Hell is for Children

Season in Hell

Diana looked over at Billy who lay beside her, staring at the ceiling. 

"What about it?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"I...I dont think Im human anymore" he whispered. She watched a single tear slide down his cheek. 

"Billy...do you at least FEEL human?" She asked him. 

He looked toward her, his ocean blue eyes danced with the character she had always known. 

"I do now that Im with you again. When I was in that...place, I don't know. I felt...wrong. I killed someone, you know. A couple people actually. Other experiments I guess you could call them. Dr. Owens wanted to see what I was capable of. Turns out Im more capable of violence now than I ever have been...and we all know how good I was at it before. But now that Im here, with you and that baby...I guess Im a little scared." He confessed. 

"Scared of what?" Diana asked, placing a comforting hand on his bare chest. 

"Being a shitty father like my old man. Hell, you saw what he did to me. Did you ever notice that my bedroom door had a lock on the outside? He used to lock me in there whenever he was fed up with me. Some nights I wouldn't get dinner. That man was an animal, and now...well Im scared the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" he sat up and then climbed out of the bed. 

"Billy! How could you say that? You're ten times the man Neil could ever even hope to be. Yeah your dad was garbage but you died protecting me and that baby from a monster that was literally INSIDE YOU!" Diana yelled. 

Billy looked away. The baby started crying from the other room. 

"Dammit. Now look you got him all upset again" Billy threw his arms up in frustration. 

Diana walked towards him, took his hand and led him to the baby's room. Diana stopped when she was beside the crib and looked over at Billy. 

"Look at him" she pointed "He is the spinning image of you. Now are you going to let him grow up and be what you are? Or are you going to raise him to be something better? Its your choice, Billy." She picked up the baby and handed him over to Billy before he had time to protest. 

"What if I hurt him?" Billy practically snarled at her, causing her to laugh. 

"He's tougher than you think you know. He's been through a lot in his short life." She chuckled. 

"Can I tell you something? As long as you promise not to lose your mind?" Billy asked as he held the baby like he was a bomb about to go off. 

Diana furrowed her eyebrows, but nodded. 

"I remember...a bit. I remember the Mind Flayer taking control and...fucking you on my living room floor. He said he...planted a seed. I didn't know what it meant at first, it never occurred to me until after. Diana you were already pregnant with my baby when that happened, but he...he planted his own." He explained. 

"His...own?" She stuttered. 

"Yes. And Im not sure but I think...there may have been two babies at one point." 

She ran a hand through her hair nervously before it clicked. 

"Oh my God! When you were...possessed..you asked me if "they were behaving themselves" he must have known. And when it all went down, when you fought him, black..I don't know, smoke maybe? Black smoke came rushing out of my mouth. Do you think that I got rid of most of his version of a baby? And look at Billy's leg!" She pointed at the flay mark that ran up her babies leg. 

Billy nodded "I think its what links him and I together. I think the Mind Flayer left an imprint of some kind." 

"Well how will we know for sure?" Diana asked, rubbing at goosebumps that peppered her arms. 

"We can bring him to the lab. Let the doc look at him" Billy suggested. 

Diana inhaled shakily. "Do you think its a good idea?" 

Billy looked down at the baby "Not really, but what other choice do we have? Im very clearly not human. In case you haven't noticed my eyes lately. And Im not one hundred percent sure but I don't think I have a heartbeat either" 

"Jesus Christ Billy! So what, you're like a vampire now or something?" Diana accused. 

"I don't fucking know Diana! Don't you think Id maybe tell you if I knew for sure!? All I know is I was dead. Now Im not." He shrugged, putting the baby down as he got frustrated. 

"Ok, ok. We can figure this out together. I love you, and I don't care what happens I cant lose you ever again"  she said as she hugged him closely. 

The two walked out onto the small front porch, taking in the morning as Billy lit a cigarette. 

"So when did you start smoking?" He asked her, eyebrow raised, cigarette in his lips. 

She shrugged "After I had Billy. I mostly did it because the smell reminded me of you" she confessed, putting her hands in the pockets of her red housecoat. 

"I see you fixed the Camaro" he smiled his cheeky grin at her, causing her heart to flutter. 

"Rudy did. What are you driving, anyway? Don't tell me that black Mustang" he eyes widened in excitement   as he nodded. 

"What! Thats unreal. Oh god, did you steal it? Please tell me you didn't" he excitement switched to concern. 

"Nope. Doc gave it to me as a parting gift. One condition though, I gotta come when he calls" Billy ashed his cigarette and kicked it off the porch. 

"Are you serious?" Diana asked. 

"Yep. My season in hell isn't over, Diana. I did what I had to do to get back to you. And I'll do what I have to do to be able to stay. As long as you'll have me" he embraced her, kissing her forehead. 

"Fine. If the doctor wants you, he's getting all of us. And if he thinks our baby is the equivalent to the anti-christ then all the more reason to have him on our side. I also am not afraid of anything at this point, I mean you were nuts before , but now you've got badass powers to match the attitude" she laughed, hitting him in his bicep playfully. 

He smiled as he watched her walk into the house. He turned around, looking out into the morning. He pulled a crumpled up polaroid out of his jacket pocket, the one of them taken at her house before the Snowball. He had taken it from her bedroom back in Hawkins when he had gone to look for her. He looked at the photo, seeing the trust in her eyes then, the same trust she had given him just now. He felt almost guilty at what she didn't know. He had gone back to Hawkins, not only to find her, but to clean up a few loose ends. 

He had returned to the tiny white house on Cherry Road. 

The house he had been tortured in for the last year and a half. When he had gotten there, Neil had been the only one home. Billy had snuck inside, finally facing the man he had always feared. Only this time, roles were reversed. He hadn't felt a twinge of regret as he ripped Neil Hargrove's heart from his chest. Billy had mopped up the blood, what little was left anyway, and made it look as if Neil had run off to find a better life. Billy packed his belongings and drove his truck into the ravine. What Diana didn't know, couldn't hurt her. 

She didn't need to know about his patricide, or his killing for sport at the lab. She also didn't need to know that his heart would never beat again, or that he probably would never age. She didn't need to know that he no longer ate human food, but instead preferred human blood. So perhaps she was correct, maybe he was a vampire. After all, he was experiment 012. He didn't know for sure, all he knew was that he would never leave her again.

 Or their baby.