the monster in the changeroom

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

    The pool had finally closed, and as a stark contrast to the colours and laughter that had filled the area when the party had arrived, it was now dark. Empty. Quiet. Which, Alina thought, getting into position, was quite appropriate for what they were about to do.

Billy was in the showers, and Mike and El were finishing setting up the sauna, which they'd had to wait to do until everyone had cleared out of it. Max, Gabe, and Will were all talking quietly in the workout room, trusting the hiss of the shower to override their voices. And Alina and Lucas were sitting beside each other, unspeaking, trying to decide what to say. Trying to banish the awkwardness that had lay upon them, thick as a blanket, because it had been a few days since they'd seen each other. And because they were scared.

Their relationship had always been awkward, though, with clumsy first kisses and ineloquently spoken dance invitations. By now, Alina had learned the best way to combat this was to fill the silence, so, picking at her nails, she finally looked up to him, remembering what El had apparently seen at their sleepover. She wasn't mad at him anymore. Being angry was a privilege she didn't have right now, and besides, she hadn't been all that innocent, either. Well, she hadn't been a part of the spying on the boys. But she still was guilty.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, her voice quieter than usual. Lucas startled a little. He obviously had expected the silence to hang over them until it was time for the plan to be set into motion. "For this? For everything?"

He swallowed, tipping his chin so he could meet her gaze. His hands went for his wrist rocket instinctively, just to make sure it was still there. And then he said, "Of course I am. It's funny. This is the third time we've done this shit, and I'm still as scared as I was when we were twelve."

"Me too," Alina admitted, and then she leaned her head on his shoulder. It was comforting to both of them, a friendly gesture in this time of unfriendliness. "I think it's normal to be scared, though. Even after getting used to all of this."

Lucas smiled softly. He was feeling a little better, just by being near her. But what he'd said to Gabe earlier was right. He was getting a little too dependent on her. And sometimes it was okay to be apart. Just not right now, when the world might end. Right now, it was okay to get close.

The hissing, which had been in the background for around ten minutes now, suddenly shut off, and that was the cue for everyone to get into position. Billy was alone. And this meant that it was time for their plan. Time to find out whether he was the host to the Mind Flayer once and for all.

Alina's legs jiggled as she got into her hiding spot with the others, and she longed to release some of the excess energy that had built up inside of her from nervousness. She would have her chance soon, however, so she managed herself by shoving her hands into her pockets and taking slow, deep breaths, straining her ears for the sound of the door locking.

After a couple minutes, probably to allow Billy to get dressed (because nobody wanted to see... that) Alina heard the telltale clang of the door closing. With one hand over her mouth to mask her breathing, she closed her eyes and listened to Billy's growl.

"Pool's closed." There was a metallic scraping. Alina continued to keep quiet. "Hey." Billy slammed down on his locker and Alina moved closer to Lucas. He, Alina, Max, Gabe and Will were all waiting for El to make her way back, as she'd been the one to use her abilities to lock the door from the outside. It depended on her now.

"Do you hear me?!" Billy called. He sounded angrier, venom spitting off his lips. Alina could visualize it, everything from his cold eyes to the curl of his lip, and couldn't help but remember when he'd attacked Lucas. Deep breaths. "Pool is closed!"

There was a slam that told Alina he'd discovered the locked door, and just then El arrived, her face flushed with sweat, trailed by Mike, who'd wanted to come along to make sure she was safe. Even from here, all of the party could hear Billy banging on the door, attempting to escape his prison, but El had done her job well. He would not be getting out that way.

Then Lucas reached out and turned the lights off, plunging everyone into darkness, and that was Mike's cue. He raised his walkie-talkie to his lips and began to speak, his voice high and teasing. A little kid. An annoying sibling. A ghost from a horror movie.

"Billy..."

"Who's there?" Billy's voice was low now. Alina trembled a little bit more.

"Billy!" Mike repeated in singsong. He was talking quietly, but his voice still echoed thanks to the walkie-talkie, which was strapped to the CPR dummy in the sauna. This was how they were going to lure him inside.

Billy echoed Mike's tone. "Who's there?"

Mike just laughed, and it sent chills down Alina's spine. She found it slightly ironic that this whole thing was getting to be feeling like a horror movie, when Billy was the one she was so afraid of. But instead of him being the monster, the serial killer, the ghost, he was the victim, the one who was so willingly wandering into their trap.

Except he wouldn't be killed. Not yet. Not until they knew for sure (even though it was already clear to them).

"Billy!"

Billy's voice came low and sharp as a knife. "You think this is funny, huh?"

By the answer of Mike's laughter, it seemed so. Alina strained her ears more, and it was a wonder that her eardrums hadn't popped. She slid one of her hands out of her pocket and felt in the darkness for Lucas's hand. It was easy to distinguish his hand from everyone else's, given all of the time she'd spent holding it, and as she grasped it, she was relieved to find that her own wasn't glowing. Now that would be a surefire way to lead Billy right to their spot.

"Billy... come and find me!" giggled Mike. They were far, far away from Billy, but Alina still tensed as his voice got louder, expecting Billy to burst in through the door they'd locked as soon as El and Mike had gotten inside. She opened her eyes, finding the silhouettes of the rest of the party, hearing the chattering of teeth and soft, muted breathing. They were all desperately trying to keep quiet, whereas Mike and Billy were doing no such thing.

"I find you, it is your funeral," said Billy. There were a million ways to describe how he said this—laced with venom, with ice, with maggots curling around his tongue—and all of them were horrible. Even without the monster he was horrible. He'd always been, as far as Alina could tell.

In the darkness, Gabe found Will's hand, and held strong. It was a comfort, it was a crutch, it kept him standing, even though his knees were weak and felt like Jell-O, even though all he wanted to do was run, run, run, far away from here, somewhere where he was safe.

But that was the old Gabe. The new Gabe stood his ground.

"Come and get me! Come on!"

El was concentrating, her lip quivering, and then there was the gentle shutting of a door, which lead right to the workout room and the sauna. Alina could hear Billy following it, and that was the party's cue to move again, creeping through the darkness behind him, careful to keep a safe distance away.

He'd made it into the workout room. Mike, who lagged behind, let out a laugh. "Billy!"

Billy had stopped in front of the sauna. Alina could see him now through the small window in the door they were huddled behind, his flesh glistening with sweat, his wet hair plastering to his neck. He'd seen the dummy. And, like a fool, he was going to go right to it.

"Got you," Billy muttered. Alina stepped forward a little more, El brushing past her, giving her a quick reassuring squeeze of her hand, and Billy made his way towards the sauna, cackles escaping his lips, clapping his hands together. He—or perhaps it was the Mind Flayer? Alina didn't know where one part ended and another began—seemed positively gleeful at the prospect of finding whoever had annoyed him, and she wondered if he was going to attempt to tear the dummy from limb to limb.

Mike raised his voice. "Come and get me, you piece of shit!"

Billy opened the sauna door. He saw the dummy. From the light emitting through, Alina saw him lift it up, slamming it against the ceiling, searching for anyone that may be cowering behind it, and then he noticed the radio. This was El's cue.

"Hey," said Mike, a smile forming on his face, because he knew he'd done it. They'd all done it. "Behind you."

Billy whirled around, and there was El, standing right outside the door, looking small but very, very powerful. "Hi," she said, and then, with a grunt, she sent Billy flying across the sauna, where he slammed into the wall. And that was the moment where everyone else revealed themselves.

Bursting through the door beside the workout room and flicking on the lights, the party ran forward, Alina's palms already glowing, preparing for what was to happen. With a jerk of her hand, El slammed the door shut, and Mike and Lucas quickly looped a chain and padlock around it. With Billy pounding at the door like a caged animal, the two of them must've been terrified, but their hands worked quickly and soon they were running back to the party, where Alina and El shielded them from harm.

Then they were all standing there, the seven of them, watching Billy ram his head against the glass inside the sauna, their hearts in their throats and their bodies prepared for battle. Alina was in front of Lucas, not daring to grab his hand now that her own were inflamed, Max had her hands curled into fists, Will's face was pale and his eyes wide, Gabe was clutching a Swiss Army Knife (where he'd found it, Alina didn't know) with a clenched jaw, and El had blood dripping from one nostril.

Then Billy abruptly stopped fighting. His eyes flickered around the party, his eyes landing on each of them for an instant, before stopping on his stepsister's. His tone even seemed to soften as he whispered, "Max."

Max swallowed, her eyes narrowing. And then she said, "Do it."

Will ran forward, up to the controls by the sauna (way too close to Billy for Alina's liking, but they'd already decided that it was he who was going to do it), and began to crank the heat up to its highest temperature. Hot, steaming. Then Billy started to pound against the window again, and Will ran back towards the group.

We'll know either way, Mike had said. But Alina had known, perhaps since she'd first seen Billy kneeling in the watery substance in the void, his voice in a soothing purr as he did whatever he did to Heather. She'd known from the cookie and the dinner and the blood on the cabinet and the ice in the tub. And she knew now from the way he pounded so desperately on the door, his face feral, his body soaked with seat. Billy Hargrove was, like herself and Will had been, a host to the Mind Flayer, a mere vessel to the shadow creature that residing inside him.

And the party, all seven of them, and maybe even the world, too, was completely, and utterly, in deep shit.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧