Splinters In Time

Some time earlier...

Henry sat at a table in a room inside the lab, drawing on a piece of paper.

Doctor Brenner came in. Quietly, he crossed to the table, pulled out the chair and sat down opposite the young boy. "Good morning, Henry. How are you today?"

Henry looked at him darkly and said nothing.

"What are you drawing?" Brenner tried. Reaching out, he touched the edge of the paper. "Can I see?"

Henry was drawing people- four shadowy figures were sketched onto the page.

"Is that your family?" Brenner asked. He pointed to one of the figures. "Is this your father?"

"No." Henry shaded the figure some more with a pencil. "That's Mister Gray."

"Mister Gray? And is Mister Gray... a real person, or..."

Henry thought for a moment. "I think he's... a family friend. Although my father always acted strange around him." He shrugged and went back to drawing.

"And is this... Mrs Gray?" Brenner ventured, pointing at a second image.

"Yes."

"And is this their son?"

"No." Henry said, like it should be obvious. "That's me."

"Oh. And who's this, then?"

"The little girl." Brenner waited for him to explain further, but Henry was quite distracted, lovingly drawing strands of hair. "I liked her. I always wanted to play with her, but my mother wouldn't let me."

"Oh?" Doctor Brenner couldn't help the slight chill that ran down his spine. He knew what this boy's propensity had been towards small, furry animals; he dread to think what he could do to a young child.

Almost as if to confirm his worst fears, Henry continued, seeming to relish the man's not-well-hidden discomfort. "But that didn't stop me. I'd sneak her away; took her to look at spiders when she was sad."

Doctor Brenner nodded slowly, taking the information in. "...Well, I'm glad that you had friends. Was this before or after you moved to Hawkins?"

"Before." The pencil made a soft sound as it went back and forth across the paper, Henry's eyes following it. "She was like me."

He said it so nonchalantly, Brenner almost missed it.

"...Like you?"

Henry nodded, still distracted, as if he hadn't dropped a bomb mid-conversation. "Well, I think so. Sort of. She wasn't quite like me."

"How so?"

Henry shrugged.

Brenner pressed on, despite the boy's body language signalling that he wasn't looking to talk anymore. "This little girl... what was her name?"

Henry thought for a moment. Then his face twisted into an expression of genuine annoyance- one of the few expressions since entering the room that Brenner was sure was real. "I don't remember."

A/N: So yes, I know I said we would be jumping forward to season one, but I was talking to a friend, and they happened to get me inspired. (You know who you are! This chapter is dedicated to you! XD And you are personally responsible for any new direction this takes me in XD lol)

Not entirely sure this is my best writing, but it gets the scene across. Please do leave a like and a comment!