Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 47

"What?" I ask, completely shocked.
Steve nods his head. "I overheard some people talking about it at the arcade."
"That's crazy. Is he awake now." I ask.
Steve shakes his head. "I don't think so. I was wondering if you'd like to go visit him. I know you guys were friendly."
I nod my head. "Yeah sure. I just need to get my jacket."

I turn and run back inside.
"Where are you going?" Billy asks me.
"I'm going to see Brandon with Steve." I reply, grabbing my coat off the hook.
"Well I'm coming."
"You don't have too." I say.
"I don't want you to be alone with Steve. I don't trust him."
I roll my eyes. "Well I do."
Billy shrugs his shoulders and walks out the front door.
I sigh and follow him out of the house.

We all pile into Steve's car and drive to the hospital in awkward silence.
"So how did today go?" Steve asks, keeping his eyes on the road.
"It went well."
Billy scoffs. "You did almost die a couple of times."
Steve looks at me through the mirror. "Actually?"
I bite my lip. "Uh, I guess so."

We finally arrived at the hospital. "Where's Brandon Miller's room?" I ask the Receptionist.
"Family only." She replied.
I froze for a second. "We are. We're his cousins."
She looked at me, unimpressed. "He's in room 603."
I smiled. "Thank you."

We walked down the hall to Brandon's room to find his father, Paul sitting beside him.
"Kate!" I could tell his mood changed as soon as he saw me.
"Hey Mr. Miller!" I reply. "How's Brandon?"
He sighs and looks back at his son. "He woke up in the afternoon for about five minutes and went crazy. He was saying a bunch of strange things and his veins turned black."
"Oh gosh." I say. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened after?"
He once again sighs. "He went back into a coma. Then about twenty minutes later, the same thing happened."
I began to think. Since the gate was open, is that why he went ballistic? Plus all of the timelines line up. El opened the gate for around five minutes when Joyce and I entered. She closed it and we wandered in the Upside Down for approximately twenty minutes. Then, the gate reopened and we left.
"That's awful." I say, looking at Brandon who was peacefully sleeping. Brandon didn't deserve this to happen to him. 
Brandon's father nodded. "I agree."

Steve, Billy and I all walked through the quiet hospital about ten minutes later.
"It's still in him." I finally say.
Steve nodded his head.
"The timelines line up perfectly." I say, looking over at Billy so he can confirm.
"They do." He replies.
"Well shit." Steve speaks up. "What are we going to do?"
"Never ever open the gate again." I respond.

Steve dropped Billy and I off at my house just as the sun started to set.
"I'll see you soon." I say, turning around to wave at him.
"You bet!" He yells back.
"I think I should get going too." Billy says as soon as Steve's out of the driveway.
I frown. "You don't have too."
He smiles. "I'll see ya tomorrow."
I look up at him and smile. "Okay fine."
He reaches down and kisses me, then turns away and walks to his car. "Good night." He calls out.
"Night." I yell back.

I opened the door to hear the familiar sound that was played all throughout my childhood.  One of my dads favourite songs,  'You don't mess around with Jim' was playing on the record player. Our dad danced as El judged him from the couch. 
"Now this," Dad started.
I've heard this quote from him over a million time, so I decided to finish it for him. "This is music."
El and dad both jumped, obviously startled by my reappearance. 
"You're back." Dad says.
I nod my head. "Yeah, we just got back from the hospital."
"The hospital?" El says. "Who's in the hospital?"
I sigh. "We were just visiting Brandon." I knew El wouldn't take this too well, because he did try to kill her.
"The Brandon?" She asks.
I nod my head and look towards the ground. 
"Who's Brandon?" Dad pipes in. 
"He's a friend of mine." I say, receiving a dirty look from El.
"Well why is he in the hospital?" He asks.
I sigh. "It's kind of a long story." 
Dad sits down on the couch beside El. "I've got time."
"Okay then." I say taking off my jacket. "Brandon was mom's step-son." 
Dad nods. "Oh okay. It's that guy." 
"Yeah. Anyways after the Mindflayer left Billy-"
"Wait, what?" He says, interrupting me. "He was flayed? Did he hurt you?" 
"Uh," I respond, not knowing if I should tell the truth or not. "Yes and no. Anyways, the Mindflayer attached itself to Brandon and-"  I was cut off once again, but this time it was by El.
"The night you guys went to close the gate, Kate and I went into the mall by ourselves and got attacked by him and his step-mom."
Dad looked at me with anger in his eyes. "What?"
I nervously laughed. "Well, uh,"
"You guys got attacked? Were you hurt?"
"Oh yeah." El pipes in. "Kate got a concussion. I had a few bruises but I'm okay." 
"Oh my gosh." Dad says, running his hands through his hair. "Then what happened?" 
I sigh. "Well, um, everybody fought each other, and,"
"Did anybody die?" He asks. 
I stay quiet for awhile, thinking of my mother. "Yeah." I finally say.
"Who?"
I sit down on the chair across from the couch. "Mom." I mumble out. 
"Jesus." Dad responds. 
Tears came to my eyes as I thought of her. "It was either her or us." I say trying to keep my voice from cracking. 
He nods his head and closes his eyes. "I understand." He says softly. "What happened after?"
I look at El and she begins to talk. "The Mindflayer showed up. but so did everybody else. They all threw fireworks at the monster to try and kill it. After that, the Mindflayer grabbed me, but Kate saved me." 
Dad looks at me and smiles. 
"But then the thing grabbed her and almost killed her."
Dads smile quickly fades away. 
"Billy saved her and the Mindflayer died. After the monster died, Brandon went into a coma." El says, ending her story. 
"Oh wow." Dad replies. "That was quite the story."
I nod my head. "Yeah I guess." 
"I am glad you guys are okay. And sorry I wasn't there to protect you guys."
El smiled. "It's okay. Kate protected me."