hargrove. [ BILLY HARGROVE 2 ]

xix. CHAPTER SIXTEEN

~*~

     Nancy pushed open the front door, looking at the dark house covered in veins and tendrils. They looked around at the white dust floating and the moving veins across the floor. Furniture was askew and rotting and it looked like it had also been set on fire at one point. 

     "Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler," Robin commented. 

     "Come on. I don't want to stay here longer than we have to," Nancy said, turning and going up the stairs. She went up with Robin, Eddie, and Billy right behind her. Steve slowly started walking up, but stopped causing Mary to run into his back. 

     "Jesus, what are you doing?" Mary asked, furrowing her eyebrows. She then heard whatever Steve was hearing, turning to look at the dining table. She could hear Dustin talking faintly. 

     "Am I cursed or can you  also hear Dustin?" Steve asked, turning and walking down the stairs again. 

     "I can hear him, Steve," she said. "But-" 

     "Can he hear us?" Steve asked, walking around as he was following the voice. 

     "Well-" 

     "Could you hear us when you were hear?" Steve asked, shining his flashlight at her. 

     "If you would let me finish what I was saying-" 

     "Dustin!" Steve yelled, Mary sighing as she rubbed her eyes. "Dustin! Hello?!" The rest of the group came running down the stairs, watching Steve turning in circles calling his name. "Dustin! Hel-Hello! Dustin!" 

     "Maybe he really does have rabies," Robin whispered to Nancy. 

     "Dustin!" Steve yelled again. Mary grabbed him and turned him around, slapping him across the face. "OW! What was that for?"

     "You cut me off three times!" she said. "Plus, he can't hear you." Mary motioned for them all to come down the stairs, and they stood where Steve was standing. 

     "He's here. Henderson," Steve said, still looking crazy. "That little shit, he's here. He's like... He's in the walls or something. Just listen." They all started to hear him, and they continued to call his name while looking around. Mary rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall. "All right, either this kid can't hear us or he's being a total douchebag." 

     "Have you not listened to a word I said?" Mary asked, all of them facing her now. "He. Cannot. Hear. Us. Believe me, no matter how loud you scream, they will not hear it. Has to be Earth shattering." 

     "Right," Steve said, a frown taking place on his face. "Sorry." 

     "But, there's another way. Just depends on if someone's competent enough to notice," Mary said, walking toward the kitchen light. 

     "The lights!" Nancy said. "He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights." 

     "Lights?" Steve asked. Mary shined her flashlight on the light, noticing the glowing particles next to it. Nancy looked at it in awe, walking over and also sticking her hand up into the light. 

     "Whoa," Eddie breathed out. They all walked over, sticking their hands up into the lights as it glowed and swirled around them. 

     "It... tickles," Steve said. 

     "It kinda feels good," Robin added. Nancy pulled her hand away, everyone else doing so. 

     "Does anyone know Morse code?" she asked, looking around.