A New Girl // Stranger Things (after season 2)

Chapter 17

Hopper dropped me off at home and I thanked him for the ride. When I walked in, my mother was waiting at the door.

"What did you do?", she asked.

"What?"

"You just got out of a police car. What were you doing?"

"Mom, my friend is the sheriff's daughter," I explained.

"Really? Who is this friend?"

"Jane, Jane Hopper. She comes here on Saturdays."

"So you were hanging out with her Dad?"

"No, we were finishing a school project at the police station and her Dad offered to send me home," I said.

"Okay, just don't get into trouble," she said, turning away.

"Mom," I stopped her.

"Did you lie to me about my kidnapping?", I asked.

"What do you mean?"

I bit my lip, not sure how to phrase it better so I just said what was on my mind.

"Did you- Did you sign me up for something in Hawkins Lab? Did you sign me up for something, that resulted in my kidnapping?", I asked.

"I...Um," she said, looking away from me.

"Did you?", I raised my voice.

"Where are you hearing this from?", she asked.

"Just tell me!", I shouted.

"Okay, let's sit down. There's more you need to know," she said.

For the first time, I felt tears well up in my eyes. But they were not enough to cry.

We walked over to the couch. And we sat down. This was my first sit down talk in years. The last time I remembered was after I moved to New York. They told me to try to forget everyhing that happened. They told me they were signing me up for martial arts lessons. They told me that we were restarting our lives, changing our name and creating a new identity for ourselves.

Now, ironically, I was trying to get my mother to recollect what had happened many years ago.

"You were about two years old. And I decided that we'd go to the park to get some fresh air. And you were playing in the sand box. Then, two men came up to me and your father and asked if I would like to sign you up as a candidate for some research project. Being a supporter of the science industry, I agreed for the benefit of advancing their research.

"They made me bring you to the Lab the next day. There were other kids and parents there too. So I though that the project was credible. They made us sign a contract. And I knew I shouldn't have signed that stupid paper. Because after that, they took you in for longer than three days. The other parents and I waited outside the Lab for hours on the day we were supposed to get you back. We banged on the doors but no one let us in. Eventually, we headed to the police station when it passed midnight. When we were going to report, they said that all the kids were already reported missing. And we couldn't do anything about it.

"Later that week, the head scientist called me in to the Lab. I thought he was going to give you back to me but that didn't happen. Instead he threatened me, saying I was on probation, and that if I said anything to anyone that I will be taken out. So I kept quiet about it," she explained, nearly crying.

"Why didn't you tell me all this?", I asked, almost choking on my words.

"I didn't want you to tell you anything until you were old enough and we were safe," she said.