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CHAPTER NINETEEN XIX. a winter to remember [ season 2, episode 9 ]
ONE MONTH LATER
Over the course of one month, the atmosphere within the Miller household had changed for the greater good.
Veronica Hayes was home at last. After assisting Eleven in sealing the Gate, she returned to the memories plaguing her past, where she inevitably reunited with Jenny Miller — the woman she had always perceived as her true mother. They were inseparable now, constantly working together to resurface memories that Veronica lost during the experimentations conducted at the laboratory. Of course, Jenny had to be informed of the reasoning behind her step daughter's disappearance, and had spoken to Chief Hopper for hours over the difficult case, learning of Ronnie's special abilities. And the entire Upside Down scenario, adding the most recent events to the harrowing explanation. She swore to secrecy, and there was no doubt in Hopper's mind that the woman would not go against the rules he set in stone.
The absolute shock from the entire ordeal was still radiating across town, though. Newspapers were swamped with news of the Lab's exposure, Barbara Holland's cause of death, and Veronica Hayes's miraculous return home, resolving a missing case that had shaken Hawkins all those years ago. It was nearing Christmas, and the compact population could not stop talking about the cursed town they resided in.
But they were lucky. They hadn't seen the horrors lurking beyond their hindered perception. Stephanie had, and the effects were still dampening to that very day.
On the day of the Snow Ball — something she promised to help Lucia Delgado with dress-wise — Steph awoke at midnight, drenched in sweat, the product of a ghoulish nightmare where she saw a mutilated Bob Newby banging on a glass door, smearing streaks of crimson blood that warped into her name: Stephanie Miller. Veronica must have heard her screaming or something ( maybe sensed the terror groping at her brain ) because she peeked through the door, her brows cinched in concern.
"Another nightmare?" Veronica inquired softly. When Steph nodded in response, the redhead entered the cramped room and closed the door behind her, careful not to wake a sleeping Jenny next door.
She planted herself on the edge of the bed, tugging the thin covers over Steph's exposed figure. She must have accidentally kicked the blankets away whilst desperately thrashing around, trying to escape the ominous images of Bob's mangled corpse, attempting to claw at the guilt burrowing inside the deepest crevices of her brain. His smeared blood twisting to shape her name was a sign — the irrevocable guilt had not yet faded, and probably never would. She was stuck with the burden of surviving when he didn't.
