Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 38

"That was pretty bold of you earlier today." Tyler says as I walk into our apartment after work.
I nod my head. "Yeah I guess it was."
Before Tyler or I could say anything else, we were both cut of by the phone in my bedroom ringing.
"Excuse me." I say, walking off to answer the phone.

"Hello?"
"Kate! It's me, Joyce."
"Hey Joyce! What's up?" I ask.
"Well I managed to get a hold of Doctor Owens."
"What'd he say?" I respond, hoping it's good news.
"He needs more proof. He's refusing to reopen it unless we have actual evidence."
A frown forms on my face. "Damn it."
"I know. I'm really sorry sweetie."
I sat there in silence, not knowing how to respond. Before I say anything else, the lights go out.
I guess I let out a little gasp because Joyce started to question me. "Kate! What's wrong?"
"The lights just went out. Give me one moment." I get up to walk to Tyler, who already met me halfway.
"Whats going on?" I asked him.
Even in the darkness, I could see his shoulders move up and down. "I don't know... Maybe the lightbulbs blew."
I run back over to the phone. "Joyce."
"Kate! What's going on?"
"All of a sudden, everything went dark."
"Did the power go out?" She asks.
I look around my room to see my alarm clock, glowing in the darkness. "No. Everything's still on, other than the lights."
Joyce stays silent for a few moments. "What if it's, him?"
"Kate, what's going on?" Tyler yells, entering my room.
"What do I do then?" I ask.
I can hear her sigh. "With Will I strung up lights and painted the alphabet on the wall. But you obviously have no time to do that." I can also hear her begin to pace. "Uh, uh, talk to him!" She stutters out.
"What?!"
"Ask if he's there and he'll most likely show a sign."
"Okay." I respond, my voice trembling.
"Kate, what's the matter?" Tyler asks, seeming more and more concerned.
"Shut up." I reply, taking a deep breath. "Is, um, is that you, dad?"
Nothing happens and I feel like a total idiot.
"Kate, are you okay?" Tyler queries.
I look at him, annoyed and shift my focus back to the phone. "Nothing happened."
"Ask again!" She replies.
"Dad?" I say. "Are you there?"
The lights begin to flicker, causing both Tyler and I to scream.
"What the hell is going on?!" Tyler screams.
"Oh my gosh!" I yell into the phone.
"Is he there?"
"Yes! Yes! Oh my gosh, we were right!"
"Kate! Stay focused." She snaps me out of my excitement. "Ask him if he's in danger."
"Uh, okay."
I remove the phone from my ear and sit up straight. "Are you, in danger?" I ask the wall.
"Is who in danger?" Tyler yells.
"Shut up!" I yell back.
The lights vigorously begin to flicker again.
"Oh God." I say to Joyce.
"Um, um..." Joyce begins. "Tell him our plan! Tell him how we plan to get him out!"
"How is that going to work?" I question.
"Maybe, we can show Doctor Owens he's actually trapped."
"Uh, okay. Okay!"
"Kate!" Tyler continues to yell.
This time I just chose to ignore him. "So, dad, um we're going to get you out. Okay?" I wait for a response and am glad to see the lights turn on and off. "Okay... So we're going to get Doctor Owens to let us open the gate again. Joyce and I will come in and get you and they'll close the gate behind us and reopen it when we get you out. Okay?" I knew deep down that he would hate this idea, because it put El, Joyce and I all in danger.
The lights finally flicker in approval and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"I told him." I say to Joyce.
"Okay! That's good, that's really good! Now we need to find a way to meet up with Doctor Owens." She responds.
I think about it for a moment. "I'll call and set up a meeting with him. He has to listen to me."
"Yeah, okay!" She responds. "I'll come down for it, just call me!"
I nod my head, even though she couldn't see it. "Okay. Bye."
"Bye Kate." She hangs up the phone, and now it was just Tyler, myself and my dad.
"So, uh dad. I'm going to get Doctor Owens to come and you're going to show him you're, you know, stuck." I stutter out.
The lights flicker, showing his approval.
"Okay, just hang out here for the next few days, I guess." For some reason I was extremely nervous talking to my own father. Even though he was in a different dimension.
The lights turn on and off one more time and I could tell he left my bedroom. I couldn't feel his presence anymore, as before I could.
"Kate, what is happening?" Now Tyler was angry. Very angry.
"It's a really long story."

About an hour later, Tyler knew the full story.
"So?" I ask him, waiting for his response.
"I'm, I'm speechless." He responds.
I nod my head. "I know it's crazy."
"It's more than crazy!" Tyler says. "It's, it's, surreal!"
"I know." I respond, reaching over to grab my notebook. "But if you excuse me, I have some very important phone calls to make."
He nods his head and leaves my room without a single word.
I open my notebook to find Doctor Owens phone number. As I'm going through the phone numbers, I feel the urge to call Billy and tell him about everything.
I dial his number into my phone and let it ring. I quickly look over to my clock to see that it was 1:00am, but the time didn't matter right now.
"Who is it?" He responds angrily.
"Hi Billy." I say.
"Kate? Why are you calling me at one in the morning? Is there a problem?"
"Well, kind of."
"What?" He asks, not expecting my response.
"It's my dad."
I go on and tell him the whole story as he sits on the end of the line, patiently awaiting for me to finish.
"Holy shit." He simply replies.
It felt so good hearing Billy's voice again.
"Yeah. I've still got to call Doctor Owens."
"Kate, it's now quarter to two! He won't answer!"
"I'll leave a message. This is super important."
"Okay fine." He goes quiet all of a sudden.
"Billy?"
"Kate, I really miss you." He finally says.
I smile at his confession. "I miss you too, Billy." I chose not to tell Billy about the night Tyler and I had and I planned to keep it that way.
"I'll let you go now, goodnight Kate."
"Bye Billy."