Enjoy Word: 2k+-
PS: S2 is already finished on my Webnovel account and am taking a break before I start s3.
The account is mentioned on my profile if you want to check that out.
"I am Sara Hopper. You already met with my dad, who you almost killed, by the way." The girl told him and pouted at the end. Seeing the still confused expression on the boy's face, she sighed and nodded. "Well, though I would like to complain about it, I guess it was well deserved." She said, dismissing her earlier comment.
Charles stared at the little girl in front of him without saying a word. Raising her eyebrow at him, "What? It's not just you or Eleven that has powers, you know." The girl said, her smile now turning into a smirk. But the boy in front of her could see the genuine sadness and depression hiding behind all those smiles and smirks.
Sara Hopper didn't need to be told what the boy was sensing, because this wasn't the first time they talked. This discussion had taken place at various times throughout the past. But sadly, the boy doesn't remember any of those. "Thomas, you don't need to worry about me." The young Hopper said, walking to the swing.
The boy followed her, filled with curiosity. "You are like me?" The blue-eyed boy finally asked. The girl now started to play on a swing. "Yep! And there are a lot of other people out there. Well, there were. Now, it's just you, Eleven, and someone else. In the real world, at least." She said, swinging back and forth on the swing.
Her legs went up and down, to build momentum for her to swing higher and higher. "Come on, join me." The girl said, giggling a little, having fun while the boy was looking in amazement at the swing. Hearing the little blonde girl, he walked up to one of the empty swings and tried to copy her actions. But it led to nothing. The boy wasn't swinging.
Frowning at that, he looked back at the girl, who was looking at him and finding him very cute. Putting her feet on the ground, she slowly stopped herself and stood up, going to the boy's back. "Here, I'll help you." She said and slowly started pushing the boy. As soon as he was high enough, "Okay, you need to extend or kick your legs forward when swinging forward and when you swing back, tuck your legs." Sara instructed the boy, who happily followed it.
"Good, now keep doing that!" She said, showing excitement. She stopped pushing the boy and went back to her seat, swinging with the boy now. "It's fun right?!" she asked him, who was widely smiling with so much fun. "Yes!" The boy answered her, matching her excitement. For Charles, every time he was swinging up, there would be a strange feeling in his chest.
And when he would swing back, the strange feeling would intensify. For him, it was as if he was on a roller-coaster for the first time and enjoying this. Slowly, his smile turned into laughter, which Sara Hopper joined. For the first time in his life, Charles was enjoying something a normal child was supposed to have.
They kept swinging and laughing together. For a moment, Charles had forgotten all the bad things in his life. All the hurt and pain that he had received back at the lab. For the first time, Charles felt like he was breathing.
Sara had already stopped swinging and looking at the boy next to her with a sad but kind smile. Something that shouldn't be on a child her age at all. An expression that should only belong to the adults. The boy was still swinging, laughing and though he hadn't realized it, he had tears falling from his eyes. Tears of happiness.
Sara was broken-hearted when she saw that. Despite her sad life, it was nothing compared to what the boy before her was going through or would go through. Ultimately, death would free her from her harsh life, but the boy in front of her was not lucky enough to have that option. Either he would become a monster that would destroy and swallow this world into darkness, or he would lose everyone he loves and end up on his own. Both were unacceptable.
She had tried numerous times to change his life, but all her attempts had failed. And this was another attempt that she had. While the boy was having the time of his life, she looked at the boy in front of her and closed her eyes. She was seeing a lot of things, fragments of the boy's future, the people that he will meet, and the potential people that he could meet.
Concentrating a bit more, she focused on the potential people he could meet, and that's when she found someone interesting. Someone that would support the boy no matter what. Someone that could possibly change everything for the boy and herself. A certain redhead who was currently living in California.
Her actual parents had already broken up, and her mother had married someone. They wanted to restart their life away from the woman's ex-husband. So, focusing on that part, Sarah changed their route. Instead of going somewhere else, they would go to Hawkins. That's everything she could change. As soon as that was done, she started coughing, her skin turning pale.
Hearing that, Charles stopped swinging and ran to her in worry. Not knowing what to do, the boy simply stood by her side, rubbing her back while she was coughing violently. After she was done, "You okay?" The boy asked her. She nodded with a smile. "Thank you… Yeah… Just… tired." She told Charles.
Looking around, Charles found a picnic table near them. He pointed at the table by tapping her on her shoulder and getting her attention. Seeing that, the girl smiled widely, forgetting about the pain. To her, this was all like a Deja Vue. And she knew what the boy was going to do when she would say, "I can't… move." She told him tiredly and nodding, the boy picked her up in a princess carry.
Though he grunted a little, being a little weak because he never worked out. The girl in his arms giggled tiredly. Reaching the picnic table, he sat her on the seat and sat right next to her, looking at her in worry. "I'm fine." The girl said after a sigh. She started to take deep breaths, holding them for a second and releasing them. Just like how her father had taught her.
After catching her breath, she looked at the innocent yet dangerous boy in front of her. She needed to start their talk about the main topic now. About the boy's past. His future will be in the hands of the redhead girl and the curly teenage boy. And if things don't work out, they'll be back here anyway, and she would choose someone else. After all, that's what she has been doing for over 6 years now. This makes it the 7th.
With a sigh, "Do… No, I need to tell you about your past." The blonde girl started turning serious. Sensing her complicated feelings and the serious expression, the boy nodded. To him, nothing was interesting about his past. All he remembers is from a couple of years ago, but it looked like this girl knew much more.
The girl nodded back to him, "Your name, the one given to you by your mom, is Ryan Thomas. It means, "little king." But I prefer Charles Thomas." She told him, who had widened eyes. "This is something you'll be able to do later on, but here goes nothing." The girl said and placed her hand on top of the boy's head.
And as soon as she did that, the entire world turned into a dark void and in it. Looking around the place in panic, Charles heard a voice. The little girls. "Don't worry. Nothing is happening to you. I'll just show you your past… Your origin." She said, sounding a little sad at that. Slowly, the dark void changed and turned into a hospital room.
A room that was filled with nurses and doctors. On a seat, there was a woman, grunting and screaming, with a man holding her hand. "Keep pushing Eli. You're almost there." The man told his wife, Elizabeth Thomas. Nodding, she took a couple of breaths and pushed once more, screaming in pain. But joining her screams was a new cry.
The nurses fully pulled the baby out of the woman's body and gave that to the mother. Even though she was in tears and pain, there was now a deep feeling toward the baby in front of her. "Ryan…" she called out to her baby, who immediately stopped crying once he heard his mother's voice.
Seeing that, the father of the baby chuckled. Charles was in the corner of the room, watching this unfold with his eyes wide open, and by his side was the blonde girl, who looked at the family with a small smile. "He's so beautiful." The mother said, looking at her son, who was struggling to open his eyes.
"Of course. Whose son do you think he is?" The father asked proudly with a smirk. Hearing him, the mother chuckled, "His eyes… they're very similar to yours." The mother said, looking fondly at her son. The man ran his hand over the baby's small head with a smile. "Maybe, but its shape, they resemble yours…" the man answered back.
Charles grunted, looking at the child in the woman's arms, who was calmly looking at the woman in front of him. As if something in his head was tearing down a wall. The woman's face looked very familiar now… Seeing him grunt, Sara snapped her fingers, changing the scenery.
Now they were in a house, with the kid feeding some ravens and pigeons in the backyard with a smile. His eyes were blue, looking at the birds with so much curiosity and awe. "Ryan?" He heard and immediately he turned towards the house. The boy that looked like a 4-5-year-old turned back towards the birds. "Mom is here. Hide!" He whispered to them.
Without hesitation, the birds flew into the trees, hiding. "Ryan? Where are you?" The boy heard his mother's voice getting closer to him. Opening the porch window, she found her son. With the enormous piece of bread still in his hand, he could not find a place to hide it. He put it under his shirt, on his back.
"Ryan? Are you feeding the birds again?" She asked him, almost as if she knew the answer already. The blue-eyed boy broke his eye contact with his mother, finding the green grass very interesting all of a sudden. "No…" He told her, not making eye contact with Elizabeth. The woman sighed, "Oh yeah? Then what's that piece of bread doing on the ground, behind you?" She asked him.
With his eyes widened, the boy turned back and looked at the ground, but there was no piece of bread there. Touching his back, he found that his mother had tricked him. Turning red from embarrassment, he slowly turned towards his mother, taking the bread from under his grey shirt and showing it to his mother.
"Sorry, mom." He told Elizabeth, who sighed but smiled anyway. "How many times have I told you not to feed the birds? It's not good." She told him, now walking towards her son, who was shrinking in front of her. When she was very close to him, she patted his head and raised his head. "But they said they were hungry." The boy told his mother.
Her smile grew. "And how can you know what they are saying?" She asked her son, but the boy showed a confused expression. "Because they talk to me." He answered her as if it was normal. Sighing once more, she held her son's cheek, stretching them a little. "Ow, Ow, Ow." The boy repeatedly told his mother.
"Well, my little bird whisperer, it's time to eat, so let's go." She said and stopped stretching her little boy's cheeks. Standing up, she put her hand in front of him, telling him to take her hand. After rubbing his little chubby cheeks, he grabbed his mother's hand and walked back inside the house.
Charles was looking at this from the porch, tears slowly falling on his face. Though it was small, he could remember her now. "Mom?" He hollowly asked the back of the jet-black-haired woman. But the woman couldn't hear him or see him. She closed the back door, getting away from view.
Sara, with a snap of her fingers again, changed the scenery. This time, they were inside the house. "Are you kidding me?!" Charles heard his mother's yell directed at someone. "We have no other option. This way, he would be safer from people that would want to hurt him. To use him!" Charles heard a man's voice.
Hearing that, he turned pale, knowing this voice very well. "No! No! NO! Are you even hearing yourself?! You want to experiment on your kid, Martin!" the woman yelled back. "But he'll be a lot safer than out in the open! There are already rumors spreading in the neighborhood about him!" The man yelled back this time.