Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 21

"Billy!" Max yells, kneeling down beside me. "Oh God! Billy wake up!" She screams, pushing him.
Thankfully, he groans and clutches his side.
"Oh Billy!" Max says with tears streaming down her face.
He looks up at us and smiles. "It's gone." He says.
"It's gone." I repeat.

We decided to take Billy back to my house for the rest of the evening. The rest of the crew dropped El, Max, Billy and I off at our house.
"We'll see you soon!" Nancy says from inside the car.
"You bet!" I say, unlocking the front door.
I help Billy walk over to my bedroom. He lays down on my bed and rests. I quickly run over to the bathroom and grab a wet washcloth along with a few bandaids.
I return and sit down beside him.
"I'm sorry." He says.
"It wasn't your fault." I say, wiping his face off with the towel. He had many cuts and bruises all over his body.
Billy stays quiet and looks up at me. "Oh my God! Did I do that to you." He says, brushing my hair away from my neck. A bruise from Billy choking me had formed on my neck.
I smile. "Don't worry about it." I say, covering the bruise up with my hair.
He sighs and pulls me down beside him. I lay with my head on his shoulder and my arm draped across his chest.
"I should get going." Billy says.
"You're not leaving." I say. "You need rest."
He lets out a long sigh. "I know."

I wake up the next morning to hear Billy quietly snoring. He startles me at first because I forgot all about last night.
I look over at my alarm clock, wondering why it didn't go off. Thankfully, I remembered today was the fourth of July, which means the pool was closed today.
I slowly crawl out of bed, trying not to wake Billy and walk into the kitchen. I see a note on the table. 'Max and I went to Mike's house. -Eleven' It read.
"Hey." Billy says, causing me to jump.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" I reply.
"Shitty and dirty. I think I'm going to get a shower then go home."  
I nod my head. "There's towels in the cupboard below the sink." I say as he turns and walks away.

"Where'd I leave my car?" Billy asks, coming out of the bathroom in a towel.                                           
"I think its still at the pool." I say. "Shit. How am I going to get it."  
I think about it for awhile. "I could ask Brandon to drive us there." I say, remembering how I told him to leave last night.        
He nods and watches me walk over to the phone. I dial his number and it begins to ring.      
"Hello?" He answers.                    
"Hey Brandon! Could I maybe ask you a favor?"                        
"Yeah sure! Whats up?"              
"Could you maybe drive Billy and I to the pool?" I ask.                      
"Yeah sure. I'll be over in ten."     "Perfect! Thank you." I say hanging up. "He's on his way."

The ride was pretty quiet. I got the sense that Brandon and Billy didn't like each other because of the way they acted around one another. It was like they were two different people.    
"Thank you." I say, climbing out of the car. I gently elbow Billy to do the same.
"Thanks." He quietly says.
"No problem Kate." Brandon says to me, completely ignoring Billy.

"My baby! I missed you!" Billy says, starting up his car.              
I turn around and look in the back seat. Memories of him abducting me came flooding in. The rope and tape was still in the same position as we left it, sending shivers down my spine.                
"What's the matter?" Billy asks, turning to look in the backseat.   We both stay silent as he realizes what it was.                  
"I'm sorry again." He says.            
"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't you!" I say, putting my hand on his hand. "How are you feeling now?" I say, changing the subject.                      
"A lot better now. Listen I meant to ask you this before, but do you want to go to the fair they're having later tonight?"                                                    
I think about it for awhile. The Mindflayer could once again attack and we could be in harms way. But I also know that going out to a carnival was out of Billy's comfort zone and he would be going out of his way for me. Also, I needed to get my mind off of everything. "Yeah that'd be great." 

He drops me off outside of my house and drives away. Still, dad wasn't home which caused me to worry.        
I walked into my house and crashed on the couch. Accidently, I drifted off to sleep.        

I woke up several hours later in a panic. I look over at the clock and I realized I had only thirty minutes to get ready.                    
First thing I did was hop into the shower. After that, I threw on a pair of high-waisted jeans and I paired that with a black t-shirt and an oversized jean jacket. Next, I applied a little bit of makeup and threw my hair into a high ponytail.
Right after I exited the bathroom, the doorbell rings.
"Hey!" I say, grabbing my bag.
"Hey! You look hot!" Billy says, looking me up and down.
"Thanks!" I say, looking at what he was wearing.
He wore his denim jeans and a white button up shirt that was half opened. He wore his leather jacket on over top.
"You ready?" He says.
I nod my head. "Let's go!"

He drove to the fair, which was about twenty minutes away. The way there, we sang along to Fleetwood Mac and Queen.
Billy struggled to find a parking spot, since it was so busy. I looked around for my dad's car, hoping he'd be here. But there was no luck.
We exited the car and walked hand in hand to the entrance.
"Hey Cathy!" A voice yells in my direction. It was Mayor Kline.
"Kate." I say as he comes closer to me.
"Yeah, okay whatever. Have you seen your dad around?" He asks.
"I haven't seen him in a couple of days. Is he here?"
"Uh, I don't know. Have a good time!" He says, walking away.
"That was strange." Billy says.
I nod my head. "Yeah, something's definitely up."

We sat at a picnic bench, sharing some freshly popped kettle corn and chatting when I suddenly see Joyce and dad get off of a ride.
"Finally!" I say, getting up.
"What?" Billy asks, sounding confused.
"Stay there! I'll be back!"
"Dad!" I yell as they start to walk away.
"Kate?" He says turning around to look at me.
"Where have you been?" I say.
"That's a really long story. I need you to find Murray and Smirnoff and stay with them. They'll keep you safe." He says, turning and running off.
I stare at him as he runs off with Joyce. I can't believe he just left me like that.
I turn around to find Murray when I bump into a tall figure.
He says something through his walkie talkie but I couldn't understand because it sounded Russian.
"Excuse me." I say, trying to push past him. It was no use because the man was way bigger than me.
The mysterious man was wearing all black and he looked like the Terminator. I notice a gun in his hand, causing me to gasp.
"Walk." He says, pointing the gun at the my stomach.