Hidden Within the Shadows

if you like piña coladas

Adrian had had enough of the goddamn lab. He'd been in this new one for several months, he knew that much. He'd been subjected to enough torture, and he wanted out. So he'd been practising with the projections.

He'd found out that he could project images, that the guinea pig had been some projection his mind had used when he thought about it. It was difficult trying to project bigger images. When he could, he'd practice putting himself in the corner. He could hold the image for a few seconds before his nose would gush blood, and he'd have to stop. But he was slowly getting there. It took what felt like aeons before he could make it work for more than five minutes.

Dr Brenner and the others didn't know about this new power he had and often thought he was trying to crush things in his room, which allowed Adrian to get away with the bloodied pillowcases that were found all the time.

Then Dr Brenner sounded the alarms one day, and Adrian was drugged and taken away. He couldn't ask questions, and if he dared try, then he was punished for it. It left Adrian with several bruises and cuts, adding to the scars and marks that Ted Wheeler had given him before he'd run away.

So Adrian continued to practice in his own time, after hours. He'd been removed from the lab, into some new unknown area. Adrian had no idea as to where the hell he was, or if he was still in Hawkins or not. What was he going to do?

His powers continued to grow. The projections were getting better, even though he was still tired after them. But the fatigue afterwards became manageable. He didn't see Dr Brenner, and he wondered what the hell had happened. Adrian knew it would take a long while before he found out, if he ever got to find out.

So Adrian was left in the care of the orderlies and other doctors. They ordered him to do more experiments, crushing larger and larger things, finding people further and further away in the Void. They were apprehensive about using their new sensory deprivation tank. They had all been stern about it, telling him to get out if he ever saw the creature again.

But they didn't know that he could project images into their minds. He'd been steadily growing the power, tricking orderlies that there were spiders or other such insects in the rooms they were in. They never noticed Adrian wiping away the little bits of blood coming from his nose whenever he saw them.

The days trickled by steadily, and Adrian's powers continued to grow. Was he now being used as the backup? He'd heard the whispers from people, that Eleven had gone missing. He had no idea how long he'd been with the doctors and scientists now. Time was loopy and whimsical like that, hard to keep track of when it wasn't allowed to be monitored by him.

"Find Eleven," an orderly intrusted. Adrian figured several weeks had passed since they had left Hawkins Lab. "Dr Brenner will return shortly, and we need to find Eleven. You want to impress him, don't you?"

What kind of weird manipulative bullshit was this?

The orderly handed over a picture of Eleven, a headshot that had to be on her files. Adrian wondered where his files were, and whether he looked as dead inside as Eleven did. He definitely wasn't going to try and find Eleven, he had better things to search for.

They put the EEG on his head once more, and he felt his skin crawl.

Time to act.

Adrian shut his eyes, concentrating. He was busy locating all the orderlies and the stupid fucking doctors. He knew what he had to do.

Getting into their minds was relatively easy. The orderlies were simple, the doctors a little more complex. But he managed it. He found a way into their minds and prepared to run. His hands were clenched atop the table, and he was breathing heavily.