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Billy walked towards her, looking into her eyes and holding his strong gaze. Beth was now shuddering in fear, her breathing heavy and labored. She'd never been afraid around Billy, but now, she was terrified. What did he see? What happened to him after he was dragged down those stairs? Should she have run away?
"Billy?" Beth whispered. "What happened?"
His eyes began to water, a wall of thick tears blocking his baby blue's from her sight while his face remained hard and cold. His hands were curled into fists, his shoulders tense. Almost like he was fighting an urge. "Billy, please, talk to me."
Her voice echoed in his ears, goosebumps rising on his arms and neck as he heard the chittering sound over and over repeating in his head. Do what it asks.
He fought back his urge to break down and tell Beth what happened, but he wouldn't let him. He held Billy back like a starving dog on a chain, just inches away from food, but not close enough to reach. Billy was fighting hard against the chain, his heart racing as he tried to scream out the words, but it was as though his mouth was glued shut, his lips tightly closed.
In effort to tell her, he tried to at least let his tears fall, but he only allowed one. One single tear, and Billy could see the fear in Beth's eyes fall. She knew he was still in there, even if it didn't seem like it.
No matter how hard he tried to protect her and beg with the chitters inside of his head, he knew that it would get Beth too. And he was being forced to help it take her. His pleas were constant, the words being screamed in his throat, but his vocal cords not letting the sound release from his body.
He was losing himself already.
And Beth was falling into the trap.
•
It was the next day, and Beth still never got her answer. Billy simply gently pushed her into the car and stayed silent the whole drive home, not even tapping his fingers on the wheel to the quiet music playing on the radio.
Every now and then, Beth would feel lightheaded, goosebumps rising and giving her chills from the back of her neck. She figured it was something from the crash; maybe her body telling her she needed to go to the doctor to check on the baby.
But that wasn't it. She was falling deeper and deeper into the trap, her fall coming to an end. It was trailing closer and closer to her mind, preparing its teeth to feed on her soul, where she would lose herself and become a victim of the mass destruction of the world itself.
There was no way she could prepare for it, because she didn't know. But Billy knew. And now matter how hard he fought to try and let the warning slip free from his lips, he couldn't manage to choke the words out. The chittering would enter his ears every time, the image of it feasting on his soul and mind in the Steelworks shop flooding his eyes.
He couldn't stop seeing it.
He just wanted it to stop.
There was so much on his mind, and he couldn't even remember how he got to the pool for his shift, but there he was; at the entrance.
Sweat burned his skin, the hot droplets coating his face like paint and dropping down his chin, the grey shirt and shorts he wore somewhat protecting his body from the heat that he hated.
He stumbled as he walked, his vision clouded and his world spinning around him. The sounds of happy children yelling and playing in the water. The chatter and small talk of the moms that were getting their tan in. The teenagers complaining about the heat. It all echoed through his ears, the sound distorted.
Get to them, now.
He darted off towards the storage room where they kept the pool cleaner chemicals and chlorine. His hand shook as he fought against the urge, the force being too strong to just pull away from. Drool dribbled down his chin, the chemicals flying through his system as he took them in.
But, when he sensed someone walk in, he set the chlorine bottle down and stayed facing away from whoever was taking careful steps towards his still figure.
"Billy?"
Beth. Billy recognized her sweet, kind voice. And tears immediately rushed to his orbs when he heard her breathing. It was heavy, she was afraid.
LET ME TALK TO HER!
Yet, he stayed quiet. Even though his mind was begging, pleading, his lips were forced shut. His body, restrained.
Beth was crying, her teeth clamping down so hard on her lips that blood seeped from the thin cuts. "What happened last night, Billy?" she cried, his eyes remaining cold and his fists still clenched. "What hurt you?" she cried, her sobs causing her voice to break.
JUST LET ME OUT!
"Stay away, Beth." he told her, his voice never once wavering, holding a monotone.
"Billy, please!" she screamed as he walked away from her.
She fell to her knees, her heart breaking as she began choking on her sobs. Now being nearly unable to breathe, chills rose on the back of her neck. She began to feel like the walls were closing in, the heat of the stuffy storage room burning into her skin.
A chittering noise that she knew all too well rang in her ears. Her eyes went wide, her body completely stopping all movements, her tears coming to an abrupt stop.
It's like something clicked inside her mind. As if something, someone, entered her mind and began flooding in, taking over bit by bit.
A switch was flicked.
And now, Beth was flayed too.
•
oh sheeeeit ⬆️ i'm watching episode three of season three again and hopper just stormed out of the house hopping on one foot chasing after joyce, "sOn oF a biTCh" 💀 so, here's a chapter to make up for me being too busy to write 🥺 (i'm making no sense rn, i'm sorry, it's eleven at night over here and i'm tired 😂💀)
