a strong feeling that she would see Steve Harrington again soon.
"Do any of the rest of you need rides?" Hopper asked before he set up the stairs with a very grumpy Eleven.
"I've got them, Chief," Steve answered, nodding at Lucas, Dustin, and Max. "Let's go, rugrats."
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"So you and One, huh?" Dustin asked knowingly the second the car door closed after dropping off Lucas. He had been waiting anxiously to drill Steve on his love life the entire car ride and now they were finally alone. Steve's face instantly turned red.
"I don't know what you're talking about..." Steve tried to wave aside Dustin's insinuations but he only succeeded in making himself look more guilty.
"Come on, I saw what you tried to do in there," Dustin smiled knowingly. "Plus the way you kept glancing over at her."
"Come on, Henderson, you're being crazy," Steve scoffed. "You're just making stuff up in your head."
"Just admit that you like her!" Dustin aggressively prodded Steve in his arm making the car turn slightly. When he didn't get a response he decided to try a different approach. "If you're not going to go after her maybe I will."
"She's way too old for you," Steve scoffed, rubbing the spot where Dustin jabbed him. "She needs someone more mature...and with better hair." Steve ruffled Dustin's curly mop with his free hand.
"Like you?" Dustin raised his brows and rolled his tongue.
Steve looked back and forth between Dustin and the road several times before a growing smile gave him away. "Maybe."
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"Maybe."
"What was that, dear?" Joyce asked One, who was sitting in the back seat. One's answer to her question had been too quiet for her to hear.
"Maybe, I'd maybe get a job," One repeated herself a little louder.
"I think it'd be good for you, keep you occupied, especially while the kids are at school," Joyce smiled through the rearview mirror.
Joyce had turned her mind to the long-term; to thoughts of One becoming a permanent resident of Hawkins and maybe even the Byers' clan. One didn't know how to feel about this. This could be her chance at a normal life, but after everything she had been through could she adjust to normality?
As if a cruel joke to answer her question, Will's eyes rolled back and he began to violently seize in the seat next to her. One watched in terror, unsure how to help as Joyce swerved and pulled the vehicle over.
"Will! Will!" Joyce cried, throwing open his door and reaching inside for him. "Honey, what's going on?"
The only response Joyce got from Will was the end of his convulsions. A small sense of relief tried to make its way through One's body but was stopped at the sight of Will's eyes: she could still only see their whites.
One leaned in closer to listen for his breathing and was immediately met with his hands around her neck. She gasped as she tried to pry his fingers off but he had an impossibly strong grip on her neck.
The last thing she heard before succumbing to the darkness was Joyce's shriek: "Will, let her go!"
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"You let her go," Eleven's frustrated voice broke the silence enveloping the car.
"Who?" Hopper asked in confusion.
"One!" Eleven raised her voice, slapping her hands against her legs and turning to face Hopper.
"She's staying with the Byers'," Hopper said. "She has a home."
"Not our home," Eleven sulked, looking away out the window and crossing her arms. She watched the dull white scenery buzz past the car as they drove on a lonely stretch of road.
"You know why she can't stay with us. It's not safe." Hopper tightly pressed his mouth together in a way that conveyed he wasn't going to argue it further.
"She can control it!" Eleven argued, ignoring the firm line where his mouth used to be. "She used it to see the future!"
"Hold on, what?" Hopper slammed on the brakes so hard that smoke fumed from all four tires.
"That's how we found out Papa was coming." Eleven purposely didn't correct herself. The slight wince in Hopper's eye fed her hungry anger.
Once he had gotten past the sting of what Eleven had said, he pressed on with the conversation. "What else did she see in the future?"
"Her...and Steve...at home..." Eleven strained her memory to recall what she had seen in the portal, but things became clearer the more she focused.
"At home? You mean the cabin?"
"Yes," Eleven nodded before continuing. "Loud noise...and..." Eleven stopped suddenly when Hopper moved his sleeve back to scratch his arm and the bright blue of the hair tie around his wrist caught her eye. Eleven touched the hair tie and triggered a memory of something else that was in the portal...a detail she had initially missed...
"And what?" Hopper pressed.
"Sarah's hair tie," Eleven gasped. She had been so distracted by the mysterious noise and the message Future One had given them to recognize it sooner but she had seen it. It was there. "One was wearing it."
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