The Protector

The Case of the Missing Lifeguard Part 2

After the very stressful stalking session, Maddie suggested that the girls went to bed. Before the girls could argue Maddie also told them that they could talk about the situation when they had slept on it. The girls reluctantly agreed before they fell asleep leaving a worried Maddie to stay awake and think about Billy.

The girls took Maddie's advice which led to Maddie driving them back to Max's house in the morning. The pre-teens decided that they should investigate the situation.

"It's gonna start pouring soon. We should be at the mall or, like, watching a movie or something", Max stated while walking down her driveway towards her house.

"You don't believe me?", Eleven questioned Max. "I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally, but you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right? So maybe it was just like that. Maybe Billy just sensed you somehow", Max told Eleven.

"But the screams", Eleven pushed. "Yeah, I know, but here's the thing. When Billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises", Max said causing Maddie to scoff.

"They scream?", Eleven asked Maddie confused. "Yeah, but, like... happy screams. But I don't think that this is the same thing as Max is trying to explain", Maddie replied trying not to think about the possibility of Billy cheating on her.

Eleven then questioned Max about happy screams when Maddie tuned out the conversation until the group arrived in front of Max's house. "His car's not here", Max stated looking at the driveway. "You really want to do this?", Max asked Eleven who nodded.

The three girls entered Billy's room. "Why do I get the feeling we're gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?", Max asked out loud. After finding nothing in Billy's room, Eleven went into the bathroom.

The other two girls followed after her to see a couple bags of ice in the bathtub. "Ice. It's just ice", Max said. "It's probably for his muscles. He works out a lot", Maddie added.

Eleven looks towards the drawers under the sink. "El, what is it?", Max questioned the girl. Eleven pulled out a lifeguard fanny pack before pulling out a whistle covered in blood. Maddie's mouth opened wide before she looked down at her feet.

Maddie drove the two girls to the community pool trying to see if Heather was at work today. At this point it was pouring down rain which which made all three girls put on their rain coats before walking into the worker's area.

"No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last strike. And don't try to argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree", the rude lifeguard stated. "Yeah, we don't care. We're not here to swim. Or get electrocuted ", Max said.

"We found this", Maddie stated pointing to the fanny pack in Eleven's hands. "Does that belong to anybody?", Max questioned the two lifeguards.

"Oh yeah. That's Heather's. I'll get it back to her", the asshat of a lifeguard said. "We could give it back to her", Eleven offered. "You could. 'Cept she's not here. Bailed on me today. What is this? You girls want a reward or somethin'?", Mr. asshat asked. "No. We're just good Samaritans", Max said with a sarcastic smile causing Maddie to chuckle.

Eleven tore Heather's photo down before the girls went to the showers. Maddie and Max turned all the shower heads on before Eleven blindfolded herself. Maddie tuned herself out at this point thinking about her moments with Billy in this bathroom. The thought alone brought a smile to Maddie's face.

Once Maddie finally tuned back in, the girls filled her in on where to drive next. The group ended up at Heather Holloway's house. It was pouring down rain, still, at this point when the girls walked towards the door.

Eleven opened the door with her mind before they all walked in. After a moment of walking they saw Billy sitting at a table with Heather's parents.

"We didn't mean to... barge in. We tried to knock but... maybe you don't hear us over the storm", Max said. "I'm sorry, who is dripping all over my living room right now?", Mr. Holloway asked.

Billy chuckled causing all eyes to look at him. Maddie looked towards her boyfriend curiously before Billy stated, "I'm sorry. Janet, Tom,  this... is my sister, Maxine and my very close friend, Madison". Maddie looked toward Max before looking towards Billy still very confused.

"Oh!", Janet exclaimed happily. "What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?", Billy questioned approaching Max. Maddie quickly stepped in front of Max before saying, "We just wanted to make sure everything was okay". "Okay? Why wouldn't it be okay?", Billy asked with a condescending tone.

"Where is she?", Eleven asked annoyed. "I'm sorry. Where is who?", Billy questioned while Heather walked out of the kitchen.

"Heather! This is my sister Maxine, my very close friend Madison, and, I'm sorry, I did not quite catch your name", Billy stated looking towards Eleven. "El", Eleven replied simply.

"El. Now, what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody?", Billy asked. "I saw you-", Eleven stated before Max interrupted her by saying, "Your manager. At the pool. He said you guys didn't come in to work today, so we got worried".

"Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we thought we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health. But you're feeling just fine right now, aren't you, Heather?" Billy questioned only for Heather to respond robotically back with the answer he wanted.

"Do you girls want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven", Heather asked kindly. "That's okay. We should be going. But thank you all for your hospitality and Heather we are glad to see you feeling better", Maddie said with a fake smile before waking out of the house with tears in her eyes.

A/N: This is mostly a filler chapter. Please feel free to comment, I would love to hear your opinions! As always I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to vote. Love from the author, over and out!