1

Matthew and Madeline were not my real parents. They were white, and I was black. I called them M and M, because they looked like siblings. Pale skin, red hair, freckles across their face. Green doe eyes, and always in a lab coat. That's where they first met me and that's where I first met them… and her. After she escaped the lab, M and M, decided it would be the perfect time to take me, and stash me away. She was the important one for the time being while they still tried to figure out all that I could do. They never even noticed.

M and M wanted to move us far away, but I begged them to stay here in Hawkins. This place was my home after all. The soldiers from the base were too busy chasing her, that they'd never even notice I saw gone until it was too late.

I didn't want to be too far from her anyways, I was the oldest of the others I had met in that facility. She looked up to me and I liked having someone to watch over. She was twelve when I first met. I was sixteen. I always sensed she was in danger, more than I wanted to admit, but M and M would not let me go after her, they did not want to expose me. She was already the link that would expose the entire Hawkins lab and bringing an end to its evil reign…

I was only a few feet away from the house, my hands were deep in the grass. My fingertips tingled as I could feel the nutrients being absorbed from the soil. All life begins with nature. I know this because it told me, the grass and the trees and the plants. I knew its secrets because it trusted only me to tell me the secrets of life and death. All life was connected by an invisible string, a life force that carries communication all around and when I needed to know something, that was going on around me, I could find the answer. That's how we survived all this time. I could see through the eyes of the animals, and the plants provided nutrients that healed me sickness, wounds, and broken bones.

I could hear movement behind me and I knew who it was. I stood from my crouch turning and looking at Madeline. She was smiling warmly at me, her rich red waves were pinned back by a hair clip. She had lines above her cheeks from smiling so much.

"The Snow Ball will be tonight at Hawkins Middle. Your father and I are going to drive you there to meet her." she informed warmly. My body came to life at the news. The nature around me spoke to the animals and they told me what she has been up to, the dangers she has faced from a world not like ours. I was constantly afraid for her, yet I could not risk being found, and my parents being hurt. For their safety, I remained hidden. But I knew she would not die, because she had friends, she had a family to keep her safe. "Would you like that?" I nodded softly.

"I would love that." I replied lightly and she nodded.

"I thought you might. Well look, the new neighbors have invited us over for a little get together tonight and I wanted to know if you'd like to join us for dinner?" she asked. I looked down in thought of her words. The Hargrove's. I didn't know much about them, but they were, what I called perfect family unit. A husband, a wife, a son, and a daughter lived there. But they didn't truly meet my standards of perfect. I shook my head continuing to smile politely at Madeline.

"No thanks. I want to find an outfit for when I see Eleven again." I replied, and she grinned.

"You have an idea of what you'll wear?" she asked. I immediately shook my head.

"Not really." I answered honestly. I didn't care what I wore, as long as I got to see her again.

I remember her running through the halls passing the many rooms that contained each and every experiment. The alarms were blazing all around. I was spinning around staring up at the ceiling trying to make sense of it all. Through a small window on the door, I saw a flash of white and my eyes popped as I ran up to the door. I see her face against the glass and now we are both staring at each other. I had to look down on her because she was shorter than me. She was scared and panicking. She wanted to free me, but she couldn't. She had no time. But I wanted her to go. I wanted her to get to safety, somewhere far from here. She quickly left and after a few seconds, men were running past the door as well trying to catch her. I was pacing in my small room for a second before I heard familiar voices in panic.

"They're going to destroy all the kids on this hall, we can't let them kill her!" Madeline said.

"Her files are already destroyed, but if we are going to act, we must act now!" Matthew said quickly as the door opened. Madeline entered and approached me placing her hands on my cheeks. She was afraid as well. Why? She was a scientist.

"We are getting you out of here!" she exclaimed quickly.

I opened my eyes now noticing my eyes were on the ground. My bare feet were covered in small, weak vines that curled under my toes.

"You grow stronger every day." Madeline said and I looked up at her. She continued to smile as she stepped off the porch steps and approached me. "Your father and I were placed in charge of you since the day you were brought to us as a baby. And as you were in our nursery, the birds flocked to the trees and poles on the side of the building you were at. Every time you were moved to a different location, there were rabbits, and wolves, and owls and even deer moving toward different sides of the facility. It was the strangest thing ever. The wolves had no interest in eating the deer or the rabbits and the two groups were not afraid of the predators. The guards had to shoot many of them to make them finally flee." I looked at her with a light gaze.

"Yes. They came to see me." I said and she nodded.

"Yes, they did." she concluded before biting her lower lip as if to remind herself why she was here. "Your dad and I are going to go into town and get groceries, gonna bake a pie for the Hargroves. Would you like anything?" I smiled quickly and nodded.

"Ice cream sandwiches!" I said swiftly, and she chuckled.

"Now how did I know you would say that?" she asked. When I was good, exceptionally good, Matthew would sneak me in a sandwich at the lab. I had never tasted something so good, so divine.

The back door opened again and out came Mathew. He was in a red shirt with numerous flowers on it. I remember he mentioned it being a shirt from Hawaii. His legs were pale and red beneath his brown shorts. He pushed his glasses to his face as he saw us.

"Hey, you ready for tonight?" he asked, and I smiled swiftly.

"Yes. I hope she remembers me." I said with a hopeful tone and he grinned.

"No one could forget you, dear." he said and held up his keys to Madeline. "You ready to go, honey?" Madeline nodded patting my shoulder.

"Yes! Stay here and don't open the door for anyone except…" she trailed off as if wanting me to finish.

"The police." I replied. She nodded.

"Good. We'll come back, eat dinner with the neighbors, then go and take you to see her." she said. Madeline always liked making plans. She said it keeps order and order is good. I nodded and watched the two took each other's hands and moved inside. I could feel the love between the two. It was strong. As I made a move to follow, I paused upon feeling a shiver shoot down my spine. I turned and looked back at the silent and still trees. The forest was deep and calm. A single grey wolf was standing across from me and I just stared at it for a moment, my eyes paling from their brown hues, to a deep white, a sign I noticed would happen when I made connections with animals or even the plants.

I could see into its mind, see what it sees. It's running fast through the trees, with only one thing in mind. Survive. Something had chased it, and it had gotten away. The smell was dark and dangerous. It makes my hair stand on the back of my neck. It was lucky, very lucky to escape a predator who wanted it dead. It keeps running until it finally sees me, standing at the house. My once shaven head had grown into a thick bush of curls, my hips wider now after finally eating for pleasure and not survival. It can't see the green of the grass and so it doesn't pay much attention to it.

The wolf hurries away taking off into the trees once more. Something had scared it. I knew fear. I knew it all too well. It was not another animal though, it was something it could not identify. I turned and moved back inside the house. I couldn't do much about it anyways. Once M and M were driving off, I took a look at the Hargrove home. It was smaller than our house, and it didn't look properly taken care of. I noticed the grass around the house and stone steps were cut short and hardly growing at all. Pity.

After many years of being outside of captivity, I had to learn many things I should have already known. I had to learn human emotions and learn how others think sometimes and how to associate with them. How else would I do this? By begging M and M to let me attend the Hawkins High School. I had passed all their tests to prove I was smart, I actually scored higher than most of the children my age. It took a lot of convincing, but after my relationship with them grew, they decided to give me a chance.

A part of being a growing teenager meant I needed to find things I liked, and standing behind my house listening to the invisible channel of nature that no one else could see, was not considered normal. Madeline likes to paint her nails and get her hair done. Matthew likes to golf with some buddies from work. He works as a science teacher at Hawkins Middle School and Madeline works for a forensic team for the police. She liked working on dead bodies. She says dead men can't call her babe and try to belittle her when she has a good idea. I noticed men don't always think too highly of women. But they came from a woman, so why they thought this was strange to me.

I was sitting on the front porch now, my legs curled, and my fingers curled as well as I rest my chin on my knuckles. I didn't know much about other girls and boys my age, so how was I supposed to know what I liked? As I let my mind wander, I began to think of Eleven and what I would say to her when I saw her. I hoped she would be happy to see me.

Normal POV

El's tongue ran over the ice cream cone as she licked away at the chocolate. She had been feeling knots form in her stomach all day, and she couldn't figure it out. She had felt them before, but not like this.

"Hopper… am I ill?" she asked her father figure. Hopper looked down at her from the driver's side, a bit put off. El? Sick? It was almost unheard of unless she was using her powers.

"Ill? What's the matter you warm or something?" he asked reaching over to lace the top of his palm on her forehead. Her eyes looked up and followed his hand not knowing what her body temperature had to do with anything. "Well you don't have a fever… maybe you're just nervous about the dance. You get to finally do somethings that normal kids get to do."

El still looked worried, placing her hand over her stomach as they were driving down the street from the store. As they passed a street, the knots combined and formed a fist. El felt her eyes widened as she felt the feeling consume her.

"STOP!" she yelled and immediately Hopper stopped his truck, the car behind him swerving immediately and honking furiously at them. Hopper raised his hand in apology toward the car before swiftly looking at the back of El's head.

"Jesus, what is it?" he asked. El's eyes watered some as she began to feel a familiar presence inside her. She had felt it before when she was near someone she knew, she trusted even though they were both prisoners and terrified. She began to take off her seatbelt, unlock the door, much to Hopper's surprise and jumped out the car. "WHAT THE HELL! EL!" He opened the door and got only an inch out of the truck when it began to roll forward. He jumped back in and parked the truck quickly before getting out and moving around the truck to see El running through the neighborhood in the middle of the street.

She ran fast, her chest already hurting from running so fast. But that feeling inside her she could not ignore. It was her, it had to be. There was no other explanation.

Her POV

As I remained in this position, I thought about maybe going for a walk. I liked to walk and think. That could be a hobby. But I knew Madeline wouldn't like it. She always worries people from the lab would come and take me away when they were gone. But they were shut down, for good. They couldn't hurt me anymore. My thoughts were disrupted by something. I could sense it, coming this way. I lifted my head up and looked around standing up slowly and stepping off the porch.

Something was coming right for me, something not human. I looked down the street to something, or rather someone coming toward me. My body tightened as I saw a young, creamy faced girl running down the street. My eyes widened as I realized who it was and that I wouldn't have to wait for the Snow Ball at all. She finally stopped a few feet from me, panting heavily. She wasn't in a white gown anymore. That's what we all had to wear. No she was in bell bottom jeans and a blue shirt tucked into those pants. She looked utterly shocked as she just looked me over as I did her. What was once a shaven head was not a bush of brown hair that curled at the tips.

She was a year older, but still different to look at in my eyes. Tears streamed down her eyes as she finally looked back up at me again. She remembered me. She hadn't forgotten about me.

"ONE!" she cried out loudly as she ran for me. I hadn't heard that name in so long, it was almost foreign to me. I cried out in happiness to hear her voice again, this time happy and alive, no longer scared and frightened. I held my hands open as I walked up to her. With her running she was already more than halfway over to me. She jumped into my arms and we embraced each other hard as her face buried and nuzzled into my chest. I smiled and began to gently stroke her hair. "You're alive!" She was sobbing now and I nodded taking her wet face in my hands now.

"As are you… and you're safe." I said happily, and she sniffled nodding before leaning in and hugging me again. This was a good day, a good day indeed.