Royal Pain || Stranger Things

twenty-eight || super ears

Thunder clapped over Hawkins National Laboratory like an old friend as Hopper, Joyce and Tatum made their way deep into the facility, retracing steps they had made within the past two years of havoc that the facility had wreaked on the small town.

      The building itself was littered with plastic liners and boxed up items that would never be retrieved. Most doorways were taped over with hazard markers and the floors were scuffed beyond belief.

      It was Hopper who broke through the poorly secured plastic covering the entryway into the observation room that faced the heart of Hawkin's torturous underground neighbor.

     Tatum let out a soft breath as she stepped into the room, shattered glass from the observatory windows being blown in by demo-dogs that had gotten too bold spread about the floor.

     Where the living, breathing gate had been was instead simple concrete, just as it had been before Eleven had caused the rift between worlds two years before.

     The trio stepped out of the glass casing onto the exterior floor that had been made to fill the massive hole in the ground that had been created, stepping up to the wall.

     Hop leaned in, knocking on it before pressing his ear to it. He looked to Joyce, who even then had her hesitancies. "Nobody's home," he replied.

     "I want her to listen."

     Tatum's brows lifted as both adults looked to her, pointing at herself. "Me, her?"

     "You've got the super ears," Joyce said before motioning to the wall. "You have the most connection to it. You sealed it with El. I want you to listen."

     "Sure, I can do that." Tatum took an unsure step forward as Joyce and Hopper backed up, giving her space to work. She reached out, hand waving in front of the concrete before she let her fingers touch the cool surface. She drew away, hand recoiling.

     "What's wrong?"

     "It's fine," she softly said before replacing her hand on the surface. Pressing both of her hands against it, she closed her eyes.

     Thoughts of Nina ran rampant behind her eyes, the young girl plagued with running from monsters within the Upside Down.

     Joyce and Hopper stayed quiet, minutes passing as they stared at a completely frozen Tatum.

     "Is she okay?" Joyce asked, voice low in worries of interfering with whatever magic she was doing.

     "I have no idea."

     "Do we stop her? Pull her out of it?"

     "I think she has to pull herself out," Hop replied, arms folding over his chest.

     Joyce sighed, sitting on a work bench that had been left behind. "I feel like I'm losing my mind."

     "You're not losing your mind. There's something going on here, but we can't touch it." Hop wandered around with his flashlight, both avoiding Tatum's space. "You know, the other day, I almost shot Betsy Payne's dog because it came rushing at me from behind this fence, and I...I swear to God, I thought it was one of those things." He shook his head lightly. "You know that I'm keeping a close eye on things, right?"

     "I know."

     "Because it's important to me," he said. "It's important to me that you feel safe. That you and your family feel safe. Tatum has already been able to draw out her brother, and it's only a matter of time before we get another lead. I want you to feel like this can still be your home."