Jailbird || Stranger Things

twenty-three ➵ burning up

Time was passing in an incredibly disjointed manner. Coupled with Teresa's insomnia, she was starting to lose track.

Drugs were involved this time. Ones that actually let her sleep, deep and even, and with no sudden waking moments spurred on by sound or anxiety relating to her past. She didn't even remember any dreams by the time she woke up.

"Miss Hopper?"

Teresa's eyes opened gently, soon assaulted by the bright lights of the converted office that now housed a heart monitor and a bed.

Her stomach spun, before she rapidly sat up, and reached for the small pink tray by the bed, pulling it in front of her as she threw up. Completely ignoring the presence of the doctor who had seemed familiar with Will's condition, she looked away from the gathered pool of the contents of her stomach in the tray, laced with the black slime that was now hopefully out of her system. She placed the tray back to the side, staying upright as she watched him take a few steps into the room towards her.

"What?" she asked, still not particularly satisfied with how she had been treated the previous night. When she was placed into the hospital bed, she had been bound by cuffs; the same kind of softer cuffs as the week she spent on the psych ward. Ones used to hold people who were more of a damage than a flight risk.

"How are you feeling?"

She didn't particularly have a problem with Doctor Owens. To be honest, they hadn't really talked. If anything, she was grateful for him tending to Will as well as her father.

But Teresa had an inherent difficulty with trusting people her father hadn't expressed fondness for.

"Like shit," she mumbled, tugging at the one set of cuffs that still bound her to the bed. "Am I a prisoner again?"

"No, of course not," he stepped forward, waving the security guard who was waiting just outside to come and release her. As the cuffs were removed, she automatically reached for her wrist, although it didn't hurt as much as the metal ones she'd been forced into more than once. Even so, it was an immediate reaction to being tied up.

"Can I go?" she asked, looking up at both men.

"I have a few questions for you first," Owens pulled up a stool, telling the guard to leave them. As the door closed, the doctor turned back to her. "What do you know about your mother?"

Was this a trick question?

"Not much. I've seen one photo of her. She died in childbirth," she replied softly, hoping that her emotions would mask how she was hiding what she really knew.

"I'm aware you have now been exposed to Will's condition as well as what we have been trying to hold back for the past year. You already know more than the general public. Please don't try to hide anything," Owens smiled gently. "If you know something, there won't be any punishments."

She paused, watching for his expressions to give anything away. There was nothing.

"I know the previous boss of this lab, Brenner, was part of MKULTRA in the 60s here. I also know that my mom was recruited for the experiments out of college, which means that there's a possibility she was part of it. I don't know what that means for me, I just know that there might have been more to her than I previously thought," she admitted, but decided leaving out that her mother was pregnant when she was part of the experiments would be best.

Thankfully, she hadn't forgotten how to lie.

"How exactly did you learn of this, may I ask?" Owens asked, Teresa pulling her knees into her chest.