Chloroform (Billy Hargrove)

Chapter 10: Caught In A Lie

The room was ransacked. The drawers of my desk were thrown on the floor, all my papers and information that Lina had given to me just in case anything had happened to her. I rushed in and picked up the papers, turning them over to read the Romalian type that sat on the paper. All the information slapped me in the face, my panic ensued, the uncertainty of who might've went through my room, knowing that if it was Billy, he would still be in the room waiting for me. So it must've been Saul right? It had to be Saul. I glanced over at my closet, seeing a long crack, splitting down the center, glowing a bright yellow, small specks of light drifting off from the wallpaper. I could hear screaming, cries for help, a name being called, but I couldn't make it out. My chest rose and fell in a rushed pace, fear creeping up on me, scorching hot acid burning the insides of my stomach, but I couldn't help but crawl towards the light, somehow entranced by it.

"PLEASE HELP ME!" It was Lina. I almost jumped into my closet like a madwoman, yelling and screaming with desperation.

"LINA! LINA I'M HERE!" Suddenly there was one last, horrific scream, and the crack disappeared in an instant. My eyes watered with tears, all of them trailing down my cheeks, how long had she been down there?! There was no way she would be able to survive any longer down there...I fell back, leaning on my legs, losing all feeling in my body, before falling down onto the hardwood. I closed my eyes tightly, and yelled, causing the house to shake throughout the duration of the sonic screech that I was emitting. Then I stopped, everything stopped, I just laid there, holding myself in my own arms, trying to compose myself, and regain my ability to think, and control myself. Loud, booming footsteps came towards me as my bedroom door swung open with Steve standing in the doorway, looking upon the mess in my room. There was another accompanying set of footsteps, as I closed my eyes tightly, biting down on my lip.

"Jesus Christ Tess...What happened?" Steve tiptoed into the room and crouched down beside me, looking down at me with concern. I didn't look at him, it was as if I was paralyzed, not being able to move my arms or my eyes. I thought maybe I was going into shock but I felt like I was going to melt into the ground at the same time. Steve leaned down so he was face to face with me, as his eyes searched mine, his pupils shimmered and a look of horror shook throughout him.
"Tess...Your eyes." I couldn't care less about my eyes right now, Lina could be dying for all I know and the only thing I could do is lay here. I could open up a gate, I would do anything to save her, but I knew that there was a very slim chance of succeeding, and there would be consequences to my actions.

"Steve...I don't like this. I really don't like this Steve." Dustin panicked. My ears tuned into the sound of a car screeching, coming to a halt. Steve immediately looked up from me, staring at the window. We both knew who it was. I had no energy to get up and move, and it left us with no choice but to try and hide from him. If Billy came in and saw those bodies...I don't know what he would do, but I know that it wouldn't be a calm reaction nor would he be able to keep it a secret. Steve muttered obscenities under his breath, as he stood up and tucked his hands under my arms, dragging me into the closet.

"Get in there Dustin, and be quiet." He whispered. The fearful boy joined me in the closet as Steve closed the doors on us, our eyes adjusting to the pitch black space. The musky scent encompassed our nostrils, a mixture of stale perfume, and a smokey scent, like somebody had blown out a candle and the smoke was just continuously flowing off the wick. From downstairs I could hear Billy's footsteps exploring the main level, his heartbeat was stable, but his curiosity was ripping through him. I pulled myself forward, peeking out of the small even cracks that the closet door had. Steve stood in front of the closet in a sort of over exaggerated attack position, as the both of us began to hear Billy's monstrous footsteps coming up the stairs. My heart was racing, out of fear of knowing the damage Steve might take from this encounter, and from the sheer fact that all those bodies were on the main level and we didn't even attempt to hide them. We were screwed in the most indefinite way, and I had no solution to get out of it.

"What the hell are you doing here Harrington? Where's Tess?" Billy growled, walking towards him, Dustin and I both sat there looking through the cracks, staring at the heavily built Billy, who looked like the big boss battle at the end of a video game. I could feel the bile in my stomach bubble, as I listened to Steve's heart pick up it's pace. He was scared, and there was no way of getting out of this situation, no matter how hard he tries, unless he jumped out the window of course, but that would come with a whole other slew of problems.

"I came to see if she got home safely, which...I don't think she did..." He replied. Billy stared at him. his footsteps creeping up, closer and closer to the closet, and towards Steve. I heard a loud crack come from behind us, the familiar yellow light blinding the both of us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a hand reach out and grab Dustin's ankle, causing him to let out a shrill. Instantly I grabbed his covered arm, pulling him in the opposite direction that the hand was pulling. From outside of the closet Billy and Steve began to argue about the noise that just came out of the closet as I told Dustin to be quiet and not to panic, that I had him and I wasn't going to let go. Somehow he trusted me enough to shut up, but the damage was already done, Billy had heard, and he was starting to fume with anger, his fists clenched and his body tense.

"What have you done to her? Where is she?" He pushed Steve against the closet door, an abrupt bang echoing throughout the enclosed space, both Dustin and I flinched, as I pulled harder trying to yank his leg out from the iron grip. Through the cracks, I could see Steve pull himself back up, keeping himself in front of the door. Steve and Billy stood at the same height, the both of them locked in a stare down. Another push, this time it sounded worse, like all the air had been knocked out of Steve's body, and like before he got up. Yet another push and this time a large crack split down the center of the cheap closet door. It took Steve a little longer this time to pull himself back up, but he successfully got onto his feet, struggling to regain his balance, moving from one foot to the other. Billy pushed him harder against the closet door, but this time he held him there, throwing a few punches to his stomach, connecting each time, investing more force with each impact. One last punch was thrown, and I swear I could feel it in my stomach, as Steve let out a grunt. Finally I pulled Dustin out of the grip, and the gate closed, giving me my cue to open the closet door.

Billy's eyes laid on me, as I got out of the enclosed space. I caught sight of Steve first, who was curled up on the ground holding his stomach in pain. He was trying to form a sentence but nothing was coming out due to his loss of breath. My eyes raised to Billy, and I could feel the rage flow through me, running through my veins, straight to my palms.

"What the fuck are you doing Billy?" His eyes widened at the sight of me, and I had remembered what Steve said about my pupils, He had caught me. He knows...

"Holy...Holy shit." My hand instantly shot up, pushing him up against the wall with all the force that I had, holding him there as I struggled to stand up. The muscles in my body flinching from all the energy that was being drained from the tips of my fingers. Billy moved around, struggling against the heavy weight that was being pushed onto him, keeping his back on the wall.

"Tess, stop!" Steve exclaimed as I made my way towards Billy, seeing his eyes full of fear once I stopped in front of him.

"You're not going to get away with this Tess. People are going to find out." He growled. I leaned up, our noses almost touching. I could feel his breath hitting my skin, coming out in a rapid pace, as his eyes searched mine.

"Nobody will believe you, Billy. Nobody." I whispered, letting my pores release the familiar blue sleeping agent into the air, making sure that it surrounded him. His erratic breathing began to slow down, and his head lulled to the side, signifying that he was knocked out cold, and he would be for a while. I snapped out of my trance and let him go, causing him to slide down the wall, slamming down onto the ground. My body felt weightless from all this drainage and use of power. I felt like I needed to sleep, but this was not the time to do so. Liquid poured down my face as I wiped my cheeks, seeing that both Dustin and Steve were staring at me, watching, but not truly seeing what I was doing. I pulled my hand away, seeing blood smeared across my palm, laying on the cracks of my hands. Maybe that was why.

"We need to move these bodies...Then we need to see what Dustin wanted to show us." I stated, tiredly, like nothing had happened, as I took my t-shirt off and changing in front of them without a care in the world at that moment. I only knew that today just wasn't going to be my day, and I didn't know when things would be going back to being relatively normal.