magnetic

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

For a minute, Alina believed she was hallucinating. She'd been waiting for this moment for over a month, and now that it was here it seemed unreal, like because she'd wanted it so badly, it was doomed to never come. She closed her eyes, thinking that if it was really a hallucination, the girl would disappear, but that didn't happen with she reopened them.

Instead, the girl still stood in front of her, shivering in the cold and looking nervously around the woods, before taking a cautious step forward. It was evident the same tug pushing Alina towards her had rooted in her, too, as Alina stepped forward at the same time. They were closer now, and Alina could see every detail she'd missed the first time they'd met.

The girl was breathing heavily, dirt and blood smeared on her face. She blinked those wide brown eyes of hers and didn't speak, and Alina knew she should say something, but she was standing there in shock, her pulse rocketing up. It seemed impossible. She almost forgot about the alarms still blaring inside the Lab, the men rushing away. All she could concentrate on was this girl.

"It's... it's okay," said Alina, after a couple more stunned seconds. This was what she wanted, and she wasn't going to waste it, wasn't going to scare the girl away. She set a tentative hand on the girl's bony shoulder, and the girl sucked in a breath, tensing at the touch, but didn't run. She just stared into Alina's eyes and trembled.

Alina looked around. It wasn't safe down here, for either of them. She looked up at the treehouse. Well, it had blankets, at least, and food, even if it was only chips. The girl was so skinny she must need fuel, and Alina knew her hospital gown wasn't providing much warmth.

"Hey," she said. Her mouth was so dry, but the girl she was still touching was alive. The tugging had stopped now that they were touching, another, indescribable feeling going through the both of them at first contact. It was almost as if they were being drawn together. Almost as if they were family.

All by one touch.

Alina gestured to the treehouse. "Follow me," she said. "I promise, I won't hurt you up there."

The girl simply nodded. She looked exhausted, with bags under her eyes and a slump in her movements. And there were a million questions Alina wanted to ask her, but she knew she couldn't ask any of them out here. Instead, the girl followed Alina up the ladder to the treehouse, Alina gritting her teeth as her side ached from the climb. Inside, Alina gave the girl a blanket before sitting cross-legged on the floor. The girl wrapped herself in the blanket and copied her.

For a minute, the two girls simply stared at each other, their big brown eyes filled with curiosity and a little fear. The girl reached then for Alina and Alina tensed, but the girl just put her hand on her shoulder, like Alina had on the ground.

"Calm," said the girl. "Not... not hurt you."

Her voice was quiet, her English broken. Alina wondered if the girl was foreign, but she didn't look it.

Alina nodded. "Yeah," she said. "We're not going to hurt each other."

She wondered if she should get out her notebook, but she didn't want to startle the girl. Instead, she just talked.

"You're... you're from the Lab, right?"

The girl looked confused at the term, and Alina sighed, thinking of how to describe it. "That place," she explained. "With the yellowing walls, the men in white coats."

The girl seemed to understand this, her eyes darkening and sweat forming on her brow. She glanced around the treehouse, as if expecting one of the scientists to pop out at her, bringing her back. "Shh, it's okay," said Alina. She swallowed. "Do you remember me? We saw each other, a month ago, in the Lab."

The girl nodded slowly. "In trouble," she said, in a voice barely over a whisper. She pointed to Alina. "In trouble. Bad men."

"Yeah," said Alina. She was glad that the girl was speaking now. "Yeah, we were in trouble for seeing each other. What happened?"

The girl just shook her head, pointing at herself. "Magnet," she said. She shivered, even with the blanket, and Alina scooted a little closer to her, hands shaking. The girl didn't shy away.

"What does that mean?" Alina asked. "Magnet?"

"Like..." the girl didn't seem to know the words to describe it, her face darkening with frustration. Alina told her to take her time, and the girl took a deep breath before pointing at herself. "Like," she said again, then pointed to Alina. "Like."

Alina finally understood. "We're... we're like each other?" she asked. "Is that what you mean? We're both girls, aren't we? Have you ever seen a girl before?" she cocked her head, studying the girl's face. "You look like you're my age, too. How old are you?"

"No." The girl shook her head. "Magnet." She pointed at herself again, then at Alina. "Like..." she still couldn't explain it, and ducked her head in frustration.

"Hey," said Alina. "Hey, it's okay." She wasn't shaking anymore, and so she stood up. The girl flinched as Alina crossed the treehouse and began to rifle through her bag, looking for food and water she could give her.

"Don't," the girl said. "Don't... go."

Alina turned back to the girl buried under a blanket and smiled softly. "I'm not going," she said. "I'm getting something for you." She held up the bag of chips she'd found, tearing it open, then held it out for the girl. "I wish I had some proper food, but this is all I have. Eat, you look like you're starving."

The girl took a couple of chips, placing them into her mouth cautiously. Her eyes widened at the flavor—they were barbecue chips, Brandon's favorite—and she chewed them quickly, grabbing another handful. Alina laughed at her eagerness and gave her the whole bag.

As the girl ate, Alina sat back down. Sometime since coming up here, the alarms had stopped, the lights finishing their flickering. All was normal, except for the fact that the girl Alina had been looking for was right in front of her, eating barbecue chips with much enthusiasm. It was surreal.

"Hey," said Alina. "Maybe you should stay here for the night. You'll be safe here. I'd never hurt you."

The girl looked down at the blanket. "Can't," she said, finishing the last chip in the bag, looking down for more, disappointment crossing her face when she found that she'd finished them. "Go."

"Why?" Alina asked. "Why do you need to leave? You'll be safe with me, I promise."

The girl didn't respond, picking at a thread on the blanket. Alina sighed. "Okay, but can you—"

"Alina!"

Brandon Fairgrieves' voice sounded from outside the treehouse, and the girl tensed up, her eyes widening. "Bad," she said, looking panicked. She brought the blanket closer to her as if it could shield her from the voice outside. "Bad!"

Alina grabbed the girl's hand. "It's just my Dad," she soothed. "I'll be right back, okay? Don't leave."

Even though the girl still looked petrified, Alina paid her no mind, practically running down the ladder and embracing her father. "Dad!" she exclaimed, breathing in the scent of his cologne. "I was so worried about you! I woke up to the alarms and the red lights and then you didn't come and get me, and I was so scared and—"

"It's okay, Ally," said her father. "Everything's okay. We're safe now. Everyone's okay." But he trembled in Alina's embrace, and that was when she realized that something legitimately bad had happened in the Lab. She felt horrible for almost forgetting, focusing on the girl instead of her father. Tears trickled down Alina's face as she held him, until he was finally the first to break away. "I have to tell you something," he said. "When we get home. It's about the girl."

The girl currently hiding in Alina's treehouse. Alina looked up at it for a second. "O-okay," she said. "I'm just going to get my bag. In the treehouse. Be right back."

She didn't know what she would say to the girl. She didn't know if she should tell her to stay in the treehouse or convince her that her dad wasn't bad, but it turned out she didn't have to do either of those things. Because when Alina entered the treehouse, the girl was gone. She'd taken another bag of chips and a blanket, but Alina didn't really blame her. She must've been afraid.

She glanced out the treehouse window to where her dad was waiting for her and thought about how much she didn't know about him, how much she didn't know about Hawkins Lab, and a shiver ran through her.

Maybe the girl had a reason to be afraid.

Her suspicions were practically confirmed when they got home. Brandon looked grim, sitting her down at the table and pulling out a file from his jacket. He opened it, spreading the pages on the table so Alina could see each one. Many of them just contained writing, journal entries about a mysterious Subject Eleven, but one of them contained a black and white photo of a girl with a shaved head. She was staring right at the camera, a look of shock on her young face. Alina recognized her immediately.

The girl in the treehouse.

Alina touched the photo. "Why are you showing me this?" she asked her father. Her eyes swept over the other files, discussing strange abilities, unexplained deaths, and a full-page transcript of strange words. She didn't know what all of this had to do with the girl, or why she was screaming.

"I know you've been wondering about her for a long time," said Brandon. "Even when I told you not to. And I wasn't supposed to show you any of these files. Ever. But something happened tonight that changed everything. Something that might put all of Hawkins in danger." He looked Alina right in the eyes. "I need you to trust me. Do you trust me, Ally?"

I need you to trust me, Alina. Do you trust me?

"Yes."

"This girl, the girl you saw in the Lab, is a very dangerous weapon. I know she might not look like it, but she's very hostile and attacks anything and everyone she sees. We were trying to protect her at the Lab, keep her from hurting anyone else, but tonight... tonight she escaped somehow. And now she's on the run.

"Ally. I need you to listen to me. Make sure you're not out alone after dark. Be mindful, don't go wandering away from a group. And if you happen to see this girl, I want you to run, okay? As far as you can. And I want you to call me. Not the police. They won't know what to do with her. Everything is going to be fine, okay? We'll catch her soon enough. But until then," Brandon finished, "be careful."

Alina thought back to the girl in her treehouse, with her big eyes and her nervous stature. She hadn't hurt Alina at all. She'd told Alina she wasn't going to hurt her. And she was skittish. Alina had seen her in the treehouse, bundled in blankets, and known she wouldn't hurt a fly. She was just a scared kid, and, for some reason, Brandon Fairgrieves was making her out to be a monster.

What reason did he have to lie?

"Alina?"

Alina realized she hadn't spoken since the end of Brandon's speech, just sat there, curling and uncurling her fists under the table. She looked up at her father. His eyes were filled with concern, just as all fathers would be if someone dangerous, a serial killer perhaps, was loose in their hometown.

But Alina wasn't fooled. Two could play at that game.

So Alina Fairgrieves nodded at her dad, closing the file and pushing it back to him. "I promise," she said dully, knowing these were empty words. "I promise I'll be safe."

As if. Because if there was anything Alina Fairgrieves would do tomorrow night, it would be going out into the woods again and finding that girl. No matter what it took.

Alina went upstairs, but before she did anything else, she wrote every single detail of the encounter she'd had with the girl in her notebook. Every word she'd said, every movement the girl had made, all of it was penned in. She crossed off some questions that had been answered before, wrote down some new questions she had (why was the girl being called a threat when she wasn't?) and, as usual, buried her notebook in her underwear drawer.

She knew what she needed to do next, but it would be extremely difficult.

She needed to get a hand on that file. There were important documents in there, things she'd only skimmed over, and she knew they would provide valuable information in this ongoing mystery. Alina had to admit, she was a little excited. It had taken a month, but she'd finally gotten some real clues. It was bringing her closer to the end.

As she was drifting off to sleep, Alina remembered the blaring alarms, the red lights. Had that been because of the girl? Or had something else happened?

Why were the scientists bleeding?

And as Alina drifted into a fitful rest, the shadow, a mere wisp of the thing on the other side, the thing that was waiting for a host, crept into her room. And dug its claws into her. 

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: ooh things are getting more complicated! alina is now unsure if she can even trust her dad anymore, and she's finally had her first real interaction with eleven! what do you guys think eleven meant by magnet? i'd love to hear your theories!

thank you so much for reading! i'm so close to the end of writing this book (these chapters i'm posting now are all pre-written) and it's making me so emotional omg. but anyway, this is gonna be a very long book, so i hope you all stay along for the ride.

'till next time! :)