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Lights flew past quickly, small streaks of stars smudged out quickly by inky blackness that darkened the air outside of the car's windshield. Wind whipped through the multitude of cracks on the windows but the driver didn't notice, why would he after all? Billy had far more on his mind then his car's current state. It felt right for everything around him to be broken, if anything he thought it should be worse.
A local radio station was playing, the bored voice of the announcer cutting through the static to inform the public of the tragedy at Star Mall. 'How could such a thing happen at this monolith of capitalism. Especially after our town was promised that it was held to the greatest form of safety.' The names of the dead, mostly just overworked teenagers who hadn't made it home yet, and the injured were already blurring together, tragedy wasn't as shocking when you heard horror on the news everyday and his ears were as unfocused as his eyes.
Billy drove fast, far faster than he should in his state, the dented hood sometimes dragging when the road dipped down, you don't even want to see how it was with those damn potholes. Cool air was spurring him on faster and faster, his foot mashing down on the gas just as far as it would go, a slight creak coming from it as he stomped down on it. Billy was surprised the thing wasn't cracking. Tree's dotted either side of the road, the dark forest seeming to stretch on forever and Billy was once again reminded of just how much of a small town Hawkins was. He definitely wouldn't miss that.
Pain was starting to creep into his brain before he shut it down again. If he let the feeling marinate for too long he would end up curled up on the side of the road and that wouldn't do for his plan of escape. He turned his pain into a afterthought, pushing it to the furthest part of his mind as his headlights illuminated the sign that marked the edge of town. "You are now leaving Hawkins, Indiana, We'll be waiting for your return!"
"What moron made that creepy ass sign." He muttered underneath his breath as he sped past it. Billy made a conscious effort to unclench his teeth to relieve the pressure in his jaw but it still felt tight as if he was holding it awkwardly in his mouth. With how hard he hit the ground earlier he mused that he might have misaligned his jaw, it sure felt like it. At least his teeth were still holding on. One molar was slightly loose but he hoped if he left it alone it would stabilize again.
Now that he had properly numbed his body to the pain it was in his brain strayed to that....thing, that thing that had wormed its way inside of him after he went into that abandoned warehouse. Billy felt as if peeling back his skin would do nothing but reveal the oily substance still dancing right underneath the surface. Was it really gone? Was it even there in the first place? Maybe he was just crazy.
Shaking his head slightly, matted curls hitting his face as he put that thought as far back in his mind as he could. Why worry about that when he was finally leaving!
Lets count the things Billy wouldn't miss!
1. His shitty father (enough said).
2.The high school and their seemingly endless parade of idiots.
3. The annoying friends of Max.
He felt his brain fracture a little at that and unconsciously pulled his foot of the gas, the tires spinning slower and slower before coming to a stop. He was half on and half off the road and thank god for that when a sedan sped past, horn blaring. It woke him up slightly and with the last of his mental faculties he pulled his car fully off to the side of the road, his hand clumsily applying the brake as he sat there.
How could he leave Max there? In that house, with that man? Sure they fought constantly and Billy was entirely convinced she hated him, hell the whole town seemed to know that too, but she had come for him. Her and all of her little weird friends had cornered him in the changing rooms at the pool he was working at and tried, oh how they had tried to break through to him. Even though Billy hadn't been able to fully shake it at the time he still felt a gratitude to them for even trying. Well to everyone but Mike, he could suck eggs in Billy's opinion.
Billy found himself grumbling as he hit his head on the steering wheel, the leather on the steering wheel squeaking slightly as he gripped it, white knuckled. Could he even leave? Would it even be fair to those he cared about? Those people were few in number but he would be lying if he said he didn't hold some affection for them.
"You already abandoned her at the mall why go back and make thing worse." He whispered to himself.
One side of his mind was daydreaming about sun and waves, childishly thinking about running to a golden-haired woman on the beach, his hair plastered to his skull. His mothers laugh echoed in his ear as they twirled around in the shallow waters of the tide of his mind, what he would give to go back to those carefree days, the days before she went out of her way to get his father back. He had never understood it himself but she must have loved him an awful lot, maybe even more than him.
If she had really loved him she probably wouldn't have let that man shove him around, probably wouldn't have lied to the urgent care about why his shoulder was out of his socket, probably wouldn't have moved to a new city with Neil after little Billy's nose got broke and far too many adults were asking questions.
The part of the road his beaten up car resided on wasn't lit, his headlights the only light on the narrow stretch of road. The darkness seemed endlessly reaching on as his head lolled backwards his mind split between the past and the present, was the blood loss making him loopy? A grimace painted his face as pain shot up his side. He looked down not even recognizing his own body, syrupy blood coating the clothing around his injury. He grinned to himself glad it was covered, it didn't look so bad covered, hell it almost looked normal.
"You need to go back." came a garbled voice from the radio and he felt his eyes almost bulging out of his head as he strained to hear it again. He turned the sound up but was only met with static, the station having lost signal somewhere just past the city sign. It had to be another station coming through on this dead channel right? Or, he thought horrified, did he imagine it? With a shaking hand he switched it off, Billy hated this, he felt as if he couldn't trust anything. His senses or his mind and it was driving him crazy.
The silence was worse than the demonic voice he had just heard but he didn't feel brave enough to turn it back on, just sitting there shaking slightly as he thought about his options.
Billy felt as if his body was not his own, the pain the only thing keeping him grounded now. It was rearing its head hard now, he couldn't ignore it any more. Under some other violation he turned the car around, nosing it back towards the town he so hated.
"Welcome to Hawkins, Indiana! We knew you'd be back."