"Aftermath" - Part Six

Part Six

            A vast endless expanse of nothingness, the void was a visual representation of a psychokinetic individual’s mind – a psychokinetic individual such as Jane. She could only access it when sensorily deprived, usually when submerged in a sensory deprivation tank. But, since one wasn’t available in the Hopper household, she would have to settle on simply blindfolding herself and listening to white noise from the living room television set; this was sufficient to induce the state. Of course, there was still the side effect of nosebleeds, which was why Will supplied a box of fresh Kleenexes for her.

            Inside the void, what Jane perceived as a floor was nothing but a thin layer of water. It was completely empty, except for herself or whatever or whoever she was trying to locate – which, in these current circumstances, was Si. There was only one place Jane knew where she could’ve been and that was inside her TARDIS.

            The ship’s central console was there in the void, along with Si, who rested her backside against it. “She’s in the TARDIS,” Jane informed Owens and her family, the only people she could communicate with outside the void.

            “TARDIS?” She heard the deeply engrossed Owens. “That’s the ship, right?”

            “Let her concentrate, Sam,” Joyce hushed him.

            Jane proceeded forward in her observance of Si, who was having a discussion with someone Jane couldn’t see in the void. “Eddie’s going to stay put here in the TARDIS where it’s safe,” Si suggested to her hidden audience. “The rest of us are gonna—” She stopped midsentence to look over her shoulder. Jane froze, noticing that the direction in which she looked was towards her. “Eleven?”

            Jane gasped, not expecting Si to have directly noticed her.

            Physically, they were several states from each other.

            Telepathically, they were close enough to touch.

            “You…You can see me?” Jane asked.

            Si smiled, misty-eyed. “I can, hon. How are you?”

            “I…I’m fine,” Jane smiled back. “Dr. Owens is here with us…in California. He came because of Papa.”

            Si was momentarily distracted with one of her hidden parties. From the way she struggled to soothe them, they had a great interest in the conversation. “Mike, calm down,” Si said. “She says that she’s fine.”

            “Mike’s with you?” Jane’s eyes searched across the empty space, longing to see her distant boyfriend. “Is he alright?”

            “He’s…a little excited,” Si huffed, “but, yeah, he’s fine himself.” Getting back on topic, she recollected, “You mentioned ‘Papa’? Dr. Brenner?” His name was like acid in her mouth. “What does that monster want from you?”

            “Dr. Owens says there’s a woman at this facility,” Jane relayed. “He says that she can explain why the murders are happening in Hawkins.”

            Si pressed her tongue against the inside of her left cheek, pondering over the implications brought on from this new development in their case. On the one hand, she could very well get to the bottom of this situation much faster; on the other, it could be a trap to lure Eleven back to the vile clutches of the sadistic Martin Brenner.

            “Tell Owens to send me the coordinates to this facility of theirs,” Si instructed Jane. “And also tell him that the only one coming there is me – not you, not your family, and not anyone else. Just me.”

            Once Si had the information she needed, her telepathic link to Jane was severed.

            “You spoke to Eleven!” Mike exclaimed inside her TARDIS. “You never told us you could do that this whole time!”

            Noticing his irritation, Si clarified to him, “I didn’t know myself ‘til just now.”

            “So, are you leaving again?” Dustin queried. “Right in the middle of our crisis?”

            “The plan’s still the same, Dustin,” Si said. “I don’t intend to be gone for more than a few days this time. Once I’ve taken care of business with Dr. Brenner’s source, I’ll come right back.”

            “How can you even trust that guy?!” Mike flared. “He hurt Eleven!”

            “I don’t trust him, Mike,” Si retorted. “In fact, it’s gonna take everything in me not to kill him when I see him. But, if we’re gonna stop whatever’s happening in this town and clear poor Eddie’s name, I’ll have to take the risk.”

            “Before you go,” Lucas told Si, “Could you talk to Max?”

            His sudden request only reminded Si how glad she was to see him again. Ever since he and the other Hawkins boys transitioned into high school, they had all grown a bit distant from each other – even more so with the notable departure of Will. Lucas himself gained more popularity, joining the basketball team, which only divided the friendship. But it was the death of Billy Hargrove, during the Cthulhu incident, that drove a major wedge between Lucas and his ex-girlfriend, Max Mayfield. Despite being separated, he still cared for her like a best friend.

            “Of course, honey,” Si agreed to the task. “I’ll do my best.”

            She learned from Lucas that Max would be at Roane Hill Cemetery, the final resting place of Billy Hargrove, as well as Barbara Holland, a few years prior. Si materialized her TARDIS there – its tall, flat marbled structure appearing like a massive headstone or memorial amidst the quaint graveyard.

            She found Max kneeling in front of Billy’s grave, her backpack sitting right beside her and her headphones playing the tune of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” from her Walkman. The music deafened the world around her, including the hums and grinds of the TARDIS engines upon its arrival. It restricted any delicate way of getting her attention, and Si hated to disturb her when she was mourning her brother.

            That issue appeared to have rectified itself once Max removed the headphones, paused her music, and said in a very reserved tone, “I figured you’d show up eventually.” Initially, Si thought she was speaking to her brother’s spirit, before she then asked, “Did Lucas send you to talk to me?”

            “He did,” Si replied. “He’s worried about you…we all are.”

            “I don’t want any of you to be. I just want to be left alone.”

            The dejection was obvious in her voice. There was no real way of dealing with someone suffering from so much grief. As such, Si was about to head back into her TARDIS to leave for Nevada, until she heard Max say…

            “I blame you for what happened to him. It may not have been this version of you, but it was still you who put him down.”

            Si fought back tears. “If I could’ve done things any other way, honey…”

            “Chrissy visited Ms. Kelley, our school counselor, before she died,” Max randomly changed the subject. She then reached into her backpack and held up a peach-colored folder containing several files. “I stole these from her office. They’re a record of her sessions with Chrissy and Fred.”

            Si took the folder out of Max’s hand. Not once did Max make eye contact with her; all her focus was solely on Billy’s grave.

            Flipping through the files, Si learned that both Chrissy and Fred suffered PTSD symptoms similar to Max. “Have you gone to Nancy about this?”

            Max frowned in confusion, half-turning towards Si. “No. Why?”

            “Give it to her,” Si handed the folder back to Max. “It may be useful in the ongoing investigation on their murders.”

            Taking back the folder, Max stood upright, finally looking at Si and seeing how she was making her way back into the TARDIS. “That’s it? You’re just gonna dump all this on me and bail?!” Her indignation boiling over, she shouted to Si, “Ya know, I once thought you were hardcore! Now I just see you for the coward you really are!”

            Si slammed her right fist against the hull of her ship, spinning around and tearfully yelling to Max, “I’M SORRY!!!” Her fiery retort startled Max; never had she seen such ferocity from the level-headed Time Lord. “Everyone expects me to save this friggin’ town – this whole world – but I don’t even know how! And now, I’m probably about to make the dumbest decision in all my lives, and you know what’s crazy? I don’t even care! So, yes, I’m sorry for killing your brother, Max! But, let’s be honest, he was an A-grade jerk, so I actually did you and your mother a favor! So, instead of saying ‘sorry,’ maybe I should be really saying ‘You’re welcome’!!!”

            She didn’t intend for her rant to end on such a callous note.

            The hurt in Max’s eyes – the hurt that Si caused – was absolutely devastating.

            “Max, honey, I’m so…”

            “Just get out of here!” Max’s last words were to her before gathering her things and storming away from the cemetery.

            Si shamefully held her head in her hands. What made her say such horrible things to a grieving child? The stress of everything – the deaths of three teenagers, the manhunt for Eddie, the Hierarchy, and now Martin Brenner’s summoning – it all had taken its toll on her, turning her into something that she hadn’t been since the Cyber War.

            She needed to leave Hawkins…to get away from the reminder of this horrible act she committed.

            Whatever awaited her in Nevada no longer felt like the worst of her concerns.