Saved

Thirty Six

Allison spent the night sitting at the kitchen table, while the sound of laughter and music carried through Eleven's bedroom door. Listening to Eleven and Max, filled her with a bittersweet feeling. She was happy that they had eachother, but it left her feeling lonely. Before she could sink too deep into her own self pity, she thought of Billy, who was going through an unimaginable torment without anyone by his side.

After promising him that she would fix everything, she felt like she was failing Billy with each moment that passed. It would be impossible to save him on her own, but everyone that she could depend on seemed to be off dealing with their own crisis. Despite being afraid that he would get angry, she decided that telling Hopper was the best option, even if it meant pushing her own fears aside.

It was getting late by the time she heard his truck tearing up the driveway, and she watched in stunned silence as he stormed into the cabin, the smell of alcohol filling the air. His eyes came to rest on Eleven's bedroom door and Allison slowly got out of her chair as Hopper stompt across the floor.

First Joyce stands me up and now I have to deal with this bullshit.

"Hey! When I say three inches, I mean three-", he shouted, bursting into Eleven's room without any warning.

"Do you knock? Jeez.", Max muttered, from the floor, where her and Eleven were laying side by side, reading magazines.

"Yeah, Jeez.", Eleven repeated in the same tone of voice, earning a small chuckle out of Allison who was listening from the kitchen.

"Oh! Hey. I'm sorry. I thought uh-", Hopper began to stammer incoherently, until Allison stepped in and made her presence known.

"The girls are having a sleepover.", she explained, prompting Hopper to turn and face her. "Is that okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's cool. That's really cool. You two have fun. I'll just leave.",he slurred his words as he closed the door, a large smile forming on his face. "No Mike?", he asked under his breath, directing his question to Allison.

"Eleven broke up with him.", she stated, lowering her gaze to the floor while a drunken Hopper stumbled passed her on his way to the kitchen.

"What a shame.", he responded, unable to hide the excitement in his voice as he poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle that he had been holding under his arm.

"She thinks that he lied to her about his Nana being sick."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, but you and I both know that's not true. You wanted to break them up, didn't you?", Allison spit out harshly.

"Woah, now hold on a second! Was I tried of that little shit kissing my daughter and disrespecting me in my own house? Yes. But I didn't make them break up. I just gave them a little nudge in that direction.", Hopper chuckled without a hint of remorse.

"It's wrong!", she screamed, unintentionally making the bottle of wine on the counter start to vibrate.

"Hey! Lower your voice!", he warned, side eyeing Eleven's door. "I am your Father and it's my job to keep you safe. I warned you about the Hargrove kid, and I was right. He wasn't good for you, and Mike is no good for El. I'm saving you both from a whole lot of pain."

"It's too late for that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Did Billy do something? Because if he hurt you, I'll kill him!"

"I wasn't talking about me or Billy.", she lied, knowing that Hopper would never understand. "I was talking about Eleven and Mike. Keeping them apart isn't fair, they make eachother happy."

"Happy? Is that what you want to call it? I'm sorry but the thought of El and Mike making eachother happy makes me uncomfortable! "

"And you thinking about Joyce Byers makes me uncomfortable."

"If you would stop getting into my head that wouldn't be a problem! Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna sit here and try to enjoy the rest of my wine. Unless you have something else you'd like to say to me?", Hopper huffed, grabbing his glass and carrying it to the livingroom.

"No. Nothing.", Allison sighed, watching him flop down into his chair and put his feet up. "It's not like the world's about to end or anything.", she muttered under her breath as she walked to her bedroom and slammed the door.

She laid on her bed, trying her hardest to stay awake and come up with a new plan to save Billy, but the events of the day began to catch up with her. Her eyelids grew heavy and the world around her faded to black.

************************************

The cabin was quiet when Allison awoke the next morning. Too quiet. She raised her arm up in front of her face and checked her watch for the time, surprised to learn that it was already the middle of the day. As she got up and walked to the kitchen she found another note of Eleven's stuck to the refrigerator, Gone to Max's. Sleeping Over.

"Shit! No. No. No.", Allison blurted out to herself, rushing back to her bedroom to throw on a fresh pair of clothes, before running out the front door to find Eleven and Max.

When she arrived at the Hargrove house sweating and out of breath, she ducked behind a nearby hedge. From her hiding spot, she could see that there were no vehicles parked in the driveway and the front door was slightly ajar. Once she felt like it was safe to do so, she ran up the walk way and let herself inside, escaping from the rain that had begun to fall.

She remained vigilant as she tip-toed down the hallway towards Billy's bedroom, carefully pushing the door open and stepping inside. His clothes were strewn around the room and the bed was unmade. Allison bent down and picked up one of Billy's shirts off the floor, holding it up to her nose and inhaling the familiar smell of his cologne, causing her heart to skip a beat.

When she realized that nothing was out of place in his bedroom, she continued to the washroom, the sight making her blood run cold. The bathtub had several bags of melted ice floating inside it and there were bloody handprints everywhere that Billy had touched. Needing to know who it belonged to, she reached out and touched the dried blood on the counter.

A girl around her age appeared before her, dressed in a red swimsuit with the words Life Guard spelt out across her chest. She was scared, and her wide eyes darted around before landing on Allison.

"Help me.", she pleaded, causing water to dribble down her chin as she opened her mouth.

"Who are you?", Allison asked gently.

"Heather...Holloway.",she whispered her name and then let out a blood curdling scream, before disappearing from sight.

Allison called out Heather's name into the darkness, until another sight began to manifest in front of her. It was Eleven and Max, both dressed in raincoats as they walked side by side. Allison spotted a red Lifeguard bag clutched tightly in Eleven's hands.

"I'm sure someone at the pool can tell us who it belongs to.", Max spoke to Eleven, gesturing to the bag in her hands. "We're almost there.", she added, prompting both girls to pick up the pace.

The washroom came back into view and Allison stumbled backwards, pulling her hand away from the counter. She knew where Eleven and Max were headed and she needed to get there as soon as possible, yet something told her to stay and clean up the mess that Billy had left behind, before anyone else could find it.

Kneeling down next to the bath tub, she plunged her hand into the cold water to pull the plug out of the drain. As the water began to disappear, she scooped up the plastic bags that once held ice inside them and shoved them into the garbage can underneath the sink. She reached for the nearby hand towel and turned on the sink, holding the fabric under the stream of water until it was wet.

After wiping down every surface that had been covered in blood, she ran for the door, tossing the towel into the empty tub on her way out. Allison stepped onto the front lawn and looked up at the sky, where the rain had become a thunderstorm. As she reached the sidewalk, she pulled the hood of her sweater over her head and began to run.