Love me •|Billy Hargrove|•

•|18|•

I sit up when I hear Dustin talking. I rub at my eyes. My back and head ache terribly from the metal floor.

Everyone is awake but me. Dustin is screaming into his walky talky from the roof of the elevator.

"Can you hear me? This is a code red. I repeat..." he continues to say it over and over and over.

I look over to see Billy leaning against a few boxes. He pulls at a curl in his face. It bounces back up every time he lets go only to be grabbed and pulled once again.

Robin has her arms around her knees, chin propped on them. She stares blankly at the floor.

Steve is sitting on the ground, hands wrapped in his hair. He glares at the floor.

Erica is sitting in a box. She twists her bracelets around on her wrist. She has a big frown on her face.

We are all utterly miserable.

Finally Steve stands up. We have a couple of boxes stacked under the hatch. He climbs up them to talk to Dustin.

"You gotta take it easy on that thing. You're gonna drain the battery," Steve tells the boy

"The mall just opened," I hear Dustin state. I'm the only one who can hear them because of how close I am to them. The girls are on the other side of the room, and Billy couldn't care less.

"So?" Steve asks. I watch as he switches weight on his feet.

"So, someone could be in range," Dustin says as if it were obvious.

"What do you think? Petey the mall cop is gonna appear down here and save the day?" Steve asks with an attitude.

"All right, why are you such a cranky pants after getting to spend the night with Robin?" Dustin asks.

My eyes widen a little bit. I look at the girl across the room from me. Her head now lays face down on her knees.

"Shh. Jesus Christ!" Steve whisper yells. "Will you just give up your creepy dream already?"

"I heard you guys talking all night," Dustin says.

Then it dawns on me. I was so asleep that I didn't hear shit. I guess I was tired enough to sleep all night in the elevator. It kind of reminds me of the cells in the lab. Time out is what I would call them.

"Yeah we were trying to figure out a way to open up the door while you children were sleeping," Steve gets all the way up to the top now. I can't see him anymore. "After 8 hours, we're still exactly no where, which is, you know, probably just a little bit of the reason why I'm feeling just a tad cranky."

"What are you doing!" Dustin screams.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a leak. Look away," after Steve says that I tune out.

I crawl over to Billy and lay my head on his shoulder.

"Rough night?" I ask him.

"I slept like shit. How about you?" Billy asks me, leaning his head on mine.

"I slept like a baby," I say.

"The hell? How?" Billy asks me.

"It's just like the time out time in the lab. No bed just open empty space," I reminisce. I pick my head up and turn my body to look at him.

Robin stands up and walks over to the buttons, fiddling with them.

That's when I hear it. Liquifying hitting the wall and running down. I crinkle my nose.