it had been a week since el had tried to escape. i couldnt stop thinking if she was ok or not, i was so scared for her. "004?" peter bought me back to reality. his hand waving in my face. "sorry" i giggled. we were playing chess but i was moving the pieces with my mind. it was part of the test to see how long i could use my powers for. suddenly we were interrupted by papa entering the room. "011 will be joining you for the last few session's" 011 then entered the room and i held her i my arms. she cried into my shoulder as papa walked off and a guard closed the door for him. 

i brought el over to where me and peter were sat and invited her to sit. she did and the started telling us about her isolation. it sounded awful, i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy well i would only ever wish for papa to go through it. an idea then hit me. "011 would you like to escape with me and peter?" i asked. i knew her answer would be yes but i still had to ask. "yes obviously. peter looked at me with a look that said are you sure. i slightly nodded my head and started to tell her the plan. 

over the next few sessions, we just talked about the escape plan. step 1 peter would leave the rainbow room and tell the other orderly that papa needed him. step 2 011 would ask the other orderly to go to the toilet and because there are no other orderlies to look after the children would say no. that's where i step in on step 3 i would offer to take her and because im one of the eldest he would hopefully let me. step 4 me al 011 would run to the boiler where we would meet peter then escape. we knew we had to get it right because it was our one and only chance.

we also spent them talking about what we wanted our houses to look like, me and peter explained to 011 what school was like, we were having fun. it was perfect just us three. "Good morning" papa entered killing the good mood. "hello papa" me and 011 said. "ive seen that you both had made so much progress, 004 with your powers and 011 you seem like you regret what you did and we are proud of that" where was he going with this. "so you have 5 minutes of your last ever session then you can have the rest of the day to relax the tomorrow you can go back to the rainbow room" joy filled my body. this meant we could escape soon. once papa left we all jumped up in enjoyment. we all knew what this meant. freedom.

after the session was finished 011 was escorted back to her room and me and peter walked back to ours. i flopped onto my bed and looked at the ceiling i couldnt help but release my excitement.as peter was hugging me. "you know tommorow could be our last time falling asleep in the lab you know, like this time in 2 days we could be laid down in the wood taking cover in some little fort that we make together. i remember when i was younger me and my dad would go to the woods together and build little forts. he would spend ages carving little wooden swords for us with our names in. and i remember one day he cut his finger and i got my little first aid kit and i probably stuck about 10 plasters on his finger even though he needed one but he didnt care because i was happy and thats all he wanted me to be" i looked at peter who was seconds away from being asleep and he had a smile on his face. i stopped talking and within a second, he was asleep.

i stared at his face. his hair that always seemed to be perfect. he looked so peaceful. i interlocked my hand with his left hand. i looked at the watch he always wore. even if he was asleep and even in our sessions which had about 5 clocks in the room. i stared at it wondering what was so special about it. the only thing that came to mind was that because he was an orderly he always had to be prepared just in case anything bad happened. i looked at the red marks it had made on his wrist they went around the whole of his wrist. how did this not annoy him. i lifted the watch slightly to lightly trace my finger against them but was met by something that made me sick to my stomach. 

his wrist had 001 tattooed on it.

i jumped up from the bed which awoke him. i was wrenching so he quickly got up and grabbed the plastic vase from the table and rushed back to me with it. i threw up instantly. i couldnt believe what was happening. i was trying to process what i had just seen but peter or 001 or whatever his name was kept on asking me if i was ok. "do you need papa? do you need to see the nurse? are you ok?" i instantly shut him up by grabbing his wrist and taking another look. i threw up again. "shit" i heard him say under his breath. i was now hyperventilating this couldnt be right. 

1979 Hawkins lab February 22nd

"Alice I'm sorry but henry is gone now" tears spilled down my cheeks. "please dont call me alice my name is Y/N" he looks down at me as i was wrapped in his arms. "your new name is 004, henry was 001, will you be called 004 please for henry" i only agreed as it was for henry. we got up and i blew a kiss to henrys tombstone.

1986 Hawkins lab 

"your supposed to be dead. it doesnt make sense" he looks at me confused. i then remembered papa changed my name to 004 after henry apparently died. "its me alice. well Y/N. but papa and you called me alice" suddenly his face drops. "b-but your dead 003 killed you". we embraced each other in a hug. he had never held me this tight. neither of us wanted to let go. but we had to explain our stories to each other. i went first. "i was searching for you and i walked in, 003 hand you pinned to the wall blood trickling from your eyes. 003 turned to me and asked why i was crying and said it was for me. i killed him by snapping his neck. papa held me back from your body and i cried so, so much." he looks at me with sorrow feeling sorry for what i had to go through. 

"i woke up from a coma all i remembered was arguing with 003, he was saying he was in love with you and i told him you wasnt and he got really angry. then i felt my body being slammed against a wall i saw you enter and both you and 003 dropped to the floor. papa told me you were dead. the only thing i cant figure out is why? i couldnt help but ask. "did you have a funeral for me?" he looked at me and i could already tell his answer was yes. "yes and papa sat me dow and said your new name is 001 and Alice's would have been a different number and i replied dont call her alice she hated that name. and he laughed and admitted it didn't suit you" tears fell from my eyes. "we need to get revenge" he nodded in agreement. "we cant kill him though i want to keep him alive so he can suffer" he nodded again. "we can do that just by escaping his three strongest subjects escaping would torture him" i hated that he called us subjects but it is what we had been since we got here. 

"i just cant believe its you" we both said in sync which made up laugh. "so how did you become an orderly" he took a moment to answer. "when i woke up papa thought i had killed 003 so he gave me something he called Soteria. it weakens my powers and tracks me he the put me to work on a different floor". he pulls his hair to the side and takes my hand to feel the bump in his neck. "I'm so sorry. you should have told him i killed 003" i felt so guilty. "i thought you were dead so it didnt really matter to be honest i think it was for the best" how could he say that. my love for him just grew and grew. we hugged each other and slowly fell asleep feeling true happiness.