Shutter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things I

XLII: Concede

con·cede

verb

admit that something is true or valid after first denying or resisting it.

As soon as the words were out of Emilia's mouth, she regretted saying them. To admit that she knew something to Jonathan, while she sat next to him mourning the death of his brother, it was cruel. She would see it in his expression that he was blown away that she hadn't told him before, and that it took Nancy pulling together the courage to admit what she had seen before Emilia could. His eyebrows pulled together and Emilia watched the expression shapeshift upon his face. All three of them were looking at one another, and then trying to look away because the awkwardness of the situation was so obvious.

"I'm, uhm, going to step outside for a minute," Nancy said, her words relaying to the other two that she wanted to talk more once Emilia and Jonathan had their own chat.

Both Emilia and Jonathan looked up at Nancy, avoiding eye contact with one another, and watched as she flickered her hand as if to wave a temporary goodbye, then turned to leave. Alone then, Emilia made eye contact with Jonathan even though it made her stomach turn over and twist around, like someone was inside of it, messing with her intestines. She told herself that she had good reason for keeping this to herself, as until quite recently she thought she was insane, and on top of that she hadn't even seen Jonathan in a few days. The thought of calling the Byers household just to tell them a monster was kidnapping children -to do what, she did not know, but she could easily speculate- was outlandish and never even crossed her mind.

Jonathan looked cold, and then he softened because he couldn't be mad at Emilia. He was still confused, however, that she would have all this important information and not bother sharing it with him. Not even suggesting it, mentioning that she was on to something. No, she had not revealed anything until suddenly she revealed everything. It appeared that was how she worked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" His question sounded like more of a demand than anything.

It made Emilia nervous, anxious. It took a moment of struggle before she could find the words, reminding herself that she was confident, that she was strong. And it was Jonathan that helped her get there, and so she had no reason to be nervous talking to him. But monsters, that was a whole new area she was no expert in. Emilia shrugged and expanded her hands out in front of her, "How could I?"

"It... It has Will? And you didn't think to say something?"

Emilia frowned, "I only knew about it after you took pictures of Nancy."

Jonathan's eyes widened, and then filled with guilt. It poured in like a broken dam. "Emilia..."

"The night you were out there, I found it. Or it found me," she explained, correcting herself. "I thought I was going insane, Jonathan. And then I... I heard Will. He was calling to me. Then I heard you telling your mum that she was crazy, and I knew you'd never believe me... And yet..."

"I do," He conceded. "I do believe you."

"Now," she said, she wanted to say that he only believed it when Nancy admitted what she had seen, but that was petty. 

Emilia knew now that Jonathan would have believed her is she had told him the truth, and she felt horrible about withholding it from him. But they were beyond that now, it was too late to go back and change anything. What mattered was that they knew everything that had been presented to them now, and it was time to do something about it. "Your mum hasn't been lying, she hasn't been searching for answers that aren't there. They are there."

He wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what it was. Having all this new information presented to him, it put him in a tough spot. He wondered if he should go find his mum and apologize for the things he said to her -which were completely justified because no one believed in monsters unless one had seen them. He was still almost skeptical, and wanted more proof, but had no idea how to tell Emilia that.

"It has my brother?" He had a pained look upon his face, then he realized something

Emilia nodded, or at least she could confirm that it did and he was alive, two days ago.

"You've seen it... you got close? What if it had taken you?"

Emilia shrugged, "It didn't."

Jonathan wanted to shout, "What do we do?"

The funeral director stepped out of the room with all the caskets, and he glared over his thin and wire-rimmed glasses. His arms crossed over his chest in such an authoritative way that Emilia almost rolled her eyes, but stopped herself just in time. "Excuse me, this is a place of mourning, and quiet. I understand that you are indeed in mourning, but if you aren't here to select a casket, if I could please ask you to leave the building."

Emilia scoffed then, "This is a place to make revenue on death."

"Ma'am,-"

"Come on Jonathan, I think I know what we need to do," she reached for his hand and he took it, glancing once at the frowning funeral director, and then bracing himself for the brightness of the sun. 

When the two glass doors shuttered closed behind them, they looked around until they spotted Nancy leaned against the brick wall. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach, the image clutched between her fingers. Emilia didn't even recall when Nancy had taken it from her, but didn't mind that sometimes she didn't notice these things, because she often drifted into other places.

Nancy pushed herself off of the wall, and glanced between the two. She'd noticed them a while back, in school when they started to see one another. Although her own focus had been on Steve, she had always been observant of others. The dynamic between Jonathan and Emilia was one Nancy often envied, and didn't feel it between her and Steve. She hoped, almost desperately, that she would feel that with Steve soon. Because glancing at Jonathan and Emilia right then made her crave that sort of relationship, one she thought she would have with Steve after they had sex. It felt as though nothing changed after that night, not really.

"We have to get Will, right?" Emilia said it, but it wasn't truly a question.

"And Barb, I think maybe this thing took Barb."

Emilia saddened, then composed herself. She'd been quite fond of Barb, but hadn't heard her in that twisted other worldly place. Maybe she hadn't been there, yet. It had happened on the same night, Emilia reminded herself, and it gave her a small burst of much needed hope. "The picture, we should blow it up, make sure that it took Barb too. We have to know what we're going to be up against."

"Up against?" Nancy asked.

"No one is going to believe us when we tell them about all this. Aside from Joyce, that is." Emilia explained, "We're going after this thing, and we're getting Will and Barb back." 

Question of the day, how do you organize your busy schedule?