"Hey, Kimmy," Billy said, sounding strange. The short brunette looked at him.
Billy was wearing a long sleeve; he was sweating. "I want to show you something."
She smiled at him "sure, let me change."
She got her clothes from her locker and went into the restrooms. She was not supposed to work that day, but Heather didn't show up. They called her to replace her shift.
She changed into a summer blue dress. It was a hot summer day in July.
Billy was waiting for her, leaning against the wall wearing his sunglasses.
"I'm ready," she said with a smile, her blue eyes shining.
They walked out of the community pool together.
It wasn't a strange sight to see. The other workers saw Kim and Billy hang out a lot the last couple of weeks, except recently. A few days ago, Billy was hanging out less with Kim.
There was a lot Kim wasn't aware of.
Kim wasn't mad or taken back by Billy's cold shoulder.
She knew they were not dating, and Billy was only good to look at. Other than that, they didn't have much in common.
She got in the passenger seat.
Billy was focused on the road as he drove. He didn't talk on the ride, but she didn't pay much attention to it, enjoying the quiet. The atmosphere felt peaceful.
Billy was driving nearby Cherry Oak Drive. "Billy, where are we going," Kim finally asked as she looked out the window. The place didn't look familiar.
"I told you I wanted to show you something," he said, not looking at her.
A few minutes later, he stopped at an abandoned factory.
"Billy, what are we doing here," she asked slowly. The place looked sketchy.
It wasn't the first time he took her to a weird place to have sex, but there was something odd about the place and Billy.
He was usually more touchy and talkative, but now that she was paying more attention to him, he hadn't made a move.
"Billy, what's wrong," she asked, looking at him. He got out of the car and walked to her door. "Come on," he said, opening the door.
He held her hand in his, intertwining it. "Billy, I don't like this," she said, looking around.
It was dark and quiet; there was nothing for miles. If she screamed, no one was going to hear her.
"You know I'm not feeling good. I'm going to head home," she said, pulling her hand, trying to get away, but he held her hand firmly.
Billy was taller than her by a few inches. "You're not going anywhere," he said firmly, tilting his head to the side looking down at her.
He hit her head, knocking her out, not giving her a chance to fight back. He carried her bridal style into the factory.
Billy lay an unconscious Kim on the dirty floor. A splatter of dry blood was near her head.
Her arms and legs were tied with rope restraining her from moving.
There was a small bump forming on her forehead from when Billy hit her.
Her new baby blue dress was now dirty with blood and soil.
"Don't be afraid. It will be over soon," Billy whispered in her ear. Billy got up and looked in front of him; Kim was on the floor by his feet.
A loud screeching sound was heard at the end of the factory. The abandoned factory was pitch black; the only light that came from the moon shining coming through the broken windows the light hitting Kim's face.
Disorientated, Kim opened her eyes. She hissed in pain and tried to move her hand to her forehead where the pain was coming from, but her hand wouldn't move to her face.
The large monster moved closer to Kim as she began to fully open her eyes.
Fear was plastered all over her face as the monster roared. "Billy untied me," she yelled frantically, looking up at Billy, but he was in a trance looking at the monster.
"Billy," Kim screamed as the monster was getting closer to her. She moved on the spot, getting nowhere. It was too late for Kim there was no way of getting out.
The monster extended its long tentacle arm to her mouth. Her eyes widened as she stared back at the monster.
A single tear ran down her face.
◦ ◦ ◦
It was their schedule by now that Julia would pick up Steve after work.
She walked into the mall and straight away to Scoops Ahoy; it's a second nature to her by this point.
As she gets closer to it, she doesn't see anyone in the front. The place is empty.
It's not odd finding the place alone late at night, but usually, Steve or Robin would be in the front cleaning the area.
"Steve," she called after him first. "Robin," she called her name but no answer.
She went to the back, expecting to see someone, but no one was there.
The whiteboard was still on the wall with the writing on it. Nothing else seemed out of place, but as she was looking around, she saw an air vent open. "They did it," she whispered to herself.
Concluding that they found the evil Russians and where they were located.
When she picked up Steve two nights ago, he told her how they decipher the code. That same night Steve realized where the music from the recording was coming from. It was coming from their small town of Hawkins. Where exactly, they didn't know.
What Julia wasn't aware of was that the evil Russians were taking several boxes into the back of the mall. They group wanted to know what was inside, but they couldn't get through those doors without being seen.
Robin was able to get the complete blueprints of Starcourt Mall from the County Recorder's Office, finding an easier and safer way to go through the air vents.
By the way everyone left, and Steve not having time to tell her, she assumed they found more clues and took actions into their own hands.
She hoped they were safe and not do anything stupid, but she couldn't expect much from the trio.
It was no use to stay in the lonely mall; she left and went back home and started getting everything ready for tomorrow.
She had a call a few days ago from Rose. She thought something was wrong with the baby, but Rose only wanted to buy cookies from her. Several receptionists on different floors from the hospital had ordered cookies.
Julia was happy she was going to get a few extra bucks before the baby gets here.
◦ ◦ ◦
"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work," Robin said to Steve as he continued to push all the different buttons.
Robin, Steve, Dustin and Erica were stuck in an elevator. "They're buttons. They have to do something, " Steve said sharply, looking over his shoulder to Robin.
"We need a keycard," Robin said with her arms crossed.
"A what?"
"It's an electronic lock. Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate, meaning-" Robin added. "We're stuck in here," Dustin concluded.
"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's, and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow and my mom finds out, you three are responsible," Erica said with her index finger pointing at the three of them.
"She's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat," Erica said and moved her index finger horizontally by her throat.
"I don't care about Tina!" Steve yelled, placing his hands on either side of a box.
"Or Uncle Jack's party! Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!" Steve said, looking around the room.
"Julia is not able to find me, and when she does, she's probably going to kill me," he continued by saying, getting looks from the others.
Steve's eyes widened as realization hit him, "I can't miss the birth of my first child!" He yelled to the group.
"Hey Steve! Calm down. You are going to see Julie soon. What if we climb that," Dustin suggested.
◦ ◦ ◦
"The girl. Was it her," Heather asked as she cleaned Billy's face with a dirty cloth.
"Yeah, it was her. She knows now. She knows about me," a shirtless Billy said.
Heather was going to clean his face again when Billy held her wrist firmly. "She could've killed me," he said, looking at Heather.
"Yes, but not us," Heather responded with her other hand moving Billy's hand down.
She looked to her left, "not us."
Billy looked to where she was looking.
Several rows of people were standing up in place. Men, women and children were standing straight in a line.
On the far right row, there's a girl with brown hair and a blue dress.
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞
𝚂𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎. 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚝.
𝙰𝚕𝚜𝚘, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚊 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝚋𝚢 𝙲𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙵𝚛𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚒𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎.