0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟹: 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚂𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜

A sharp gasp brought Sarah back to consciousness, her lungs and heart both pumping like mad. Her small blue eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the blinding lights surrounding her, but even when everything finally became clear she still had no idea where she was. The room contained nothing but herself and four white walls.

"Mommy?" Sarah's little voice cried out into the emptiness. "Daddy?"

No response.

She could feel a cold, hard surface against the back of her arms and legs. She wanted to leave, she wanted to get out of that scary place and see her parents, but she was unable to move. She began to whimper and cry as she pulled against the restraints holding her down. At her young age she didn't understand a lot, but she understood this much: she was in trouble.

She stopped crying when she heard a man's voice coming from down the hallway. Daddy? She tried to quiet her heavy breathing so that she could hear better. The voice got closer and closer until it was right outside her door. She waited anxiously as the doorknob jiggled and a man in a white coat entered the room. This wasn't her dad.

He was accompanied by two other men, who both wore frowns on their faces and guns on their hips. They didn't look friendly. But the man in the white coat did. As he walked closer to her the smile on his face grew larger.

"You're awake," he said. His voice was as soothing as his smile, but something about him just wasn't right.

"Where am I?" Sarah whimpered, squirming against the restraints. "Where are my mom and dad?"

"Shhh..." The man bent over the table and put a finger to his lips in an attempt to calm her down. This only unnerved her more. "You're okay."

"Who...who are you?" Sarah tried to ask as her bottom lip quivered in fear. 

"Call me Papa," the man smiled.

"Is she...dead?" Lucas asked, peering over the unconscious girl laying at their feet. The group had formed a circle around her, studying her in confusion and fear. Other than the fact that electricity had been generating from her hands moments ago, something felt off about her. Otherworldly.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..." Dustin walked in anxious circles, his fingers entangled in his nest of curly hair. "What the shit do we do?"

"First we need to calm down!" Mike shouted, grabbing Dustin's shoulders and shaking him until he stopped pacing. "Somebody check her pulse."

"No way, not me," Lucas shook his head vigorously. "What if her hands light up again?"

"Not dead," Eleven piped up, kneeling beside the girl to get a better look. Something about her seemed...familiar...She lifted her left wrist to feel for a pulse, and nearly dropped it in surprise when she pulled back the sleeve.

A tiny black tattoo similar to her own was etched into the girl's pale skin. Eleven pulled back her own sleeve and pressed her wrist against the girl's to compare the two tattoos: 011, 001.

"Holy shit," Max said, drawing the boys's attention from their squabbling to the new discovery.

"El..." Mike began, finding it hard to speak.  "She's..."

"My sister," Eleven finished for him, gingerly setting the girl's wrist back on the ground.

"What are we going to do with her?" Max asked, kneeling beside Eleven and putting a hand on her shoulder. "We can't just leave her here. Should we take her to the hospital?"

"Too risky," Mike argued, shaking his head. "We can't let them find out about her."

"You think they're still out there?" Dustin asked, a shiver running down his spine. His feet were itching to pace again, but a sharp look from Mike made them stay still.

"Maybe she could stay in Mike's basement, like El did," Lucas offered.

"I could talk to my mom and Jonathan about her staying with us," Will volunteered.

"No," Eleven said determinedly, turning down their ideas. A small smile rose on her lips. "Home, with me."

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