Chapter Text
Gabrielle Richardson lived a perfectly normal life. Or so she assumed. She believed everything her parents told her. They knew what was best after all.
She attended Hawkins Middle School and had good grades. No, she wasn't the star of the class, but her parents were proud. Putting report cards on the fridge and giving her a few more sweet treats than normal. She had a few good friends. Some of them she trusted with her darkest secrets - one such being that she hated her mom's meatloaf, but she'd never tell her. Her friend Steve Harrington, who had been to her house a few times, would have to agree with that.
Steve was the closest of her friends. He pretty much knew everything about her, and she knew everything about him. Including how sad he was every time his parents went away and he was left with a babysitter. Countless nights, he would run away to Gabrielle's house, begging to live with her and her parents instead. Her parents loved him more, he argued. The police always returned him back to his own home. But he always came back, every time his parents left, he came back.
One day after a disagreement with her mom, Gabrielle ran away from home. Or at least that is what the people of Hawkins thought. She was taken.
You see, Gabrielle could read minds. Her parents told her she just had really good intuition, a word she had to look up later. But they were wrong. She could read minds. The moment she left her house that night, she was stolen. Hawkins' laboratory had their eyes on her for a while. A long while.
Her parents cried. They searched and shouted and screamed. Where did their daughter go? Their Gabi. Her picture was put up everywhere they could put it. "Have you seen this girl?" But nobody had. Steve at first wondered if she had run away to his house. Just like he used to do in reverse. He searched everywhere in that house. The backyard. The woods behind. She would return to him. He just knew it. They were best friends. He wanted her back, and imagine the looks on everyone's faces when he found her. Maybe his parents might love him then.
Their other friends helped look around town, but eventually they were forced to move on. Return to their own normal lives. Her photos faded, and the posters blew away in the wind. Gabi was gone.
Steve had nowhere to go once the babysitters came and his parents left. Gabi's parents always shooed him away. He brought too much pain when he came to the house. He wasn't wanted by his own parents or her parents. Turned out neither wanted him. Eventually, as he got older, the babysitter stopped coming around, too. He was alone. He swore never to let anyone into his heart again.
Inside Hawkins' lab, Gabi cried. She wanted her mother; she shouted for her dad to save her, but he never did. She begged to see Steve, if only to say goodbye. The scientists there realised they had waited too long. Her memories and attachments would not help the experiment. They ran an electrical current through her mind, and she forgot. She forgot everyone she had ever loved.
She had no mother. No friends. Papa was her father. She had no name but the one he gave her. Thirteen. A number she would never forget, as it was etched forever on her skin. She had a large family. Full of brothers and sisters. She had a scientist called Doctor Abbott. He helped train her powers and taught her other skills like math and English.
One day in 1979, one year after being a part of this family. Something bad happened. She lost her family for a second time. Not that she knew that. She still had Papa, Eleven and Doctor Abbott. After that day, she hated her life. All she knew was she needed to get out. To be free, Eight had done it. But she couldn't leave Eleven behind.
So she waited. Waited and waited. Then, in 1983, the perfect moment arrived. The gate was created. She reminded Eleven of a pipe that she could escape through. Thirteen was too big to fit. There was only one door for her to go through. One gate. She took her chance. What was on the other side must have been better than what was on this side.