down hill; billy hargrove

8.2

ANNABELLE SAT on the counter in the kitchen, sharpening the knife with a rock. meanwhile, billy hargrove was getting ready for a date.

annabelle watched steve swing his bat at the air, practicing before the lights started to flicker. "you hit me with that and i'll shove it down your throat" she threatened steve who was getting awfully close to her.

"sorry, dad" he mocked her.

"shut up, mom" she mocked him back, both bickering like kids.

"at least i'm a cool mom".

"as if. you went from 'your daughter calls me daddy' to 'your kids call me mom' in less than 24 hours" she joked as steve shook his head in defeat.

"oh, fuck off".

"make me" she mumbled as steve glanced at her in confusion. she realised what she said and uttered a low sorry.

"the fuck?" annabelle muttered as the lights flickered. jumping to her feet as dustin and nancy approached the window before the lights went back to normal.

"what now?" she questioned as she approached the three before hopper burst in.

"what happened?" dustin questioned as they walked inside.

"i think he's talking, just not with words" hopper explained as he jotted something on paper.

"morse code" annabelle whispered as she recognised what he was writing, they all looked at her.

"you know morse?" hopper questioned her, writing down the patterns.

"it's one of my many, many hidden talents, hop. i had a lot of free time when- well, you know" she mumbled sadly as hopper looked at her, both pride and sympathy in his eyes.

"what?" steve questioned as annabelle instantly started deciphering it.

"morse code".

"here" annabelle mumbled as hopper looked at her.

"what?" he questioned.

"will's still in there". her explanation gave them all hope.

"how does he know morse?" jonathan asked her, who shrugged in response.

"he asked me to teach him so if he ever got kidnapped he'd be safe. seems kind of ironic now not gonna lie." she explained, a dry laugh escaping her mouth.

"will's still in there, he's talking to us" hopper exclaimed as jonathan came in to grab the radio and tape.

they started to decipher the code, using annabelle as an instant translator. "dash. dot. dash. dot" dustin muttered as annabelle spoke.

"C".

"okat, next". the morse came in.

"L" "O" "S" "E" "G" "A" "T" "E. close gate" annabelle told them as everyone shot around the table.

"close gate?". they were all startled as the phone began ringing.

"shit" dustin muttred as both he and annabelle shot up. he picked it up before hanging up, as the phone began to ring again.