Behind Closed Doors // Billie Eilish

Chapter 43

"Well, while we're here." Astro smiled. "We should play hide n' seek in the dark in the woods."

"I think that this is a terrible idea." Billie raised her hands in surrender. "Just saying."

"Sounds like you're scared to me." Astro shrugged.

"Fuck no. I'm not scared. It's just—Camilla's so small. She's gonna get attacked by a fucking squirrel or something."

"Shut up." I elbowed her.

"I think that we should play in teams," Billie said. "So that Camilla doesn't get attacked."

"Okay." Astro nodded. "You and Camilla. Me and Keshun. Starlit and Katelyn. Erika and Connor. And then Yarie and Jay."

"And how do we decide who's it?" Starlit asked.

"Least talented group has to count—oh, shit. Sucks to suck, Starlit. Looks like you guys have to count."

"You are as talentless as me so you can shut up," she snapped back.

I shrugged. "Billie's carrying."

"You're so terrible that you drag—"

"Noes goes," Astro said quickly. Everybody quickly puts their finger on their nose, but Connor did it last. "Count to one hundred."

"Wait." Billie held out her hands just as everybody started to run off. "What about light? It's dark as fuck. Can we use our phone flashlights?"

"Uh... yeah."

"Wait, no," Jay said, a stupid smirk playing at his lips. "Let's mix it up. The only light you can have is a lighter."

"Sounds dangerous—"

He cut her off, gathering the lighters from the people that had them. "Don't be a buzzkill, Bil." He tossed me a lighter and I caught it. "Actually, let's confiscate the phones so that nobody can cheat." He walked around and took everybody's phone. "Let's go." He turned around and started counting.

I grabbed Billie's hand, running towards the woods. "Come on. It's fine. I know exactly where to go."

"Fuck me, dude," Billie breathed.

"I mean if you really want me to—"

"Shut the hell up."

"You're gonna be fine." I led her into the woods and we jogged for a minute until we made it to the ditch I was looking for. "And now you'll see why I said not to wear anything nice." I jump down into a ditch. It was about five feet deep. I struggled to get out sometimes.

"Where the fuck are we gonna hide down here?" She jumped into the ditch.

"Look at this shit." I lit the lighter to show her where we were hiding. There was a tree that's roots grew down into the ditch so you could crawl under the roots and it was a great hiding place—unless you were too scared, of course. It was a little scary, I'd admit. I crawled under the tree and turned around to look at Billie. "Are you coming or not?"

She hesitantly crawls in. A tree rustles in the distance and Billie grabbed onto me. "No. No. No. No. Fuck it. Fuck it. Milla, I'm scared."

I laughed. "Aw. The little Billie baby's scared."

"Shut the fuck up. Siren Head is gonna get us."

I shook my head. "Nothing's gonna happen. We're fine."

"What if we're not. I got shit to do, you know? Unfinished business, you feel me? I can't die."

"And you're not going to." I laughed. "Unless you don't shut up. They're gonna know where we are. At least whisper or I'm gonna be the one to kill you."