Stranger Things: Book 2

Chapter 14

At Hawkins community pool, Heather sat on the life guard stand.

She blows her whistle loudly, gaining their attentions. She puts her mouth up to the mega phone she held in her hand.

"Hey! No dunking, Curtis. No dunking," Heathers preppy voice almost gagged the four woman that sat on the side to death.

"God, even her voice annoys me," One of them says.

"Nails on a chalkboard..." another adds.

"Don't worry, ladies, ten more minutes till showtime. Liz, will you get my back?" The main snobby woman says as she hands 'Liz' the sunscreen.

Mrs. Wheeler felt a sinking feeling in her gut, feeling guilty about standing Billy up at the pool last night.

She glances over, seeing Billy enter into the chemical storage unit.

She then turns her head towards the woman beside her.

"Hey, Jill, I gotta use the restroom. Will you watch Holly for me?" Karen asks politely as she begins standing up.

"Sure thing, hon," Jill says with a nod.

"Thanks," she mumbles as she heads towards the chemical room, where Billy entered.

She didn't notice the 'DANGER! CHEMICAL STORAGE!' sign on the inside of the gate as she slowly creeks the metal door open wider.

"Billy?" She calls out his name as she stands at the door.

When no one responds, she walks further into the storage unit, her heels clicking on the floor loudly.

The next door was on her left. It's dim light and open door proved Billy went into the room.

"Billy?" Karen calls as she turns the corner, seeing him.

He slowly puts down the bottle of chemical, not making any sudden movements to look suspicious.

"I..." Karen starts, and then sighs.

"I understand if you're angry with me. I just I wanted to explain..," Karen says shakily.

She knew Billy was angry, so she took it slow.

Billy exhales sharply.

Because his back was facing Karen, she didn't notice how much Billy was sweating and the redness in his eyes.

He had been drinking chemicals... but Karen didn't need to know that...

Karen takes a few more steps towards him, her heels clicking once more.

"...why I didn't come last night," she says gently as she keeps her eyes trained on Billy.

"It's not you, it's just-...I have a family," Karen explains as she fiddles with the ring on her finger.

Billy's heartbeat sounded in his ears as Karen's words echoed in his head.

"And I can't do anything that will hurt them. You can understand that, right?" Karen asks as she proceeds to take another step towards him.
<<<•••>>>

"But I shouldn't have said that-," Karen gets cut off by Billy whipping around to face her.

He grabs a fistful of her hair and drags her head to the side of a shelf... successfully killing her...
<<<•••>>>

"Billy...." Karen's voice echoes through his head once more.

Suddenly, Billy is back where he was before he did anything.