It Comes To Hawkins

Eleven

The door opened and Richie saw someone who looked startling familiar. Only, she couldn't be from... that place. She had longer hair, and bright eyes. Eleven had dull eyes, she had buzzed hair, she was still in THAT PLACE. The second she and Richie locked eyes, the connection was there. Richie knew she was from there. She was, "Eleven" Richie breathed. The Party fell silent when they heard Richie say that.
"How do you know her name?" The confirmation stung.
"What?" Their stare was broken and Richie turned his head to face Max. "Silly, her name came up a lot when you were telling me your story, don't you think?"
A chorus of "oh!"'s came from the party and Richie sighed in relief. Eleven was confused.
"Mike. What is 14 doing here?"
Richie winced at being called that again and sucked in a deep breath. Memories flowing through his brain. It all became too real for him. It was no longer just a nightmare that he thought up, making him wake in cold sweats every night. They were memories. Memories of when he was younger. Memories of the bad place. The lab. Being given to his mother. Being given to his mother? His confusion was cut off by the influx of more memories. Memories of finding his friends and introducing himself as fourteen. Them spewing names til he smiled at Richie. Him learning new words. His mother giving him pills. His power diminished. He couldn't crush another can. Then came the other pills. He forgot. Memories faded and Richie lived a new life. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Richie was forced back into reality.They were looking at him. For the second time since he came to Hawkins, he was left speechless.
"Fourteen?" Mike asked while turning to Richie.
" I don't.. how.. Eleven." Richie stammered, turning to her. "How did you get out? How are you here? What about the lab? The men in white? How are you alive?!? They told me you were dead!"
"I escaped."
"You fucking escaped." Richie said in awe. "When?" He questioned.
"3 years."
"Holy shit. Holy mother of fuck. You were in there for so long. Fuck. I didn't wanna leave you, you know that right? I didn't wanna leave anyone. There were only a couple of us. Please. You have to understand." Richie pleaded.
"I know." El knew. Of course she knew. She always knew. Holy shit. They took turns in the time in the black room. They would see each other every day. One would walk out of a room and the other would go in. They found comfort in one another. Holy shit. Fuck. Richie noticed the wetness on his cheeks and quickly wiped the tears away.
"Fuck."
"What the fuck is happening?" Dustin sprayed out his hands and stepped back. Richie almost smiled. Dustin almost laughed because he almost believed this was a joke. It wasn't. Nothing ever was in Richie's life.
"I got out when I was around 9 I think they said." Richie told Eleven. She nodded. They stopped being allowed to see each other the year before. She could always sense him though. She knew when he left.
"I couldn't sense you." She said.
"I know. I'm sorry." He whispered.
"No. Not since a week after you left. When you came here. It started growing. I could sort of sense you when you came here. I can sense you now."
"What?"
"Do you... did you..." Richie sighed. "Shit." He looked over to see everyone's confused faces. Almost horrified.
"You and Mike have similar sense. Almost like twin sense. But he doesn't have the same abilities and we do." El stated. Pausing slightly in between thoughts to gather her next words.
Richie looked over to Mike. Almost seeing the wheels turn in his head. They did look almost exactly alike.
Suddenly, Karen's voice broke the tension.
"Lucas! Your mom is calling!"
Lucas sighed, getting up.
"Radio me. Keep me updated. I'm so freaking confused about this!" Lucas almost screamed at Mike while running up the stairs.
Mike nodded halfheartedly, still looking between Richie and El.
"I guess I should explain right?"
A chorus of yelling agreements came from all the party members except Eleven, who stayed silent.
"Um.. so.. when I was born, I grew up in a lab. A bad bad place."
Mike, Dustin, Max, Mike and Will all looked at El, after all, she had constantly referred to the lab as the bad place. Richie continued on with his story. "I stayed there for a while. Around 9 years as you heard. I grew up in.. torture and abuse and people...using me. I was told to crush a can, when I couldn't do that, I was beat and put into the dark room. El and I would pass each other in the halls because everything went around in a clock. It would be six, then eleven then me, then twenty-two. They used to have it as a cycle through the numbers but a lot of kids were slaughtered. I was given back to my mom who I saw for the first time. I was told to take pills to battle the disease in me and I was given pills that made me forget. I forgot all about everything. They continued to hit me just like the bad men. But I was.. am.. used to it. But ever since I've been away from my abusive parents, I've been remembering. Probably because there aren't any more pills. I can also use my powers again. I.. don't know exactly what I do. I just know that there can be a force field of dense air around me. I can push air out of me. I have some of the same powers of El, but they tried something just a bit different on me. I guess I wasn't useful enough for the men at the lab. But yeah. That's how we know each other. I just didn't know you made it all the way here. Fuck. I forget." He turned to Eleven. "Where is the lab? Is it near here? Is that why you made it here?"
"The bad place is in Hawkins."
"Fuck. Well. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?" Richie smiled halfheartedly while the others digested the news.
He almost face palmed.
The upstairs door slammed shut and the party all looked between each other. Lucas never came down and he never leaves without saying goodbye. Something was up.