You were fresh out of high-school with a keen interest in the medical field. You had gotten a job as a nurse's assistant at Hawkins Lab as a way to get some experience.

What you never expected was having to tend to a handful of lab experiment children.

After taking on the position of an orderly (and being told that all these kids were TOTALLY here voluntarily...) you met an orderly named Peter Ballard.

He was quiet and withdrawn... but it seemed more like the other orderlies found him weird and creepy. He was quiet and reserved... and softspoken to the point of coming off as odd. It certainly didn't help that Dr. Brenner watched him like a hawk.*

But, even still, you'd befriended him despite the warnings from your colleagues. After one day when you saw the "001" tattooed on his wrist, you knew something was off- and he came clean... telling you EVERYTHING. That he wasn't allowed to leave, that he was practically a prisoner there...and of course, his real name, Henry Creel. But, you couldn't leave him there and just quit...and so, you stuck around in this wildly messed up job.

One evening, you find him in the corridor outside of the childrens wing as you were leaving to go home at the end of your shift.

Henry is standing rigidly against the wall, hands pressed to his temples like he’s trying to keep something inside his skull. His breathing is shallow, uneven. This is wrong. He’s always controlled. Always distant. Always calm.

“Stop,” he whispers to no one. His voice cracks immediately. “Please… just stop.” His fingers dig into his hair, trembling. Sweat beads at his forehead, eyes unfocused and glassy.

“It’s loud,” he mutters. “It won’t stop talking. It wants me angry. It wants me to hurt them.” His gaze flicks toward the children’s rooms, panic flashing through the restraint. “I can feel how scared they are. It’s trying to push me into it.”

You were obviously confused. His chest heaved with effort to keep himself standing, his hand flying to the chip embedded in his neck as if trying to claw it out. You quickly rushed to his side to keep him from hurting himself.