Second chapter, happy reading!
I don't own anything.
She heard muted voices, her eyes fluttered open. For a moment she had forgotten the night before. She sat up quickly and looked around with fear before the memories came rushing back.
She remembered finding Dustin and Max and Lucas. She remembered his warm coat and his warm room and his big pajamas she was still wearing.
She could hear Dustin's voice, it was muffled but she could make out his laugh. There was another voice, a woman's, she sounded happy.
She got out of the bed and tiptoed across the striped carpet. She stopped and looked around. Last night she couldn't see his room very well in the dark and she just saw it as background in some of his memories. The pants kept falling down so she just stepped out of them and left them on the floor next to a pile of dirty laundry.
She looked at the posters on the wall, Star Wars and The Ghostbusters. He had toys and clothes littering the floor. Her eyes found Yurtle's terrarium, he was basking in the red heat lamp.
She tiptoed forward, she pulled the screen lid off and picked him up by the sides of his shell. That's how Dustin did it in the memory. His shell felt like stone and he legs were rough, unlike anything she'd felt before.
"Sorry." She whispered to him. She could feel his fear and anxiety, she was a new person and he didn't feel safe in her hands. She put him on the carpet and sat cross-legged in front of him.
She watched him slowly move across the carpet like his feet were stuck to the floor. She giggled as she pet the top of his head with the back of her index finger.
Dustin had walked into the room after his mother left for work. She hadn't noticed him open the door, she was mesmerized by Yurtle's slow movements. She giggled at him, the sound of Dustin's thoughts caused her to turn. She looked at Dustin with blushing cheeks. He smiled back at her.
"What's adorable?" She asked him. His cheeks immediately reddened.
"Uhg, it's like cute." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground.
"Like pretty?" She questioned further.
"Kind of, like a funny pretty." He laughed the words. She shrugged her shoulders and looked back at the tortoise making a break for the closet. She gently gripped his shell and moved him back in front of her.
"So, you need a name. I have to call you something." Dustin said smiling. She gave him her attention.
"Do you wanna go by ten?" He asked. She thought for a moment and looked down at her wrist, she moved the pajama sleeve up and looked at the numbers. She remembered the bad place and Papa and felt sick. She shook her head in response.
"No, ok. Well what about Madison, like in Splash? Not that I saw it, it's a girl movie." His cheeks blushed. And they both started giggling.
He dropped into the chair by the foot of his bed and started thinking, she looked at the floor and saw a smooth shape that reflected the sunlight. She moved it around in her fingers. It was white with black numbers on each side counting to ten.
"That's a decahedron, it's one of the dice we use in d&d." He spoke plainly then sat up.
"That's it, that could be your name." He smiled then frowned.
"If you like it." He said with a forced shrug.
"Decahedron?" She wasn't sure about it. She looked at the die in her hand.
"Maybe not, what about Deca?" He suggested.
"Deca. Deca." She repeated. It felt nice in her mouth and maybe it suited her.
"A decahedron has ten sides and its small, like you, but strong, like you can't break it. And we use it for percentile rolls, you definitely break the odds." He smiled then his cheeks blushed again.
"I like it. I'm Deca." Deca said. She still wasn't sure about the name, but she liked that it came from Dustin.
"Hi Deca, I'm Dustin." He put his hand out to hers. She took it and immediately felt as he did. He was happy that she had a name and happy that he met her.
"I'm happy I met you too. Can I meet El and Mike and Will too? And Steve? And Max and Lucas again?" She asked, eyes wide with hope.
"How do you know about everyone?" He asked.
"Moments, the special ones." She replied.
"What can you do?" He spoke with caution, he wasn't sure if it was ok to ask that.
"I can hear thoughts, see memories, feel feelings." She spoke softly, trying not to scare him.
"That's badass." He smiled at her.
"Papa made me do bad things too, but I didn't want to. I'm not bad." She spoke seriously. This tone scared Dustin a bit.
"What bad things?" He asked in a low voice, almost a whisper.
"Pain." She said. He knew not to ask anymore. That small word made her voice shake and her eyes water. She tried to block the memory, but it struck her like lightening.
She kept seeing him, he was handcuffed and had a black eye. His thoughts were fast and loud and scared. They asked him questions and she told them his answers and when he stopped thinking the answers she did what they told her.
She made him feel all his pain, she brought every ounce of pain he's ever felt back into his body all at once. He screamed and cried, and she felt it all too. That broke him, but it also broke her.
"Shit, are you ok?" Dustin asked kneeling onto the floor in front of her. She wiped the tear off her cheek.
"Bad memory." She shrugged her shoulders and exhaled.
"I'm sorry, are you hungry?" He asked trying to lighten the mood. She nodded eagerly, she had eaten in a few days. They both got up and she followed him to the kitchen. She liked looking at the pictures of him when he was little, with his friends, always smiling big. In most the pictures he didn't have teeth, he looked funny.
"Cute." She smiled at the framed picture of him holding a much smaller Yurtle.
"Do you like cereal?" He asked. Deca nodded, she didn't know if she liked it or not. In the mornings, she sometimes didn't eat but if she did she would have oatmeal. She didn't like oatmeal.
"Is Cap'n Crunch ok?" He asked holding the colorful box, she nodded, and the little yellow squares poured into a blue glass bowl. He poured milk over it, threw in a spoon and put in on the kitchen counter for her. She looked at it carefully then picked up the spoon and took a bite.
"Mmm," Deca shoveled more cereal into her mouth. It was sweet and crunchy and made her smile. She ate fast, she hadn't realized how hungry she really was until that moment. She put the spoon in the bowl and looked over at Dustin whose mouth hung open.
"Hungry?" He asked. She nodded and chewed the cereal which crunched loudly in her mouth. He laughed, and she almost spit out the mouthful of Cap'n Crunch she struggled to chew. She tried to focus on the sound of her chewing, she tried to stay out of his head but it was difficult.
She noticed how he kept looking down at her legs. He kept telling himself to stop, to stare at something else. She tried not to listen.
"Is it rude?" Deca asked after finally swallowing.
"What?" He asked.
"Listening to your thoughts." She spoke softly, almost shamed.
"Uhh, no. I don't think so." He shrugged his shoulders. She sighed in relief.
Can you hear me now? Dustin thought. She nodded her head. He laughed.
"Holy shit, that's cool." His smile was big. She finished her cereal as he got dressed.
"Do you want to shower?" He shouted from the bedroom. The idea made her uneasy. She didn't like decontamination; the hose was painful and cold. Dustin came out of the bedroom and his smile faded when he saw her.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Do I have to?" She whispered.
"I mean no, but you were in the woods for a couple days." He looked down at her feet which still had dirt on them, there was dirt under her nails and she had blood stains on her wrist and leg. She saw his point, she needed to be clean.
"Do we do it outside?" She asked, preparing herself mentally.
"No, in the bathroom." He chuckled then straightened his face. She followed him to the bathroom, he put a towel on the bathroom counter.
"I guess you can use my mom's shampoo. Is that ok?" He asked, his face red.
"Shampoo?" She repeated the word she didn't know.
"Like soap for your hair. Here I'll start the water for you." He bent down and moved the knobs as water poured from the faucet. She sighed with relief when she realized what a shower was. She took off the pajama shirt and dropped it to the ground.
"Shit!" Dustin gasped as he turned to see her. He faced the opposite direction. His thoughts were fast, and he was embarrassed.
"Well, I'll leave you to it." He spoke fast and got out of the bathroom. She didn't know why he got embarrassed. Deca shrugged and stepped into the bath.
The warm water hit her, and she sighed in relief. It felt nice. She put her face in the water and rubbed her hair until it was wet. She looked down at her wrist and rubbed the dried blood off. She started to cry.
Deca tried to stop but the tears came out of her like she was the faucet. She didn't understand how any of this happened. She always wanted to escape the bad men, but she thought she would have her brother by her side.
She thought of his face, he was probably different now. She remembered the times he would comfort her, hold her to his chest and think good thoughts for her to listen to.
She put the shampoo in her hair and scrubbed her feet and legs with the bar of soap. She liked showering, it felt good to rub her scalp with her fingers and rinse the soap out of her shoulder length hair.
She had gotten the dirt out from her fingernails and she looked so clean now. She turned the knob on the wall and the water got ice cold. She yelped at the surprise and then turned the other one until the water stopped.
She stepped out of the tub and reached for the blue towel. She wrapped it around her and breathed out. She sat down on the edge of the tub and looked down at her clean feet, wrinkly and pale.
She stood back up and looked at the foggy mirror on the wall, she wiped it with her hand, so she could see most of her face. Her dark brown hair was flat to her head and her eyes were red from the crying.
She opened the bathroom door and looked for Dustin. He was sitting on the sofa watching the TV. He looked up at her and immediately flushed. Don't be weird. Don't be we- he thought to himself then locked eyes with her.
"Did I do something wrong?" She asked wiping water from her brow.
"No, girls just don't get naked in front of boys." He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks were burning.
"Why not?" She asked.
Jesus Christ, he thought. "They just don't." He spoke plainly. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Can I meet El today?" She changed the subject, she didn't like embarrassing him.
"I walkied Lucas, the party's coming over." He gave a small smile.
"I need clothes." She spoke softly and looked down at her feet. She started to get cold. He nodded and went to his room. He handed her some clothes.
"I doubt they'll fit." He chuckled. She nodded and set them down on the couch.
"Wait! I gotta go to my room." He spoke fast and marched out of the room. She forgot about the rule.
She picked up the gray long sleeve tshirt and put it on, it stuck to her wet back, but it was soft. She looked down and there were blue and green plaid boxer shorts, she shrugged and put them on. They were falling off her skinny frame, she folded the elastic waist band over and it helped a bit.
She stepped into the blue sweat pants he left. They had a draw string, she pulled it as tight as it would go and tied it just like how she used to do with the white gown she'd wear.
"Dressed!" She called to him in his room. She heard the door open and he walked into the living room. She smiled at him and this made him smile.
He chuckled at how much smaller she looked in his clothes. She reached out and took his hand in hers, his hand was warm. She saw herself through his eyes, she did look tiny.
"What do you see?" He asked softly.
"Me, I look little." She smiled at him. She started going deeper into his mind, she stepped into a dream.
She was in it, it was them walking through the woods. In the dream it was during the day and the sun made her brown hair shine red. In the dream, Deca looked happy and Dustin felt happy too.
He felt something else besides happy, the feeling was warm and fluttery. It made her belly feel strange and her throat dry, she could feel her cheeks go red.
"Woah," Lucas exhaled from the partially opened doorway. He startled her, and she let go of Dustin's hand and looked at the carpet.
"Dude, she can see my memories. Try." Dustin urged to Lucas as he stepped into the living room.
"Since she's from the lab too, is she like El?" Lucas asked, he already knew the answer though. Dustin nodded and sat on the couch. Lucas looked different in the daytime, he had a nice smile.
"Does she move stuff like El?" Lucas asked. Dustin shook his head.
"Deca reads minds, like Professor X. And she can go into your head, she sees memories." Dustin looked at Deca and smiled. It's ok, he's our friend. He thought so she could hear.
"Deca?" Lucas asked, his eyebrows raised.
"That's her name. Like Decahedron, like ten." Dustin explained. Lucas nodded in response when there was a knock at the door. Dustin opened it and Max stood there holding a skateboard. He waved her inside.
"You look better than you did last night." Max looked Deca up and down and smiled.
"I showered, and I scared Dustin." Deca replied nonchalantly.
"How?" Max smiled and looked curious.
"I got undressed, girls aren't allowed to do that around boys." She said plainly. Lucas and Max erupted into laughter.
"Fuck you guys." Dustin said under his breath. His cheeks were bright red. Deca felt bad, she didn't want to embarrass Dustin.
"Is El coming?" Deca asked curiously, she hoped the question would stop their laughter.
"Mike's coming first. He wants to protect his El." Max put her hand to her forehead and rolled her eyes, Lucas laughed. Deca nodded and looked down at the ground again.
She tried staying out of their heads, she was worried that they were thinking about her. She looked towards the door that was opening and saw a tall boy with curly black hair. He looked up and saw her, he looked mad.
"This is Deca." Dustin said to him.
"I'm Mike." He said with a forced smile. He put his hand out to her, she took it and immediately saw flashes of El.
She had a shaved head like Deca had when Papa was around. When she smiled at him his heart raced and he felt happy. His feelings for her were something Deca had never felt before. Her heart felt full, like it could burst.
It was like she was swimming in it, in that feeling. She was drowning in it, but it felt nice. It surrounded her and smothered her but at the same time it lifted her up to the sky.
That happiness turned to pain, heartbreaking pain that she thought would kill her. It was like her heart did burst, she endured the pain he felt and she saw images of the blanket fort and the radio. She let the tears fall from her eyes, she felt her knees go weak and she feared she might fall. She let go of his hand and looked at him.
"What happened?" Mike asked, he looked at her with confusion and fear. Deca responded by embracing him, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.
"I'm sorry." She whispered into his ear. She felt the blood drip onto her lip, but she didn't care. She had never felt pain like that, she didn't know how he survived it after a year of that pain.
She lived through the moments of him crying in bed when no one could hear and punching the pillows El and him used to lay on. His heart broke when El disappeared, Deca never wanted to feel heartbreak. But that feeling El gives him was something she had always wanted, love.
A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. Leave me suggestions for what you'd like to see in the future. I really like writing this. Thanks for reading.