HEART FLAYER | b. hargrove

CHAPTER 035.

2 WEEKS LATER
July 18th-25th, 1985

Repetitive beeping is what woke Arwen. As her eyes peeled open, she's met with blinding white walls and bright lights above where she laid. For a moment, her heart sank.

Was that all just a dream? Was she still in Hawkins Lab?

Her eyes slowly adjusted as she blinked hard and relief started to wash over her as she realized she was in the hospital.

How am I not dead?

The memories from before she fell asleep were hazy, but she knew that she had definitely used more of her powers than she ever had before. Her bones ached and her limbs felt like lead.

"Arwen?"

A familiar, soft voice. Arwen turned her head to the side to see Eleven sitting in a chair beside the bed. Her brown eyes were wide as she stared at her older sister in a mixture of relief and surprise.

"You're awake..."

"Hey, waffle monster..." Arwen mumbled with a weak smile on her face. "How long have I been out?"

It had to have been at least a few days. She'd used up every ounce of energy in her body.

"Two weeks..." Eleven replied quietly. Arwen stared at her for a moment and started to attempt to sit up a little, but she felt perpetually winded and her head spun.

"No... there's no way," Arwen muttered with her brows drawn together. "Where is everyone else? Are they okay?"

Eleven swallowed and tears filled her eyes. The elder sister's stomach lurched and her first thought is Billy; she didn't save him. But El's word's completely blindside her.

"Hopper..." she whispered. "Dad... he..."

"No." Arwen cut her off firmly, her head shook back and forth and tugged on the tube across her face. "That can't be true. He wouldn't leave us. You're wrong. He -"

A nurse came in after likely hearing the commotion and the accelerated heartrate on the monitor. She bid Eleven to leave them for a moment and Arwen tried her damn hardest to claw the IV out of her skin, but she was quickly held down and sedated.

About an hour later, she woke once more. This time, she's greeted by Joyce's kind face.

"Hey, sweetie." Joyce said sweetly and held one of the girl's hands in her own.

"My dad..." Arwen said groggily with her voice full of demand. "Where is he?"

"We can discuss that in a little bit, sweetheart. But right now someone wants to see you."

Arwen felt a look of confusion cross her expression as Joyce helped her to sit up again. The door opened and closed, causing her eyes to snap over to see who it was.

Billy.

They locked gazes and she no longer sees black veins on his skin. No more lifeless stare. But instead watery blue eyes filled with guilt and concern.

But after her last experience with him, Arwen couldn't help her reflexive response to tense up and raise her arm quickly in threat towards him. Her heartrate monitor is beeping rapidly again and she felt dizzy with the strange mixture of emotions overwhelming her.

There was relief over the fact that he was alive, but there was so much fear at just the sight of him now.

Billy flinched just slightly. He appeared hurt but unsurprised by her actions.

"Arwen," Joyce said sternly and placed a hand on the girl's arm to lower it slowly. Arwen glanced at her only briefly before her gaze snapped back to Billy with caution. "He's fine, I promise. He's not possessed anymore. He just got released a few days ago from his own injuries, but he hasn't left the hospital because you're still here."