Zero: A Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter 001

"Good morning, Zero. How are you feeling today?"

The girl sat cross legged on the rickety little bed, her small, delicate hands resting in gentle folds in her lab. She shrugged, her clear, doe-eyed gaze resting temporarily on the floor.

"No more headaches, I've heard," the woman remarked persistently, tapping her pen on her clipboard. "Is that right?"

Zero shook her head and shifted. She tapped gently on her knobby knees, thin for a girl her age.

"Is it a test day, Mama?" When her eyes lifted, the expression written across her small face was one of anxiety. She leaned towards the woman seated primly across from her.

"No, my darling, it is not. I think our last test day was a bit too much. However, I want you to take a little look."

"A look inside..."

"Yes, darling, inside my mind. Inside my memories. You can do that, can't you?"

Zero nodded and rearranged herself onto her knees. Eyes fluttering shut, she targeted her focus on the woman. A strange, low vibration crept into the claustrophobic air of the padded room, much to the interest of the doctor.

"Three red flowers. Five green stars. One snowflake."

"Good, good, good," the woman said, decisively patting Zero's knees with a sense of familiarity only really belonging to family.

"Now, can I tell you what your brothers and sisters did today?"

Zero broke out in a childish grin and nodded eagerly, wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her hand.

"Well, Jason and Amy played a game of chess. Amy won, of course. And sweet little Melissa fell and scraped her knee. Oh, she's okay darling, don't you fret! You know how tough she is. And Chris..."

Jenna sat bolt upright suddenly as the phone rang. She blinked with bleary disorientation, brushing her curls away from her face. Instead of platinum white walls and a woman with dark hair and a foreboding smile, Jenna was faced with her warmly lit bedroom. The clunky radio softly hummed Michael Jackson, occasionally phasing into static, offset by the still-ringing phone.

She shook herself and bounced onto the floor, hurrying over to the wall.

"Hello?"

"Hey sweetie, it's Karen."

"Mrs. Wheeler! Hi! How are you doing tonight?" Jenna's tone was warm and complacent as she leaned back against the floral wallpaper and looked mildly out the darkening window.

"Oh, I'm doing just fine, sweetie, thank you for asking. You know how the boys are, playing that silly game from dusk till dawn. I told them it's time to finish up but they listen to you better than me."

Jenna laughed. Karen Wheeler tsked good-naturedly from the other line, her rhythmic of her vegetable chopping barely audible.

"Anyways, I just wanted to ask if you'll be needing a ride to school this week."

"Oh, yeah, right." Jenna tucked some of her unruly hair back behind its barrett. "I'm so sorry about all of this, really, we thought my car would be fixed by now."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all! I know Nance loves having you around."

A volcanic laugh bubbled perilously close to the surface. Jenna would be seriously, sincerely, completely, genuinely surprised if she discovered Nancy Wheeler enjoyed her company.