Shutter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things I

LIII: Alleviate

al·le·vi·ate

verb

make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe.

After Hopper and Jonathan left, Emilia and Joyce took El to the back room. While the others set up the make-shift sensory tank, Emilia was tasked with caring for someone whom she didn't know. And yet she was drawn to El, interested in who she was. Somehow she knew that there were answers that only El knew, answers to questions that the rest of them wouldn't even know to ask. Emilia and El had both been through something no one should go through at such a young age, and so she felt a desire to protect her. Having already been introduced, there was no need for small talk, other than to keep the girl calm; Emilia had a feeling that nothing any of them did would alleviate the fear.

"You are so brave for doing this," Joyce told El, "Thank you for doing this for my boy."

El just nodded, too nervous to use expected politeness.

"Is it safe for you to go in there?" Emilia asked.

Joyce glanced cautiously between El and Emilia.

El nodded again, "Yes."

"I'm going to be right with you, the whole time," Joyce promised El. "Emilia, can you see if it's ready?"

Emilia stepped out and walked towards the gymnasium. Only a few lights were on overhead, and her feet pitter-pattered along the hardwood floors that had multicoloured lines every which way. The water had stopped and they were adding the bags of salt; she hadn't even realized that Jonathan and Hopper had returned. Standing at the edge of the giant pool, she watched as they placed an egg in the water and held their breath; it floated, which meant that there was enough salt to water ratio. Emilia turned to go get El, and felt bad that the young girl had to go through with this; but everyone took risks to save people, even people they didn't know.

"The bathtub is almost ready," Emilia popped her head into the back room where Joyce and El were. She looked over at the young girl, her shaved head making her look boyish, and yet she had very feminine features that struck Emilia. She was going to be even more gorgeous in a few years, assuming that they were going to be alive that long. She walked over to El, seeing the fear etched onto her face. She wondered, had she worn that expression her entire life?

"I'm going to be right there," Joyce reminded her, and they walked towards the gymnasium in silence after that.

The water rippled in the bathtub as El stepped into it without any hesitation. It was as if such a young girl was capable of mastering -or at least masking- all her fears. She knew what was at stake, and while she had revealed her fears in the backroom, now in front of all these people she did what she was expected. Emilia felt a wave of guilt for relying on this girl who was thirteen? Emilia was terrible with age, but presumed that was the best guess. A weary look was plastered on everyone's face, and it was as if everyone was holding their breaths waiting for answers; having confirmation of life or death was finally coming.

With the mask on, El floated in pure darkness. Joyce had her hands in the water, ready to shake El awake and back into our world if she needed to, if she got too scared. Silence, eager and nervous anticipation. Fear for the unknown to become known. The walkie-talkie that had been used to find Mike and the others crackled to life. Emilia felt as though she was in a science fiction movie that she probably would have enjoyed watching, but was liking it less and less as she realized that she was a supporting character in it.