Chapter Three

Other Side

Ronnie stared at the boy above her with a blank stare. Her dark eyes looking back up towards him with a sense of emptiness. She didn't want to move. Because though she was somewhere she didn't understand, she wasn't afraid. Her head tilted to the left and then to the right as she looked him – not speaking a word. Jonathan opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, he didn't know what to say. Ronnie moved slowly to sit up on Jonathan's bed and looked around the room. Noticed the beige walls covered in different kinds of posters and photographs. The curtains were partly drawn across the windows blocking out the streetlight that was across the street. Her eyes slowly moved around the room before settling back on the boy that stood at the end of the bed. His hands nervously moving up and down the top of his pant leg.

"Where?" Ronnie spoke, her voice a soft whisper that Jonathan wasn't sure if he heard her correctly.

"Where?" He asked again, she nodded her head once. "Uh...m-my house."

"House?" Ronnie's face twisted slightly in confusion.

"Yeah, my house." Jonathan looked around before looking back towards Ronnie. "What's your name?"

Ronnie hesitated, biting down on her chapped lip and looked down "S-Seven."

Ronnie decided to give the name Papa had given her. Even though she wasn't afraid of the boy standing in front of her. She didn't want to give her true name to him in case something were to happen. One of the many gifts that Ronnie was give was that she was able to read people. She was able to know if the person was positive or negative depending on their energy. The read she was able to get off Jonathan was a soothing calm of positive. But that didn't fully mean she was going to trust him. She trusted Papa and he had hurt her many times.

"Seven? Like the number?" Jonathan asked and Ronnie nodded once. "Ok, Seven...w-why were you out in the woods?"

"Finding Eleven." Her voice was slightly louder as she spoke. "Need to find Eleven."

"Eleven is you...sister?" Jonathan asked causing Ronnie to shake her head. "Friend?" Ronnie nodded. "Um...should I call for help?"

Jonathan moved towards his bedroom door causing Ronnie to jump up quickly and nearly scream towards him "No!"

Jonathan jumped back and looked towards the girl with wide eyes, her eyes staring back up towards him with fear, worry and panic. He took a few steps back and nodded his head causing Ronnie to slowly relax as she looked towards him. Jonathan once again looked down over the girl and immediately thought of something that would help her relax.

"Why don't we get you some clean clothes? Shower? And food?" Jonathan spoke as he turned around and grabbed a tshirt and some sweat pants from his dresser.

He grabbed a towel from the closet before turning back to Ronnie's whose arms are wrapped around herself. Ronnie watched Jonathan as he looked down towards her and smiled slightly, before motioning towards the hallway. She turned slowly, her feet settling into the plush shag carpet of the hallway, and waited for Jonathan to lead her to the bathroom. Jonathan set the clothes down onto the small counter space in the bathroom, before turning on the shower towards the warm water.

"You go ahead and...t-take your time. I'll make us some sandwiches." Jonathan spoke as he walked around her and back towards the hallway. He moved to close the door behind him but Ronnie quickly reached and stopped it, her dark eyes looking back towards him with that sense of fear and panic from before. "You want it open?"

"Please...no close." Ronnie whispered again as she stared towards him.

"Ok, ok. I'll leave it open." He nodded his head and let go of the doorknob. "Call to me if you need anything? Ok?"

Ronnie nodded her head before turning towards the shower, she looked over her shoulder to notice Jonathan was gone, before she stripped out of the tattered and dirty hospital gown. If Jonathan were in the room with her he'd be able to see more bruises littered more than just her arms and legs. Her ribs were covered in dark blue and purple spots, some brown and yellow from fading as they healed. Also scars covered her torso, back and biceps. Marks from being poked and prodded by Dr. Brenner and the other technicians of Hawkins Lab. The moment the warm water hit her cold skin she let out a shuddered before relaxing into the warmth. She stood there for a moment letting the warm water fall over her skin before she reached and grabbed some soap and began to wash her body. Ronnie watched as the dirty fell with the water down the drain, leaving her skin feeling soft and clean. Ronnie stayed there till the water ran cold, before turning off the water, and grabbed the towel. She dried off before slipping into the tshirt and pants that Jonathan had left for her. The shirt swallowed her entire frame falling down towards her knees and the pants barely stayed up.

Slowly she walked out of the bathroom and walked towards the front of the house, following the noise of Jonathan in the kitchen, before stopping in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. Jonathan turned quickly towards the door the moment he sensed that someone was standing behind him.

"Hey," He spoke the moment his eyes landed on Ronnie, before turning back slightly and grabbing the plate with the pb&j sandwich "I-I made you something to eat."

Ronnie tentatively walked towards the table and took a seat as Jonathan slowly placed the plate down in front of her. She just stared down at the sandwich down in front of her, before looking back up towards Jonathan.

"D-Do you not like...it?" He spoke slowly

Ronnie stared up at him again before grabbing the sandwich and taking a large bite out of the white bread sandwich. As Ronnie ate her food Jonathan cleaned up around the kitchen, looking towards her every once and a while, to make sure that she was ok. As he finished cleaning she finished off the sandwich. She placed her hands down on her lap before looking up towards Jonathan.

"Guess you like it, huh?" He chuckled softly before grabbing the plate and setting it down into the sink. Ronnie stood up from the chair and slowly started to walk around the house, heading first towards the living room. Behind her she was able hear Jonathan walking behind her, keeping a distance, but watching as she moved.

She moved along the walls of the living room, looking along the pictures that were framed but stopped immediately when he eyes fell on one photo that hung in the middle of the wall. It was a photo of Jonathan and a woman, and in front of that woman was a boy. Looked similar to Jonathan with the same dark hair, dark eyes and bright smile. But he was younger and the moment Ronnie's eyes fell onto him – her heart sank. Jonathan noticed her stop in the family photo he had with his mother and his little brother Will. Her small hand reached up and gently traced over the face of the younger boy.

"That's my little brother," Jonathan spoke as he walked closer to her. "H-he's missing."

"Will." Ronnie whispered. "Other side."

"What?"

"Other side. Will on other side." Ronnie looked towards Jonathan, his stomach dropped.

"He's not...dead. He's missing." Ronnie shook her head before turning back towards the photo and tapped twice on the photo of Will. "Upside down...o-other side."

Jonathan looked towards her confused but was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up outside the house. Ronnie jumped and moved back away from the photo and hid behind Jonathan. He gently caressed her arm and looked towards her.

"It's ok...I-It's probably my mom." Jonathan spoke before walking towards the front door and unlocked it just as Joyce Byers walked up the steps and into the house. A large cardboard box in her arms as she rushed into the house.

"Jonathan I already know what you're going to say...and I don't wanna hear it. I need to find Will." Joyce rambled before noticing the girl huddled in the far corner of the room. The moment Ronnie's eyes met with Joyce's she was once again left with the soothing calm that Jonathan had.

"Momma! Momma look!" Ronnie giggled as she rushed towards her mother sitting on the back porch of their home, a lemonade in hand, as she spoke to the woman sitting behind her.

Lauren Gray turned towards her daughter, a bright smile spreading across her face, as Ronnie rushed towards her with a flower in hand. Well it wasn't really a flower, it was a dandelion, but to Ronnie is was a beautiful yellow flower. She held it up towards her mother, her dark brown eyes shining up towards her mother, and a missing tooth in her smile.

"Well look at that beauty." Lauren bent down slightly and took the small weed from her five year old daughter's hand. "Thank you so much. You find some more."

"Jonathan did Momma!" Ronnie spoke, quickly pointing across the yard towards the boy, the same age, kneeling towards the back of the yard. "We found lots of pretty flowers."

"Well why don't you gather as much as you can, and we'll put them in a vase?" Lauren spoke with a soothing voice.

"Ok!" Ronnie jumped down from the porch with excitement as she rushed towards Jonathan at the back of the yard.

"She's getting so big so quick, I swear I'm gonna blink and she'll be a teenager." Lauren laughed before taking a drink from the lemonade in her hand.

"Trust me, I think the same with Jonathan and Will. Will is barely a year old and already he's growing so much." Joyce Byers smiled before flicking off the end of her cigarette. "You and Greg gonna have more?"

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I feel we hit perfection with that one right there. But who knows, maybe one day?"

Joyce smiled towards her friend before taking another drag of her cigarette and looked back towards the kids playing in the backyard. The two laughed and giggled as they ran around the fence line and plucked the dandelions from the ground and gathered them in their small hands. But it was the moment where Veronica, Ronnie, was sitting alone that caught Joyce's attention.

For a second she thought she was probably hallucinating. Veronica sat with her legs folded and in front of her a small flower was hovering over the ground. It was by only an inch or so but the moment Joyce blinked the moment was gone and over. She turned towards her friend to see if she'd saw the same thing – but she was still speaking about a show she had watched the night before. Joyce looked towards Ronnie, back towards Lauren, before taking another drag of her cigarette. She just blamed her lack of sleep before moving on.

Joyce stared towards Ronnie and didn't recognize her at all. Of course it had been twelve years since she last saw the girl. It was only a week later that Ronnie went missing after their play date with Jonathan in the Gray household's backyard. She just stared at the girl for a moment before turning back towards her son.

"Who is this?" Joyce asked as she slowly sat the cardboard box on the coffee table.

"Uh...t-this is Seven. I found her in the woods out back, she seemed lost." Jonathan spoke before walking back towards Ronnie. He knelt down in front of her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, Ronnie jumping slightly from the touch.

"It's ok. That's my mom" Jonathan spoke in a tone that eased some of Ronnie's anxiety over the new person standing in front of her.

Slowly she unfolded from herself before allowing Jonathan to gently grab her hands and pull her up front the corner she was huddled into. Ronnie's eyes moved from Jonathan to Joyce as he moved her towards the couch to take a seat. Joyce looked down towards the girl in front of her with a hesitant look not fully knowing what was going on.

"Jonathan can I speak with you in the kitchen please?" Joyce spoke but her eyes still on Ronnie.

Jonathan nodded his head before following his mother towards the kitchen - leaving Ronnie in the living room alone. The moment Jonathan moved through the door way his mother turned towards him.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" She folded her arms across her chest.

"I found her in the wood, mom. I didn't know what else to do. She looked scared, cold and like she had been out there for day." Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.

Joyce looked back towards the living room, the girl no longer on the couch but back towards the photo of Will.

"Did you get a name?"

Jonathan nodded "Seven."

Joyce gave him a weird look. "Like the number." He nodded "Well do we know if her parents are looking for her? Call the Hopper?"

"She freaked the moment I mentioned that." Jonathan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I think she came from somewhere bad mom. Let's just...give her a few days. Maybe then she'll be comfortable enough?"

Jonathan looked towards his mother and bit down on his lip, watching and waiting for a reaction, and hoping his mother would know what to do. Because from the moment he brought Ronnie home he had no idea what the next was to be.

"Ok," Joyce sighed softly and nodded her head. "She can stay and sleep on the couch...or something. And then in the morning we take her to Hopper and see if we can find her family or something."

AN: Thanks for all the reviews guys! I'm glad that you're enjoying it. This story will eventually be Steve x Ronnie. I was asked what time period this story is taking place and it's during Season 1 right after Will went missing and Eleven is found my Mike, Dustin and Lucas. Ronnie is Jonathan and Steve's age. I love to hear my readers thoughts and if you have any other questions please ask! I will answer what I can without giving anything away.