In My Blood

Episode 13 - The Fallen

"It shouldn't be taking this long," Joyce whispered to me nervously, her hands rubbing her face. I was leaning against the wall beside her, my palms pressed against it and my eyes flicking in the directions of the sounds and vibrations I would hear through the facility. "So you... you have the same powers as that girl? Eleven." I stiffened at the mention of the girl's name. "That was her name, right?"

"Yeah, it is," I nodded, prepared to try and steer away from the topic. In all of the Demogorgon mess, I had forgotten about her. Shame immediately washed over me, despite knowing that it wasn't like I was doing everything I could to not care about her. My stomach seemed to tighten as I remembered she most likely wasn't back at the cabin. Wherever she was... "I hope she's safe."

My eyes widened as the words came from my mouth, my thoughts spoken into the air. My heart beat furiously as I prayed that Joyce hadn't seen my reaction... either of them. Luck was on my side, and she didn't. Her gaze was still focused on the hallway in front of us, waiting for Bob to appear. The doors were closed as an extra measure of safety, a way to alert us if anything else tried to come through. She gave a nod at my sentence, paying some attention to my words.

"If you don't mind me asking..." she said slowly. "College. You had a completely different life before... before all of this. Do you still want that?" The question shocked me, and it took me a moment to come up with an answer.

"I mean, I still feel that call to acting, just..." I gave a shrug, sighing as I looked at the older woman. Joyce had finally torn her eyes away from the hallway, giving me her full attention. "The goal was to get out of Hawkins. That was always the goal. I have something that if I got lucky, it could set me up to be anywhere I wanted."

"So what changed?"

"Everything," I admitted. Memories seemed to flash in my eyes as I recalled them: growing closer to Eleven, Steve's kiss at Christmas, the Demogorgon that almost killed me. Then it was trying out for the cheer team, Charity's eyes narrowing at my ability to pick up what they gave me fast. The first time I put on the uniform and I barely recognized myself. Meeting Billy, who instantly knew everything I showed was fake. "Acting was fun when I could come home at the end of the day and be me. Even after this is over, we will never be able to tell the truth to anyone, maybe even to each other."

My answer caught Joyce off guard, and my realizations were suddenly new thoughts in her head she never thought of. She rubbed the palm of her left hand with her opposite thumb, stress filling her face.

"So, yeah... not exactly sure," I summed up for her. "There's a community college not too far away, give me some time to think about what else I can do. I don't think Hawkins is ready yet for me to leave... for everyone's safety." My face fell as the vibrations of the building started to fade against my hands, and I turned quickly and moved my hands around the wall in an attempt to regain control. "No... no, no!" Anya's powers abandoned me, the heightened senses disappearing. "Shit."