noelle;
it's been seven hours since billie left the house. no one has heard from her or seen her since. it was night now and i seem to be the only one concerned.
"so is it just normal for billie to be...gone?", i asked everyone in the living room. they all spontaneously nodded.
"she'll be back. we'd know if she died or something", allure said
"and how exactly would you know that?"
"well...i don't know. somehow" she responded, turning back to whatever she was doing before.
i sucked my teeth and walked away, grabbing my phone and keys. as i opened the door to leave, i saw billie walk up the drive way.
too me a minute to figure out if it even was billie. she had a black eye and her lips were busted.
her usually hot and intimidating walk turned into a limp. her face looked cold and angry. she came up and pushed right past me, going towards the stairs.
some of them noticed her, but as soon as they saw her face, they looked away. they didn't engage at all.
you'd think this was normal or something. i followed billie upstair, sticking my foot in her door just as she tried to slam it
i walked in after her and shut the door behind me. "noelle, not right now" she said. i could tell she was trying to be nice.
but i'm simply too stubborn to leave this alone.
"but your lip is literally bleeding...what happened?"
"nothing. now go, please"
"no. im not leaving till i know how this happened", i argued back, folding my arms.
"noelle..."
"billie i don't wanna hear no bullshit just let me-"
my words got cut off by her aggressively pushing me back into the door. the door handle hit me hard in the middle of my back.
i yelped in pain as i dropped to the floor holding my back. "i- i didn't mean to- fuck" billie stammered
i looked up at her with tears running down my face. i could tell she felt bad, i doubt it was intentional regardless.
"its- its fine", i sighed as i tried to get up. i couldn't blame her after i pushed her too much with my stubborn questions.
i slowly walked to billies bed and sat down on it.
"now can you please...tell me what's wrong", lol i asked again, calmly this time.
"its not important" she replied, using some baby wipes to clean the blood off her face. taking off all her chains and rings afterwards.
i could see some stains of blood on some of the rings that she set to the side.
"it is important now talk because you know i wont leave you alone till you do".
she sighed and sat down beside me.
"i got jumped" she said so nonchalantly. it literally rolled off her tongue like water.
"im sorry- you what? by who?".
"the same people who i robbed stores and collect money for", she shrugged.
"why did they jump you? what could you possibly have done".
"i have a debt of $26k left to pay off and i don't have any of it. its all due in a week. him getting people to beat me up was a warning for what will happen if i don't show up with all his money" she explained.
"...what would happen...".
she looked up at me with glossy eyes. ive never seen billie cry. or even the slightest bit sad. "he's- he's gonna kill me".
her voice broke mid sentence as tears fell from her eyes. i gasped lightly before engulfing her in a hug. i stayed in silence for a while. collecting my thoughts from what she just said.
"billie..what did you do. why is this money so important?"
she let out a deep breath through her nose and leaned off me, wiping away her tears and clearing her throat.
"this is because of my brother..", she started. her tone was much deeper now, almost anger filled.
"you have a brother?".
"had. our parents were broke and he didn't wanna live like that anymore. so he stole over 300K from the gang he was in and tried to flee the country. they found him, and they killed him. him and my parents.", billie stated. her tone was cold the whole time, no emotion.
"they saw me hiding and decided that as punishment, i was gonna pay off the debt of all the money my brother lost or id die too. i've been trying to pay this debt off for almost a year and a half".
my mouth fell agape. i had no idea there was a dark past behind the front billie put up for everyone.
i guess you never really know what i person's going through without looking underneath their mask.
"billie...i'm so sorry" i said. being at a lost for words.
i was mad. mad and shocked. how do you just make someone do whatever you want over something that had nothing to do with them.
thats bullshit.
"what about the others?".
"he doesn't give a fuck about them. he'd probably kill me and make them recruit into his gang so he'll be stronger in numbers. whatever that fucking means".
i turned away from billie and stared at a wall for a minute. there was no way i was gonna let her continue this shit that is putting her life at risk.
they already beat the shit out of her. i don't even wanna imagine how they'd hurt her in three days if she shows up without the money.
"you can't keep doing this billie", i spoke aloud after a while of silence
she turned around from her dresser and looked at me strange. "did i not just say he will kill me if i don't give him his money? does the word kill mean something different to you?".
"no i understand that. but i'm not gonna let you keep doing this bullshit. its gonna get you killed regardless, billie. you have seven days to find twenty six thousand dollars. theres just no way" i explained.
"so, what do you want me to do?"
i stopped fiddling with my fingers and looked up at her. i got up and walked towards her with a small smirk on my face.
"we're gonna kill him"
