Shutter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things I

XXX: Soothe

soothe

verb

gently calm (a person or their feelings).

Although class had started and the halls of Hawkins High seemed to be soundless, there was still the luring feeling that anyone could pop out and disturb the peace. Emilia and Jonathan broke apart when the hallways went dead and doors to rooms slammed shut; it was only a matter of time before a teacher caught them wandering about and got them in trouble. Of course, they certainly had a valid excuse, or at least Jonathan did. Either way, Emilia didn't want to deal with that, and so she grabbed his hand and nodded down the hallway.

In the adjacent room she heard a pencil drop to the floor; it was so quiet she wondered if someone was taking a test. She then racked her brain to make sure she wasn't missing one of her own; the last thing she needed was to fail a class after everything she'd done to get herself back up there. But Jonathan's situation was more dire than her grades. "We should go to the photolab, no one will be in there right now."

Mr. Edwards didn't even show up until the later part of the day, because he only taught the one class. So they knew that the lab would be open, and vacant. Jonathan nodded in a somber sort of way, and then followed Emilia as she guided him somewhere safe. She stopped at her locker only to grab her portfolio to leave in the classroom for Mr. Edwards to see. Five minutes later, they were in the bland room; the tables were basic, a few carvings of initials or crude things here and there, done years before Emilia and Jonathan were even at this school. There were two windows, a chalk board that never got erased soon enough, and the chalk seemed to be burned into the forest green wall. Chalk dust hung around that side of the room; but the safest place in the entire school was the red room. If the light was on, no one else was allowed to come in, should they ruin the development of the photos.

Emilia opened the door, and beckoned Jonathan inside.

When they were alone in the red glow, everything seemed to disappear. They were alone, they were safe.

"Okay, talk to me," she whispered, as if speaking louder would break the veil of safety.

"I should have been home, Emilia," he began, and even though she wanted to tell him that there was no possible way that he was to blame, she kept her mouth shut. "I took a shift knowing full well that mum was taking a night shift too. We never do that, ever. The one time I decide to cover a shift for Eric, and Will doesn't come home? Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

Emilia did. In a way, she did know. So she decided to tell him; she didn't say it to make him feel like his situation wasn't horrible, but to humanize the situation. "My mum knew she was going to die. She saw the oncoming truck when I didn't; she told me she loved me, and I could feel the shake in her voice, Jon."

A silence hummed.

"I didn't say it back," she whispered. "And I'll regret that for the rest of my life."

"She knew..."

"And you being home, might not have stopped what happened to Will, whatever happened to Will," she explained, "I..."

She thought about the monster.

"Maybe he never made it home, maybe he's scared somewhere in the woods." She said, "Is there...?"

"Castle Byer,." he said. "Emilia, you're brilliant."

"Well-" She cocked her head to the side and a half smile tugged on her cheeks.

"Come on-" He grabbed her hand, and within half an hour, they were parked at the Byers' household. Following him, they walked beyond the house and beyond the shed, right to the edge of the forest. Emilia yanked her hand back and broke free from his hold, stumbling backwards so badly that she tripped over her own feet, landing hard on the grass and dirt. Her hands slowed her fall, but she landed on her tailbone; a wicked sensation filled her and she gasped in pain, hardly able to breathe for a moment.

"Are you okay?!" Jonathan crouched down and wrapped his arm around her back, "You freaked out there, what happened?"

"I-"

I saw a monster in there yesterday.

His soothing hand rubbed her back, and then he helped her to her feet. "Emilia?"

She didn't respond, "Jon, I... I can't go in there."

He looked perplexed, "We always go in there..."

He's going to think I'm crazy.

She had to put on her big-girl pants and handle it. Obviously her mind had been running when she was through those woods, she'd not actually seen the monster, or any monster. What she'd seen was a tree or a stump, and her mind fabricated something far more sinister. She'd read too many horror novels, watched too many horror movies. Mentally cursing Stephen King, she shook all thoughts of monsters aside. There was a child missing, and she had to be brave for him. She had to be brave for Will and for Jonathan. Besides, it was daylight and she was with Jonathan.

But first, "Do you have a baseball bat, or something?"

Although he didn't understand where Emilia's sudden fear of the forest came from, he knew better than to try to pry into her mind like a treasure chest. It was better to wait until the key washed ashore, and he could open it without damaging it. Rifling through the shed, Jonathan looked around it for a moment, sensing something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Shaking off the feeling, he found an old wooden baseball bat and handed it to Emilia. Though she wasn't sure why she should have the weapon, it made her feel safe to have in her grip. Organized sports were the death of her, but she could throw a ball and swing a bat. She might not be able to hit the ball with the bat, but she could damn well hit a monster.

In the woods the trees stood tall, unaware of the fear buzzing around Emilia and the worry around Jonathan. They did not care about them, they did not care about their problems; they would live for thousands of years, they would feed off of the rot of Emilia and Jonathan's bodies long after they'd been put in the ground -although cremation was becoming a seemingly more popular way to deal with the dead. Emilia imagined, if she died, her father would certainly go the cheap route, and looking at those trees, she didn't mind so much.

Nothing seemed the same in these woods; not the same as last night. Everything had appeared so vastly different and spooky the night before, but now they offered no threat. Part of Emilia was irritated by it, because she wanted to prove to herself that she was not crazy. When carrying the bat in hitting position grew tiresome, she swung it over her shoulders and behind her neck, resting her hands on either end to balance it. They walked for a few minutes, nothing too extreme, before they spotted the ramshackle -basically a pile of sticks and bedsheets. But it hit Emilia hard; Will was so young.

Jonathan ran to the tent-shack-thing, and pulled the sheet back.

He backed up, devastated.

Maybe the monster had gotten Will.

I should have used that GIF for the chapter that Will and Joyce come home, hehe.

Question of the day, what do you do for work?