ANGELA [STRANGER THINGS]

eight.

" THE WORLD WILL GO ON WHEN I CEASE TO EXIST "

—

Will couldn't sleep for the life of him.

His eyes were steadily trained on the dead leaves that were gathered around his shoes. His body was aching and his head was throbbing with a migraine, but none of that pain overtook the impending fear that had permanently settled inside him. Even with a girl sitting next to him with a gun aimed and loaded didn't phase him. Will has seen what a gun does to that monster, and it's not much.

"What's going on?"

Angela looked down at the twelve year old. His eyes were sunken in and dark, and his skin was a sickly pale shade. He was unwell, and it was only a matter of time before he would get worse.

Will didn't look up at her. He didn't have the strength to. He just needed to know if everything would be okay, even though he knew that Angela didn't know the answer.

"It's a long story," Angela told him, her fingers gripping the gun tighter.

"It's not like I don't have the time to listen," Will said.

Angela nodded, averting her eyes back to the opening of the hideout. She would start from the beginning.

"When I was little, I was put up for adoption because my parents were too young to raise a family. It wasn't long until I was brought in by a man. I didn't know his name and he never told me," Angela started, her voice no higher than a whisper. "He worked in a lab. It wasn't like any science lab you've ever seen. It was different. I had a small room, and occasionally he would take me out and I would be brought into another room with one table and a mirror. That's where the experiments happened.

"Anyway, there were other kids like me. Some were older and some were my age. I met a guy that was around sixteen, I think his name was Greg. He was one of the older kids. He helped me escape, except, it wasn't the escape that I had hoped for.

"There was this portal. Greg was working with the scientists. He would enter the portal and look around for a bit. One day when he was in the portal, he found another. It led to the outside. He didn't tell anybody, but he did tell me. That's how I got out, except, the monster found me."

"You've been here before?" Will asked, finally looking up at Angela. She nodded numbly.

"I stayed here until I could sneak out," she told him. "It was months before I could leave. When I finally did, the Wright family took me in. Since then, I've been living with them and no one has come to look for me."

"So you came back here for me?"

Angela nodded, her eyes and face blank as she stared straight at the thin sheet that blocked the entrance. Will shuffled beside her, sitting up and moving away from her side.

"Is my family worried about me?"

Angela snapped out of her trance, looking down at Will.

"Of course they are," she rushed out, her hand grabbing onto his shoulder. "Your mom is going crazy trying to get to you. Everyone thinks she's insane for knowing exactly where you are. I tried to tell her, but Jonathan..."