Chapter 021: The Bear Minimum

It was the summer of 1976. The day was hot, and the nights were long. Joyce was working overtime, so I had agreed to watch the Byers boys for her. She had finally given in to my pestering the prior year, and our relationship would continue for another two years. Daisy got along well with her two sons, so the five of us spent most of our free time together. On this particular day, I was busy tending to a wilting blueberry bush that I had planted for Joyce a few weeks ago. One thing led to another, and I was rearranging the entire backyard. Thankfully, the kids were typically well off on their own, so I did not have much to worry about. Still, I had felt incredibly guilty for neglecting them the entire day, whether they noticed or not, and had promised I would make it up to them by heading down to the fair later that night.

At that age, Daisy was absolutely fascinated by bears—specifically pandas—so when she saw the fluffiest stuffed panda bear around, she had to have it. At the time, Daisy was nine years old, which is not quite old enough to be embarrassed by her uncle, but it was old enough for her fiery need for independence. She struggled, trying over and over again to pop the correct balloons in the correct amount of time. I had thought about offering her my help many times, but I knew she would refuse with that typical nine-year-old attitude. At the rate she was going, I would need a second job just to afford it. My solution was Jonathan, Joyce's oldest son, who Daisy had recently taken a liking to. It did not take much coercing to get him to step in, but I did make him recite the balloon pattern back to me a few times before sending him over.

The look on her face when Jonathan handed her that panda bear was a moment that people spent a lifetime searching for, and I got to experience hundreds of them. I felt pride in even her simplest accomplishments. When she was just a few months old, she started blowing raspberries into her blankets. I spent weeks bragging to strangers about it and could not fathom why they were not jumping with joy. It felt like I was justifying my excitement more than I was talking about it. I guess that was how it went though. Biologically, she was my niece, but in every other aspect of life, she was my daughter. Everything she did was the greatest thing ever. I loved her more than life itself, which was why I was doing what I was.

That same panda, who she had lovingly named Bruce all those years ago, was no longer the fluffy toy it was originally. The fur had lost its shine, beaten down by age, countless hours of make believe, and so many rides through the washing machine that I had lost count. Everything was so much different now. The handwritten note I had been scribbling now felt as if it were burning a hole in my lap. I did not want to leave her, but I had no other choice. I wanted to wait for her to come home, to tell her everything in person, and to give her one last hug, but that would have made this all that much more difficult for everyone. She would cry. I would cry. She would be confused, and I would lack the days it would take to explain everything to her, so this was the best that I could do. I hoped she could forgive me for that.

I held the panda to my chest, tears trickling down and dripping onto my now wrinkled dress pants. "I'm sorry," I choked out, hoping somehow that this stuffed animal could whisper the words to her for me. I meant it more than anything. If I could go back in time and tell myself what I knew now, I would have told her everything.

With one last sweep of her room, the messy floor and cluttered nightstand, I folded up the note and placed it under the panda with a single piece of tape. I knew that she would find it before Brenner knew what was happening, but with enough time in between that she would not be able to come looking for me, or at least I hoped that would be the case. I was risking everything for that, and I mean everything.

The two emerged from the doorway just as I was able to duck back behind the corner. I could not hear what they were saying, and it honestly did not matter once I spotted what I needed. It was only a split second, but I knew it was Daisy's file sitting on Brenner's office desk, tucked neatly behind an EKG machine. I waited for a moment, not even daring to blow my cover by popping my head back out. The hallway clock ticked over and over again until I had counted ten minutes. Surely that was enough time for Frazier and him to make it out of the building.

Once the hallways fell silent, I peered around the corner only to be met with emptiness, dozens of cameras, and a dirty bucket of mop water. I knew that the cameras would eventually pick up what I was doing, and I would have to answer for it if I made it back, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. I avoided looking into them as I made my way down the hall, hoping that whoever was watching would assume I just simply had a long night. If they were to put the pieces together before I made it to the portal, I would surely be killed, so I was going to need to be clever here.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the cameras following me. It was exactly what I was hoping for. Whoever was in control of them was so focused on me, the only scientist left for the night, that they would not possibly notice if I duplicated myself—as long as I did it right. I made sure I did not hesitate as I dragged my foot across the floor, conveniently snagging my heel hard enough to stumble sideways and send my laboratory badge into the mop bucket. I groaned loud enough for the cameras to pick it up, making a show out of bending over and fishing it out.

As I pulled the card out of the water, I paused and took a handkerchief out of my dress shirt, kneeling down as I pretended to towel it off. My eyes closed as soon as I was sure the cameras could only see my back profile. I was not the best at conjuring duplicates, especially when they are not physically next to me. I knew Brenner did not keep cameras in his office, so if I were to pull this off, it would hurry things along quite a bit. My head started to get a little dizzy as I concentrated on Brenner's office door. I had only been in his office a handful of times in the last few years, but there was one thing that I knew he kept in there. It was a photo that his prodigy test subject, a girl named Eleven, had drawn in one of her sessions with him. The colors were not specific, but I could recall two stick figures holding hands. There were flowers decorating the edges of the picture. She had so much innocence still left in her when she made it for him. I thought, maybe, that this was why he kept it.

When I opened my eyes, the image was hazy. It was as if I was on the verge of going blind, tunnel vision and a lack of color. I did not have time to search around. Thankfully, Brenner kept his office clean, so it did not take long for my duplicate to find the file. It was exactly where I had thought I spotted it. As the duplicate reached down, my vision started rapidly dimming. I was forced to make him stumble to the ground and fling the file towards the door, hoping he had had enough energy left to throw it far enough.

Just as the duplicate faded, I snapped back into my own body. I blinked and felt something hit my shoe. As I looked down, a cheesy grin spread across my face. I had done it. I quickly stuffed the file into my coat before anyone could notice and stood up, making sure the cameras saw me shaking my head in frustration as I stuffed my badge back into my pocket and headed straight to my office.

As soon as my office door closed, I threw the file onto my desk and began scattering the pages and sifting through them. What I saw shocked me. If I was not worried before, I definitely was now. The first page had a photo of an infant Daisy and her parents, her mother only halfheartedly cradling her as her father—my brother—stared blankly into the camera. My spine shivered. We had the same face, but I still knew. He was an evil man capable of the cruelest things, and not only did he know it, but he embraced it. Aside from Brenner, he was who I had to keep Daisy away from. His name was scribbled down next to hers and her mother's, and I wanted nothing more than to rip the page to shreds. He did not deserve to have his name written next to theirs—not after what he did to Daisy's mother.

Out of sheer disgust, I grabbed the paper, crumbling it up and tossing it to the floor. The next page had a photo of me, the same one used for my ID badge, with Daisy's latest school picture underneath it. Then there were photos of her with Jonathan, with Will, with Joyce, Hopper, just about everyone she had ever been in contact with. They had been following her for years. They knew about her. For. Years. That's when I saw it. Written at the very top of the first sheet of information was '000 – control subject'. And then it hit me. Brenner knew about her all along. He knew she was special. He did not offer me this job in exchange for her protection. He offered it to me so she would stay in Hawkins. He was studying her the whole time. And for what? To compare her strength to the rest of his innocent science experiments? My ears were starting to ring. I had never had a panic attack before, but I certainly felt like I was going to. I continued sifting through papers, stopping once I found a section labelled 'prospective abilities.'

Bilocation – 000 has demonstrated this ability numerous times. 000 is able to cross through the portal but loses consciousness quickly. This typically occurs while 000 is asleep. If 000 were to improve, it is possible she may be able to do this fully conscious.

Ergokinesis – This seems to be 000's most frequently accessed ability. She is able to conjure visible energy with decreasing effort. The threat is low. 000 does not currently possess the ability to control this, but it is likely to occur in the near future.

Remote Viewing – 000 has yet to access this ability. It is unknown if she possesses it but is assumed due to familial relations.

Dermo-Optical Perception – This is a unique ability that only 000 has been able to demonstrate. Subjects can access astral projection through mental abilities, but 000 may be able to do this through touch. It is not known for sure, but 000 appears to lack auditory abilities while performing bilocation and instead senses and emits soundwaves through physical sensations.

Each page held a plethora of information, from details of all her friendships and even all the way down to her school schedule each year. There were countless years' worth of her life all summarized and scribbled in a thick, sturdy file. They had kept it from me all this time. My initial thought was that Brenner knew I would take her and run at the first sign of danger, and I had nearly accepted that theory until I made it to the last page. What I read took the breath from my lungs.

They had been using Daisy as a control subject her entire life. Brenner knew that she would have these unique abilities. This whole time, he had been studying her and waiting to see if she would figure them out on her own. He was using my niece to assure himself that this 'knowledge' he was teaching these children came from his lessons and not from instinct. As soon as she started showing signs of being gifted, his interest in her grew. He believes firmly that Daisy, despite her lack of involvement, had something to do with the creation of the portal into this alternate universe, and he was basically employing me to find the link between the two. The only part of his synopsis that I knew was wrong was when he stated that she was, for lack of a better term, a late bloomer. He did not know about the plants I had grown and had been feeding her for years that had stunted her abilities. If I had never made that discovery, I am sure she would have reached her full potential by now, and then who knows what would happen. I have no doubt that Brenner would have already gotten her in his grips.

Just as I had placed the last page back into the file, sirens started to ring out through the halls. My heart sped up. I knew things were going too smoothly. I quickly locked my office door and pulled a small paper shredder out from under my desk. I did not know how much time I had left, so I started with the most important document, the names and photos of Daisy's parents, because I knew her curiosity would send her into a deep dive of the horrors behind our family if she ever found out, and who knows what would become of her. One by one, I stuffed a couple more papers down the slot before I started hearing some commotion down the hall. It was evident that I did not have anymore seconds to spare, so I kicked the shredder back under my desk, as if I had never touched it, and stuffed the rest of the documents inside of my lab coat. Brenner may be on to her, but losing these papers would surely buy some time for her to evade him.

When I had finally ripped my door back open, I could hear the sound of dress shoes smacking the tiles and did not bother to waste my time looking around the corner. Every station was empty as I bolted into the examination room that I had already spent so many hours in. There were no lights flashing there, and I am not sure how, but that made me even more anxious. I quickly pulled a hazmat suit from the wall, basically jumping inside of it and zipping it right up. It was something I had done at least one million times in the past, so it did not take me long. As I got to the portal, I paused for one single moment and took a deep breath. I was really doing this. I was potentially walking right into a suicide mission. I knew Daisy was worth it though, and that was exactly what I told myself as I took my first step into the portal, swearing that I could finally hear the security alarms start to go off from behind me. This is it.