Shutter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things I

LX: Bond

bond

verb

establish a relationship with someone based on shared feelings, interests, or experiences.

It was Christmas Eve. Snow fell outside the Byers house, which had since been patched up with the help of a few people. The world almost made sense again, enough so that things went back to normal. Even though it was winter break at the school now, they had all gone back to school for the time between Will's return -which was hard to explain to people who asked about it, about the body they found.

The story was that Will had gotten lost in the woods, and the body they had found was that of another kid. So decomposed that they mistook it for Will. It was a twisted story, a lie that they would spew until the interest faded. But it clung to Will, he would forever be tormented with the truth, knowing he could never tell anyone outside of the inner circle who knew.

 In the halls of the school people still didn't look at them as though they had possibly saved Hawkins from a terrible monster. They didn't know what had happened, and the only people who cast Jonathan and Emilia glances were Nancy and Steve -they sent knowing head nods- and occasionally Carol and Tommy would glower in their direction.

When winter break fell upon them, relaxation and content settled in over them. Snow hung on branches outside the house, and the forest no longer looked ominous and threatening. Instead it looked like something from C.S. Lewis' Narnia series. Gorgeous to look upon, even better to take photographs in. Although Emilia couldn't afford to fix the flash on her camera, it still worked so long as the natural light was good enough. Jonathan and Emilia shared a camera as they saved up to buy Jonathan another one. He'd need it before they moved to New York.

They arrived at Nancy's house to pick up Will, both of them getting out of the car. Even though they had been through so much together -Jonathan, Emilia, Nancy and even Steve- they had not become friends because of it. Not true friends, not the kind that spent time together and called one another on the phone over the weekends. Nancy and Steve made up, forgave one another, and Steve was a lot nicer to Jonathan after everything that happened. But other than that, nothing had really changed. Only a level of respect had been put in place, no friendship had formed. A bond was there, but it was not strong enough.

Nancy opened the door when they knocked, "He's downstairs."

Jonathan smiled, he knew that Will was down with his friends. He nodded his head politely and headed down to the basement to pick up his brother for Christmas Eve dinner. Emilia stood in the foyer of the large Wheeler house, closing the door behind her to prevent the cold air from getting in. It was too warm in the house, and Emilia peeled off her jacket and draped it over her arm. Her and Nancy stood slightly awkwardly, as much as there was some drive to be friends -particularly because Emilia was the only other girl in school who knew what actually happened to Barb- nothing ever came out of it.

"You're looking good," Nancy said, gesturing to Emilia's burns.

"Aloe Vera," Emilia said. "I swear by it now."

"How is everyone?" Nancy was referring to Joyce, Hopper, Jonathan and Will.

"Well as they can be," Emilia shrugged. "Hey, can I use your washroom?"

"Of course," Nancy moved out of the way.

Walking down the hall, Emilia felt a wave of nausea pass over her. Biting down on her tongue to prevent herself from throwing up, she walked a little faster down to the washroom. Shoving her way in, she slammed the door shut and turned on the faucet to cover the noise. People always got so concerned about others when they threw up. It was best to hide it from them, lest they ask questions that no one wanted to answer. What did you eat? When did you start feeling sick? Could you be pregnant? Emilia didn't want to answer any of those, and so she flipped on the fan as well, then knelt over the toilet. When the sickness came up, it was far worse than she imagined. She would have preferred it to be blood, doctors could fix that. She would have preferred it to be morning sickness- doctors could also fix that.