Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 44

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" I whisper as we walk through the UpsideDown.
"Shh!" Joyce grabs onto my hand, slightly calming me down.
"Where do we go?" I ask, looking around me. We were in Hawkins, but it was extremely dark and there were these weird vines everywhere. Not only that, there was stuff floating around in the air and slime everywhere.
"I don't know!" Joyce responds.
"Should we call for him?" I ask, flicking my flashlight around.
"Maybe." She responds, unsure.
I continue moving my flashlight around, when I see human bones.
I gasped, causing Joyce to turn in my direction.
She focuses on the bones for a while. "That's not Hoppers." She finally says.
"How do you know?" I ask, panicking.
"It's too small." She responds.
I nod my head and catch up with her.

Currently, we were walking down the street the police station was on. We had agreed that we were going to check there for him first.
Joyce quietly creaked the door open, making sure not to alarm any monsters.
"Hop?" She silently calls out.
Unfortunately, there was no answer.
We walked a few more steps in, trying not to bump into anything.
"Dad?" I also called out, staying close behind Joyce.

We entered the first room which was the receptionists office. I had many memories in this room, since this is where my dad would drop me off when I was little. He refused to pay for a babysitter, so he just decided to let the Receptionists take care of me when he was busy.
Joyce and I continued to call out for him, but got no answer.

The second room we walked into was the main room for all of the cops to hang out in during their free time.
"Dad?" I called out a little louder.
Still there was no response.
I decided to do a little investigating and to explore further into the room, by myself.
Before I could get to the back of the room, I tripped and fell to the ground, causing a loud thud. To make matters even worse, something wrapped around my foot, causing me to squeal.
"Shit!" I whisper yelled.
Joyce ran over to me and began kicking at the thing that was around my ankle. Eventually, it let go and I was freed.
I quickly stood up and looked at Joyce, who didn't seem happy.
"Sorry." I whispered.
"Don't do that again." She says, receiving a nod from me in response.

The third room we walked into was my father's office. Even though we could barely see, I noticed the framed photos he had on his desk.
The first picture was my highschool graduation photo, which was taken less than a year ago.
The second one was a picture of El and I at Christmas and the third one was a baby picture of Sara.
Joyce and I carried on walking deeper into his office.
We walked behind his desk and gasped when we saw a shadow huddled up in a corner.
Joyce and I both backed up, just incase it wasn't who we thought it was.
We both flashed the shadow with our lights, and was relieved to find out who it was.
"Hopper!" Joyce calls out, happily.
But he didn't move or talk back.
"Dad?" I ask, walking closer to him.
Still he doesn't respond and I worry if he's even alive.
I kneel down beside him and shake him. From what I could see, he was still breathing so he must've been asleep.
I placed my hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. "Dad."
He finally opened his eyes and stared right into the flashlight. He let out a little scream and jumped back, until he realized it was us.
"Kate?" He asks, sitting up straight.
I smile at him. "It's me. And Joyce." I say, pointing behind me.
"You guys came!" He says with his eyes watering. From what I could see he looked sickly. He was also very dirty, sweaty and bloody.
"We did. Are you hurt anywhere?" Joyce asks, crouching down beside me.
He looks at himself. "I'm fine. Let's get out of here."
I smile at him. "Good idea."

We helped him slowly rise up to his feet. It felt really good seeing him again. I couldn't help the urge to hug him, so I just go for it. He right away hugs me back as I feel tears come to my eyes.
"I missed you." I quietly say.
"I missed you too." He responds.
A loud thud breaks us apart.
"What was that?" Joyce asks.
We both shrug. "Here." I say, fishing into my bag and passing the gun to my father. "Just incase."
He loads the gun and quietly leads us out of his office, just as if nothing happened before.
The noise outside continued to get louder and closer to us.

We were in the main hallway, the sight of the front door in view, when a shadow passed us.
Dad pulled Joyce and I both down behind a desk as the shadow crept closer. We finally got a good view and of course, it was a Demogorgon.
"Shit." Dad cursed under his breath.
"What do we do?" Joyce questioned so quietly you could barely hear her.
Dad sighed. "We're going to book it when it gets far enough."
I nod my head as the Demogorgon passes right behind my father. Then, the ugly monster continued to walk right past us, into my father's office.
"Run."
We silently ran out of the office, dad and Joyce leading the way. He pushed the front door open and ran into the dark streets.
As soon as we left the police station, the front door shut extremely loudly, echoing even.
"Shit." I whispered, turning around to look at the door, knowing the Demogorgon heard us.
I looked back and realized Joyce and my dad were nowhere in sight.