GONE GIRL » Billy Hargrove

0.21 » the last straw

I woke up to the consistent ticking of the clock on the wall. At first the bright lights blinded me and I squinted my eyes at the room in order to make out my surroundings. After a few minutes everything came rushing back into my head and I pulled myself up into a sitting position with the help of the coffee table.

There was a throbbing pain piercing through my head, almost coming in waves. There was blood on my hands and clothes. There was broken furniture everywhere. There was blood on the floor.

But Billy had disappeared.
And so had Steve.

I took a deep breath and choked on the dry air, beginning to cough heavily - alas, Loki came running into the living room and bumped his head onto my chest. Managing to calm myself down again I patted his back as he was happily wagging his tail.

"I'm glad you're okay, buddy." I mumbled and smiled at the dog, dropping my head back on the couch to stare up at the ceiling.
The kids were gone as well so I assumed they would go after Mikes plan to distract the demadogs and-

"Oh hell no." I jumped up onto my feet, but as soon as I stood up straight the room started spinning heavily and I fell back to the ground with a loud thud.
Loki barked and I heard sudden footsteps approaching the living room.

"Finally you're awake," Billy groaned as he walked over to me and I held up my hands in defense. "Tell me where those little shitheads went!"

My eyes widened and I slowly shook my head. "I don't even know where they are. I passed out shortly after you did."

"Oh and why is that?" - "Because you elbowed me in the face and I hit my head on the table." - "Clearly that was your own fault then. I'm gonna ask again: Where. Are. They."

He grabbed my wrists, squeezing them to the point where I could feel the bloodflow stopping. The anger was still evident in his eyes and his voice was awfully calm yet intimidating. This was a side to him I'd never seen before.

"I told you I don't know."

"I don't believe that."

He let go of me and kicked the coffee table across the room. He then proceeded to walk around the house, picking up random things just to break them while yelling at the top of his lungs.

"BILLY!"

I grabbed his collar and pushed him against a wall. He needed to snap out of it.

"Look at me. Breathe. You need to breathe, Billy."

He began laughing while staring back at me.

"You, young lady, have beautiful eyes," He said in a slur as he threw another plate at a wall, not looking away even once.

"Get it together already! Go on like this and you're no different than your father!"

Pang. That had been the last straw.
His palm collided with my face.

I let go of his collar and just stared at him for a few moments in disbelief. He had a similar expression.
Then, other parts came flashing back as I was staring into his eyes.

"You disobeyed me."
You will not disobey me.

"You are so dead."
Either you come back home with me, or it all ends right now.

Once more my legs gave up on me and I landed on the floor, pulling my legs close to my body before the tears started running down my cheeks. Everything I forced myself so hard to hold in just came out all at once. The ringing sound in my ears returned and my vision went blurry again, while the drumming pain grew stronger.

"Lucy?"

I saw my dad in front of me again, holding up his gun, pointing it at my head, ready to pull the trigger.

"Hey, it's okay. Calm down."

I saw my mother standing behind him, trying to hide her face in her hands, trying to pretend she didn't know any of this was happening.

"Lucy. You need to look at me, okay? I'm so sorry. I didn't-"

I pushed Billy away from me, ran to the door closely followed by Loki and hurried to get to my car.

"Lucy!" Billy stood in front of me, his face distorted into a pained grimace. "Please, hear me out."
"Get out of my way!" I yelled, starting up the engine.

He walked to the side only to get into the passengers seat.
"No. Nononono."

I shut down the engine again and started walking along the road. Billy followed me.
"Just leave me alone!" I shouted, holding up my hand.

"Please don't go out there all by yourself. Not now," He pleaded.
I sighed and stopped walking - my knees were still shaking uncontrollably.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." - "You know, that is in fact a very inappropriate thing to say right now."

Billy looked at me, a sad smile on his face.
"Let me at least drive you home, alright?"
Loki sat down by his feet and looked at me with his big blue eyes and I sighed.

The ride home was silent. He followed me all the way to the porch and when I turned around after unlocking the door he was merely a silhouette in the moonlight.

"Lucy. I'm so sorry. Something snapped - I snapped - and it just happened. Please believe me, it was never my intention to hurt you. And I know it probably triggered something really really bad inside of you so just saying sorry isn't going to be close to enough. I understand if you won't forgive me."

He sniffled quietly and I felt a lump form in my throat. Why did this hurt me so much? Sure I had trusted him and hoped he wouldn't be affected by his father's actions, but we all are. I just never expected it to be so bad already.

"Your sister is in some deep shit, you know." - "Huh?"

I sighed and looked back into his eyes.
"It's dangerous, what they're up to. It's too complicated to explain and you probably wouldn't believe any of it anyway, but please, treat her at least a bit better when she comes back. If she comes back." - "What the fuck?" - "Trust me, you don't wanna know. Just make an effort, alright?"

Opening the door I stepped inside, Loki rushed past me and Billy let out a sigh.

"Good night."