( darkest before dawn / act one )
❛  YOU COPIED ME   ❜
episode eight  |   stranger things

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"WHY ISNT SHE AWAKE, yet?" Lucas questioned the nurse as she changed the girls fluids. Will had woken up almost three hours after he had been admitted, and he begged the nurses to let him and Aurora share a room.

      An hour later, Aurora and Will had been wheeled into the same room, the latter being the only one awake for the move.

      It had been two days. Two whole days without Auroras witty comments and contagious laugh. Her three aunts couldn't understand how Joyce Byers had lasted an entire week with out her boy. The only thing that kept everyone sane, was the steady beat of her heart monitor.

      That same sound had been the one thing Aurora had heard as she slowly gained consciousness. It was like trying to see with a hood over her eyes, the light blinded her at first. Before she slowly began adjusting to it.

      The beeping increased, which caused Will to panic. Which caused a chain of events, the first being Mrs. Byers jumping from her seat, and ending with a nurse having water spilled all over her.

      Luckily, Aurora got to watch the entire thing from her position on the bed. When she tried to move, a nurse quickly helped, pushing a button to pull the bed up slightly. She assured Mrs. Byers everything was all right, before the nurse quickly left the room, allowing them some time alone. Will was the first to speak.

      "You copied me," the boy grinned, his pale skin having gained some color back, but his voice was still grainy.

      Aurora scoffed, "no way."

      "Um, yes way, I was admitted first," Will grinned at the girl, "and I woke up first. So, who's the copycat."

      Aurora just smiled at the boy, "I thought you died."

      "Oh don't go all pity party on me please," Will pleaded, as Mrs. Byers held his hand tightly.

      "Oh no," Aurora shook her head, "You just upped the bar, now I have to beat you at dramatics. But you can't do that to me, for at least three years."

      Will laughed, hard, for the first time in a while. Mrs. Byers started crying when she saw her boys real smile, as the two kids dressed in hospital gowns couldn't stop laughing. Even the situation was hilarious to the pair, because only them would find being in a hospital so funny.

      They only stopped laughing as the door swung open, and Auroras three aunts rushed into the room, bombarding the girl with hugs. Merryweather gave her the longest and tightest as she hugged her niece like there was no tomorrow.

      The three of them cried, but they never left her bedside for the rest of the day. Mike and Lucas showed up as the sun began to set.

      "Will!" Mike greeted, not noticing the girl he was madly in love with awake not ten feet from him, "I brought you..."The boy trailed off as he turned to see Aurora grinning at him. Mike dropped the bag he was holding as he grabbed the girl in a tight hug, holding on to her like she was going to dissolve at any moment.

      When he pulled away, he kissed her cheek softly, grinning at the blush that bloomed across her cheeks, "I missed you."

      "I missed you too, Mike." Aurora couldn't stop smiling.

      "Okay, okay," Lucas scoffed, pushing the boy to the side, "I missed you too!" Lucas gave her another tight hug, as Aurora grinned into the boys shoulder. He pulled away quickly, and the four of them began catching Will up — Aurora had found out from the boy Mike refused to tell Will most of the story until Aurora had woken up.

      Aurora couldn't stop grinning. She knew that what ever happened next, she would have all of them at her side, and that made her feel invincible.

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      AURORA AND WILL HAD been let out of the hospital after a month. Which the pair had thought was very extreme. Though, each of them had their own restrictions. Wills were mostly from his mom but the doctor said not to do any strenuous activity — basically a get out of gym class card — because it could damage his lungs further.

      Aurora couldn't be put into any over emotional situations or stress inducing ones, because it could cause her narcolepsy to act up like it had done at the school. She had been placed on medication that caused her anxiety to increase and the two together weren't a good fit.

      But, overall, they had survived. Most of them had survived, they still lost Barb and Eleven, but overall, most of them and survived.

      Aurora was supposed to go over to Mikes for a Christmas campaign, but her aunts had taken her for ice cream — so of course the girl had said yes, it was ice-cream! Aurora had missed just hanging out with her aunts, so she tried to savor the day, but eventually everything had to come to an end.

      When they got back, it had started to snow. It was only four o'clock and the sun had set when her aunt had called Aurora from her room.

      "Coming," the girl shouted, placing Mikes wrapped present on her bed as she rushed out. Her aunts had been sitting on the couch, watching the girl intently as she entered, "am I in trouble?"

      "No," Mary had spoken, "just sit down, Aurora."

      The blonde nodded, taking a seat in the small chair across from her aunts. The three of them were dressed in the same clothes from the day, but they seemed tense and Fauna was fidgeting a lot more.

      "So," Flora spoke up, "you told us in the hospital that when those bad men came to the school, that one of them recognized you. Can you tell us all what he looked like?"

      "What is this about?" Aurora glanced around, she didn't like speaking about what happened.

      "Aurora, please." Fauna pleaded.

      The blonde sighed, "he had white hair, and was tall. I don't know, I don't really remember, why?"

      Her three aunts made eye contact with each other, but Mary was the one to speak up, "what did Eleven call him?"

      Aurora pushed herself from the chair in a panic, "how do you know about Eleven?"

      "Because Aurora," Fauna spoke up again, a grim look on her face, "that man that you saw. His name is Dr. Brenner, and you lived with him for the first almost five years of your life."

      "What?" Aurora sat back down, a shocked look on her face, she tried to speak again, but she couldn't manage a word.

      "We need you to just listen as we explain everything to you," Mary spoke. "You can ask questions after we finish."

      Flora began. "Your parents, they were bad people, who did things that would only benefit them, so when Leah found out she was pregnant, she wanted an abortion. 'A kid is too much work,' she would always tell your father. Stefan was the one to convince her not to, promising that she wouldn't have to help much with you. Then their boss found out."

      "Dr. Brenner?" Aurora questioned, smiling apologetically as her aunts softly glared, "sorry, continue!"

      "Yes, Dr. Brenner was their boss," Flora agreed. "He promised to take care of you once you had been born. Leah and Stefan agreed in an instant, and for the nine months that she had been pregnant with you, Dr. Brenner had tested on her. The day you were born, Leah almost died. She had to have an emergency C-section and she lost too much blood. Stefan didn't even want to hold you, so Brenner ran away with you.

      "We don't know much about what happened to you while under his care. We know he tested on you so much, that you were his perfect subject. And you were a baby that everyone thought died, so no one would bat an eye if you just disappeared one day. Stefan and Leah didn't even care about you, it was like you were a random kid. Then, one day Stefan called us out of the blue."

      Flora took a deep breath, blinking away tears and Mary took over, "He told us that Brenner had killed Leah, because she refused to help him torture you. Stefan had to watch as she died." Flora coughed back tears, "He called begging for us to help you. He knew Brenner had changed you in some way, he didn't know how. Stefan had never been allowed near you, it was only Leah, but he knew that whatever Brenner was doing was bad. He had started bringing in more kids, ranging from newborn to eight years old. Stefan wanted out too, but you were his priority.

      "So, we coordinated a plan. Stefan would allow us to use his keycard to gain entry, and then he would meet us in the back with you. But, everything went wrong. Brenner knew about the plans and killed Stefan, and he would've killed you, had someone not helped you. We believe it was fate at Brenner had mysteriously fallen over his feet, but it gave you just enough time to run out the door, just like you dad had told you too. And that's when we got you, we moved away but I guess he followed us. Maybe someone had gotten suspicious of the missing children, but we thought it was all over. I guess not."

      Aurora sat in silence. Her mind racing with all of the information she had just been given. She could only think of two things the more she pondered.

      "Why don't I remember any of this?"

      Fauna was the one to speak, "You were so young when it happened, I think your little mind just blocked it all out. So when you started asking about your parents, we told you a little lie, that they had given up their parental rights when you were born."

      Auroras hands shook, "What-what did Dr. Brenner do to me?"

      Flora inhaled sharply. "He um did something with your mind, changed the wiring, as a simple term. The part of the brain that deals with sleep was changed, and rewritten to allow you to put others to sleep around you,"

      "So my narcolepsy..." Aurora drew out.

      "Was just a symptom of your powers being internalized due to you being too young to remember what happened." Fauna finished for Aurora.

      Aurora just nodded, "my parents, they died protecting me?"

      "Even if they didn't," Mary assured, "they loved you so much Aurora. All they wanted was for you to be safe."

      Aurora couldn't help but scoff, "If they did, they wouldn't given me to that man." She harshly wiped away her tears from her eyes as she stood up, stalking to her room.

      She grabbed Mike's present as she slipped on her converse, brushing her hand on her legs as she left her room again. Asking to leave quickly. She had on a Christmas sweater, with a long white skirt and her black converse.

      Flora had tried to speak with her as they drove to Mikes house, but Aurora hasn't replied. She didn't know why she was angry. Maybe because her parents had willingly given her up, or that her aunts tried to excuse their behavior. Maybe it was because the three people she trusted most in her life had lied to her.

      Aurora did know why she was mad. And she had every right to be mad as she hopped out of the car quickly. Running up Mikes driveway, being cautious so she didn't slip on the snow before knocking on the door.

      When Mikes mom greeted her with a knowing look, Aurora had to hide her blush as she pulled off her shoes, before asking Jonathan to call Mike upstairs.

      When the boy appeared, he gave Aurora a bear hug before grinning, "Why couldn't we exchange downstairs?"

      "Because I got Dustin and Lucas a different gift, and I wanted to see your reaction better!" Aurora grinned as she swapped presents with her boy, doing amazing to hide her raging emotions.

      They unwrapped one at a time, Mike had gone first. Aurora had gotten the boy the brand new TRC-88 Walkie Talkie. One that could reach up to eighty miles in each direction, so that they could hear each other better. Mike smiled so hard when he opened it.

      "Thank you so much!" Mike grinned.

      "It's so I can hear you way better," Aurora smiled back at the boy, before glancing down at her gift.

      Mike had given Aurora a small box, she shook it slightly before ripping the paper off around it. She tossed it to to floor before slowly opening the box. The gold shine reflected the light as Aurora grinned, it was a small golden heart necklace.

      "Thank you, Mike," her voice was feathery soft, and Mike had to stain himself to hear her. "It's beautiful, but i-it's too much."

      "No it's not," Mike couldn't stop smiling, "And you can't refuse it because it's bad manors, so can I put it on?"

      Mike failed to mention that it was a heart because the most beautiful girl in the world held his heart in the palm of her hand, and this was just a fraction of what he could show her.

      Aurora nodded shyly as she turned around and lifted her hair. She shivered slightly as the cold metal touched her skin, but let it go as the feeling of Mikes hands left her neck. She turned back around as she dropped her hair, grinning at the boy.

      He stared into her eyes, just watching her. After a few seconds he spoke, "beautiful." Aurora glanced at her sock-covered feet with cherry red cheeks.

      When Jonathan and Will came running up the stairs, the two stepped away from each other. "I'll see you later?"

      "Later," Mike nodded as Will pulled the girl outside, "yeah, I'll see you later, Rory."

      "Mike gave you that?" Will pointed at the necklace as they all buckled into Jonathan's car, ready to get this Christmas tradition on.

      Aurora nodded, bringing her hand up to touch the warmer metal around her neck, grinning, "yeah, he did."

      Will just grinned before asking to open the present Jonathan had been given. Aurora stared outside, watching the snow fall onto the trees and ground. It was calming, peaceful knowing that everything was over and the world still spun.

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(      LET ME SPEAK    :      )

they are literally the cutest people alive,
and they aren't even together yet! but
man the shit they go through lol...
this time next season they be 🤞🤞
so stay tuneddddd

credit goes to fivehxrgreeves