Flower Girl (Billy Hargrove)

Chapter Twenty Seven

This morning I wasn't woken up by any cars or knocking or calls or anything. It was only 10:46 so I woke up pretty early. I didn't have a shift today because Joyce closed the store for a couple days. Something about an issue with the store, I don't really remember what she said. I went to the bathroom and did my business and took a shower. I got dressed for the day, jeans and a basic Black Sabbath band t-shirt. I have like five of them. I went to the kitchen and got some eggos out and put them in the toaster. Steve was already out of the house for his shift so it was pretty quiet. I was halfway through eating when I got a call.

"Hello? This is the Harringtons." Not even the Harringtons, it's a Harrington. I don't even know why I didn't just ask who it was. I really need to start rehearsing what I'm going to say whenever I answer the phone. "It's Max. Meet me and the group at the pool in 10 minutes. It's a code red." I was about to ask what's going on but then the line went dead from her hanging up. Code red and at the pool. I said it last night, something really bad is going on. I hurried to my room and put my shoes and socks on and brushed my teeth. I grabbed my keys and basically ran out the door. I got in the car and got to the pool. When I got there I parked toward the back. A couple minutes later all the kids rode up on their bikes except Dustin was missing.

"Where the hell is Dustin?" I asked the kids "I think he's with Steve at work." Lucas replied which isn't surprising. We all leaned against the hood of my car while Lucas pulled out his binoculars. "So what's going on?" It was silent for a minute until Will spoke up. He explained his theory on how everyone thinks that when El closed the gate she locked part of the mind flayer in this world with us. The part that was inside Will. Then how everyone thinks that Billy is flayed. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"But if he is flayed we can get it out of him just like we got it out of me." Will tried to reassure me and I just nodded my head as tears formed in my eyes. That's why he's been acting weird and strange. He got flayed. If Will can overcome it so can Billy. Max grabbed the binoculars out of Lucas's hand "I don't know, he looks pretty normal to me." Lucas just shook his head as he disagreed. "Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?" They all looked to me and Max "Well I mean like yeah it's a little weird." I said while Max nodded "More than a little, he was in a tub with ice. The mind flayer likes it cold, plus everything El said." Mike was still trying to get Max to believe everyone else in the group. She doesn't think Billy could be flayed, well I think she just doesn't want to accept it because of everything she had to witness last year when Will got flayed.

"Yeah but he's lounging at the pool, which is like the least Mind flayer thing ever." Will stopped her "Not necessarily." We all turned to Will to see what he was getting at "The mind flayer, he likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like your dormant and then when he needs you... you're activated."

I looked back towards Billy and something was definitely different, they were right what he was wearing wasn't even normal. He had on a white long sleeve which is weird because he is normally shirtless, he had a hat on which is weird because he says that hats mess up his hair that he works so hard on, he had a towel covering his legs, he has his umbrella open which is normally closed. Oh and then he's eating a cup of ice.

"Okay so we have to wait until he get activated?" Max questioned but Mike was quick to tell her no. "We need to find out if he's the host." Mike said as he left the hood of my car "Where the hell are you going wheeler?" I shouted to him as he was walking away "I have an idea, boys only." I rolled my eyes at his stupidity "Seriously?" Max sounded pissed "Just trust me on this one." He shouted one last time and him and all the boys walked away. Max rolled her eyes and we all went back to leaning against the hood of my car. It was quiet between me, Max, and El. All I could hear was kids and parents screaming and laughing and talking and splashing from the pool.