#default future verse.

[janessa-ives]

DEFAULT FUTURE VERSE ( 2 )

by 1995, twenty five year old janessa ives reclaims her powers, and takes back her life. she continues working until she's thirty, living a simple routine in hawkins. she works hard, trying to find a pattern to help her integrate fully into her modern world. she tries, she tries so hard, but soon realises it's not meant to be. even in a small town like hawkins, practically separated from the rest of the world, she realises that the mundane, the normal, is not what she needs. after years of trying to heal from her past, to move on, she comes to a standstill. she has family, friends, security - everything she thought she ever wanted, but it's not right. jane understands that despite the good things that have happened, her now "normal" life, what she's always wanted, actually didn't suit her in the way she thought it would.

in 1998, the film practical magic is released in theatres, and after she and mike see it together, jane finally understands what she is. a witch, just like the girls from the film. a witch is what she wants to be, what she wants to identify as. she wants to use her gifts freely, to finally make them part of her. seeing a house like that, seeing two grown women in their element made jane realise what she had been missing. she needs the space to discover who she is, and won't find it cooped up in a normal town, surrounded by normal people. she begins researching witches, wondering if there are more people out there like her. she thinks it could all be a bit unrealistic, but wants to start associating herself to this kind of magic, to develop organic abilities and connect more to the world around her. there's still so much she doesn't know about herself. about what she can accomplish.

one cold winter's night, jane finds a stray ginger cat on the way home from work, and takes him home. her fear of cats no longer concerns her, and she names the animal sally, after sandra bullock's character. also after sandra's character, jane copies the letter written by her, in the fanciest writing she can muster, and keeps it close, always, for it resonates deeply with her.

sometimes i feel like there's a hole inside of me, an emptiness that at times seems to burn. i think if you lifted my heart to your ear, you could probably hear the ocean. the moon tonight, there's a circle around it. sign of trouble not far behind. i have this dream of being whole. of not going to sleep each night, wanting. but still sometimes, when the wind is warm or the crickets sing… i dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for. i just want someone to love me. i want to be seen. i don't know. maybe i had my happiness. i don't want to believe it but, there is no man, gilly. only that moon.

soon, her access to the void is completely shut off; she's unable to visit even under the most desperate attempts. no longer does she get nose bleeds when her powers are used - or headaches - or sleepless nights. there is no strain with her gifts, just peace. after much research, she finds an online forum relating to "green witches" and decides that is what she has become. who she wants to be.

she embraces the power of nature; she draws energy from the earth and the universe; she relies on natural objects like stones and gems to commune with the land she lives off of; she uses plants, flowers, oils, and herbs for healing; she calls on nature for guidance; and she respects every living being no matter how small.

the green witch understands that the earth incorporates the planet and all living things upon it, including animals, plants, and people. she understands that humanity impacts the natural world, not only by how we treat it but also by the feelings and energies of individuals. it's likely the spiritual ancestresses of modern green witches who chose to live apart from the centre of community life. though they may have made their homes on the edge of town, they much would've preferred to make their homes in nature.

she needs to be on her own, for the first time by choice, in her whole life. she asks one last favour of sam owens, perhaps an unusual one. she requests help for a new home, somewhere closer to the woods, where she can be surrounded by nature, somewhere she can make her own. build from the ground up - a fresh start. a few weeks later, he comes to her with an offer: an old, small cottage on the outskirts of noblesville, indiana, not too deep into the woodlands. a half hour drive from hawkins. she battles with conflict at first, not sure how she felt about being so far - she does not drive, so if something bad happened, she might not be able to help. owens implored the fact that she'd done enough, if, god forbid, something did rise from below, it wouldn't be her responsibility.

it's a rundown piece of property, completely abandoned, but if she wants it, sam can pull some strings to legally put it in her name. after he takes her out to see it, despite countless flaws and the fact that it requires extreme renovations, she falls in love. especially after discovering its history. the house and its garden once belonged to a family of three, passed down for generations. tragedy struck in the late sixties, when the owners three week year old daughter died due to neonatal infections, and the parents committed suicide after their loss, unable to recover from the heartbreak. jane decides this needs to be her home, to bring some life back into it, to honour another family who never got a chance to be happy.

she begins the renovation work with the help of her friends and family, and some of owens' own team who took a special liking to her. when she turns thirty, jane closes her shop permanently and begins the move. it takes six months to fix up, and seven weeks to decorate, to get it to her liking. everyone offers to stay the first night with her, but she politely refuses, wanting to spend it alone with sally and salem, her two cats. the following week, she doesn't leave the house, feeling a sense of peace she'd never experienced. she works in the gardens immediately, but finds there is little she needs to do - connected so deeply to the earth now, it's like the flora knew she was there, and her presence alone sprung it back to life. jane visits hawkins at least once a week, but instead of catching public transport, rides her bike. ( a lovely old fashioned contraption, with a basket of fresh daisies attached to the front. ) it's a three hour ride, but she enjoys it.

she usually stays in hawkins that night of the week, at becky's house, but is never left conflicted whether she made the right choice leaving. she's where she's meant to be. her friends and family are always welcome to visit her. initially she likes the tranquillity of it all, especially in the first few months adjusting, but as time goes on, she invites everyone over more often, welcoming them into her new way of living, if they want to be a part of it. modern therapies never worked for her, not in the way they should have. they kept her going for a while, but nothing freed her. with this new lifestyle, she begin defining herself by her relationship to the world around her ( once feeling so out of place, now knowing exactly who she is ), by her ethics, and her affinity to the natural world. this is not the path jane ives was meant to travel - but it's the only one that makes sense now, after everything she's been through.

she still enjoys modern aspects of the world; going to the cinemas, eating at fancy restaurants, watching soap operas ( she has a small television in her cottage, after all ), and never plans to cut that out. she always wanted to be a modern girl, and believes some part of her is still made for that. but none of it can free her, can keep her in touch with her fragile soul, or help heal wounds of the past. jane's newfound aura is obvious; her friends became accustomed to it quickly, but when she returns to town, or is out in public wherever it may be, society is either drawn to or away from her. to some degree, people understand her unique presence, almost knowing she's not of this world, and are thus drawn to her. where others can sense that she's strange, unusual, and directly avoid her. jane learns to grow on her own, to thrive and accomplish with and without loved ones at her side. sometimes she can be isolated, preferring days where she doesn't speak a word to anyone. she may be alone, but never does she feel lonely. she is finally at peace.

[janessa-ives]

DEFAULT FUTURE VERSE:

in 1987, seventeen year old janessa ives finally finishes what she unintentionally started, and seals off the upside down forever. the power it took to succeed in such a thing, however, destroys all known traces of her abilities, leaving her in the same state of july 1985. after a week in the hospital under sam owens' care, she returns home, spending another two weeks regaining her strength, whilst coming to understand a new way of life is required: one where she's normal. although normal for her is a vastly different thing compared to everybody else. she doesn't return to school, having struggled the previous year - she gave it her best shot, but it was not to be. with excessive tutoring and assistance from nancy wheeler, community classes, mrs. johnson's continued aid, and owens bringing in some specialists to help further her education, jane begins to understand and adapt to open learning. there's far less pressure as it's one-on-one. she spends the next three years catching up on the life she's missed, working hard to further her education. while her speech impediment never fully improves, her writing and literacy skills undergo extreme refinement.

after her twenty-first birthday, with the help of her friend sabrina spellman, ( @omenrisen ) jane expands her horizons and opens a small shop downtown, simply named 'jane's' to continue her passion in sewing and designing. her friends previously expressed that her talents could benefit others, and at long last, she agrees. she starts small, mainly from girls requesting help with alterations for prom dresses. soon, with funds ( and no need to pay them back ) from sam, sabrina and becky, jane designs her own line of clothes just for fun. she never expects anyone to be interested in buying, merely puts them in the shop window to bring some life to the place, to express herself. then, money starts coming in from customers wanting to purchase said designs. within a handful of months, she becomes a respectable business owner; max offers up her mathematical skills to help deal with the books, while everyone else lends a hand where needed. eventually, jane learns to manage on her own, no longer needing so much help. she is content. clothes were always a great expression of hers, and doing something she loves is very rewarding.

when she is twenty two, an invite is sent to her from a small fashion convention in chicago; ( which, if accepted, will be the first time she's left hawkins since closing the gates ). part of her wants to leave, to venture beyond the small town, but part of her also feels she can't, that she needs to be there in case anything stirred from below. even without her powers, she feels the responsibility lays solely on her. after some convincing from becky, jane accepts. the invite allows one guest to accompany, but she decides to go alone, believing it was the best thing to do for herself. it's a three day convention, and she has the time of her life. until, on the final day, all packed up and ready to catch the bus back home, the public transport fails her. she intends to catch the 7:25pm bus, to get back into town a little after 10pm, but it never showed. she calls becky from a payphone, stranded and alone, asking if she can pick her up; by the time she arrives, jane was stranded for a little under three hours. ( becky may have broken some speed limits to reach her niece quickly. )

jane develops a small fever from the incident, and gets laid up in bed with a nasty cough. after three days, she takes a turn for the worse. when jane suddenly falls unconscious, becky is forced to take her to the hospital where they wait for sam's arrival. sam and his team are the only ones equipped to handle jane's needs, knowing her body network is different to others, and the risk she posed if any staff at hawkins memorial were to uncover anything. her infection turns into pneumonia, and she's laid up in the hospital for six weeks under his care. she spends the first thirteen days comatose. after much research and study, with body scans and blood tests, sam soon discovers the reason for her drastic change in health.

when terry was subjected to mk-ulta, and a multitude of unknown substances were put into her system, it affected jane more than originally assumed. they discover jane has abnormal body genetics and an incredibly weak immune system due to what she endured in the womb, alongside what she went through closing the gate. the way the upside down embedded itself inside her, fragments of the malevolent place eating away at her blood: an infestation. the only thing that kept her alive from these combining factors had been the strength of her abilities. now they were gone. they acted like a barrier in her body, protection against those abnormal genetics and supernatural effects breaking down her immune system from the inside out. without her abilities, those once strong walls crumbled down. the bad seeped in, as it always did.

sam suggests the nina project, an idea constructed long ago, but was never put into action, in an attempt to restore her powers. when jane hears the conditions of said project, she refuses, wanting nothing to do with a lab-like environment, even if it saved her. becky argues the point, as do her friends, but it's no use. jane has the final word, and reluctantly begins prepared for her upcoming years. at first, she is distraught. the idea of death angered her. hadn't she already given enough? she grew frustrated, withdrawn, and for months doesn't leave her house, not even for work. her attitude soon changes. she loves life, even if it had done her so wrong. she loves being alive, she loves the most mundane and most extraordinary aspects; she's not going to spend her final years alone and miserable. she writes a bucket list. she doesn't want to travel anywhere by plane, but does want to venture beyond hawkins, even just for road trips. she and her friends go camping. they go to the theatre to see live shows. they go to amusement parks. she continues designing. even while her body grows weaker every single day, she still loves life and soon, accepts her fate.

she accepts who, and what she is, and sees there was beauty in herself where she'd never seen it - where she was told it didn't exist. she accepts that her powers are part of her, and that people love her with or without them. jane had been forced her whole life to use them for bad, or to defeat the bad. they were never allowed to be hers. she was more machine than girl, with expectations coming from people in her life about how and when she should use them. she associated them to science, to evil doctors and demons - so that's what they became. jane was born with a gift, something beautiful, but it became exploited and used for all the wrong reasons, so in her point of view, it became a curse. during her last year, she realises the truth, and like everything else, sees the beauty she once had. evidently, this cathartic epiphany is what saves her life.

like when regaining her powers when she was sixteen, strange things begin happening around her. but this time, it's not windows cracking or lights going out; it's dead flowers growing back, rainy days turning sunny. jane, mere months away from her deathbed, begins giving off a brand new aura, something not so dark and hidden, but bright, entrancing. she didn't recognise it at first, but felt the change happening in her body, the strength returning. after two weeks, she arranges up a meeting with sam owens by herself, asking him to run the same tests he did when she was first admitted; she wants to see if there's any change. he's only too happy to abide by her wishes, having worked tirelessly ever since her diagnosis to find some miracle cure. but no such thing could come from science, the thing that plagued his patient all her life: it had to come from her. and it did. the results showed minor, yet evident changes, the disease-like infestation somewhat smaller: like chemotherapy fighting back against cancer. that thing fighting is her powers: a slow restoration. jane asks sam to keep the news between themselves, and weekly check-ups are made.

one month passes, and jane begins training to use her powers again, asking him to stay with her in case anything goes awry. this goes on for three months. jane's friends and family openly comment on how good she looks, and begin questioning if something was going on, something they don't know about. she refuses to tell anyone about her meetings with sam, just in case, not wanting to give false hope. but at the end of that third month, although jane will still suffer from fatigue and pain from their loss, they both agree that her powers are practically restored - countless scans evidence of the progress made. she thanks him for her help, kisses his cheek, and hugs him tight. he doesn't let go until she does - he'd begun looking at her as his own child. and he, the closest thing to a father she'd ever have.

sam goes back to the ives home with jane that night, where he explains to becky what has been going on, the work they've done, that he believes jane will survive this. although initially hurt she wasn't told, becky is overjoyed with the news, as is everyone when it's made known. the next few months are taken slowly, with check ups continuing, but now with becky, and her friends there for support. janessa ives is going to live.

PART 2.