Chapter Twenty-Two
Romance Movies
Hopper sat across from the doctor in the worn-down red leather chair, his tall frame nearly shrinking the chair down. The air was stiff and stale in the corner office on the second floor of Hawkins Lab. In front of the doctor lay lab reports and exam results with Veronica's name typed across the top.
"So what are you trying to tell me here, doc?" Hopper asked with a confused sigh.
"Well the first weird thing to come back is that Veronica doesn't have a blood type, it's like there are no red or white blood cells. That wasn't the first weird indication seeing as we know of her past here at this lap, with Dr. Brenner. But it also seems her brain wavelengths are off the charts as well, almost like...it was taking two tests and combining them into one."
Hopper's face screwed up confused even more, "How is that even possible?"
"I thought maybe, with her special abilities, that could be the reason for the read. But I went through the old files that Dr. Brenner kept. She's had regular readings before, all till one night."
Dr. Brenner went through the files on the top of his desk, before pulling one out and handing it over to Hopper. Hopper flipped through it quickly and saw a date printed on the top of the slightly worn down paper, April 1979. It was mostly things that didn't make sense to Hopper. All test readings from different types of machines. But he was able to recognize heart monitor readings.
"I'm lookin' at a whole lot of mumbo-jumbo here, doc. You gotta help me out here."
"A few years ago Dr. Brenner and the other scientists here were conducting tests on children, that much, we know. Veronica for some peculiar reason was his favorite, along with the other girl we know as Eleven. Now..." Dr. Owens stood and walked around his desk to stand in front of Hopper, "Whatever happened on this night, whatever tests he ran on her, every day her scans come back as doubles with crossed readings. As if there are two minds inside her body."
"What does this mean for her?" Hopper asked, "What does this have to do with the episodes that she's having?"
"From what Veronica explained, with these flashes back to the same place William seems to be having flashes too. It's like the two of them are going through something similar, yet different at the same time. Her experience being more severe. We won't fully know until further testing."
Hopper shook his head, "I'm not letting you turn her into a science experiment again. When everything happened, you all promised she was going to be able to live a normal life."
"It seems, Chief, that place isn't ready to let her go just yet."
Steve pulled up outside the Byers home and parked behind Joyce's station wagon. The sun was starting to set with the rays peaking through the woods at the back of the house. The entire car ride was ridden in silence with neither of them knowing what to say. Veronica seemed to be lost in her own thoughts as she stared out the passenger side window. Steve looked over to her tentatively and reached over to gently caress her arm, causing her head to turn to him quickly.
"Are you sure that you're going to be ok?" Steve asked, his brown eyes filled with concern for the girl sitting in front of him. Veronica sighed softly and nodded her head, "You don't have to...pretend you know. If you're not, I'm here."
"I know," Veronica smiled slightly and reached to unbuckle her seat belt, "I-I'll be fine, just gonna get some rest...I'll see you at school tomorrow?"
"Yeah, yeah." Steve nodded as he watched her step out of the car, sitting there till he watched her disappear into the small home.
Steve sat there for a while suddenly feeling like he couldn't leave her. A part of him was scared to leave her after what he'd seen out on the pier. But after nearly twenty minutes, Steve shifted his car and reversed out of the long driveway.
When Veronica walked into the home the first thing she noticed was how quiet it was, which wasn't something unusual for the Byers home, but there was something about it that felt heavy to her. She could hear soft voices coming from the kitchen area and walked around the corner to see Joyce sitting at the small round wooden table with Will. Both turned their heads to the sound of her footsteps and paused their talking.
"Hey, sweetie," Joyce smiled, pushing back her chair and walking to her, "How was school?"
"F-Fine," Veronica smiled slightly, but couldn't keep her eyes off Will, suddenly feeling a void around the usually vibrant boy. Her brows pinched together, "Everything ok?"
"Yeah, Will's just not feeling too good," Joyce spoke, but Veronica could see the clearly forced smile on her face.
Veronica nodded her head and walked closer to the table, frowning when she saw a few pictures laying across the top. But the moment she saw the black figure drawn on one of the pictures, Veronica's heart sank. Flashes began to play through her mind of what she saw today. The tall looming shadow that seemed to move through the sky toward her caused a dense feeling of fear to wrap around her. It's a shadow that she'd seen only one time before today.
"W-Where did you..." Veronica stammered, picking up the photo, before turning it around to Will. "Where did you see this?"
Will's brown eyes, wide and filled with unshed tears, stared up at her. "I-In some of my episodes. It's always there...I-I saw it today while out on the field at school."
"You've seen this before?" Joyce asked, stepping up closer to Veronica, "You've seen this...Shadow Monster?"
Veronica nodded her head with a soft whimper, setting it down before reaching up to rub at her face. "I-I...I thought it was something that I made up. But then I saw it again today. It felt like it was...searching for something."
"But you've seen it before today?" Joyce pressed.
Veronica nodded her head and whimpered again, wrapping her arms around herself as she suddenly started to feel afraid, like the monster was looming over her again.
"We're gonna figure this out," Joyce spoke to both the fear-stricken children in front of her, "We're gonna figure this out. I promise."
Veronica woke up the next morning to hear Joyce talking on the phone, from the one side of the conversation, she could tell the woman was trying to get a hold of Hopper. She smiled tentatively at her as she passed by and walked to the fridge to grab some food.
"No...I need Hopper, just...have him call me, please." Joyce stressed before hanging up the phone, placing that forced smile back on her face. "How'd you sleep, sweetie?"
"Good, oddly." Veronica spoke, "No nightmares or anything."
"Will's gonna stay home from school. Are you feeling up for school today?"
Veronica nodded her head before popping some bread into the toaster. "I don't feel odd. I think the testing and everything at the lab just had me on edge,"
Joyce nodded her head and moved to turn on the coffee pot, "If you feel...anything while at school, call me or Hopper. Ok?"
Veronica nodded her head as Joyce gently rubbed her back, bringing her into a small hug. Veronica melted into the older woman's arms and found comfort in them, before pulling back. She buttered her toast quickly before heading back down the hall to her room to get ready for the school day. But she faltered for a moment as she passed Will in the hall. His eyes stared at her in a way that made her stomach twist, almost like he was seeing through her.
She walked out and headed down the street, deciding to walk to school, since Jonathan wasn't even up for the day yet. She also wanted to walk in order to clear her mind of things. Veronica felt like a lot of her past that she's fought to bury back down was fighting back to the surface. The last thing she wanted to be reminded of is of the dark times at the Hawkins Lab. Of all the death and horror that surrounded her in the years, she was confined to those walls.
Most of the day seemed to go on as normal for Veronica as she went from class to class. During her free period, she hid away in the library to get peace and quiet on a homework assignment that was due next week. The sound of the door opening suddenly caused her to jump in her seat, head popping up to watch as Steve walked through the double doors. He stumbled through and hesitated for only a moment when he realized that majority of the eyes in the room were on him. Steve's brown eyes scanned over the room for only a moment before he saw Veronica, a small smile spreading across his face the moment their eyes connected.
"I've been looking for you," Steve rushed out in hurried whispers as he sat down across the table from her.
"You're a year ahead of me, Harrington, not exactly gonna be in the same classes." Veronica teased
Steve rolled his eyes, "Haha, very funny. I have a question for you, have you seen Jonathan at all?"
Her brows pinched together in confusion, before slowly shaking her head from side to side, "No. I walked to school this morning. His car was still in the drive when I left." Steve sagged in his seat, a more defeated look on his face. "Why what's wrong?"
"Nothing...just some dumb shit Billy and Tommy were saying earlier at practice." Steve shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know why I bothered to even listen..."
"What did they say?" Veronica asked confused
"Just that Nancy and Jonathan haven't been seen since fourth period yesterday. I didn't think about it much...since we're broken up, I didn't pick her up from school today."
"If you're broken up, is it such a bad thing that she's hanging out with Jonathan?" Veronica asked, "Or do you not wanna be broken up anymore?"
"I-I don't know...I...I don't know with Nance," Steve shrugged and shook his head. "What do girls like? I mean what do I do in this situation?"
"You're asking me?" Veronica chuckled lightly her brows shooting up toward her hairline. "The girl that's never had a boyfriend, let alone lives outside of a lab for the past ten or so years. I am the last person to ask for advice in this situation. Dustin would have better advice for you."
"Very funny," Steve shook his head causing Veronica to laugh again. But seeing the turmoil on his face made her frown slightly.
"Look...Joyce likes to watch these movies. Sort of romantic movies. And whenever the guy does something wrong he brings the girl a present." Veronica shrugged "Flowers and stuff."
"Flowers?" Steve nodded his head and the corner of his lips turned up, "Yeah...flowers. I can do that."
"And apologize. Both of you are in the wrong in this situation, both of you need to sit down and listen to each other." Veronica spoke
"Flowers, apologize...I can do that." Steve smiled "For someone with no life experience, you've actually given me some pretty good life experience. Think you can help me come up with an apology? I mean...if you watch those romance movies maybe something else will come out of it?"
"You truly are helpless, Steve Harrington." Veronica rolled her eyes before shaking her head. "Sure I'll help."
The two laughed together softly, making sure not to be too loud for the library, till suddenly Veronica felt a tightening in her chest. Her face screwed tightly together for a moment before she began to cough, her shoulder shaking with each dry cough that came up.
"Woah, are you ok?" Steve asked, moving around the table to gently pat her back.
Veronica shook her head as her chest became tighter and tighter before suddenly stopping. She sagged back in her seat and looked up towards Steve in confusion "Sorry...s-suddenly felt like something was stuck in my throat...like I couldn't breathe."
Steve nodded his head and relaxed slightly as he saw the redness in her face start to fade away slightly. But little did Veronica know she felt her father struggle to breathe as he lay beneath the surface of Hawkins.
AN: Two updates in one week, who am I? For reference, if you don't remember, read Chapter 12: Darkness. Also, I want Veronica and Steve to kiss already but must be patient. I loved reading the reviews you guys left, again thank you! Someone asked why Hopper won't have Veronica "claimed" as his daughter. She knew she was a product of an affair, along with the rest of the party (minus Bob). Hopper is stressing about Veronica having a normal life, the town knows she's the chief's love child, not gonna help. It's a small-minded small town she's returning to after being "kidnapped" for over ten years. But also the other part being - He has Eleven. She doesn't know he had Eleven. And we thought Mike had a bad reaction...