One's Billy Hargrove (book 2)

Chapter Five

As the kids and I practically run out of the pool area, all of the kids keep yelling behind me, trying to grab my attention but my mind isn't resonating anything they're saying. All I can hear is a sharp, long going ringing in my ears. Tears are falling from my eyes at a rapid pace but I don't sound a single whimper. Everything hurts so much that it's just numb.
We finally reach my car so I turn around slowly and weakly reach for my keys. When they see my face, they all stare at me in silence. They looked kind of sorry.
"Get in the car." I demand but the demand does nothing. They all just go right back to talking all at once. Max is yelling out swear words, Mike a Lucas are saying we have to follow him and Will and Eleven are disagreeing with everything Mike and Lucas are saying. All of their bickering is to much so shout at them. "Hey! One at a time."
"We can't go home yet. We have to tell everyone." Mike argues.
"No. I'm taking all of you guys home and your gonna stay there. Do you understand me?" I scold to them. Mike crosses his arms and stares at me with determination so I stare back with anger.
"One, we have to..." Lucas starts to say but I cut him off with my index finger.
"Do you understand me!" I say with a louder tone. They all finally agree with me and all of us climb into my car. When I get in, I put the key in the ignition, but just sit there for a second. Just thinking about how we're going to fix any of this. Also, the fact that my boyfriend is being mind controlled by a five hundred foot shadow monster.
Eleven places her hand on my shoulder from behind me and I look over at her.
"Well bring him back." She says softly. I nod slowly then let out a heavy breath before pulling out of the community pool parking lot.
Before I had even reached one of their houses, they asked if they could all just go to Mikes place so that they could stay together instead of scattered all around Hawkins. They are much more effective when they're together, so I just take them all to the Wheelers. Plus, it'd be good to see Nancy again. Her and I haven't been able to speak much lately. I can't really give an explanation on why we haven't been speaking but I hope her and I can sort of rekindle our friendship.

When I pull into the Wheelers driveway, the children spill out of the car and I watch as they all run into the house. Mike is the last to reach the entryway. He notices that I haven't left my car yet then turns to ask if I was coming.
"Yeah. In a second." I announce back to him. Mike then runs into the house and I sink down into my seat, not thinking but rather just letting whatever comes to my head run wild.
My mind goes to from memory to memory. It's painful. All the memories I have are bad ones, except for the new ones with Billy. One of those memories stands out more then the rest.

During the beginning of the summer, before we got our jobs, Billy and I took a trip to California.
"Why are we going to Cali?" I whispered in his ear as he drove down the road.
I had no idea why he had wanted to go all of a sudden. When ever he would talk about it, he'd become sad and angry.
A small smirk forms in the corner of his mouth as he grabbed ahold of my cheek in one of his hands before planting a kiss on it.
"Because, I want to show you something." He said while looking at the road. I giggled to myself and pushed my forehead and nose against his neck.
"Are you gonna tell me what it is?" I said in a slight baby voice. He chuckled softly and lovingly before quickly nibbling on by ear, sending chills through out my body.
"You wish." He said in his classic raspy voice. I smile to myself and sit back in my seat. He placed his hand on my thigh and continued driving. The whole trip had to be the best thing that's ever happens to me.

I walk into the Wheelers house and see Mrs. Wheeler standing in the kitchen, pulling out a tray of cookies from the oven.
"Hey Mrs. Wheeler." I say as I close the door behind me. She jumps at my sudden voice and looks at me with a smile on her face.
"Oh my gosh. One!" She says cheerfully before engulfing me in a hug. Mrs. Wheeler has always been very nice to me. She even offered for me to live here when she found out I was living on my own. "What are you doing here?" She asks.
"I actually just dropped the kids over here. I just came in to see if Nancy was in?" I ask.
"No she's been gone for awhile." As Mrs. Wheeler says that, Nancy and Will's brother Johnathan burst through the door. Her face is full of fear and the emotions radiating off them matched perfectly.
Nancy grabs onto my arm and yanks me along with her and Johnathan. She pounds on the basement door frantically.
"Nancy! What happened?!" I ask in worry.
"NOT NOW MOM!" I hear Mike yell from down below.
"Mike. Open the door." She demands. The door swings open and Mike stands before us. Nancy pushes past him and we all walk down the stairs. As soon as all of us sat down she went on and on about an old lady eating fertilizer and how said old lady was acting like she was flayed. The sauna test and the fertilizer girl happened all at 9:00pm which meant not only Billy was flayed but so was the old lady.
"So if there's two Flayed, there has to be more." I add on to everyone's statements.
"Heather. Billy was doing something to her." Eleven speaks with fear in her voice.
I think to myself and realize who she was talking about. The other day in the black room, Billy was standing over a girl. Heather was that girl. I snap my head in Els direction in shock. "She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams." She finishes.
"Where you in the black room too?" I ask Eleven. She nods in agreement.
I didn't hear any screams while I was in there. Was Billy filtering out thing so I couldn't see?
As they spoke more, I continue to think about what else could helps us.
"I think I know a way to figure out how to utilize my powers against the Mind Flayer but I have to go home to see if it will actually work." I interrupt their conversation. They all look me in the eyes and I stand up from the couch.
"What is it?" They all say at once.
"I can't tell you." I admit and they all pout in frustration. "Billy always has a way of finding things out so the less you know, the better." I pick up my keys quickly and about to run up the stairs until Eleven grabs onto my hand.
"If you go, I go." She says aggressively.
"No. You can't come. If both of us are gone, they don't stand a chance. Stay here and I'll meet up with you guys later."
"We'll be at Hoppers by tonight." Max informs.
"Great. I'll see you guys later." I throw my arms around El and make my way up the stairs and out the front door as quickly as possible. If what I think will work works, then we might just have the upper hand.

Once I get home, I go to the kitchen and grab a knife.
When I was held captive in Hawkins Lab, papa would bring me into a room with a sharp piece of a coke can sitting on the table. He'd have me find
a powerful energy locked away in the walls of the lab. When my blood is outside of my body, I can feel everything that's around me and even drain things of their energy.
Everyday he'd make me find it but the way I had to do it was painful.
Most of the time I was successful, but the times that I wasn't, he'd throw my in a small closet with a stone floor and electrified walls.

Something I noticed from earlier is that I took some of Els energy. I was able to utilize her telepathic powers and make it my own, and that was without my blood getting anywhere.
If the mind flayer is as powerful as it seems to be, I can use my blood to find him.
The only hard part is that Hawkins isn't a building, it's much bigger then that. Getting coverage won't be easy.
As I'm about to make my incision, I hear a knock on my front door.
"Come in!" I say as I get up to grab my wallet from my room. I hear the front door open so I quickly make my way out of my room. I dig through my wallet for the money to pay for my pizza that I ordered earlier. "Sorry for the hold up. I completely forgot I ordered food." I decide to give up and just give him the twenty I had. When I look up to give the pizza guy the money, I realized that it wasn't my pizza.
"Hello, Babygirl." He says before slamming the door shut and taking a step into the house. I step back quickly but back up into my couch. "I've missed you." He says with no amount of emotion. Making my body tense up.
"Billy..." I say with a shaky voice.