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━━━━ " 📂  "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

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SHE HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP ALL NIGHT. Dustin couldn't either, and as it moved just past midnight, he stepped into her room, avoiding all the mess as he came to sit down beside her. They didn't know what to do with themselves, couldn't stop thinking about it.

Will was dead. They had seen his body be pulled out of the lake. Chief Hopper had been there - everyone had been there.

They nodded off at some point in the early morning, and woke up when Claudia pushed the door open, a sympathetic smile on her face. "I called in to work, got the day off." Their mom made her way over to Sadie's bed, sitting down between them. "Why don't we stay home today, you can skip school, stay in your pyjamas and I'm about to make pancakes - and after that we can watch movies all day and order takeout for dinner, yeah?"

Dustin nodded sleepily, yawning as he got up, making his way out of the door and to the bathroom, Sadie listening to the door in the hallway close before turning to her mom, who was twisting her ring around her finger.

"Is something the matter?" She asked, fear dropping into her voice. "Has something else happened?"

"Mr and Mrs Holland called. Barb - she's gone missing, sweetie." Claudia wrapped an arm around Sadie's shoulder, watching confused as she suddenly shot to her feet. "Sadie - sweetie - you don't have to worry about that today, it's a lot to take in. Sadie, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting changed." The Henderson girl clenched her jaw, making up her mind in an instance as she dragged clothes out of her closet. "I'm going to school. I can't sit here all day. Nancy's there - everyones there."

"Sadie, you don't have to do that sweetie." Claudia stood up, following her daughter as she took the clothes out through into the hallway, stopping behind her as she began to knock on the bathroom door.

"Dustin! Dustin hurry up! I need to shower." She shouted, hammering her fist against it again, before turning back towards her mom. "I'm going in, okay? I have to."

"Okay sweetie. But I'll make you lunch - and I'll make pancakes." Claudia paused, before giving her a hug so tight she felt as if her bones were cracking. "You get changed, okay?"

Sadie nodded as Mrs Henderson hurried away to the kitchen, Mews dancing around her feet. Turning back towards the door, the older sister was about to begin knocking again when the door swung open, and a sleepy Dustin walked out yawning. She watched, a little worried, as he trudged over to his bedroom door and slid it open, before completely freezing.

He disappeared moments later, and she could hear muffled talking. Well, at least it seemed that his walkie-talkie was working just fine and he wasn't cutting off any forms of communication he had.

Sadie showered quickly, even though she was in the mood to stay in there all morning, pulling on her sweater and jeans, drying her her with a towel and pulling it back into a ponytail, curls hanging loose around her face.

She picked up her bag and jacket from her room, pulling the chocolate-coloured leather bomber jacket that had once been her father's over the jacquard sweater and tying her shoelaces before heading towards the kitchen, stopping to eat her breakfast and shove the package of sandwiches and chips into her bag, along with a donut that her mom had put in.

"If you want to come home today at all, don't be afraid to call, okay?" Claudia watched, concerned as Sadie shovelled pancakes into her mouth. "And remember, Barb is just missing, alright? She'll be okay, there are already police looking for her."

"Yeah, but Will's dead." Sadie replied bluntly, hand freezing with her fork halfway to her house. Slowly, she looked up at her mom. "Sorry - I didn't mean..."

"It's okay." Claudia reassured her quickly, moving around to the other side of the counter and settling her hands on Sadie's shoulders. "I have to let Mews out and go to the toilet, if you leave before I get back, just take this plate through to Dusty, okay?"

She reached across, tipping more syrup over it and watching as Sadie nodded. "Thank you, sweetie. Don't forget, I'll be home all day. Come home whenever you like."

"Thanks mom." Sadie smiled up at the woman before being crushed into a hug again, dropping her fork like it were a hot iron as soon as Mrs Henderson disappeared. She felt sick to her stomach, as if she was about to throw it all back up.

She abandoned the plate of pancakes, pulling her bag over her shoulder and picking up the second plate and a clean fork, clutching it between her hands as she made her way down the hallway and to Dustin's room, knocking before sliding the door open.

"I'm gonna go to school." She placed the plate down beside him, watching as he fiddled with his walkie-talkie. "Barb's gone missing.. and I know Nancy will need me. Maybe you should go and see Mike and Lucas, okay?"

"I was gonna." Dustin confirmed, rubbing his eyes. "Barb will show up." He muttered as he accepted the plate. "Thanks." He added, before falling silent.

Sadie took this as a hint for her to leave, and she hugged Dustin briefly before doing just that, twirling her keychain around her fingers as she headed out the door, sliding into her car.

Sadie turned the keys in the ignition and set off, like it was any other school day. But none would ever feel so empty.

Barb would turn up, she had to.

✧

First period had been Kaminsky's test. It had been hell - but she wasn't about to embarrass herself and tried her hardest. He refused to give her or Nancy a chance to take the test any other day, despite the circumstances, so she really had no chance to.

"The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing is down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress." Mr Boushebel read, but Sadie knew she wasn't listening. One, she had read all the words before, and two - her mind was far too busy going over what she had learnt from Nancy about what has happened when she went to look for Barb.

Her car wasn't gone from the street away from Steve's house, she hadn't gone home, and when Nancy explored the woods by the Harrington house, she had seen some strange figure that brought goosebumps to the Wheeler girl's skin - she was clearly terrified, and Sadie couldn't help but wonder what exactly she saw.

Perhaps that was what had taken Barb - that was her running theory anyway. There was no other explanation for it, and she completely understood why Nancy had gone to the police after finding that - and she was also rather mad when she heard about Steve's reaction to this. Who gave a shit whether or not they were drinking, Barb was missing.

"And Kurtz's life was running swiftly, too-" The teachers words were interrupted by the door being opened, and Principal Murphy was stood there, not a single glance to Mr Boushebel.

"Sadie Henderson? Nancy Wheeler?" The principal asked. "If you'll come with me please."

Both girls turned to look at each other, avoiding the gazes of their peers as they gathered up their stuff, Sadie sliding her copy of the reading book into her jacket pocket as opposed to her bag, sliding the strap over her shoulder and following Nancy out into the hallway, the three women heading down the corridors silently until they came to the empty cafeteria, which had been cleaned since lunch, and the pace they had been walking at slowed significantly.

"Mom?" Sadie asked, resisting the urge to shrug Principal Murphy's hand off of her shoulder as she ushered them along, eyes sliding over to the two police officers sat on the other side of the table from both Mrs Henderson and Mrs Wheeler. "Officer Powell, Officer Callahan, good to see you again."

"Good?" Callahan raised his eyebrows. "I think you both know why we're here, and it isn't that 'good'."

"Just trying to lighten the mood." Sadie all but rolled her eyes, turning towards her mom and lowering her voice. "What are you doing here? What about Dustin?" She hissed.

"Oh he went over to Mike's. Seemed happier than he did earlier, which is good." Claudia waved off her daughter's concern. "It's all under control, Sadie. I'm just here to be by your side during this tough time."

Sadie nodded, smiling as she felt the woman's arm around her shoulder, bringing her into a hug and kissing her on the top of her head. They turned towards the police officers, gathering herself before the questions began.

"Sadie, can you give me your version events of the night?" Officer Powell asked, turning towards the Henderson girl first. "How did you begin your night?"

"I was helping Mike, Dustin and Lucas with some science thing they had begun to take their mind off of Will's disappearance." Sadie began. "I ate dinner... then I went with Nancy and Barb to Steve's house. He had invited us earlier that day, and we didn't want Nancy to feel awkward around Tommy and Carol.. so we went. We were just going to drop her off, but changed our minds."

"And Nancy told us last night that Barb hurt her finger." Callahan pointed his pen down at his notepad. "When they were jumping in the pool. What were you doing when this happened?"

"I went inside with Barb and helped her bandage up her finger. She ran it under cold water to clear away the blood so I could get a proper look at it... I know some first aid, so then I cleaned the cut.. and put a bandage on it. Barb was worried she would need stitches - she wasn't good with things like that, terrified of it really." Sadie swallowed, twisting her ring around her finger.

"Then what happened?"

"She needed some time to compose herself, so I left the bathroom just when the others were coming in to dry off. I asked Steve to use his phone, so I could call my brother." She continued. "So that he knew that he should get back at a decent time. Lucas lives just down the road from Mike's and we live further away so I didn't want him to be out too late."

Claudia was smiling at her daughter, and when both police officers noticed her reaction it dropped, Powell returning back to scribbling down what Sadie was telling him. "And after the call?" He asked.

"Actually, before the call - I hadn't called yet. But Nancy was going upstairs after Steve, Barb came out of the bathroom and saw her. They had a small disagreement, but it was agreed that Barb and I would go home, and Steve would drop her off." She continued recited the events off, pausing for just a moment before making sure she had the order right. "Yeah. Then Barb said she would wait outside whilst I called Dustin so I could tell him I was gonna come and pick him up instead. Mrs Wheeler picked up."

On the other side of Nancy, Karen was surprised to see them all looking at her for confirmation, watchong as she nodded. "Then, down in the basement, Lucas picked up and I relayed the message. I went outside, but Barb was gone. I went back to my car through a number of shortcuts, and thinking she was on her way back, I left to go pick Dustin up. I stopped by Family Video to rent Fame, then I got Dustin and came home to watch it with my mom. I had agreed with Barb for her to come with and watch it and she would stay the night, but I took her not being in the backyard as a sign that she wasn't in the mood... instead of her being missing."

Silence followed between the six, the only noises being the sound of Powell  scribbling down what Sadie had just said, and for a split second, the far-off sound of a class laughing.

"Right. And so Nancy." Powell flipped his pad of paper back to the previous day. "This argument that you and Barbara had, what exactly was it about?"

"It wasn't really an argument." Nancy said, finally able to say something after all the questions being directed at Sadie's retelling of her supposed version of events, which was only a little different from her own - all the important stuff was the same. "A small disagreement, like Sadie said. Barb just wanted to leave. I didn't. So I told her and Sadie to just go home."

"Then what?"

"Then I went upstairs to put on some dry clothes." Nancy continued, rather delicately.

"And the next day you went back and... saw a bear, you're thinking." Powell asked, looking as if he couldn't believe her any less. Sadie knew what was coming: when Nancy had told her all about seeing something in the woods she had mentioned it possibly being a bear.

"It's unlikely." She piped up. "There have only been a handful of recorded bear sightings in Indiana since 1871, and although that won't include every single one, it's most likely not a bear."

Nancy nodded. "It wasn't a bear.. I don't really know what it was... but, I think maybe it took Barb." She sat forwards, raising her gaze from the table and up towards the police officers. "You need to check behind Steve's house because thats-"

"We did." Callahan cut her off, pushing up his glasses. "There's nothing there. There's no sign of a bear - no matter how rare."

"And no car." Powell added. Sadie and Nancy's heads shot towards the man.

"Look, we figured that Barbara came back last night, and then she took off, went somewhere else." Anger was bubbling inside the pit of Sadie's stomach as she listened to Callahan theorise.

"Has she ever talked to you about running off? Leaving town, maybe?"

"No - Barb wouldn't do that, ever." Sadie replied. "And she doesn't like being called Barbara, by the way."

"She wasn't maybe upset about the fact that you, Nancy, were spending time with this boy? Steve Harrington?" Powell continued.

"What, no!" The Wheeler girl replied, wrinkling her nose.

"Maybe she was jealous." Callahan cut in. "Because she saw you go up to Steve's room with him?" This was getting more and more peculiar - why would that be the reason why Barb ran away? It was stupid - it was so, so stupid and Sadie couldn't quite believe she was listening to it.

"It wasn't like that." Nancy's jaw tensed, her fists screwing up underneath the table.

"It wasn't like what, exactly?"

Sadie's gaze travelled over to Nancy, who looked a little flustered by that question, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears to give her a little moment. "Steve and me, we're... we're just friends." She stammered out.

✧

The interview ended up not long after that, and instead of returning to their English class, Sadie and Nancy were sent home, joining their moms in walking out to the parking lot, way before the end of the day. She barely even made it past lunch before her resolve to stay strong and keep things normal had been ruined.

"Sadie - I'm going to go over to check up in Mr and Mrs Holland, see how their faring with things." Claudia began as they reached her car, which was parked directly beside her daughters. The Henderson girl didn't reply, her eyes on Nancy and her mom as they walked in silence towards Mrs Wheeler's car. "Sadie?"

"Huh? Er - no, I'm just gonna go home. I wasn't hungry at lunch, so I might pick up something more appealing to eat before I do some studying. I have to catch up on some stuff." Sadie replied, pulling the keys out of her jacket pocket and opening the door. "I think I'll go check on Dustin and the others as well in a little bit, make sure they're alright."

"You're a sweet kid." Claudia was smiling that same, proud grin. "Make sure you get something you really want, not just because it has any nutrional values at all - just something tasty, okay?"

"Okay Mom. I'll see you soon." She said as she slid into her seat and closed the door behind her, pulling out of the parking space before another word had been uttered.

And that was why she was sat at her desk, a red and white striped six-piece bucket of KFC chicken balanced between her legs, a fork in her hand to avoid getting anything anywhere as her other hand held a pen, scribbling out notes about the chapter they were supposed to be reading in English before she was pulled out.

She had long ago eaten the fries she had gotten, and the remains of her drink were balanced on top of a stack of books she had borrowed from the library over the years and had only just managed to round up. Of course, she had read them, and needed to return them, and was considering getting more chicken whilst taking them back.

But she couldn't focus, her handwriting was getting more and more messier as she thought back towards Eleven and Barb and Will - and she knew it was pointless. There wasn't any chicken left, but she did somehow manage to keep the crumbs and spillage to a minimum.

Sadie reached for the drink as she checked the time, reaching for one of the books under there. It was a lot thinner than her copy of a Heart of Darkness - and was less of a work of fiction, and rather, the truth.

It was a collection of truths, actually. About a goverment-run project; MKUltra. She had obsessed over it a couple years previous, and had forgotten all about it until now - how, she didn't know: what she found out about it was horrifying. There was an old newspaper clipping she had printed out was slipped into the front, of Dr. Brenner and his collection of experimentations, and she couldn't help but pick it up and examine it once again, turning it over to see one about Terry Ives attached to the back.

It was then that she remembered just why she was so suspicious of the Hawkins Lab. When MKUltra was exposed, Hawkins Lab had been accused of partaking in it due to Brenner - six subjects had come forward to tell everyone about their experience with him, and these truths would be put forward in the lawsuit between Terry Ives and Dr. Brenner. Of course, the lab was't shut down, but-

She almost dropped her drink when her memory of the article came flooding back, and she shot up in her chair, discarding the plastic cup and flipping back to Terry Ives and her lawsuit. Sadie scanned over the words and confirmed she was remembering correctly, reaching for a notepad and pen and beginning to scribble things down, suddenly her attention solely on this one thing.

Word over word, speculation over speclation written down onto the page. She seemed to understand now, seemed to understand what others didn't. Terry Ives had lost her baby, and Terry Ives had partook in a number of trials with the MKUltra project.

It was unlikely, but just unlikely enough that there was a possibility of it all happening. For once in her life, Sadie could thank her obsessive, overly-cautious brain.

Finally, the pen fell from her fingers and she flexed the muscles within them, finally feeling the ache that had sat on the back burner as she wrote. The pages were a mess of notes, hastily scribbled out so quickly she could barely read them.

But it made enough sense. Terry Ives had survived were others hadn't, and was amongst those brave enough to stand up and tell the world what they had suffered at the hands of Dr. Brenner and the other freaks that had run the experiment.

And Terry Ives had a baby - apparently. But she had gotten pregnant whilst still taking part in the project, and even if she quit when she found out about the baby in her womb, there was still very much chance that it had been long enough before she realised before the experiments on her brain came to her stop and it affected it.

And even if they did stop, Terry would have taken so many drugs and put her body through so many strange things that it would still be in her system. LSD had been a major part of MKUltra, and although the articles didn't confirm that Terry had been on it, Sadie had suspected it during her first obsession, and already had her research on the effects of LSD on a baby.

LSD accumulated in the placenta during pregnancy - and although the reproductive system was on of Sadie's least favourite topics in Biology due to the rather immature boys in her class - she knew very well that the placenta was almost like the mother's body's direct connection to the baby. The umbical cord attached the baby to the placenta, and that meant that the baby got all the nutrients and oxygen it needed.

And if Terry Ives was on, or had taken, a shit-ton of LSD, then the drugs would have been passed along to the baby. Usually, it meant that the baby was born with defects (mostly eye abnormalities), or induced miscarriage. But what if it meant that LSD taken in attempts to learn how to control a human-beings' mind, it could have caused a defect in the baby - one that caused it to develop telekinetic powers.

Although Sadie was yet to confirm these actually existed, from what she heard, being able to slam doors with just your mind seemed to be pretty similar to telekinesis.

There was a massive chance she had miscarried, and the baby was dead at birth - but Terry just seemed so convinced it wasn't, and Sadie was on her way to agreeing. Which would mean that Dr. Brenner had gotten his hands on the baby.

But before she could thank her obsessive tendencies, she would have to confirm her suspicions: she needed to spend more time with Eleven, seeing exactly what these powers were and trying to find out more about this 'bad place' that she had come from.

Perhaps she was wrong, but it was much more probable that Sadie Henderson was very much right.