Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
*Guess I should answer what net neutrality is for those who don't know. It's the principle that the internet should be very open and available without a company controlling with what you will and will not go to. Repealing that would mean the latter would happen instead. Hope that clears things up for you guys!*
The next morning in the Ives house, since Terry hasn't come back yet, Becky decided to dress the girls up for the funeral of 'Will' herself as well as do their hair. When she was done, she placed in front of a mirror to have them see themselves. Since this was one of those rare occasions where Jane looked feminine, her hair was combed, a part of her curls serving as a left bang and the rest as the bottom of her hair. Kali had her hair in two low pigtails. Both wore long-sleeved black dresses from their closets and black flats. Becky herself also wore a similar black dress and had her hair in a messy midway bun.
She smiled at the both of them, patting their shoulders. "You girls look nice," she said to them. "Anything else you two might need?"
Both of them shook their heads. "No, Auntie," Jane answered.
"No, Aunt Becky," Kali also answered. Both of their minds were racing with different thoughts. Their only similarity was that they both didn't care much for this funeral.
Soon, they and Carl went to the funeral. Joyce, Jonathan, Lucas and his parents, and Dustin and his mom were there as well. A pastor was saying something from the Bible as they all looked at his casket. All of them looked solemn, even the kids.
Dustin did lose that look, however, when he saw something, grinning instead. He nudged his friends and made them look at what he was looking. A girl with blonde hair and green eyes was crying and sniffling. The two lost their solemn faces when they saw that. "Just wait until we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral," he whispered to them. They began to giggle with him, but Becky shushed them, their serious expressions back on again.
...
As everyone threw white and yellow roses at 'Will's' lowered casket and began to leave, Becky and Carl decided to meet up with Lonnie, Joyce's ex-husband. "Hey," she greeted the man. "I'm Becky Ives, Terry's sister, and this is my husband, Carl. I'm so sorry 'bout this." She then gave him a hug, in which he returned.
"Thank you for coming," he said to her. When the hug was released, Carl shook his hand.
"If you need us for anything, we'll be here for the next few days," he stated to him.
"I appreciate it. Thank you very much." Before they left, Becky gently squeezed a distressed Joyce's shoulder to comfort her. Though it did ease her a little, she still couldn't believe she was here. There was that incident yesterday with Will...
Hopper suddenly woke up in his trailer home, seeing that he was, in fact, there instead of the bunker. He began freaking out and thinking that they might have something either in him or around his home, so he felt his neck, feeling nothing there, before rummaging through his own home to try and find a device they might have stashed it in. He finally found it in his ceiling light, absolutely appalled by this. The Labs were probably going to monitor him so that he won't get into their business again. Well, he wouldn't let them.
He thought about Terry, wondering what might have happened to her last night. Since he dissembled his phone, he couldn't call her - why would he? He didn't even know her number. It looked like he'll have to pay a visit to the Ives home to see if she was there...if not...then the Labs...
Damn it.
He went to his room to change into his police uniform. After that, he got out after getting his hat from the coat rack he had and walked to his car. He got inside and started the engine, driving out to the Ives household.
Terry, now out of what looked like the Hawkins Lab building, continued looking around. Everything was so dark and all those spores were flying everywhere. Dark moss and slimy webs were also around the place too. She thought of what the hell this place was. It looked like Hawkins, yet it wasn't at the same time. She didn't know. Will was in here? Where could he be in a place like this?
She suddenly heard growling, making her whip to the direction it came from and shining the flashlight she had and aiming her gun there. She saw nothing, but heard the growl again. Goosebumps began rising from her skin. What the hell was growling?
She didn't trust the sound as it got louder and a shadow appeared and loomed closer. Wanting to live, she ran as fast as she could away from it. It sounded like it was very dangerous and she, at the moment, didn't want to deal with it. She just needed to find Will and if she was lucky, Barbara, and bring them back to Hawkins. She hoped to God she would find them alive...
In the communications room of the Labs, the two head doctors listened to the kids trying to communicate with Will. Dr. Brenner didn't recognize Jane's voice since he last saw her when she was a quiet two-year-old.
Both of the doctors took off their headphones almost at the same time, the white-haired man stating, "He was there."
"There's no doubt about it," added the man in the glasses.
Back at the graveyard, Kali and Jonathan met up with each other and sat together somewhere secluded and away from the majority of people. The auburn-haired guy had a map on him. "So this is where we know for sure it's been," he said.
She nodded as she pointed at a certain marked spot. "Steve's house, right?" she replied.
He nodded back at her as he pointed at another marked spot. "And that's the part of the woods where they found Will's bike..." He then pointed at another marked spot. "And that's my house."
"It's all so close..."
"Right. It's all within in a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it doesn't...doesn't travel far."
They both looked at each other for a moment, then Kali said, "We need to get out there."
Jonathan sighed. "We may not find anything."
"But I found something. If we do see it, then what should we do?" There was silence for a moment, Kali wondering what this guy might be thinking.
He looked back at her and answered, "We kill it."
...
They went to his father's car, Jonathan entering through the passenger's side and opening the storage compartment with a knife. Kali watched him unlock it and take out a...gun. Her eyes widened at the sight of it as he locked in the barrel and put on the safety, getting out a box of ammo next. She couldn't believe he had his hands on these. "You have to be kidding me," she muttered.
He scoffed. "What? Should we find this thing and take another photo?" he replied sarcastically. "Maybe yell at it?"
Now it was her turn to scoff. "Hide that shit somehow."
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" He then put the pack of ammo inside of his inner formal coat pocket, then got up and out of the car to put the gun in his back pocket, covering it with the bottom of his formal coat. "This is the best we've got, Kali."
The teenage girl sighed, stressed. "I know, but..."
"Listen, you can tell somebody, but they won't believe you."
She turned to him with a serious face. "And your mum?"
He looked at her in disapproval. "She's had enough."
"She deserves to know-"
"And I'll tell her when this thing is dead, alright?" She didn't reply to that, sighing again. Since she was missing her kid and acting frantic and all (it showed when she called her), maybe the news of that thing being around would amplify those problems...
Everyone was in a building later, eating food and drinking refreshments. Becky and Carl were speaking to the trio's parents, including Lonnie but excluding Joyce, about this while the kids saw their favorite teacher picking out some food. They all decided to approach him, Jane calling out, "Mr. Clarke." The man turned to the kids and smiled at them.
"Hi there," he greeted them in a mix of seriousness and reassurance "How are you kids holding up?"
Jane and Lucas looked at each other before looking back at him. Dustin took a Nilla Wafer and ate it as the black-haired boy answered, "We're in...mourning."
"Jeez, these aren't real Nilla Wafers," Dustin randomly commented, his two friends glaring at him sharply. Mr. Clarke did look a bit concerned at him.
The two kids looked back at their teacher, the tomboy asking, "If you don't mind, can you answer some of our questions?"
Lucas nodded to confirm it. "Yeah, we definitely have some questions," he added.
"A lot of questions." The teacher wondered what they wanted to ask him in a time like this.
...
They all sat down at a table together, Jane asking, "So, in 'Cosmos', Carl Sagan talked about other dimensions, right? Like, beyond our world?"
Mr. Clarke nodded. "Theoretically speaking, yes," he answered.
She nodded. "Right, theoretically..."
"So, theoretically, how exactly do we travel there?" Lucas asked.
The teacher thought they might have thought of something, so he questioned, "Have you guys been thinking about Hugh-Everett's 'Many-Worlds Interpretation'?" The kids all gave each other puzzled glances, wondering why he brought that up. "There are parallel universes, basically. They are just like our world, but they come in infinite variations. There can be a world out there where none of this tragic stuff even happened."
"Actually, that's not what we're talking about," Lucas replied, making the man a bit surprised.
"Oh?"
"We were thinking more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin stated.
"You know the Vale of Shadows, right?" Jane asked the man.
He nodded. "Yeah, an echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic-"
All the kids nodded at him. "Yeah, that's it," the girl cut him off, the man looking at her. "If a place like the Vale of Shadows did exist, how would we be able to travel there?"
"Theoretically speaking..." the dark-haired boy added.
"Well..." the man began as he took out an extra plate under his own and got out a pen to draw with. He faced the plate to the kids and drew a rope before drawing a person. "Picture an acrobat...standing on a tight rope. The tightrope is our dimension and our dimension has rules." He then drew a left and right arrow. "We can move forwards or backwards. But...what if next to the acrobat..." He next drew a small bug. "...is a flea?" He drew smaller left and right arrows next to that. "Like the acrobat, the flea can go forwards or backwards, right?" The kids nodded at him. "Now here's where things get interesting." He drew arrows on the rope. "The flea can also travel on the side of the rope and even..." He finally created an arrow next to the flea put down under the rope. "...underneath the rope."
The kids glanced at each other again, looking awed and murmuring amongst each other, "Upside Down..."
Mr. Clarke nodded once again. "Right."
The curly-haired girl looked at him again. "But we're not the flea, just the acrobat, right?" she asked him.
"In this metaphor, yes."
"So we can't go upside down?" Lucas asked.
He shook his head. "No."
"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to turn upside down?" asked Dustin.
The man began to think about that for a few seconds, then answered, "Well, for that to happen, you need to create a massive amount of energy, more than humans are capable of creating, mind you, to create a tear of time and space. And then..." He folded the plate in half, hamburger-style, and poked a hole through it, startling the kids a little. "You create a doorway."
"Like a gate?"
"Sure, like a gate. But again, this is all-"
"Theoretical," Lucas said, finishing his sentence.
"But...what if this gate already existed?" Jane asked the teacher.
"Well, if it did, we would know," Mr. Clarke answered. "It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. It can even swallow us up whole." The kids looked a bit scared at the sound of that. "Science is neat, but not very forgiving, I'm afraid." Now the three began to think about what he said. If Will was in a place like what Mr. Clarke described as...
Terry stopped running, now entering through the downtown of Hawkins. This was extremely odd. This place was so dark and disgusting, but it was like Hawkins. Really, what was this place?
"Will?!" she called out a few times, walking through the road. "Barbara?!" There was no luck. She didn't hear anything, not a sound or a voice, not even a breath. She sighed heavily. She just knew that Brenner set her up. It was always like him to set people up. Maybe he wasn't lying and that Will was really in this place, but maybe he just wanted to get rid of her this way.
That goddamn son of a bitch.
...
She made it out of downtown and found herself on a dirt road. She did recognize it. She took this road whenever she went to Joyce's house. Maybe that's where Will was. It was his home. She ran across the road to get to there.
Back at the home, the kids were in the basement with Mike again, Jane showing the freckled boy what Mr. Clarke showed her and the boys. She poked a hole through a piece of paper, making his eyes widen for a bit. "It takes a lot of energy to build a gate like this," she said to him. "But that's gotta be what happened. Otherwise, how did Will get there, right?"
He nodded at her, replying, "Right..."
Lucas, who was sitting across from them, asked the dark-haired boy, "We just wanna know, Mike. Do you know where the gate is?" He looked at him and shook his head. He looked completely disbelieved. "Then how did you know about the Upside Down?!" He didn't answer, looking down at his hands as he began to played with them for a bit. Lucas looked at Jane, who shrugged and was just as puzzled as he was. Now what?
Dustin was holding a compass and pacing around with it. Mike looked at him, making the other two also look at him. "Dustin, what are you doing?" the tomboy asked. He didn't answer her and continued pacing around.
"Dustin!" Lucas yelled at him, making him stop and look at the three others.
"I need to see your compasses," he asked of them, making them feel more perplexed. "All of them, all of your compasses, right now!" The urgency in his voice came through. Jane and Lucas looked at each other, their expressions unchanged.
...
On the table, the three kids set their compasses. The curly-haired boy bunched them all together. "What's going on?" Jane asked him.
"You see that they're all facing north?" he asked both her and Lucas.
"Yeah, and...?" Lucas replied, shrugging.
"That's not true north."
His friends raised an eyebrow at him. "What does that mean?" the girl questioned.
"Exactly what I said, that's not true north." He looked at the two confused kids in disbelief. "Are you two seriously this dense?" They both shrugged at him, making him groan and point left. "The sun rises at the east..." He then pointed at the right. "And it sets in the west. That means..." He finally pointed near to the right. "That's true north."
"So, the compasses are broken or something?" asked a confused Jane.
The boy let out a heavy sigh. "Do you even know how a compass works?" He put one of the compasses up to her eye level. "Do you see a battery pack on this?" She shook her head as a reply. "Right, 'cause it doesn't need one." He then put it down and went on, "The needles are naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole."
"So why are they broken?" Lucas questioned.
"That's what I couldn't figure out, but then I remembered something: you can change a direction of a compass with a magnet. If there's a presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power." Now the two kids began to understand. "Then I remembered what Mr. Clarke said, the gate would have so much power..."
"That it would disrupt the magnetic field," Jane finished for him.
He smiled and nodded at her. "Exactly!"
"So that means if we follow the compasses' north..." Lucas began.
"That should lead us to the gate." Now they know what Dustin was talking about. It seemed like a good idea and they were willing to follow it.
Mike, who was looking at them from the couch, felt very worried about this, however. He knew what and where the gate was, but...
...
Upstairs, Becky got out of her sister's room in new clothes and walked downstairs. She had on a warm-colored flannel and navy-blue jeans. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ring, a little startled by the sound. She announced, "I'll get it!" She then walked to the door and opened it up, revealing...Hopper. She looked very concerned about him being there.
He narrowed his eyes at her and questioned, "Becky?"
Now she realized who he was. "Jimmy," she greeted him. "Police chief, aren't ya?"
He nodded. "Thought you were in Indianapolis."
"My husband and I are just visitin' for the week." He nodded again as Carl approached the door with wide eyes.
"Uh, hello, officer," he greeted him.
"Hey," he greeted back before letting out a sigh and asking Becky, "Is your sister here?"
She immediately shook her head. "No, actually."
He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"She called me last night and said she was workin' extra hours on her night shift and that she'll be back by this morning." She shook her head and sighed. "Still isn't here yet. Even missed the funeral."
Carl shrugged. "Yeah, maybe her night work is far, so we're still waiting," he added.
"Or she went back to her morning and afternoon job as a waitress, but we really don't know."
He nodded at the two of them, mentally cursing himself and saying, "Thank you both for your time."
However, as he began to leave, Becky asked, "Wait! What do ya need Terry for?" He stopped for a few seconds, wondering if he should answer her or not. He decided not to and get into his car. "Hey! Jimmy!" He started it and began to drive away from the house.
He finally drove away, thinking that Terry was in some deep shit right now. After all, she promised them not to be anywhere in its vicinity after she quit...
...
Meanwhile, Becky sighed and shut the door, Carl asking, "What did he want with your sister?"
She shrugged, feeling absolutely puzzled. "I dunno," she replied before getting her purse from her coat rack. She got out her pack of cigarettes, but her husband snatched it from her, shocking her a bit. "Hey!"
"You smoked enough for the past few days, Rebecca. I don't want you to get sick from this or anything." She glared at him sharply and crossed her arms, making him sigh. "Listen, I get that you're on edge after what's happened here since he came here, but these aren't going to help."
"Then what will?" she asked him bitterly.
"I will." She sighed as he put the pack in his pocket and held her hands. "Rebecca, I love you. I'm doing this because I care for you. You're my wife. I vowed to protect you until the end of my days. I don't want you getting sick or even hurting yourself in any way because of all of this going on. Tobacco shouldn't be your coping mechanism." She sighed again, feeling a bit guilty. He gave her a look of reassurance. "You keep saying to your sister and the girls that they should talk to you and calm down. Now, I'm asking the same. Can you do the same for me, Becky?"
The woman looked away from him, taking a deep breath. He wasn't wrong, she was on edge. She did try to cope by smoking and having her bonding moment with her sister the night before, but she guessed those didn't work to her favor. And she did realize that her irritation was causing her to argue with him more. Maybe once, just this once, she'll listen to him.
She gave him a nod. "Alright, honey," she replied to her, making him smile. He then hugged her, surprising her. He hadn't done that in a long time. Smiling back though, she hugged him back, feeling better since he did that.
In the garage, Kali came out, her hair now in a braid. She wore a purple coat with white puffs inside the hood, a grey shirt, dark-blue skinny jeans, and a pair of black sneakers. She saw a baseball in the garage and took it. It was there because when Jane was younger, she liked baseball and sometimes played it with the boys. She decided to give herself some space and start swinging it. She thought her first swing was a bit off, so she tried again. Still thought it was wonky, so she swung a third time.
That time, she almost hit...Steve Harrington, surprising her. He swooped back, dodging the swing. "Whoa there!" he exclaimed. Her eyes were as wide as saucers from the sight of him.
She put the bat to her side and asked, "What are you doing here, Steve?"
"What are you doing with that?" he asked back, pointing at the bat.
She quickly thought up of a lie. "Just...thinking of joining softball."
He nodded and sighed in relief. "Good, 'cause I thought that was for me." She looked at him concernedly, making him get to the point. "Look, I wanted to say that I'm sorry. Even before you threatened me with that baseball bat." She raised an eyebrow at him, the jock leaning against Carl's car. "Listen, I panicked and acted like a total dick-"
"Right," she said, cutting him off and having him sigh. "Did you get in trouble with your parents?"
"I mean, yeah, but..." He shrugged. "Who cares, really? Screw 'em." His expression became sincere. "Any news about Barbara? Parents heard from her or..."
Letting out a heavy sigh, she shook her head. "No." She still got nothing yet. There was the photo, but she didn't want to tell him about it. He didn't have any place in her and Jonathan's investigation. "Nothing."
There was half a minute of awkward silence between them. Steve broke it by saying, "Hey, Kal." He stopped leaning against the car and approached her. "Why don't we go catch a movie tonight? Just pretend that everything's normal for a few hours." She didn't know about doing that. "'All the Right Moves' is still playing." He began to grin. "You know, with that lover boy from Risky Business?"
Now she grinned and chuckled with him. "I know, I know..." she replied.
"Carol says I kinda look like him." She gave him a playful yet skeptical look. "What do ya think?" He then took her back and began singing the lyrics to "Old Time Rock and Roll".
She giggled at him doing that...he had always managed to make her smile, laugh. Even so, her mouth turned to a frown as she answered, "I just can't, Steve. I'm sorry." His smile began to drop to a frown as well. "I mean, I've been getting busy with this whole funeral thing and my sister...she's taking it pretty hard, you know?"
He nodded. "Uh, sure, yeah, yeah."
"So..."
"I should go?"
She nodded at him. "I'm so sorry. I'll call you later, alright?" He nodded as he gave her bat back and a quick kiss on the lips.
"Yeah, I'd like that," he answered as he began to leave. Before he did though, he turned back to her and pointed at the car. "This your mom's?"
She shook her head. "Oh, no. It's my uncle's. He and my aunt are visiting for the week. He has a good job and all, so..."
"Ah." He nodded in understanding. "Gotcha." He then left, humming "Old Time Rock and Roll". She sighed. He was a good guy, for the most part, but he had to stay out of this. For his own good, to say the least.
After he disappeared from her sight, she positioned herself with the bat again and practiced her swings once more.
Terry finally arrived at the Byers home, approaching it. She suddenly heard some muffled yelling. She cautiously went to the door, the yelling sort of becoming clearer. She entered inside and saw...no one. She was absolutely baffled. She saw no one, yet she could hearing yelling. What sort of...
"Jesus, Joyce! It was his funeral today!" shouted...Lonnie. "Do we have to do this right now?!" Now she was puzzled. When the hell did HE come back?
"I can't believe I fell for this...!" Joyce whimpered frantically. Terry decided to stop where she was to listen to them.
"Joyce, I'm just here to help-"
"To help?!"
"We could use that money for good!" The woman rolled her eyes. There was a reason Joyce separated from him...
"Oh, l-like, uh, um, paying off your debts?!"
"To pay for Jonathan to go to school!"
"Oh, don't do that..."
"What?"
"LIE to me!"
"I'm NOT lying, Joyce!"
Terry shook her head and sighed. She thought that maybe he came back to "comfort" her. Well, that didn't work, as she was listening to.
She suddenly noticed the painted letters on the wall. Each coordinated with a light on a string of Christmas lights. She approached it slowly, carefully looking at them. Why did Joyce do this? Was it to...
Communicate with Will?
How though? It didn't make much sense to her.
"What's with these goddamn lights?" Lonnie asked. Terry looked up at the ceiling, seeing none of them on. She felt like she would get a migraine if she tries to figure out what the hell was going on. She couldn't help it though, damn it.
Inside the home, both of them saw the lights flickering randomly, all of them, including the Christmas lights. Joyce's eyes widened, thinking that...maybe Will was there again.
"You see, Joyce? You need me here."
"Oh, ho, ho! I did NOT need you for a LONG time!"
"Oh really? Look what happened." Even though she couldn't see the argument, Terry felt a spike of anger rushing through her body. How the hell could he say that at a time like this? He was scummy in the past, but that? That had to be the most scummiest.
"Oh, don't you dare! I was HERE, at the very least!"
"Come on, Joyce. Look around this place. All these Christmas lights, that hole you have in the wall. What do you think I wanted to tell you? That you're a great mom?! NO! You're a mess!"
"You know what?! Maybe I am a mess, maybe I'm going crazy, maybe I'm outta my mind! But I will keep these lights up until the day I die until there's a chance that Will is still out there, GODDAMN IT!" Terry felt her heart drop hearing Joyce like this. God, Lonnie just brings the worst of her out... "Now, get OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
After that, it was all silence, roaming around for a couple of minutes. Terry sighed and sat on the couch. She felt stressed and she felt tired. God, how long was she here? What the hell was going on? Where the hell was she and where the hell was Will? She had more questions than answers now, and she hated it.
She groaned and leaned her head against the 'T' on the wall. She suddenly heard Joyce gasp, making her look at the direction it came from. She could still hear her...
"W-Will...?" she asked, almost sounding like she was going to sob. "A-are you there, baby?" Her eyes widened. What the hell was she talking about? "Will, please...get out of that T." She gasped and stood up, now realizing something.
Joyce was communicating with Will...like this. That explains the wall and the lights...
"Oh my God..." she muttered under her breath.
Kali arrived at a part of the woods Jonathan told her to go to with her purse. She saw him shooting at bottles, though he wasn't hitting one...at all. She smirked and shouted out, "Aren't you supposed to hit the cans?"
He smirked back at her and answered sarcastically, "Actually, I'm trying to hit the space between the cans." She scoffed and put her purse down on the grass. "You ever shot a gun before?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you met my mum?"
He chuckled at her as he reloaded his gun. "Yeah, I haven't shot since I was ten. My dad took me hunting on my birthday."
The black-haired girl scoffed again. "Great present, I suppose."
He chuckled again. "Yeah, and the best part? He made me kill a rabbit."
Her brows rose, her expression of disbelief. "A rabbit?"
"Yeah. He thought it would make me more of a man or something."
"I'm going to guess that backfired."
"Yup, I cried for a week after that."
She chuckled a bit nervously, muttering, "Christ..."
He gave her a weird look. "What? I'm a big fan of Thumper."
She began giggling for bit before stopping. "I meant your father."
"Yeah...he's an asshole." He then sighed. "I guessed he and my mom loved each other at some point, but I wasn't around for that part."
She nodded at him, understanding exactly what that meant. "Same here. When my mum and dad brought me into their family, I didn't see them be happy together. They'd either ignore each other's existence or argue." She gestured him to give her the gun, in which he did with a nod.
He frowned at that statement. "Damn."
She then inspected the gun. "My mum always took care of me though. She was loving and was always there for me. My dad, not so much, probably because of work."
He nodded in understanding. "Right. Isn't it just your mom now?"
She nodded. "Mmm-hmm. My mum and dad separated when I was five or six."
"Must've been hard on you."
She nodded again, frowning at the memories bestowed to her. "Yeah, I thought for the longest time that maybe I was the reason why they separated, but it wasn't. My dad's just an asshole."
"How, if you don't mind me asking?"
She sighed, now speaking her mind and memory. Oh God, that memory. She scaned her eyes over the cans. "A couple days before they decided to divorce, my dad brought me and Jane to this...facility of some sort. My parents' workplace, basically." Jonathan nodded once again. "He took us both to this room, gave us...something to swallow...like pills..."
He was shocked at that statement. "What?!"
She scoffed. "I know, it's crazy for him for give a couple of kids drugs."
"What parent does that?"
She shrugged. "My father, apparently."
He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Then what?"
She sighed again. "And then we put these these sort of...headgears on our heads. He and this other guy told us to try and move these blocks..." She paused to scoff again and look at him. "Get this, they wanted us to try and move the blocks with our minds."
The auburn-haired guy began to laugh. "What?" he asked, thinking she was joking.
She shrugged again and looked back at one can. "It's true, believe me! I was a dumb kid, so I thought I'd try. Jane was super young, like two or something, so she tried doing what I did since she didn't understand what they said. He kept pressuring us, not in a yelling manner, but I remember him pressuring us rather coldly. Then...then we heard my mum banging the door and yelling at him through it. She was dragged away, but I was getting scared, especially when I saw that my dad was looking at her like he didn't give a shit. He just...watched his wife, me and Jane's mum, being dragged away while she was yelling at him."
His grin disappeared when she said that. "Jesus Christ..." He paused. "Do you know why...he did what he did?"
She shrugged once more. "I only remember removing the headgear from my head and Jane's, then the other guy whispering to him, 'They're incapable.'"
"Incapable of what?"
She shrugged and scoffed again. "I don't know. Mind powers? If those even exist." Both of them nervously chuckled before turning serious. Finally, she aimed at the can she stared at. "The next couple days, after some more arguing, they decided to get away from each other. A couple weeks later, divorce."
"Couple weeks?"
"I know, pretty fast. I never knew why, but at least the arguing was over and my mum was more happy than she ever was with him. She used to work with him, so she quit that job and took two different ones to care for me and Jane. That was our family ever since."
Jonathan exhaled, processing that entire story. Compared to his, she had it worse. "Wow."
"Yeah..." She shut one eye and put her finger on the trigger. "Wow." She then pulled it and shot the gun. It hit the can, knocking it out of the stump it was on. Both of them looked surprised and happy, looking at each other and smiling. They were not only surprised that she actually shot the can, but that they are pretty similar in a way. Both had single mothers, both went through their parents divorcing, both didn't like their fathers...
They were going to get along just fine.
Stopping here. What do you guys think of this chapter? How did I handle the changes? Any typos or mistakes?
Keep supporting this fanfic and I'll see you in the next chapter! :D