Drowning • Billy Hargrove

Chapter 52

"The note says 'we''ll see you soon. -Alek and D'" Nancy reads the note aloud. "Is Alek the weird Russian man in the mall?"
I nod my head. "Yeah. I met him at a party the other night. I don't know who 'D' is though.
Nancy runs her hands through her hair. "You've got to take this to the police, right away. Kate, you've got a stalker. And to make it even worse, they're Russians. We all know what they're capable of."
"I know."

Nancy drove me to the police station, which was about fifteen minutes away.
"Thanks for the ride. I'll see you later."
"No problem. Stay safe, Kate." And with that, she drove off.

I walk into the police station and right into my dads office without any warning.
"Holy shit! You scared me."
I let out a little laugh. "Sorry."
"What are you doing here? You start next week." Dad says, obviously thinking that I was here for the job, but little did he know.
"I'm not here for that. Remember what I told you at dinner about the Russian man?"
He nods his head and sits up straight in his chair. "Yeah, what about him?"
I sit down in the chair across from him. "Well, Nancy and I saw him today at the mall, and he left us this note." I pass him the note, nervous of his response.
He squints his eyes and reads the note. After he's done reading it, he sets it down and rubs his head. "Oh shit."
"I'm sorry." I say, not really knowing what else to say.
"Kate, it's not your fault. We all knew they were bound to come sooner or later."
"What?" I asked, confused of his response.
He shakes his head. "The Russians aren't dumb. They're going to keep fighting to get into the Upside Down. They're going to use you to get to El so she can open the gate."
I nod my head, trying to process all of this information. "That does make sense."
"For now, you and El are on lockdown."
"Lockdown?" I ask.
"Yeah. You're not to leave the house until we catch them."
I sigh, but don't argue because I know that this is the only smart option. "Okay."
"I'll drive you home now. Tell El what's going on."

I knocked on the door and El opened it right away.
"Hey." She says, greeting me right away.
"Hey. Where are you going." I say, noticing that she was dressed up in all of my old clothes.
She smiles. "Mike and I are going out on a date."
I frown, upset to break the news to her. "Not tonight." I say.
Her smile fades away. "What do you mean?"
"Dad doesn't want us to leave the house until he catches the Russians."
"Russians?" She questions.
I nod my head. "Yeah. We are on lockdown.
El rolls her eyes. "But what about my date?"
"You'll have to reschedule."
"That's not fair." She says with an attitude.
I shrug my shoulders. "It's what dad thinks is best."
She groans and storms off to her room.

Since I now had some extra time on my hands, I decided to call Billy and ask if he wants to come over.
"Hey." I say as he answers.
"Hey baby. What's up?"
"Not much. I'm on lockdown, but do you want to come over?" I say.
"Lockdown?" He asks.
"Yep. I'll tell you more later."
"Okay I'll be there in ten."

Five minutes later, I can hear the sound of the door being knocked on. 'That was fast' I thought to myself as Billy lives ten minutes away and not five. I open it to see not Billy, but my dad with his hands full of groceries.
"Oh hey." I say as he walks past me and into the kitchen.
"I'm only here for a couple of minutes. I'm just dropping this stuff off and grabbing some of my things then I'm off."

"Dad!" The sound of El's voice fills the hallway.
"Hey kid." He responds.
"Kate's not letting me go to Mike's." She spits out.
I look at her angrily because I specifically said to her that we weren't allowed to leave and for a reason.
"Yeah I know. I told her not to let you leave."
El looks at him with puppy dog eyes. "Please. Can you please take me to Mike's to spend the night. Everybody's going, but me."
He looks at her then me. I just shrug my shoulders, letting him make the decision. "Fine. Grab your stuff, we're going now."
"Yay!"
El quickly packs her stuff and soon enough they are both leaving as Billy arrives.
"Okay bye!" I yell as they hop into the police cruiser.

"I thought you guys were on lockdown." Billy says as I let him into the house.
"We're suppose to be. He changed his mind for El, I guess."
Billy smirks at me. "That's okay. We now have more time to ourselves."
"I like the sound of that." I say as I get closer to him.