To Catch a Falling Star (Steve Harrington)

(1.14) News

I woke up to whispering.

Voices that I recognized as the three young boys from before, and when I opened my eyes, I was right. Dustin, Lucas and Mike all sat on the edge of my bed, whispering to the other next to me. I let my head lolled to the side, a creak of pain firing at the slight movement, but I was successful in seeing what I wanted to see. Will laid in the bed next to me, pale, and sickly looking, but smiling and laughing with his friends. We locked eyes, and he was quick to smack Dustin and point out that I was awake.

"Zero!" Dustin shouted, the other two joined in, running at me and hugging me excitably. I groaned silently as they did, but still trying my best to hug them back. My left arm wouldn't move from its place on the bed, but the right wrapped around the trio hugging them tightly.

It was a flurry of speech from there. They told me what happened after I left, with the chocolate pudding (I told them that I didn't know what it was, and Dustin told me he would find me some) and that the three of them were left alone in the school alone. They went on and on explaining every minute of our time separate, and that's when I noticed the lack of Eleven in the room. They got to a point in their story, where suddenly they all stop talking, the smiles left their faces and they looked sad.

"Eleven is gone Zero." Will spoke up, his voice laced with sadness, but saying what the other boys could not.

I shook my head, and mouthed the word no, but I knew it was true. I couldn't feel her presence anymore. Eleven was gone, and I was alone in the world.

The last Subject.

I cried, openly, and the four boys were quick to react. The three standing piled on the bed around me, and a moment later Will joined. They hugged me and muttered sweet things about Eleven, and that I would always have a home with them.

We stayed like that for a long time. A tangle of arms and legs in a meaningful pile, a knock on the door, and the entrance of someone got them to climb off of me quickly. Hopper and Joyce smiled when they saw us. Joyce kissed Will on the forehead before coming over and doing the same to me.

"How you feelin' Zero?" Hopper's voice was a bit hoarse when he spoke, he approached the bed and sat on the edge by my feet.

I bobbed my head from side to side, and lifted my right hand to point at my left. I shook my head, and wiggled my right arm.

"Do it again?" Joyce asked, watching my hands closely.

I did as she asked, and she looked, well, I don't know how she looked. It was an emotion that I didn't recognize.

"You can't move it?" Lucas asked from his spot by Will. I nodded. Hopper was quick to leave the room, and when he returned he was pulling a man behind him.

A doctor.

I panicked, and tried to sit up, to put as much distance as I could between me and the doctor. Joyce tried to get me to stop, putting her hands on me to hold me down. But that made it worse. I set my hand on the mattress, pushing myself up into a sitting position. A dull throb began in my head but I ignored it, taking to holding my hand up and pointing it at the doctor that Hopper brought in.

Hopper was quick to stand between me and the Doctor, holding his hand out to me and muttering that this doctor is safe. That they will all stay in the room with me. I reached for Joyce, and she was there, holding me right hand in her hands. I let the doctor approach. Hopper smiled at me over his shoulder, putting his thumb into the air while keeping a sharp eye on the doctor.

The doctor smiled as he approach, and I glared in response. I watch closely as the doctor picked my left hand up and starts to unwrap the bandages around it. I didn't feel anything in my hand, and that worried me for the split second that I could concentrate on it. I turned away from the Doctor, checking that Hopper was still watching him (he was) and looked at Joyce.

I pulled my hand from hers, and shook it a bit to get her attention. I paused for a second, thinking about how to communicating what I wanted to say, but it's a little harder without Steve here.  Which is what I wanted to ask.

I pat my chest, and she nods, muttering the word 'your' under her breath. I node, and then I put my finger tips against hers and make a point with our two hands. She stares at it for a minute, and looks back up at me again. I point at Will and Dustin, both of which were sitting next to each other, and looking at me.

"Your, point, Will and Dustin?" She looks at me confused and I shake my head, just as I start to do it again, Hopper interrupts.

"Your home?" I look at him quickly and nod excitedly. He smiles and laughs lightly at me, "Steve should be here soon, he is picking up Jonathon and Nancy."

I do a little happy wiggle dance in my bed, and turn back to Joyce to smile at her. She opened her mouth to say something, but Hopper interrupted again.

"Can you feel that?" I looked back at him and saw that he wasn't actually looking at my face but at my arm instead. 

I leaned my head to the side, and looked at the four boys, and saw the same look of concern that Hopper had. I let my gaze drop to my arm, and I realize what he meant. It was swollen, beyond compare, and looked gross. Because that is the only way to really put it. The doctors repaired it in surgery, but it looks worse than it did originally. There was little metal pieces sticking out of the hand, and long cuts in between them all.

The doctor lifts his hand and points a finger over the top of one of the metal pieces. "I'm going to touch this, and you are going to stop me when it hurts okay?"

I nod, focusing my eyes on the guys hand. He moves his finger closer and closer, and I'm still waiting for him to touch it when a little drop of blood appears around the metal piece. 

"You can't feel this?" I shook my head no, and the doctor looked panicked.

Hopper steps forward, grabbing the doctors shoulder and spinning him around to face him. They whisper in hushed tones, as Joyce starts blabbing about anything and everything that she could to distract me. But I could hear one word, and I didn't know what it meant like usual, but it didn't sound good.

I had a 'paralysis.'