Yours Truly | B. Hargrove

28

The pitter-patter sound of rain filled the eerily quiet locker room. Eleven had a pair of blacked out goggles on and was sat on the floor. Eden had been instructed not to speak, as it would mess up the girl's concentration on finding Heather. A few minutes passed, Eden's leg rapidly tapping due to her nerves. Suddenly, Eleven was tearing the goggles from her face and panting as blood trickled down from her nose.

"I found her." The girl concluded.
___
They took Eden's car, since none of them really wanted to bike in this rain. Eleven was giving instructions to Eden as they made their way to the neighborhood of Loch Nora. They halted to a stop as El practically shouted that this was the house. A normal looking house sat before them, the only defining feature was the bright red front door, as seen in El's vision. It was now pouring out, lightning striking through the sky every few minutes. A distant roar of thunder send a chill down Eden's spine as she stared at the house in front of the group.

They all quickly exited the car, trying to race to the door to avoid the rain. It didn't really work in their favor, however, as all of them were drenched by the time they got under somewhat of a cover on the front porch. El and Max pushed through the front door, and Eden went to scold them before she heard commotion a room away. The trio entered the house, water dripping under their feet and Eden was just waiting for the reaction from the people who owned the house upon seeing 3 soaking wet strangers.

As they made their way through the foyer, they found themselves standing just inside the dining room where both familiar and unfamiliar faces sat. All three heads turned to the sopping wet girls, the older male looking like steam was about to come out of his ears. Eden took this time to speak up.

"W-we- I tried to stop them from just barging in, I told them to knock first. They're just extremely concerned." She stuttered, somewhat spewing a lie. 

"I'm sorry, who is this dripping all over my floor right now?" Mr. Holloway asked, turning to face Billy.

The teen boy gave a small chuckle, setting his napkin on the table, "Janet, Tom, this is my little sister, Maxine, and her friend Eden."

The word cut through Eden's heart like a knife.

"Oh!" Mrs. Holloway gave a big welcoming smile after Billy explained.

"What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Billy asked, the kindness dripping off his voice in an unusual manner.

"We just wanted to make sure everything was okay." Max's voice was small as she responded.

"Why wouldn't It be okay-" the boy was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"Where is she?" El snapped and Eden silently cursed. Could this girl be anymore obvious?

"I'm sorry," he began, turning to the shorter brunette, "where is who?"

As if rehearsed, Heather Holloway herself emerged from the kitchen with a tray of cookies. Billy spun around hearing the footsteps behind him.

"Heather!" This is my sister, Maxine. I believe you know of Eden as well? And uh, I'm sorry. I did not quite catch your name." His eyes practically glared through the pre teen who stood- glaring.

"It's El." She answered through gritted teeth.

"Now, what is it you were saying, El?" He mocked slightly, "you were looking for someone?"

Eden decided to take over, "Max was looking for you at work today, and they mentioned Heather didn't come in today so i just think the girls got a little worried."

"Oh, Heather wasn't feeling too great, so Billy took the day off to nurse her back to health. Isn't he just the sweetest?" Janet Holloway chimes in before the boy could answer.

"Yeah. Super sweet." Eden eyed the boy, seeing something flick over his eyes, but in just a second it was gone.

Billy walked up to Heathers side, wrapping his arm around her, "but she's feeling just fine now, aren't you Heather?"

"So much better." She smiled up at Billy, "would you girls like a cookie? They just came out of the over."

"Actually, we should get going," Max began, sneaking a glance at Eden, "we've got a curfew."

"Are you sure you girls don't want to stay? I don't want you all out in a storm like this. We have plenty of food to go around." Mrs. Holloway gave a smile, obviously not feeling the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"They really should go Janet, I'm sure they have a busy day tomorrow." Billy answered for the trio, causing the older teen girl to clench her jaw.

"Yep. A super busy day." Eden stared right at Billy, wondering what the hell his problem was.

And with that, Eden turned and walked out of the dining room without another word. Max and El both followed shortly after. They walked back out into the pouring rain, settling into Eden's car in silent.

"See El? Nothing to worry about. Just Billy being.. Billy." She shot the older girl a sad look as she gripped the steering wheel.

"But- you saw it! The ice, a-and the blood?" El sputtered.

"Heather had a fever so she took an ice bath, but she's better now," she stated matter-of-factly, "I'm not sure where the blood came from, but we saw her. We all saw her. She's totally fine."

"I have to side with Max on this one. I'm sorry, El. I'm sure it was just all in your head." Eden sort of snapped, upset that this was just some kind of set up to realize Billy had cheat on her.