wild one - steve harrington

roadblocks

There was a couple of seconds where the only thing breaking the silence was Billy grunting and violently bashing the door as an attempt to escape. He quickly gave up, and finally made eye contact with Roxy for the first time that day. He looked helpless. Roxy stayed still, not because she wanted Billy to stay trapped, but because she was paralysed from realising the amount her life was falling apart very fast. It was a moment until she could breathe. Her eyes were locked with Billy's, and for her, there was no one else in the room. Roxy saw a part of herself in his eyes. A part that was compromised, and needed to be helped. Being twins, they'd never known life without each other - if Billy was broken, so was she. 

"Roxy..." Billy said in a voice just over a whisper. Although Roxy's heart lurched, she didn't show it. She stepped forward and put a hand on El's shoulder to support herself, not dropping her head. She hardly heard Max's shaky voice behind her because she was so focused on her brother, but before she could do anything, she saw Will run up and turn up the heat. A moment passed where Billy realised what had happened. He visibly started to panic, violently. "Roxy! Let me out of here!" He yelled, pounding his fists on the door that separated them. "Max!" He pleaded, but no one moved. "Let me out..." He said again, sounding weaker. Roxy took a small, slow step forward without knowing she did. "You kids... you think this is funny?" He panted, the heat clearly getting to him. "You kids think this is some kind of sick prank, huh? You little shits think this is funny?" He yelled, spitting onto the window. Roxy took her hand off of El's shoulder but felt so out of place that she didn't know what to deal with it. She wondered who the enemy was in this situation. "Open the door." Billy said lowly, looking right at her. She slowly took another step, before jumping back when Billy yelled and banged on the door again. "Open the door!" 

When Billy sunk down out of sight from the window, everyone turned to look at each other. Will read out the temperature to be at 220. Roxy's breathing became heavier. 

"It's not my fault... it's not my fault. It's not my fault, Rox. I promise you." Billy sobbed. Roxy finally felt the courage to move and ran up to the window to look down at her brother. She placed one hand flat on the door, the other hand running her fingertips over the glass. She couldn't stand it anymore, seeing her brother so fragile. She felt like glass. Roxy let out a harsh cry before bringing her hand up to her mouth to silence herself. Max arrived at her side, looking worried as well. 

"What's not your fault, Billy?" Max asked, seeing that her step-sister was unable to speak without breaking down. The only thing that'd help Roxy now would be a miracle or something to make her really, really mad. 

"I've done things, Max... Really bad things." Billy cried. Roxy stood there, face as close to the window as possible, sobbing at her brother. She felt a crack in her heart. She had never seen her brother so defeated, so unlike himself. Seeing Billy like that was like looking at another version of him. Roxy felt weak, felt like she might collapse, as if the fragility spread through her family. "I didn't mean to. He made me do it." Billy whispered, Roxy and Max barely hearing him. 

"Billy..." Roxy stuttered, not able to get out any other words. 

"Who made you do it?" Max asked quietly, an arm around Roxy to steady her. They all were unnerved by Billy's heavy breathing from the other side of the door.

"I don't know. It's like a shadow. Like a giant shadow." Billy answered, hugging himself. 

"Let him out." Roxy said, finally finding someone to be angry at in a last-ditch effort to deflect her emotions. When no one moved, she fixated her stare onto Mike. "Let him out. Now." She shouted, drowning out the shakiness in her voice. He backed away from her, refusing to unlock the door. 

"Please, Roxy. It's not my fault, please. He made me do it." Billy cried, writhing around. "I tried to stop him, Okay? I did. Please believe me." 

Roxy gave up on getting angry at Mike - her sanity was as good as gone by now anyway. Her forehead rested against the window, her nails scratching slowly at the glass as if trying to grip something for stability. She choked out sobs, truly breaking for the first time in her life, watching her brother go through his weakest moment on the other side of a padlocked door. "Billy... I love you. It's going to be okay. I'm here." She spoke, barely able to get coherent words out. 

"We want to help you. It's going to be okay, we want to help you." Max continued, backing slightly away from the door, taken aback by the two strongest people she knew falling apart. 

"Guys, get away from the door." Mike said lowly, and Roxy didn't hear what he said over the ringing in her ears. Max heard but didn't take the warning seriously. Seeing the grave look on Will's face, Mike yelled again. "Get away from the door!" Max backed away and tried pulling Roxy completely out of danger but Roxy didn't move fast enough. Billy swung his makeshift weapon through the window - his blow missed Roxy but she had deep gashed down her arm and glass sliced through her cheek. Looking at Billy with horror, Roxy was barely phased by the injury until the kids all asked if she was okay. Looking down, she finally felt the pain. Max pulled her further away, ignoring the threats Billy screamed at them. Roxy could hardly think. She felt that this situation was more unreal than anything that happened last year. Suddenly, she was pulled into a circle, watching the lights flicker, waiting for something without knowing what. Feeling herself start to slip back to her senses, Roxy ignored the blood running from her arm and her face, and readied herself for what was to come. 

__________________________________________

I've been so lacking in time recently I was close to calling this chapter a pair of socks just so it'd rhyme. 

I'm really sorry these are late, work and uni have been constantly busy but I hope you've enjoyed the chapters, fingers crossed things stay a little less busy so I can get back to a schedule!!

Thank you to all my readers, commenters, and voters, it really does help with the motivation :)