𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕗𝕚𝕥𝕤 ➪ 𝔹𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕪 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕧𝕖

chapter four: him & himself

billy and i have been friends? acquaintances? talking for about a month now and i've got to say; he's not what he seems.

i know that's typical "i can fix him, he's only nice to me, i'm not like most girls" talk, but seriously he's funny and since i've been around he hasn't been mean to max so, good in my book.

his dad is...his dad.

billy came to my house extremely late one night with bruises all over him.

he didn't necessarily tell me that it was his dad.

but i put two & two together once i heard how he was yelling at him when we were on the phone one day working on an art project.

i don't like it & i tried to get him to get help, but he insists that he's fine.

he doesn't deserve the abuse no one does.

it explains why he took his anger out on max. he can't give it back to the person who deserves it so he pushed it onto the closest person he could. i understand i did that a lot when i was in that place. i couldn't hurt him so i hurt guards that let him do it.

anger is a hard thing to control.

i can't sleep. i keep turning around & pulling the cover off & on, but nothings helping.

"if you kick me one more time im pushing you on the ground" the voice that's attached to the arms around me says.

"im sorry i just can't sleep, something feels wrong"

he turns me around so that we're laying down facing each other now.

"what do you mean something feels wrong?"

"it feels like the calm before the storm. everything is fine right now, but something is coming & i don't have a good feeling about it" i look into his blue orbs as i explain.

he nods & it gets quiet in the room. nothing but the fan blowing on its highest setting is heard.

"....do you believe in god?" his voice is low & shy as he asks.

"yeah all i had was god when i was- ...yeah i believe in god" i stop myself from telling him about that place.

"when you were where?"

"..."

"you do- you don't have to tell me if you aren't comfortable with it. i understand"

"no it's just the headspace that place brought me to is...awful" i take a deep breath before continuing, " i was kidnapped when i was about three years old. my parents left me to stay with my aunt while they got their lives together more so they could be good parents to me. one day we were at the park, she looked away for a second & i was gone..."

"the place they took me to was a lab of sorts...they ran tests on children...gave them powers...made us into machines instead of children. there were only four until i was added" i roll up my sleeve & sit up to show him the 005 tattoo on my left arm.

he traces the numbers marked permanently on my skin, giving me chills. "making you five"

i nod & continue, "over time there came more children & as many came, more left...if they couldn't withstand the tests they were hurt or more likely killed... years went by until me & one other escaped. we split as soon as we got far enough away. i found myself in a supermarket looking at a missing persons flier... i didn't know what about it drew my attention so much until later on when i was at the station still holding on to that flier that the girl in the photo was me. hopper called my parents as soon as he connected the dots on his own (i wouldn't talk) & here we are"