Flower Girl (Billy Hargrove)

Chapter Thirty

We all moved El up and we walked over to the water fountain in the middle of the mall. We sat her down so she could rest for a bit as we all started explaining to Joyce, Hopper, and the old man about the mind flayer and what's been going on. We talked about the Billy situation and what we found and everything that led to here.

When Mike and Lucas were explaining what happened at the pool with Billy and the sauna. I pictured it as they were talking about it. The way Billy was sobbing one minute and then trying to break out while threatening to kill and gut me and Max. The way he pleaded for us to believe him and forgive him. The way he pleaded that it wasn't his fault and that he didn't mean to do it. It wasn't Billy anymore. The actual Billy wasn't there anymore of he's really lost in there. Why does the mind flayer pick people who don't deserve it. Will. Billy. Hell, the whole army of people who are flayed didn't deserve it. Well... were flayed, but still. None of them deserved this.

The white man in the short shorts had walked away for a bit while everyone was still explaining things and then he was walking towards us while yelling "Yoo-hoo!" He repeated it over and over again while waving his arms in the air and in his hands he had yellow papers. I stayed next to El while everyone went over to a table with the white man.

They were talking when suddenly I heard Erica and the white man start insulting each other and me and El started laughing at the two. The white man was Murray, what a strange name. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need anything?" I looked over to El and she just shook her head no. I feel bad for the girl, truly. She's been through enough and it just keeps on getting worse. I kept on zoning in and out while everyone was making their plans.

Since we didn't get it out of Billy's body, when we shut that gate. Billy dies with the shadow monster. I knew I should've expected this but I had hope, I had hope that we would be able to get it out of his body. I had hope that Billy would be able to wake up tomorrow and that all of us can try to work past this but maybe that's not how things work anymore. There isn't always a happy ending to everything and I think I'm about to learn that tonight.

Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica all left to go to the thing that Dustin built at the top of a hill so then they can contact Murray, Joyce, and Hopper while they are down at the Russians lair to stop the machine and close the gate. Hopper walked over to El and I and asked if he could talk to her alone, so I got up and made my way to a table that wasn't far away from everyone. Joyce was saying goodbye to Will and Jonathan.

I saw someone pull the chair across from me out so they could sit down and I looked up and it was Max. Since I had my hands on the table she grabbed my hand that had Billy's ring on it and started playing with it. "You know, I never actually expected you two to get together." I'm not surprised by what she said, I didn't really expect me and him to get together either. "Neither did-" I was cut off by Mike yelling at me and Max to go over to him. I rolled my eyes as I made my way over there.

"Max help me balance her and Y/n you stand behind us in case she falls." Max helped Mike stand El up and balance her so the three of them could walk together. I followed behind them as we went outside to Nancy's car to go to Murray's house since it's far away from everything it would ensure El's safety. We slipped El in the back trunk area and closed the door. We all got in and sat in our seats and when Nancy turned the key to start up the car, the car didn't work. The engine kept sputtering like it was trying to start up but it just wasn't working.

As Nancy tried it again I heard the familiar sound of a car revving up. My eyes went directly towards the sound and it was Billy in his car. His windshield was cracked and you could see his face from the bit of light the Starcourt sign gave off. His car wasn't moving though, it was like he was warning us. Jonathan yelled at Nancy to pop the hood so they could figure out what's wrong as the kids and I stayed in the car. Nancy banged on my window as she opened up the door.

"Back in the Mall! Go! Go! Go!" We all rushed out of the car and rushed to grab El and we quickly made our way back into the mall. I could still hear the revving as we walked through the mall entrance. We all sat down while Mike was pacing back and forth trying to contact Dustin to tell him it's a code red and that Billy had found us. He was repeating the same words over and over again like a record stuck on a loop. I got up and walked away while rubbing my temples hoping to lose the headache I was starting to get.

"Y/n! Come help us!" When summer break started I thought it was going to be a break, but obviously I was wrong. I walked over to the group and they were standing in different spots around the car that El had previously thrown. "Get right there and on the count of three we're all going to start pushing."  I got in the spot that Nancy told me to go to. "One... Two...Three." When she said three we all started pushing to get the car off of its side but it wasn't working. The cars metal started squeaking as we kept on pushing but we soon let go and stopped pushing. We were all trying to catch our breath when El said to let her try, Mike was quick to try to stop her but she didn't listen to him. Understandable. She tried to flip it yet it didn't work, her powers are badly drained from the events that happened earlier. It's like a battery that she needs to recharge in a way.

"Y/n go help her sit down, we'll do this." I nodded my head at Nancy's request and I moved from around the car and helped El to table not super close but also not super far. I sat her down in one of the chairs and then I sat across from her. The group walked past us and then returned back to the car with silver stanchions in their hands. How the hell did they know where those were.

"Hey wait right here, I'll go get you a water." Scoops was a couple stores over so it didn't seem like a problem. She nodded her head as I got up and walked away. I went to the back room and opened up of of the fridges and found all the water bottles they have for customers. I grabbed one and made my way out of the back room when suddenly I heard a loud crash. I ran out of scoops and over to El and I saw that they had flipped the car over. I opened the water bottle cap and then lightly placed it back on "Here, be careful it's open." She gently grabbed the bottle out of my hands and flicked the cap off and started chugging the water.

I watched as she got up and walked to the trash can. Her water wasn't empty plus she had set it down next to me. She started digging through the trash can until she had found a Coke soda can. She grabbed it and brought it over to a ledge and used the ledge as a table to set the can on. As I was watching her I started to hear a rumbling noise just like earlier at the cabin. My mind is most likely playing tricks on me out of fear but then the rumbling noise kept getting louder and louder.

I looked up at the skylight and I saw the Mind flayer staring back at me. It started snarling as Mike yelled to Nancy so she would notice. I grabbed El's and Max's hands as Mike was quick behind us and I pulled us to a candy stand and we hid behind it. There was a huge crash and I looked up over the candy stand and the Mind flayer was right there in front of me. I moved back to my spot, me and Mike were in the middle while Max was on my right and El was on Mike's left. It kept on getting closer and closer and it kept on growling. Everyone was silent but you could hear Dustin's voice breaking up in the Walkie that Mind flayer had broken. All the store lights were flickering and some of the pillars were getting destroyed. Mike poked his head up and then quickly came back down.

"It's turned away. If we go up the stairs now, we'll make it." I instantly shook my head, it was a bad idea since we have someone injured with us. "No way, not with El's leg." Mike rolled his eyes at me while Max nodded her head in agreement. "We have to try." This boy is seriously getting on my nerves right now and he knows it. "There's another way...to get out. Through the gap." We all turned our direction to El, I then poked my head up and saw that the Mind Flayer had its back turned to us. I moved back down and looked at the gap store. It was clear.

"Fine. Now." Mike grabbed El's hand and all four of us ran over into the store but with El limping she managed to knock something over while getting through the store entrance. The Mind flayer started screeching and growling as it turned towards us. I pulled everyone over to a display case and we sat behind it. The Flayer used of it's tentacle arm things to pick up a mannequin that had the same outfit on as El did. It roared at it and then threw it and it hit the wall and landed right at our feet.

I directed the group to another display case and we ran and hit behind that one. It's like a game of cat and mouse. Another one of its arms was scanning through everywhere, it's like they have a mind and eyes of their own. It was right next to my head when there was a loud balloon that made it pull back it's arm and turn it's attention to where the sound came from. We took that as our chance to run to the back halls that connected all the stores in the mall.