Alex slowly walked towards the figure on the bed, their hands on their knees and their hair falling in their face. The figure sat still, unmoving as he took each step towards him. Each step he took made his heart beat quicken, walking closer and closer until he arrived in front of the sick man. He slowly reached forward, grabbing his hand and taking it in his, whispering,
"Billy..can you hear me? I want to see.. I want to see what happened," he said. Billy looked at him, eyes filling with tears, Alex looking at him hopefully. Billy then grabbed him by his forearm tightly, not letting go. Outside of his mind, he started to hyperventilate, his hands balling into fists.
"Something's wrong," Mike said, his voice echoing around in his mind.
He screamed for him to let go, pulling his arm back and trying to get out of Billy's grasp. Then, he let go, causing Alex to fall backwards slowly. As he fell, Billy's memories went through his mind faster than sonic, rushing back until he landed. When Alex landed, he found himself lying in the ocean on the sand. He coughed, water pouring from his mouth as he sat up, watching a few seagulls start to fly up from the sand. He looked around, slowly standing up and wondering how and why he was here.
"Al, are you okay," Mike asked frantically. "Are you okay?" The voice echoed.
"I'm okay," he breathed.
"What's going on?" He asked, and he could tell that he had moved closer.
"On a beach." He said, releasing his balled up fists as his knuckles turned white.
"Okay," he heard Lucas say. "I may be dense, but last I checked...there weren't any beaches in Hawkins." He said, almost confused.
"What else do you see," Max asked, trying to get more information. Alex looked around, spotting a young woman with a white dress and a red and blue rose on the front. She was blonde and had gold hoop earrings in her ears, and she was holding some yellow sandals that had sand all over them. Her hair was blowing in the wind, and her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
"A woman," he said. "She's...pretty." He said, smiling softly. "I think...she's looking at me," he breathed, watching as the woman smiled and waved at what he thought was him. She seemed to be cheering for someone, and then he heard giggling. He turned, looking to see a small boy with red swim trunks and a surfboard running past him and up to the woman.
"You did it!" The woman said, smiling brightly as the boy.
"There's a boy," he whispered, looking closer.
"Did you see that!" The boy asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I saw that," the woman said, kissing the little boy's forehead.
"I was at least seven feet," he said.
"I don't know what it was but it almost gave me a heart attack!" She laughed, placing her hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Ten more minutes?" He asked, and the woman looked almost afraid, as she looked behind him at the water.
"Yeah, okay, ten more minutes," she said as he ran back over to his board. "But any longer then that dad's going to be mad, okay?" She called.
"Okay!" He said cheerfully.
"Billy?" She said, and Alex looked at her in shock. That was Billy? "Watch out for the currents!" She said.
"I know," he said, running into the ocean.
"It's Billy," Alex said, taking a deep breath.
"It's California," Max said sadly. "It's a memory."
"I think I see it," Alex said, looking off in the distance and seeing giant storm clouds. "The source." He started walking towards the thundering clouds, his heart pounding faster and faster the closer that he got. He still couldn't quite believe that this was actually happening as the dark mass got closer to him. The clouds moved towards him, an ash like substance floating towards him as he stood in the thundering mass.
"Hey, Billy, stop," a man shouted, grabbing a boy, Billy, by his arm. He was wearing a baseball cap and uniform, the man wearing a hat. "What the hell is wrong with you? What did we talk about, huh? You just lost!" He screamed at the boy.
"I-I know," he said, holding back his tears. Alex moved closer, getting submerged by the dark clouds.
"What, are you afraid that you're going to get hurt, is that it?" He said, shaking the boy.
"N..no!" Billy said, looking away from him.
"What? What is it then? Do I have a pussy for a son," he shouted in his face. Moving closer, Alex saw that the man was holding two baseball bats, and Billy had on a mit.
"Leave me alone!" He shouted, dropping the mit and running away from him.
"Hey! That's right, run like you always do," he screamed after him. Alex ran after the boy, glaring at the man that he assumed was the boy's father as he went after him. Alex continued to follow him, arriving at another scene.
"Where were you last night? Where were you!" Billy's father screamed at his mother.
"I told you, I was with Wendy," she cried. The storm started getting worse as he saw the scene moving closer,
"Stop lying to me!"
"I'm not lying!"
"You saw him again didn't you? Didn't you?" He screamed, gripping her arm. She pulled her arm away, grabbing a plate and screaming,
"GET AWAY FROM ME," throwing the plate at him.
"You whore!" He shouted back, running towards her. Billy got up from a table and ran in between them.
"Stop it! Don't hurt her!" He screamed, attacking his father.
"Billy no!" His mother cried. He threw him to the ground, charging forward and smacking the woman in the face, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Mom," Billy cried, running over to her. Alex turned his head when he heard Billy's voice from another direction.
"I don't understand," he said, tears streaming down his face as the storm got worse and worse. He was leaning on his bed, the phone to his ear. "Why not? Please mom, don't do this! Please come home. No, how long? HOW LONG? I miss you!" He cried.
"Get back here!" He shouted from another direction, the clouds turning red as the thunder got louder and the lightning got brighter. He had a kid pinned to the ground, punching and kicking him as he shouted, "Get up! What, are you scared to fight me? Are you scared? Pussy!"
"Billy come over here I want you to meet someone," his father said, walking over to Billy with a little girl next to him, her long red hair blowing around in the storm. "This is your new sister, her name's Maxine." He said.
"Max," she said, crossing her arms, and Alex almost laughed.
"Who's there? I said who's there!" Screamed Billy, but this wasn't kid Billy, this was the voice from adult Billy. Alex walked towards the voice, looking for where it was coming from. He saw a building, covering his face as the wind picked up and he walked towards it. He heard loud noises and screaming as he walked out of the storm and outside of a giant beat up warehouse. He was no longer in the red storm, but now it surrounded him and the building. He walked past a car, the windshield having a large crack in it. He looked at the red clouds circling above him, watching as they darkened.
"I think I found it," he said quickly, trying to catch his breath. "The source."
"Where, Al, where are you?" Max said. He looked around, trying to find a clue of where they could be.
"Erimborn, Steel Works," he said, looking at the name on the building. He heard somebody getting up and rushing over to another part of the room. He heard flipping of paper and Jonathan muttering a few things before he said,
"Found it! 6522, Cherry Oak Drive," he said.
"Al, Alex we found it, get out of there!" Mike shouted. "Get out!" Alex closed his eyes, going in reverse and going back the way that he fell. The memories swam through his mind like a whirlpool and he was back on his feet again, Billy's arm on his forearm as he pulled off the blindfold. He went to look back at Mike, but he wasn't there, so he went to look at someone else, but nobody was there.
"Mike?" He breathed, looking around. "Mike?" He called again, slowly standing up. "Mike!" He said a bit louder, hoping that he heard him. "Mike!" He shouted, his eyes burning with tears. "MIKE!" He screamed, drawing out his 'I'.
"He can't hear you," a voice from behind him said. He turned, looking at Hopper's room as Billy slowly walked out of it, walking towards him. "You shouldn't have looked for me...because now I see you." He said, putting out his cigarette in an ashtray, eyes swimming with tears as he took another step closer. Alex slowly moved back, shaking his head in disbelief. "Now we can all see you," he said, walking closer as Alex slowly backed away, tears rolling down his cheeks. "You...let us in. And now, you are going to have to let us stay. Don't you see? All this time..we've been building it." He said, watching as Alex continued to back away, slowly breaking down and covering his mouth with his hand. "We've been building it...for you. All that work, all that pain, all of it..for you." He said as Alex hit his back on a table, placing his arms at its sides, body shaking. "And now it's time," he said, Alex moving away from the table and moving further back away from Billy. "Time to end it. And we're going to end you. And when you're gone, we're going to end your friends."
"No!" He cried, wiping his tears so he could try to see clearly.
"And then we are going to end....everyone." He said, a tear rolling down his cheek as he moved closer.
"Get away!" He screamed, lifting his arm and screaming, throwing him across the room. He lifted the blindfold, screaming as loudly as he could, "NOOOOOOOO!" Drawing out the'O' as Mike ran to him,
"Are you okay?" He asked. Alex collapsed into him, screaming and crying, holding on to Mike for dear life as Nancy and Jonathan walked over to him. "Al? Al? Alex!"