Blink (Billy Hargrove x OC)

#20 What Happened?

▶️ Gypsy by Mercyful Fate

My cover gets blown, quite fast. I'm surprised how smart the kids are. I pull my Saint Christopher medallion out of my shit and rest it on top so I can play with it. We do introductions, I learn that the toothless kid is named Dustin and he has cleidocranial dysplasia, which is why he's missing teeth. I learn that the feisty girl is Robin, and she worked in the mall with Steve. I learned that the store manager's name is Joyce, and she has two kids: the little boy, Will, and the bigger boy, Johnathan. Nancy, the fourth teenager is Johnathan's girlfriend, and Mike's sister. Then Billy and I are bombarded with questions.

"Did you die?" They ask Billy.

"Yes." I say, grimly, remembering how  I blinked back in time to save Billy from the jaws of the monster. That seemed like so long ago.

"No." Billy says at the same time, scoffing.

We look at each other.

"WHAT?" Billy's face pales.

"You died. Twice." I say.

Billy looks at his hand, turning it over and everyone else is silent.

"The first time, my first world, is what happened if I didn't time blink. You sacrificed yourself to save your sister. The second time was in my first blink, I got to you too late." I say.

"Shit." Says Johnathan.

"Next question!" Says Dustin, excitedly, as Billy pales more and leans against the counter. I rub his back.

"Don't think about it baby." I say.

"Let me as you guys a question." I turn to the welcome party.

"Sure." Says Joyce.

"What happened here? What is going on?" I ask.

"You want the long version, or the short version?" Asks Mike.

"Short." Billy grits his teeth.

The welcoming party runs through the events of the last three months and we meet it with silence. To be honest, it's a lot to process and the names get mixed up in my mind. They use a lot of code names and quite confusing.

"There's monsters in this world?" I ask.

"Well yeah, there's people like you so there's gotta be people like 'them.'" Says Steve with mega attitude and I glare at him.

"So where have you two been?" Asks Dustin to me and Billy.

I give them the rundown how I met up with Billy and where we've been. I only cover the important stuff. Gotta keep my secrets too you know.

"What happened to you Billy?" Asks Nancy.

"That thing was in control of me." Says Billy, gritting his teeth and looking ashamed. "I was powerless and I was in there, but I couldn't do anything until that girl brought up that stuff about my mother."

"How did it get in you?" Asks Will.

"I was uh..." Billy looks visibly uncomfortable. "I was driving by Brimborn steel works and something hit my windshield, I got out to check it out and it just dragged me, dragged me in."

Silence.

Billy squeezes me close to him.

"Now I need to know what happened to my sister." Says Billy coldly.

I'm already starting to piece everything together.

Everyone goes from looking sorry for him to looking uncomfortable around him.