robbers (sequel) billie eilish

bury a friend

A/N: tw ~ sleep paralysis and nightmares

inspo: bury a friend, billie

~

Today I'm thinking about, the things that are deadly...

Billie's POV:

"Just sleep, Billie. You'll get to see her tomorrow," my mom says with a sad smile, closing the door and shutting off the lights behind her. I want to jump up and turn them back on, the pitch-black so dark my eyes won't adjust and all I can do is listen to my breathing and stay still. She says sleep like it's that easy like you just lay in bed and feel your eyelids grow heavy and dream of happy places until it's light out and you live a normal life. It's never been that simple for me.

But I try anyway, somewhat thankful for the exhaustion from the past sleepless nights piling up so maybe tonight I can just disappear into nothing for a few hours.

Time passes so slow until I open my eyes and everything's bright and I'm walking through the doors to my meet and greet before my first show back. Tension fades when I look to a long line of fans who squeal and smile at me, pointing phones in my direction. Each person tells me they love me no matter what happened, or that they're sure I had my reasons, and that they hope I'm doing okay. The first girl to ask me if I'm okay catches me off-guard, I'm so used to asking other people the question that being asked it myself feels a little wrong. I shrug and don't really answer, because I don't want to lie but also don't want to get too honest about it.

I wave goodbye to one of the last people, and look up to the next person, freezing at her familiar smile, almost paralyzing me as she walks up and dives into me for a hug.

"Hannah? How did you--"

"Because I love you," she interrupts my question and answers like it's too obvious to even ask. I don't even think about letting her go, even though I've spent too much time with her and there's still a couple of other fans waiting. I needed her for what felt like forever and now I actually have her again.

"Billie!" she screams, pulling apart and it feels like I lost a limb when she detaches from me. I spin around to see what she's looking at when everything slows down quarter speed. A man jumps out of the line and runs after me, gun aimed at me, and just when I close my eyes and expect pain, the shot rings out, but not at me.

A body thumps to the ground and I snap my eyes open again, Hannah bleeding at my feet. I reach down to help her when I'm back in my room, not sure if this is reality or a nightmare or both.

The red lights are back on, even though I can't remember getting up to flick the switch, and I start to sit up when beneath my bed the sound of scratching, like sharp nails on a chalkboard, fills the air. I pull the blankets over my head, sensing someone there, but maybe if I close my eyes it'll all go away.

"Wake up, wake up," I whisper to myself, feeling the cotton sheets between my fingers, like this is all too real.

The blankets are yanked away from my body and I see the man that shot Hannah, his lips turned up in a grin, and he aims it at me this time. I squeeze my eyes shut and repeat to myself this is just a dream, and when I open them again, I'm lying flat on the bed and the lights are off.

I reach for my phone beside me and turn on the flashlight, my top half leaning down to shine it under my bed. Pushing hair fallen in front of my face away, I shine it in every inch, then get up and check the rest of my room, until I'm sure there's nothing there. Even though there's not, I can still feel it, and my heartbeat hasn't slowed down yet.

When the adrenaline fades, my body crashes into sleep again, this time it's calm and I squint past the sun to see where I am. I feel relief flood through me when I see Hannah again, mixed with a little tinge of fear as she runs out into the ocean, calling for me to follow. Walking on the sand, I pause before going on, not trusting the water and what's inside of it.