Not Just Another Number

More People Know

Sarah's POV

Dream~

"Okay Three, all I want you to do is light this candle. Simple. After, I want you to fill this cup." Father says, pointing at the objects. He smiles at me, but it doesn't make me feel good. I look at the thing he called a candle and scrunch up my nose. I could feel everything heat up, but it doesn't work. "No, Three. You need to light the candle." He yells at me.

I nod and try again, but it still doesn't work. I try over and over and over, but nothing happens. Father looks at me and shakes his head, sighing. He looks angry. "Fine, don't light it." He looks at the other people and does something with his hand. "Take her to the room." He yells, making me scream. "No Father!" The strangers come up to me and drag me out of the room. I look back at father, and he's still smiling.

End of dream~

"No!" I scream. I shoot upward and open my eyes. I look around in fright, but calm down as I see where I am. I'm at Hopper's place. When did I get here? I try to stand up, but my limbs ache in protest. I still push through the pain and ultimately stand up.

I look around for Hopper, but I have to quickly rush to the bathroom because the urge to vomit took over. I run through the hall and into the bathroom. I slide onto my knees and vomit into the toilet bowl. It leaves a scratchy feeling in my throat.

"Sarah?" I hear Hopper ask, but I can't stop. I could hear him get into the bathroom. He places his hand on my back and rubs it to help me relax. After a few more seconds of dry heaving, I've finally calmed down. I reach up and push down on the lever to flush it.

I lean back and wipe my mouth. Hopper leaves and quickly comes back with a cup of water. He hands it to me and I start to guzzle it down. As I finish the water, I lean back and breathe deeply. "Hopper, what am I doing here?" I ask.

"I don't know. I woke up here with you on my couch." He says, shrugging his shoulders. "Hey, do you remember anything?" He asks. I look at him and sigh. He must know. I pull my legs to my chest and look him in the eye. "Are you asking about last night, or further?" I ask.

"Last night. You came out of that portal thing, and I want to know what you remember." He says. I groan and look away. "You would never believe me." I mumble.

"Try me. After what I saw, I would believe anything." He says, rubbing his temples. I look at him and raise an eyebrow in a questioning way. He just stares at me, waiting for me to talk. I groan and let go of my knees, letting my legs relax. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." I say.

"Well, the reason why I came out of that opening was because I was looking for Will. There was an opening like that one in the woods last night. I heard his voice come from it, so I went in." I explain curtly. He sighs and rubs his face. I knew he would think I'm crazy.

"Why did you go in? You're just a kid, you could have gotten hurt." He scolds. He stands up to go somewhere, but I quickly stand up to argue. I stood up to quickly, making my head spin. I grab onto the sink next to me, but I don't back down. "I was fine, Hop. I can handle myself perfectly fine. I'm not a kid. It's not anything that I haven't faced before." I yell. He looks back at me, with a confused glare. "What do you mean, 'it's not anything you haven't faced before'?" He asks, walking closer to me.

Shit! "I-I...um...uh..." I stammer, scared now. "Sarah, what did you mean by that?" He repeats the question. I gulp as I look up at him. My hands shake, and I could feel them heat up slightly. Shit, I can't do this now. "I meant what I said." I say, finally steeling my nerves.

I raise my chin, trying to feel braver than I am. "It wasn't as bad as the shit I've gone through." I say, feeling angry. With that dream I'm not going to be able to get over it without telling someone. I walk out of the bathroom, an angry Hopper behind me, as I walk out to the kitchen. I walk over to the table, seeing pieces of dismantled technology. "What's this?" I ask as I sit down. He walks over to the other chair and sits down. "They put cameras and microphones in these. I tore them out, so we're safe." He says.

I nod my head and look down. "What I say stays here. You cannot tell anyone without my permission. Understand?" I ask. He rolls his eyes, but he nods. I let out a slow breath to calm myself down.

"I came from the lab. They would experiment on kids, and I was one of them. That place where that portal led to, that's the Upside Down. It's like Hawkins, but it's home to monsters and it's cold and dark and horrible." I say, fighting back a shudder. He sighs and shakes his head.

I pick up a broken wire and mess with it. "Those papers on the lab, with those kids, you were one of them?" He asks. I only nod my head. "What did they do to you?" He asks.

I look back down and mess with the wires again. I swallow my fear and speak. "They would experiment on us. I don't know if all kids got the same treatment, but if I didn't do what they wanted, they would lock me in a dark room for hours on end. They would sometimes hurt me for fun, like they got some kind of sick pleasure from watching a six year old bleed." I spit out the last statement.

I slowly take off my gloves and show him my wrist. "They branded each of us, to keep track. I was one of the earlier kids." I say as he examines my wrist. He looks pissed, but I don't stop. "They wanted us to be weapons. Wanted us to be little soldiers. They wanted us specifically because we were special. We had abilities that other kids didn't. They really pushed me to be the best weapon, but I got out before they could do anything worse. They favored me the most because of my abilities." I say, retracting my hands.

I bring them closer to me and feel them heat up. Just like with the party, I allow the heat to surround my hands, lighting them ablaze. I keep it as a controlled flame, not wanting it to get too bad. I quickly extinguish my hand, not wanting to meet his gaze. "I can do that and control water. It's not too flashy, but it's pretty powerful." I mumble.

I finally look back up at him. He looks pissed, ready to punch anything. "Kid, I promise you, those men aren't getting anywhere near you." He says lowly. I sigh and smile. Thank god he believes me. I'm glad he's gonna try to protect me, but I'm more worried about him. The more people know, the more people that could be in danger, but at least he's one of them that know. He can hold his own in a fight, so I don't have to be as worried as I am for the others.

"Well, we need to focus on Will right now. After that, we can worry about the lab doing this to me." I say, getting up. I struggle, but I'm able to get up all the same. I walk away from the table, but I stumble a bit. He moves to help, but I stick my hand out to stop him. "I'm fine. Just have to get used to walking outside of that place. It feels like there's less gravity there, so it just feels weird." I say, righting myself. He just nods, but he stays standing.

I breathe through clenched teeth and walk forward to the couch. I look over at the clock on the table. 1:15. "Shit!" I yell, trying to run to the door.

"What?" Hopper asks, rushing over to me.

"The funeral. They'll wonder where I am. It'll look suspicious." I say, finally reaching the door. "But you need to rest. And you don't have your car." Hopper reasons, but I'm already out the door. "You could just drive me to my car. It's at the woods where you found Will's bike." I reason, walking over to his car.

He groans, but he opens the car door. I quickly climb in and buckle up. He climbs in as well and starts the car. He pulls out of his driveway, too slowly for my liking. "I'm pretty sure they would understand you missing it if you came up with a good enough excuse." He comments, making me scoff.

"I've already missed his autopsy. I've been flaking on my mom enough, I need to be there." I say, staring out the window. He hums in understanding. After a few seconds of silence, I see my car up ahead. "There it is!" I say as I point at it. He pulls over to the side and unlock the door.

I jump out and walk over to my car. I run my hand along the hood, smiling. At least nothing happened. I look back at Hopper, he hasn't got yon out of the car. "Hey Chief! If you need me, you know how to reach me. And please, keep this between us. If others were to know, word could get around." I say, scratching the back of my head.

He nods and gives me a thumbs up, before he drives away. I sigh and lean against my car, looking around. That opening could still be out there. I push myself off of the car and walk back into the woods.

Okay, don't go through the opening this time. Just investigate. I walk back to the clearing and walk over to the tree. The opening is gone, but there's a bit of slime, evidence of what was here. At least it's gone. Don't need people seeing that. I look back in the direction I came in and sigh. Well, I better get going. I have a funeral to catch.