𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒔 • 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 [2]

37•

I slammed the door behind me as we re-entered the mall and began running down the corridors yet again.

"Okay, in here." Mike nodded towards an elevator a few feet away and I quickly ran up to it and began impatiently pressing the button.

"Come on, come on, come on." After a few moments of the elevator doing nothing I angrily banged my hand against the panel in defeat. "Piece of shit!"

Suddenly, I heard a door open at the end of the corridor and Max hastily walked over to take a look.

"Billy." She stated, her voice shaky, causing Mike and El to quickly whip themselves around and stare too. "Billy, you don't have to do this." Max spoke as Billy's footsteps echoed down the corridor. "Billy. Your name is Billy, Billy Hargrove. You live on 4819 Cherry Lane. Billy, please, I'm Max, I'm your sister-"

A scream tore through my throat as Billy backhanded Max, causing her to drop to the ground. I quickly grabbed El and shoved her behind me. Tears started streaming down my face as Mike ran towards him, only for Billy to grab him and slam him against the wall, knocking him out cold.

I pulled the knife from the waistband of my pants and held it out in front of me, my hand trembling. Billy just stared at me before harshly slapping it out of my hand and I watched in shock as it clattered to the floor. "Billy." I pleaded, barely above a whisper. He never took his eyes off me, and without a second thought he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away from Eleven, before pushing me to the ground. "No!" I quickly got to my feet and shoved him as hard as I could as he went to reach for El.

Before I knew what was happening, his hand was around my throat and I was slammed against a wall. I clawed at his hand as I stared into the eyes of the monster that was inside of him. "Please." I squeaked as my head started to pound. In a last ditched attempt to get through to him, I grabbed his free arm and pressed his hand against my stomach. "I need you, we need you."

After the words left my lips, something sparked in his eyes, and they really were his eyes. He released the grasp around my throat and I dropped to the floor, dark spots still clouding my vision as I coughed for oxygen.

He gazed at me for a second and I couldn't help but let a small smile cross my face, it was him, my Billy. The amount of emotion on his face in this short space of time was unbelievable and a single tear slowly rolled down his cheek. I scanned his features, he was broken and bloodied, with veins snaking up his arms and neck like a sleeve of tattoos. His eyes quickly dropped to the floor and all I wanted was to hold him. "I love you Billy."

His gaze snapped back to meet my own and he opened his mouth to speak, only for it to immediately shut again a second later once he blinked.

There was no way I could have prepared myself for the sucker punch to the jaw that knocked me to the ground. I immediately collapsed and felt my head smack off the floor with a dull thud, I heard El's screaming and I tried to move, but I couldn't. All I could think about was the fact that my Billy was gone.