Work Text:
The crack of thunder sounded suspiciously like breaking glass, and in every flash of lightning Elsabeth could see their father’s eyes flashing with rage. She didn’t even know what he’d been angry about this time, but the bruise on her face and the glass at her bare feet told her it was something.
He was gone now, stormed out to go do work or drink or whatever he did when he left. It was her mess to clean up. She sighed and grabbed the broom to sweep it up. The lights were dimmed in the kitchen, so if Hugo or Lyanna were to come down, they wouldn’t catch the bruise on her face. She didn’t want to worry them. This was her battle to fight. Not theirs. It was never going to be theirs.
“Elle-beth?” The sound of her sister’s small voice came from upstairs. It was shaky and frightened.
Oh, right. The storm. Lyanna hated storms, and ever since they’d moved to Hatchetfield, for some reason her fear had worsened. She was just glad Lyanna hadn’t needed comforting when their father was still home, as if she didn’t know better by now.
“Just a minute, Ly,” Elsabeth called, trying to keep her voice cheerful. “Then I’ll be up, I promise.”
“Can I come down?” Lyanna called back hopefully.
“Go see Hugo for a minute, please?” Elsabeth said, her facade slipping, just for a minute. “I promise I’ll just be another minute.”
“O-okay,” Lyanna said.
“I’ll bring you a fruit roll-up,” Elsabeth offered. “How does that sound?”
“Really?” Lyanna said happily. She was never usually allowed sugar this late, but Elsabeth figured that on nights like this, the stringent rules she set to keep her siblings safe and healthy could be bent just slightly.
“Yeah, you can,” Elsabeth called back. “Just stay upstairs and go see Hugo, okay?”
“Okay, Elle-beth,” Lyanna said. “Come up soon.”
Elsabeth just nodded silently as she continued to sweep the last bits of glass into the dustpan. She would have to turn the lights up to make sure there was nothing she’d missed. She just hoped Lyanna would listen and stay upstairs.
After a moment of careful inspection, Elsabeth decided she was satisfied with her work. She’d vacuum in the morning before her father returned. She grabbed Lyanna a fruit roll-up and started up the stairs. Half way up, she heard Lyanna yelp loudly as the lights flickered once, then again, and then shut off for good.
Elsabeth sighed softly and made her way up to Lyanna’s room. She just hoped that the darkened house would hide the mark on her face. She could already hear Lyanna’s muffled sobs of fright as the storm raged on outside. She grabbed her phone and went up, knocking on the door.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“Come in,” Hugo’s voice replied wearily. She slipped in and sat down with Lyanna, flicking the flashlight Hugo kept by his door for just this purpose. Elsie’s fourteen year old brother was laying on his bed, using his phone to play music to try to drown out the thunder.
“Hey, Ly,” She said softly, handing her the fruit roll up and holding out her arms for a hug. “C’mere, it’s okay.” Lyanna climbed into her lap, sniffling and hiccuping.
“S-Scary.”
“I know,” Elsabeth whispered quietly, kissing the top of her head. “I know it’s scary, but the storm can’t hurt you.” She rubbed her back gently. “I picked your favorite flavor out of the box.”
“Th-thanks,” Lyanna managed to stammer out. Lightning ripped through the sky outside, brightening the whole room and making Lyanna whimper and hide her head in Elsabeth’s side. Thunder followed soon after, the loud noise did not help Lyanna’s nerves. Elsabeth helped her open the snack to eat.
Elsabeth’s phone rang and she glanced at the caller ID. Her girlfriend was calling. Noel was probably just getting home from closing Beanies. Elsabeth answered and put it on speaker. Maybe Noel could help with Lyanna.
“Hey,” Elsabeth said into the phone. “What’s up?”
“Just got home, thought I’d call you. The storm’s killer.”
“Yeah,” Elsabeth agreed. “Do you have power?”
“Nope.” Noel sighed, “Do you?”
“No,” Elsaeth sighed. “But it’s okay. I have Ly and Hugo here.”
“Sweet. Hey, guys,” Noel said from what sounded like across the room. “You’re on speaker but nobody’s home.”
“H-hi, Ellie,” Lyanna sniffled through a mouthful of fruit roll-up.
“What’s up, Ly? You don’t like the storm?” Noel asked. Elsabeth could hear the big-sister tone she used with Lyanna.
“S-scary,” Lyanna admitted.
“I know it’s scary, sweet pea, but it’s just some rain, it can’t hurt you when you’re with your cool big sister and big brother, right?” Noel said softly, “And I wish I could come over, but it’s late and sometimes driving while it’s raining isn’t a good idea. But I can talk to you like this.”
“Okay,” Lyanna said. “Are you comin’ over soon?”
“I’ll talk to Elle-beth after I talk to you,” Elsabeth could hear the smile on Noel’s face.
“Okay,” Lyanna said, taking another bite of her fruit roll-up. “Y-you can talk to Elle-beth now.”
“You sure, sweet pea?”
“Uh-huh,” Lyanna mumbled. “Sure. Bye, Ellie.”
“Love you, Ly-Ly, love you, Hugo,” Noel said.
“Love you too,” Lyanna said. Hugo just grunted as Elsabeth took the phone off speaker and put it to her ear.
“Hey, love,” she said. “My phone’s at like, four percent, so if I suddenly cut off, it’s just cuz my phone died. I, stupidly, forgot to charge it.”
“It’s alright,” Noel said softly. “I’ll come over whenever you three want me.”
“You can come tomorrow if Dad’s at work?” Elsabeth suggested. “And it’s safe to drive and all that.”
“Yeah, I work the opening so until 12, I’m out.”
“Well, we’re home all day,” Elsabeth said with a sigh. “So, if you want to come over after work, we’d love to have you.”
“I can do that,” Noel said. “I love you.”
“Love you too, b-” Elsabeth’s phone shut off, leaving them only with the flashlight and she sighed. If that wasn’t bad enough, lightning lit up the room again, illuminating the newly made mark on her cheek. Hugo furrowed his eyebrows at her but didn’t say anything. It sent Lyanna back into sobs, and Elsabeth wrapped her arms around her, trying to soothe her fears.
“It’s okay, Ly,” Elsabeth murmured softly. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
“What happened?” Lyanna reached up and touched her face.
“A, uh, a monster gave it to me.” The lie slipped easily from her lips. Maybe because it wasn’t entirely a lie. “A big scary monster. But I fought him off. That’s what that loud crash noise was downstairs.”
“R-really?” Lyanna said, looking up. “Like-like one of the ones from where Mommy is?”
“Just like that, yeah.” Elsabeth didn’t exactly know if that was true, she didn’t entirely understand her little sister’s imaginary world, but it was better to go with it for her. “I beat it.”
“How?” Lyanna asked, enraptured now. “Did you use a sword?”
“Y-yeah!” Elsabeth just went with it. “There’s one hidden in the kitchen. Not gonna tell you where, though.”
“Where?” Lyanna whined. “I wanna know!”
“Elsie can’t tell you or else the sword disappears,” Hugo said, rolling over in his bed. His phone was dead too. “It’s magic like that.”
Elsabeth gave him a discreet thumbs-up and he just gestured for her to keep going.
“So, the monster came in and started smashing stuff and yelling a lot,” Elsabeth continued. “And I didn’t want him to come up and get you guys, so I grabbed my magic sword and I chased him out the door. And the monster was like the storm, you know how?”
“How?”
“Because it’s not gonna be able to hurt you,” Elsabeth said, tapping Lyanna lightly on the nose. “Especially not while I’m here.”
Lyanna nodded sleepily against her shoulder, as her trembles subsided. The story may have been a lie, but she didn’t need to know that. It was better to believe in monsters and savage beasts that lurked beyond the safety of her bedroom window than to see the truth that Elsabeth had learned. With the men that were in the world, you didn’t ever need monsters.