Splinters In Time

Many years later...

Lydia had always liked graveyards. Whereas others found them creepy, she had always found them peaceful- and when at her Grandmother's, could often be found whiling the hours away at the one up by the church. There was one grave in particular she would come here to visit.

Three names were written on the stone. The first- Baby Gray, her brother who never got to live. The second- Ava Gray, her father's first wife. The third- Lilith Gray, the sister she never got to meet. Although, of the three, only one was actually buried there.

Lydia wasn't sure she believed in an afterlife- her mum was Jewish, and technically, Lydia supposed, that meant she was too; her Grandmother, however, had been devoutly Christian and her father believed in no religion at all.

Logically, an afterlife made no sense to Lydia... and yet, there was something comforting about the idea that she could come here and talk, and somewhere, somehow, they could hear her. She could hear her. Oftentimes, she would wonder, if things had been different, what would it be like? What would she be like?

There was something endlessly paradoxical about being the youngest child and having no older sibling to speak of.

Well, now there was going to be a second grave for her to visit. Being an upstanding member of the church community, the entire congregation had shown up for Lydia's grandmother's funeral. Lydia's father, Lawrence Gray, was sat at the front in a wheelchair- he had lost his leg a while back to cancer, and whilst the man now had a prosthetic, he was still getting used to it. Esther, Lydia's mother and Lawrence's second wife, stood beside him; she was a short, round-faced, pretty woman with chestnut hair much the same colour as her daughter's, although Esther's was now peppered through with grey. They were all dressed in black- Lydia too, who thought it was a pity she had been made to wear such a nice dress to a funeral, as she would not be keen to wear it again.

Grandma had lived her whole life in this town- Lydia's parents had moved away, some time after getting married, to a place outside of a town called Hawkins, but Grandma had always stayed. Someone has to be here, she had claimed, just in case. Just in case something was discovered or someone returned. Just in case. Lydia wished she had her Grandmother's hope.

But now, no one was here, and Lydia had the greatest fear that she would never return.

Lydia was standing towards the back of the crowd, waiting for all these people who thought they knew her Grandma to be done so she could say her piece; truthfully, she really wanted to be here alone and was weighing up coming back later. Overwhelmed by the crowd, Lydia stepped back even further as they started to disperse, and looked anywhere but the gravesite.

And there, over by the grave of her sister, she saw something.

A woman was standing there, hand over her mouth in horror as she looked down at the writing on the stone. For the briefest moment, Lydia thought she was seeing a ghost. The woman looked exactly like her Grandmother- not her Grandmother as the old lady Lydia had known her as, but her Grandmother as she had only seen in photos, back when she was a young newlywed. The woman wore a smart black suit, her black hair loose down to her waist. Evidently, she was a relative of some kind- but Lydia had thought she knew all of her small pool of relatives, and she certainly didn't recognise her.

Curious, Lydia drifted closer. "Hello?"

Almost without acknowledging her, the strange woman let out a sound like a strangled sob. "I'm dead! I've come all this way and it seems I'm already dead!"

Already dead? She most certainly was not. Lydia looked at the grave, confused; then back at the woman who had the most absorbing grey eyes she had ever seen. Her father had told her stories about such eyes.

Lydia stepped closer. "Who are you?"

"I didn't mean to intrude." The woman said hurriedly, taking a nervous step away. "I just... wanted to come pay my respects." She gestured vaguely towards Grandma's grave. "But it's fine. I shouldn't have- I can go."

Lydia was running the numbers in her head. She did seem about the right age...

The woman was already walking towards the gate. In one desperate last attempt, Lydia threw out her hand. "Wait! ...Lili?"

The stranger froze. And slowly, she turned back around.

There were tears in Lydia's eyes- everything was just spilling over, all at once. "... Are you? Are you Lili?"

There was a loud, breaking sob. It hadn't come from Lydia- instead the unknown woman had both hands covering her mouth. Silvery tears streamed down Four's face; one, then another, and then so many of them. It was grief, pure and simple, and agonising; grief for what had been, what could have been and what would never be.

Breaking into a run, Lydia threw her arms around the woman and held on tight. "Oh, Lili! Oh, Lili! Dad! Dad! Dad, you have to come! Mum, bring Dad over here! Dad!"

A/N: Just to clarify, timeline-wise, I like to think this is a few years before season 1 (But we're getting closer XD)

So I was hoping to actually get two more chapters out before Christmas, (as the next chapter has much happier vibes more in line with the holiday season XD) however due to time restraints, I don't think that's likely to happen. (Though you never know.)

So in that sense, I'm going to say Happy Holidays to you all, hope you have a great time over the next few weeks (hope you have a great time always, Tbh. At least when reading my stories. XD) and hopefully the next part should be up before the New Year!