Shatter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things II

III: Sister

sis·ter

noun

a woman or girl in relation to other daughters and sons of her parents.

In a complete state of shock, Emilia stared right at El, as though she was hallucinating her. But she was as vivid as Hopper right next to her, looking sheepish with his face scrunched up awaiting Emilia's reaction. She remembered how not too long ago she had been wanting to take a picture of this young girl, her head shaved down to the roots and yet she had such a feminine essence about her, not looking like a boy at all. She'd looked so forlorn, as if she always knew what she had to do to save Will. Jonathan had told her what happened to El, according to the younger kids; she'd used her powers to stop the Demogorgon and had been obliterated.

But here she stood.

"What's wrong with her?" El asked in a quiet voice, eyes on Hopper, searching his expression for guidance.

"I guess she's a bit surprised to see you, is all," Hopper crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back slightly as if worried Emilia might explode like a time bomb.

"What's 'surprised'?" El asked.

"Word of the day, surprised, meaning she wasn't expecting you to be here. Or it can be used for gifts, a surprise gift," Hopper then addressed Emilia, "Hey, kid, you okay?"

"Yes," she replied, "Yes! Oh, El... I'm sorry, I just can't wrap my mind around this... How?"

El grabbed her hand and guided her into the modest kitchen. Ripping open the cardboard, and then the plastic inside of that, she pulled out the frozen yellow waffle-products and put them in the toaster. Hopper maneuvered in to see what she was doing, then frowned.

"Not before dinner," he was stern in his wording and physical stance.

"Already ate," she said as she turned to face him. She pointed at him, "Late."

"Snowed in is more like it," he murmured, then looked at Emilia.

There was something in her eyes, a sparkle of secrets and excitement. Already he knew that she would not tell Jonathan, or anyone else, about El. Right now, no one knew, and that was the best way to keep El safe. No unnecessary risks, and they might be able to get through. He wondered what was going through Emilia's mind as she watched El grab the waffles the millisecond they popped out of the toaster, and put butter and syrup on them.

When El handed the plate to Emilia, she looked at this young girl with wild curls. She had bright eyes, still with a forlorn look to her, but so beautiful. Emilia wanted to cup her cheeks in her hands and just study her, but she took the plate and thanked El. They sat at the table opposite of each other, El ate with fervour while Emilia stared.

"Can someone please tell me that I'm not crazy?" Emilia asked, desperately.

"Tell her, El," Hopper said, the name feeling weird when he knew her real name was Jane.

"Killed the Demogorgon, got stuck in the Upside Down," she used the terms that Will and his friends chose, they sounded familiar, less scary when she had names for them. Less scary when she knew she had faced them with her friends. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought of her friends, but Hopper promised she could see them, soon. She carried on, "Found my way out. Found Will and the bad men."

"She was out in the woods for a while, living off of squirrels and stealing jackets off of hunters. When I caught wind of a girl with powers in the forest, everyone else wrote it off, but I knew she was out there. Didn't take long for her to find me, I brought her here, where I know she'll be safe," Hopper finished.

"That's why you stopped coming home," Emilia realized. "You were looking after El."

Hopper nodded, then leaned against the wall, his hands in front of him. Looking up at the two young ladies sitting at his now-dead grandmothers table in her wood cabin, it stirred something up inside of him. His wife had never known of this place, his daughter Sarah had never come here. But now he had two pseudo-daughters to fill the void that had been ripped open when Sarah died, and eventually Grace left. To call them his daughters felt wrong, especially since they were very much their own people, not like him at all.

But this felt like his second chance.

"I figured you would do fine without me, I'm sorry if it felt like I was abandoning you," Hopper looked right at Emilia.

"Oh, Hop, I just wish you had told me sooner."

Suddenly, Emilia's stomach reminded her that she was hungry, and she finished off the cold Eggos that El was eying up. Glancing at the younger girl, Emilia was about to offer her what was on her plate, but knew she needed something in her for now. She dug in, and then El appeared pleased, as if worried the Eggos might go to waste.

"You know," Emilia said when she got onto her second Eggo, "If I'd known I had a sister here all along, I would have helped out."

"Sister?" El asked.

"Yeah, girls raised together, same parents. Or, in this case, Hopper taking care of us," Emilia looked at Hopper and grinned. "I know first hand he can be a pretty good dad."

"Dad," El whispered. Then she looked up at Emilia, "What do sisters do?"

"Oh here we go," Hopper pushed himself off of the wall and shook his head, "I'll be watching the TV!"

Both the girls laughed as he left the kitchen. Then El reached her hands out and grabbed both of Emilia's, dry skin in this brutal winter. Holding them for a moment, feeling that she was really there, someone to talk to aside from Hopper, who wasn't there much. It felt so good, and El was soaking it in. She studied the mutilated flesh on Emilia's face, still harsh and not entirely healed. After a long moment, she smiled, and asked Emilia, "What do sisters do?"

"I've never had a sister before, but I suppose there is a lot we can do. We can do hair and nails, although I'm not very good at those things, but most of all, we can talk." Emilia just let the words flow, "You can talk to me about anything, and I mean anything. There are going to be things that you don't want to talk to Old Hopper about, and that's where I come in."

"Sister," El said once more, as if confirming it. 

So I have lots written, but then had an idea I wanted to write so I had to go back and am now in the middle of adding chapters. Posts will be regular, and I hope to have those added chapters complete and organized before Monday's post! 

Question of the Day is the same as last time, since it wasn't answered. Do you guys want to see original characters come into play -meaning characters I created (not characters from the show, as was suggested in the last chapter's comments)?