Chapter Eight
Reunited
Jim Hopper sat across from Joyce with a pensive look on his face, smoke dancing between the two of them from the cigarette that was placed between his fingers. He had shown up to her house hours ago after breaking into Hawkins Lab. For day something about the lab wasn't sitting right with him and he knew he needed to see it for himself. And what he found only confused him more and more. Jim knew something terrible was happening behind those concrete walls and it was further substantiated when he found the rooms that obviously belonged to children.
"So you're telling me their doing some sort of experiments...o-on children?"
"I don't know Joyce but that's what it looked like. There were laboratories along with kids room...I-I wouldn't even call them rooms. It looked more like a prison but...there were drawings all over the place."
"Drawings?" Joyce perked up and gripped the glass in her hand tighter. "What kind of drawings? Were they good?"
"Good?" Jim quickly took a drag from the cigarette between his fingers, his face twisting slightly in confusion as he looked towards her. "I don't know. They were kids drawings. They either had the number seven or eleven written at the bottom."
"Seven? L-Like...Seven, Seven?" Joyce asked "Not sighed by Will."
He shook his head and smashed the remainder of his cigarette into the glass ash tray that rested in the center of the table.
"No. Not Will." Jim sighed "T-There's something I need to tell you about...the girl...Seven." Joyce's eyes snapped towards him, letting Jim know that he had her full attention. Joyce could tell from his body language that he was nervous. "The reports came back from her." He hesitated "It's Lauren's kid."
Joyce gasped "Lauren...Lauren Gray? B-But..."
"I know." Jim whispered "I kind of already had a feeling that it was...she just...she looks so much like..."
"Lauren" Joyce interrupted and finished "Something about her face was familiar but I couldn't place it." Joyce paused and reached to grab the pack of smokes from the table and quickly lit one for herself. "So...Seven...or...Veronica. Fuck."
Joyce couldn't help but have her eyes water from the thought of the missing girl finally being found. But it only broke her heart more.
"She's branded Jim. Branded." Joyce's voice cracked "And you think she came from this place?"
"I would make sense." Jim hesitated for a moment "T-There's something else...Joyce."
"What?" Her voice was still shaky as she spoke.
"Veronica...she's not Greg's kid." He bit his lip and began to fiddle with his calloused fingers. "Greg isn't Veronica's father."
"Who is?"
"I am." Jim spoke, his eyes staying on Joyce. "Lauren and I...we hooked up shortly before and after she married Greg. She wasn't happy with him but knew she was stuck in the marriage. When she found out she was pregnant...she told him that it was his. But as she got older...I connected the time line. I knew...I knew that Veronica was mine."
"Jesus Christ, Jim." Joyce sighed and closed her eyes before reaching up and walking towards the fridge, grabbing two beers from and opening them quickly. She placed one down in from of Jim before taking a long drink from her own.
"I-I know...when she went missing I couldn't say anything. I had to act like..." His voice cracked and his eyes began to water as he thought back to the day the station got the call. "Only for her to be right under our fucking nose this whole time."
The two friends sat in silence in the dim light of Joyce's dining room. Joyce finished off two more cigarette's before speaking towards Jim once more.
"You said the other pictures had the number eleven?" Joyce asked
"Yeah." Jim's voice was meek and small, which was odd for the larger man. "What does that matter?"
"Seven...or V-Veronica kept talking about a girl names Eleven...that it wasn't her sister but was her friend. What if that's where she's gone...to look for this Eleven...person."
Jim stood up quickly and grabbed his jacket that was thrown over the back of the chair that he was sitting in.
"We need to take a quick trip. When looking into this lab I cam across a few things that I think can help us not only figure out what's going up there, but what happened to Will as well."
Joyce nodded her head and stubbed off her remaining cigarette before standing quickly. She followed after Jim, grabbing her coat on the way out, before the two got into his truck.
-x-x-x-
Ronnie whimpered softly as she felt the sunlight spread across her face and eyes waking her up from her uncomfortable slumber. She could feel the twigs, rocks and leaves digging into her skin as she rested on the Hawkins forest floor. Ronnie rose up slowly and brushed her hair back from her face, no doubt a tangled mess as she began to pick leaves from her ebony curls. She winced slightly from the pain she felt in her stomach as it growled loudly. So hungry, she thought to herself. But Ronnie quickly pushed that thought of her mind as she began to walk. She needed to find Eleven and that was the only thing that was one her mind. The electrical vibration she had felt the night before had faded and was no longer leading her. Not that it really was in the first place.
It felt like hours till she was able to get anything that could give her any clue as to where Eleven was. She broke through the forest line and was welcomed to a shopping area, a plaza filled with multiple stores and restaurant. But that's not what caught her attention. Crowded in the front of the grocery story, the sliding door broken and glass shattered across the concrete. Ronnie know normally that wouldn't mean anything, if it wasn't for the electrical trace that she could feel coursing through the air. It sent shivers down her spine as she stepped closer and closer towards the crowd. She was here. Ronnie knew deep in her gut that Eleven had something to do with the commotion outside this grocery store. As she stepped across the parking lot, following the current, she jumped back as two boy rode past her on bikes. They looked towards her, giving her odd glaces, before riding along. Ronnie watched after them for a while before shaking her head and walking along. Need to focus, need to find Eleven.
-x-x-x-
Ronnie followed the trace that lead her away from the shopping center and back towards the forest. It was farther and farther away from town than she expected. The sun was staring to go down making the air around her colder again. She pulled tightly on her coat, holding it tighter around her body, as she walked along a path that was at the top of a cliff edge.
"Eleven!" a voice shouted out from deep within the woods, making her head snap towards the direction of the voice. "El! Eleven"
It was two voices. Her heart jumped into her throat as she moved to head towards the two voices calling out for Eleven. She could tell that it was two boys and they were farther away from her. Her feet began to move faster and faster against the leave covered floor beneath her, causing her slip slightly with each step that she took. Soon everything around her began to change and more and more she was surrounded by rock and cliffs. When Ronnie turned the corner she could see four boys on the other side, one standing on the edge of the cliff and looking down. She stood back and watched for a moment before suddenly he stepped off. Ronnie's mouth opened with shock, a gasp escaping her lips, as she leached forward – as if she would be able to reach out and stop him. But before she could even think of using her abilities to save the unknown boy, he stopped. Half way down the cliff his body halted and floated above the dark murky lake beneath. Ronnie knew that she wasn't the one to save the boy.
"Eleven." She whispered as she watched the boy start to make his way back up the cliff till he was safely on the ground where he once stood.
Ronnie moved quickly towards the direction and hoping to see her friends standing amount the boys. She moved towards them and soon could see two boys rushing past her, with one clenching his arm tightly as he cried off in pain. Ronnie stopped for a moment to watch him, before turning back towards the direction she was going. She turned a corner and quickly came face to face to not only the two boys she noticed before from back at the grocery store – but Eleven as well. A smile broke out across her face but quickly disappeared as she watched Eleven drop to the grovel floor.
"Eleven!" Ronnie shouted quickly, causing the two boys to look towards her in confusion.
Mike and Dustin looked towards the mysterious girl that seemed to appear out of now where in front of them. She tripped slightly as she moved to kneel down beside Eleven and gently caress the girls face, holding it in her lap and wiping away the blood that fell from Eleven's nose. Ronnie whispered softly to the girl and both boys couldn't help but stand there in confusion at the scene in front of them. Eleven let out a soft whimper and slowly opened her brown eyes and looking up towards Ronnie, causing a smile to spread across the older girls face. Mike and Dustin rushed towards Eleven's side once they heard the soft noise she made, kneeling down beside Ronnie and looking down towards her.
"Eleven! You're ok!" Mike spoke in s hurried tone.
"Oh my god that was so awesome!" Dustin spoke over Mike.
"The gate." Eleven spoke in a hushed tone, so soft that the three weren't fully sure if they heard her, till she spoke again. "The gate, Mike...I-I opened it."
"Gate?" Ronnie turned her gaze towards the shaggy dark haired boy at her side. "What gate?"
"The gate, Seven." Eleven moved to grip Ronnie's hand tightly. "Papa..."
It all clicked in Ronnie's mind and she knew suddenly exactly what Eleven was talking about. She remembered that day. She was left sitting in her room when she felt the building shake as Eleven's scream ripped through the building. Walls crumbled and the lights turned off – encasing Ronnie in darkness. She remembered moving quickly from her bed and underneath it as the walls around her grumbled and shook. It wasn't till hours later that she watched to technicians carry Eleven into her room that she knew something had happened. After that day, Dr. Brenner had the girls work on connecting with the other side that Eleven unintentionally opened up.
"I'm the monster, Mike." Eleven whimpered, her lower lip quivering as her brown eyes moved towards the boy beside Ronnie. "I-I'm sorry."
"No. You're not the monster, El! You saved us!"
"I-I did?"
"I saw, Eleven." Ronnie spoke helping the girl sit up from the hard floor that she had fallen onto. "You saved these boys and that's a good thing."
Eleven moved towards Ronnie and Mike and quickly wrapped her arms around them, Dustin moving to hug from the other side. When Eleven pulled back she moved to grab Ronnie's face and smiled up towards her.
"You found me."
"Of course I did." Ronnie placed her hands on top of Elevens. "Why did you leave? I woke up and was scared when I couldn't find you."
"I was hungry." Eleven spoke in a even tone. Ronnie chuckled and nodded her head, Eleven's explanation enough for her, before pulling her back into another hug.
"Not to be rude or anything," Dustin speaks, his speech slightly slurred thanks to his missing teeth. "But who in the hell are you?"
"I'm Seven." Ronnie moved to stand with the other and looked down towards Dustin. "I'm Eleven's friend."
"Friend?" Mike spoke next. "As in...y-you came from the lab too?"
Ronnie nodded her head and began to fidget with her fingers.
"Do you have superpowers too?" Dustin spoke with a smile. "Like Eleven?"
"Powers?" Ronnie looked towards them confused.
"Can you do what Eleven does?" Mike asked. Ronnie paused for a moment before nodding her head.
"And more." Ronnie looked down towards her feet in slight shame.
"More!" Both boys spoke with excitement in their tone, causing Ronnie to look up quickly and Eleven to lightly giggle.
"We have to find Lucas!" Mike spoke with excitement in his tone. "We have to find him! He went searching for the Gate alone."
Eleven moved quickly and grabbed Ronnie's hand as they both followed along with the two boys. Ronnie couldn't help but smile as she watched them excitedly talk amongst each other, periodically asking her questions as well.