Keep me Closer - Billy Hargrove - Stranger Things

6: Nightmare

** Next Night. **

" Hey Sweetie you feeling okay?" My mom asked.

I rolled my eyes at her sympathy she continued to give me after a year of me telling her not to. "Yeah mom. I'm alright thanks." I said.

" Okay how about you Will, you alright?" She said bending down on her knees to be eye level with Will laying on his bed."

" Yeah I'm alright mom." He fake smiled.

She smiled at him, and then at me. She said her goodnights and closed the door behind her.

"Did you leave last night?" Will whispered to me after mom shut the door.

" W-what?"

" Last night, I heard you get up. But you didn't come back for a long time."

"Sorry I woke you up."

"No it's okay, I wasn't sleeping either." He said innocently. "It's okay. I won't tell mom." He smiled faintly. "Are you going out again tonight?" He asked.

" Maybe."

" Alone, or with someone?" He asked. I didn't say anything. "Who is it?"

"I-I-" I stuttered.

" It's okay Quinn. I won't tell."

"H-his name is Billy Hargrove." I slightly smiled.

" Max's Brother?"

" What?"

" This new girl. Her name is Maxine. She has a step brother named Billy."

" Oh, yeah. That would be her. He mentioned he had a step sister."

" He doesn't seem like a nice person. She doesn't talk about him very much. Well she hasn't talked to me very much, but she doesn't seem to like him very much." He said and I stayed silent thinking about Nancy's words today again.

" Huh? Oh.. yeah... I know. I- I don't know... I probably shouldn't go. But- I don't know. I said I would." - " Will?"

" Yeah?"

" Have you been.. been seeing these visions of like.. like the up-"

" The UpsideDown?" He interrupted.

" Y-yeah." I sighed in relief that it wasn't just me but I got goosebumps of fear.

" Yeah, I have." He said sitting up from his bed and looking at me and I did the same to him.

" How often?" I asked with a slight panic.

" I don't know maybe like once a day or once every other day." He replied.

" Me too." I said as my heart started racing.

" What are yours like?" He asked getting off his bed and sat with me on mine.

" Well.. ha.. it's so weird. Umm, everything will be normal. I'll be having a conversation, or I'll be in the car, or at school and all the sudden it's like I'm back. Like I'm back in the Upside Down. And I wasn't even down there at long as you but I still feel this- this weird connection to it. Like I'll be just walking around and all the sudden things will glitch back into the UpsideDown. And I can never tell if it's real or not until someone talks to me or something. I don't know, it's crazy."

"I get the exact same feeling." He said with his eyes lighting up just to be able to talk about what he's going threw.

" What are your flashbacks like?" He asked a little sad. "Are they worse?"

" Sometimes. It depends what memory I guess." I fake smiled at him.

" Can you tell me one? Only if you feel comfortable if not I-I totally understand." He said with worry in his eyes.

" No it's alright." I cleared my throat. I didn't really wanna tell him, I don't lie talking about it. But I figured maybe it would make him feel better if I did. He wanted me to. And maybe it would make him feel better to know someone if going through something like him and that he's not alone. " Well I'm there's a lot of them. Umm.. well I'll just tell you the most repeatitipve one."

* Flashback*

I remembered everything. Finally, after the lab turned my brain to mush and my memories scrambled like an egg I remembered my family. I realized why everything in the UpsideDown looked so familiar. My house. It was nicer in real li- back in the real world. My real world. And Will.

Wait. Wait, that creature. That creature the one that nearly killed me. That's why it's so familiar. That the monster that took Will that night. That made me crash my car. That's the one I see here.

What if it killed Will. But Will is a smart kid. He's so good at hiding. What if he's still alive.

And right then I stopped walking. As I stopped walking I could feel how tired I was. How weak I was. My body was on the break of collapsing but I turned around and ran back to the direction of my house. I ran past my house to where castle Byers is. Will is the only thing keeping me from collapsing. I don't want him to be alone. If he's alive the. He's scared. I have to protect even if that means I die while trying.

**
" Will? WILL?! Will?! Please be alive. Please be alive please. Please be alive." I cried. "Will?" I looked around for any clues and I saw drops of blood. "Will..?" I followed the blood track and it lead me to town and after that it was too dark to see. It's always dark but at night I could barely see the road let alone a small blood trail. I used my energy powers to- instead of blasting it out of my hands I just made my hands glow light enough to see if anything was around me and where I was going. "Will?" I whispered scared out of my mind. I don't think I'd ever been more scared, even at the lab.

I heard something in the distance. Not super far but far enough for me not to be scared enough to walk towards it. It was coming from inside the school. Every step hurt more then the last. Every step I thought would be the last but I couldn't give up. I was so close. Or at least that's what I told myself. I was so close. Will has to be here. He has to be.

I walked into the school calling for his name. I hear faint echos and screams, gunshots from the real world. I searched every room but three and I thought if he wasn't in these I didn't have any energy to keep going. Using my powers was using every speck of motivation I had left. Every bit of energy I had to keep going, was going to using my powers as a light. I opened a door looked around not excepting to see anything because I hadn't seen anything the past doors I checked. I walked around calling wills name. Each call got a little weaker. I began to lose hope. Loose hope he was alive.

Right then I heard something crawling. Or slithering rather. Things slithering around dead bodies. I was about to run out when in the corner of my eye, I saw him. He was dead. Being eaten by one of the snake things. There was no point in living anymore. He was all that kept me going and seen him like that. Seeing Willy Will in that state scared even my deepest fear. My body felt weaker and I tried to take one more step towards him but I tripped over one of the snake things and collapsed on the floor and passed out.

***

" I still see you like that sometimes." I said and my eyes filled with tears. "When I look at you. Not always. But sometimes I still see you like that. God if I knew. If I knew there was still hope for you to be alive. I- I would've- But I-I- thought you were d- I-I-" I cried. He just hugged me. He hugged me for a long time and I hugged him back.

" I just want this to be over." He whispered and I saw tears form in his eyes.

" Me too." I said crying.

We both cuddled up and he slept in my bed tonight. I was fine with that. He used to sleep in my bed all the time. When he was a kid. And when we both got out of the UpsideDown he would sleep in my bed. I allowed it because, well I was scared too. I didn't want to be alone. We always kept a lamp on and we always kept it warm because in the UpsideDown we got enough darkness and enough cold for every one in all Hawkins Indiana.