Happenstance ⌱ Jim Hopper

[ 11 ] GARAGELAND

[ 11 ]

JIM HOPPER WAS starting to accept the fact that Jodie Whittier wasn't going to leave his side anytime soon. In her cavalier voice message, that prattled on about her illegal knife and personal hygiene, Jode had exclaimed that she was Hopper's new wart — and infectious as hell. The memory of her voicemail made Jim smirk and chuckle lowly. She sure was a spitfire.

     They were on the way to Hawkins Mortuary, to see for themselves what was going on. The mystery of it all didn't sit right in the pit of Jim's iron stomach. It eroded at him. And, Jim could tell it was tearing it's claws into Jodie.

      Jim reached up his calloused hand and adjusted his rear view mirror, sparing a glance to his wart. He watched her wide, worried brown eyes as they dashed across the fields flying past the Police Cruiser as Jim pressed harder on the accelerator.

She was a fascination to him, a small blip. A distraction to the chaotic charade that his daily life had become: a waking curse — day in and day out.

But, he didn't want to get any closer than this. 'A seat apart is where it'll stay,' he thought tumultuously to himself. The cruiser hit the curve in the road at an alarming speed. Jim had passed that fickle point in his life where he was looking for something more than ... well, whatever this was.

Besides, his thoughts were bitter. I'm damaged in ways that Jode wouldn't be able to understand. It wouldn't be fair to her to pretend... Pretend I'm good for her.

Jodie could feel Jim's gaze on the side of her cheek as she watched the road fly by, like sand through the hourglass. Her shoulders weighed heavy on her spine, as if crushed by the load of the world. She wondered if they would find anything as she toyed with the lighter in her palm. Her thumb glossed over the etchings in the metal, feeling every nook, every divot.

     Jodie wanted to be able to give Joyce something good. But, she couldn't help but worry.

It was a shot in the dark, the idea that perhaps Will Byers was alive. And, if he was, Jodie considered that she needed to give Joyce a firm apology.

Jodie couldn't stomp down the sadistic sweet fluttering wings in her chest that sang a melodic hymn, almost begging for it to be true.

After all, if Will Byers could make it...

Jodie tried to crush the feeling once more. The more it circulated in her thoughts, the more she hurt herself with hope. No amount of hope would be able to resurrect the dead.

If Jamey Whittier was, somehow, some way, involved with the same thing Will Byers was... it had been too long for him to return.

The dream that she'd had of him last night filtered through her consciousness. His light curls, the toys, the bracelet she'd made. It was all enough to bring tears to her eyes.