Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 32nd cycle. Now cycle 33!
Hear that little bird twitter! Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!
"Simply Look Around"
Young Sue & Jean
Sue had always been tall for he age, even when she was little, eight sleeps away from four years old. At the same time, her big sister Jean had been smaller for her age, and then they noticed: they were the same height. It was one bit of detail, but it got to be so much more… strengthened their bond. But Jean would always be the big sister she looked up to, whether physically or figuratively.
No one was as good to her as her big sister. Not the kids at the park, not the neighbors… not even her parents. Jean was the best person she knew, and this could only make her the dearest to her, so deep in her heart that she could never be unseated.
These were the days before she saw the world for what it was. However people reacted to her sister, Sue didn't see any of it. They would play in the yard, for hours on end. On rainy days they would hide out in her room. Neither one of them liked storms, and when they happened, Jean would take her sister by the hand and take her to sit in the closet, with flashlights at the ready. The world closed out from them, they would do anything in order to occupy their minds away from the storm. Sometimes Jean would shine the light on the wall and they would play shadows. Other times they would pretend they were hiding in a cave… Sue always loved it when Jean would play with her hair.
Eventually they would stop… listen… then tempt a look outside those doors. If the storm wasn't done, they would be shut again and games resumed. But if it was done, then they emerged and rejoined the world.
This was the norm, for both of them, for a number of years. They continued to grow, Sue more than Jean, but if their relationship changed in any way, it was only that it became stronger. And with years, they had so many more things to do together.
The first time they saw 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,' Sue remembered how Jean simply lit up. She had never seen her taken this much by something, and from that day it became a go to kind of thing if they needed cheering up. Sue would never forget the one year when, for Halloween, the two of them had dressed up as Oompa Loompas. No one could tell them apart unless they really looked at them, and they rarely did.
When they bought that tape, it became even more of a staple between them. She couldn't even count the amount of times they watched it… They knew it by heart, but it was never anything less than what it had always been… complete wonderment.
She remembered they'd watched it, the day she came home, livid after hearing what the other kids had called Jean for the first time. She knew it was bad, from the way they laughed, and she had never felt this feeling, this desire to just go at a run and tackle those kids to the ground, hit them as hard as she could until they took it back.
She was just happy Jean hadn't heard or seen any of it. Walking home with her though, she must have associated her present mood with 'upset,' because when they arrived home she took her little sister to sit in the living room and the movie began. They spent the whole time sitting side by side, and Sue did start to feel better. She couldn't forget what she'd seen though. And as much as she could want to move on like nothing had happened, Sue had never been the same after that day.
Eventually some of their traditions changed, as they grew up. They didn't hide in the closet during storms – for lack of space, Sue would say – but she still tried to keep Jean occupied and worry free. And they didn't watch Willy Wonka as much as they used to – which must have been a relief on the well-worn tape. But every so often, and Sue cherished these memories too, they would end up singing the songs together. 'Pure imagination' was her favorite. Sue wasn't big on singing, mostly out of bitterness with her mother, but for Jean she could bend her rules.
No matter how much she changed over the years, Sue knew that when it came to her sister it would always be a whole other story. With her she could still be that girl, the one from all those memories of her childhood. She would never forget, didn't want to… But she feared the day when Jean wouldn't be there anymore most of all.
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!