mary. [ BILLY HARGROVE ]

l. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

~*~
warning: mature language,
mentions of abuse,
violence

     The static on the TV screen hissed as everyone waited around Eleven. She was looking for Billy again in the void, and her breathing picked up slowly. She pulled the blindfold off, breathing heavily even more. 

     "What is he doing now?" Max asked. Eleven looked back at her, then around at everyone else. She told them what he was doing, then got herself some water. 

     "And that's not normal, right?" Nancy asked.

     "Billy staying in his room on the Fourth of July? No, that's not normal," Max said with a small scoff. 

     "He wants us to find him," Will stated. 

     "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. If we go to Billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are," Nancy hypothesized, taking small steps forward. 

     "It's a trap, I agree. We'll be ambushed," Mike said. 

     "We won't be surprised," Lucas said with a shrug. "We'll know that they're coming, and we will kick their flayed butts." 

     "You mean El will kick their butts," Max inquired. 

     "It's too risky," Jonathan said. 

     "Yeah, and unnecessary," Mary said, standing up straight. "Killing the flayed won't stop the Mind Flayer. We have to find out where it's spreading from. We have to find the source." 

     "Billy knows it," Eleven said, walking into the room. "Billy's been there. To the source." 

     "Yeah, but -" 

     "It's a trap. I know," Eleven interrupted Mike. "We can't go to Billy, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been." They turned the TV back on to static, Eleven sitting in front of it again. 

     "El, I know you think you have to do this, but you don't," Mike said, squatting next to Eleven. "It's just, you've only done this before once. And your mom, she loved you, and wanted you to know what happened. And Billy's mind is sick, diseased." 

     "Watch it, Wheeler," Mary called. 

     "The Mind Flayer is in him," Mike whispered, ignoring Mary. 

     "He can't hurt me. Not in there," Eleven said confidently. 

     "We don't know that," Mike continued. 

     "Mike," Eleven said. "I need you to trust me." His gaze shifted to Max, who rose two eyebrows at him knowingly. 

     "Yeah," he nodded. "Just be careful." Eleven shut her eyes, putting the cloth over her eyes. She went back to the black void, walking towards Billy as he was sat on his bed, still doing nothing. She walked all the way to him, stopping right in front of him. She studied him for a moment, then took his hand in hers. 

     "Billy," her voice echoed. "Can you hear me?" He didn't answer her, eyes glued to one spot. "I want to see. I want to see what happened?" He suddenly gripped her wrist, Eleven's eyes widening. He pulled the note he wrote to Mary from his bed, placing it in Eleven's other hand. To everyone in the cabin, she was visibly panicking. 

     "Something's wrong," Mike said. 

     "Stop!" Eleven's voice echoed in the void. Billy's left hand fell, right hand tightening its grip on Eleven. "No! No! No! No!" He let go of her, and Eleven began to fall back slowly. As she screamed, she could see flashes of what had happened to Billy in the past few days. Right up to when he crashed his car, and she fell into water. She spit it out of her mouth, the sand touching her clothes now.