Is There Someone Else? | Stranger Things 4

XIII

Delilah
"022? It's time to wake up dear, we have got a big day ahead of us." 001's voice said softly, shaking me, curiously I sat up, drowsily opening my eyes being met with a dingy room and stiff bed beneath me.

  "Good morning Peter," I said collectedly, but it didn't feel like I was saying it, I felt too calm around him.

  "We must get to the rainbow room at once, you are already rather late to make an appearance." He said opening a heavy door and leading me out to a hallway with harsh fluorescent lights that made my eyes strain.

  "Peter, do you think the other children will finally talk with me today?" I found myself asking, this didn't feel dream-like, this felt too real.

  "Oh dear 022, you won't have to worry about them any longer, plus you will always have me at your side." He reassured with a smile, looking over his face I'd noticed he'd looked slightly more youthful than all the times he'd shown me himself before, his eyes a little less unhinged but still a little evil, his bone structure less sharp and more soft and inviting.

  He pushed the double doors ahead of us open, showing a playroom filled with children doing various tasks, conversing, generally happy. But when their eyes all turned to meet me, the room dropped silent, and I felt anxiety fill my body, I inched to leave the room but 001 put a hand on my back, urging me to stay. 

  A little girl in the far-off corner of the room waved to me softly, making my heart feel warm as I carefully strolled over to her. She sat on the floor in front of a board with pegs and number slots aligned across the bottom.

  "Hi 011," I said simply, sheepishly like I felt afraid that one wrong word would isolate me. She smiled weakly and glanced at 001 who stood slightly to the side of us.

  "I told you 022, the day would come." He said with a smile that only told me he had ulterior motives. 001 paused for a moment and sat between the two of us, folding his legs and taking a breath.

  "You know, I've noticed the both of you have been struggling recently to truly win at the games papa has you participate in." He began.

  "Papa does not let me participate he said that I do not belong practicing," I said sadly, feeling guilty, excluded.

  "Oh dear I did forget about that, but I was thinking, what if we showed papa that you belong training just like the other children? You know he always believed you and 011's powers were perfect counteractions of one another, so what if you were to practice like one another?" 001 proposed.

  "Papa thinks.. we are alike?" 011 asked quizzically, glancing at me almost happily.

  "Indeed he does, there was an 001 here at one point and it was admirable, he said, he thought of something that made him sad but also angry, and that made him able to use his full potential." He explained looking at the floor sadly.

  I wanted to point out that he was 001, so what was he on about? But I couldn't, just like I couldn't come to terms with my fear for him. "What happened to 001 Peter?" I asked.

  "No one knows, papa will not tell us, but next time you train, you remember what he said, now come on 022, let us go speak to papa about your training." I nodded and took his hand to stand up, smiling down at 011 before my eyes met the mirror.

  My heart dropped, I saw myself.. as a child, blood soaking my clothes, hair buzzed, in a hospital-looking gown as I sobbed and it was only then I truly felt 8 years old again. Forget felt, I was all over again.

  I looked around the room to suddenly see the bodies of other children, mangled, bloody, with 001 standing in the middle of the room, hair slicked back and a heartless look overcasting his face just like it had the other day.