Chapter Forty Eight


An undetermined amount of time had passed since Jaime had come around and Billy was still yet to utter a word. His gaze remained fixed on Starcourt Mall seemingly trying to mentally burn a hole through the building. What was going on in his head? For a while Jaime had tried to get Billy to speak, to say anything, but he had remained completely silent and didn't so much as acknowledged her presense. So she had given up and instead turned her attention to the binds around her wrists.

The rope was burning the soft skin of her wrists with every wiggle and tug she gave, no matter how discretely she did it, but she had made progress and was sure that it woudn't take much more before she got her hands free. Jaime had no idea what her plan was once she had freed herself, it wasn't like she was any where near powerful enough to physically stop Billy, that being said she couldn't do nothing.

"Why are we here?" Jaime asked again in the hope it would keep Billy distracted as she made the last few tugs to get free. "Why am I with you?"

Much to Jaime's surprise Billy turned to look at her, his eyes softening from the blazen gaze he had been holding. "That's why."

Following Billy's line of sight back to the mall all the air left Jaime's lungs when she saw the huge creature atop the building. Unlike the thing back at the hospital this one was terrifyingly large, and it radiated an energy that reeked of death. Thank god she was a good distance away from it.

"Wait!" A fear unlike Jaime had ever felt wrapped its claws around her throat, choking her. "Is Max in there?"

Billy's silence was deafening; her sister was in there and soon that monster would be.

Like a trapped animal Jaime thrashed against her restraints, no longer caring if Billy knew what she was doing. She needed to get in there, she needed to get Max, she needed her safe. "You're going to kill her!" Jaime shrieked. "Fucking help her!"

Finally the ropes gave and Jaime was able to wriggle her hands free from the tight loops Billy had created. Without a seconds hesitation her hand grabbed at the handle, ready to throw herself from the car and find Max -monster be damned.

The door never got to fully open. In a swirl of confusing movement Jaime found herself being yanked back into her seat by a hold so tight on her left arm that she was certain she felt bone cracking. There was no time for her to react, or even struggle, because seconds after the door slammed shut a blinding pan shit through her already tender skull as her head collided with the window.

"I can't let you do that."

Billy's voice sounded so far away, like it was being carried by the wind. How much more could could her head take? Everything was fuzzy again, like static on a television, and it hurt to focus on staying conscious. "Please." Jaime had no idea what she was pleading for, she just knew she couldn't risk blacking out again. "Don't hurt Max."

"He scares me, Jaime."

Closing her bedroom door to stop any unwanted ears listening in, Jaime steered her sister towards her bed, forcing her to sit while she kneeled between her legs. What was she going to say? That Neil wasn't so bad? Max might have been a kid but she wasn't stupid, and she certainly wasn't blind, they had both seen exactly what he had done to Billy so how was she supposed to comfort her?

"What if he does tha-"

Cupping Max's round cheeks in her hands Jaime looked into her petrified eyes suddenly filled with a protective anger. Neil would never touch Max, no one would ever touch her, not as long as she was around. They had lost their Dad, and in some ways their Mom, but Jaime would be damned if she'd ever let them lose each other. "No one will ever hurt you, I won't let them."

"You can't promise that!" Max protested. "You couldn't stop him!"

"Do you know me at all? No one will hurt you, not even Neil. You're my sister, Max, and I'd die before I let anything happen to you."

She had blacked out again. There was an indescribably dizziness that followed that made Jaime certain she had passed out again, but for how long this time? Blinking her eyes rapidly to force herself to focus on her surroundings she saw that the monster was no longer occupying the malls roof, in fact half the roof seemed to be entirely missing. What the hell had she missed?

"Nancy?"

It was very possible that all the trauma her head had taken was leading Jaime to see things, but she was certain it was Wheeler and her weird boyfriend she was watching run from the mall. It made complete sense that the whole scooby gang would be there, what didn't make sense was why only four of them had left the mall and it left on question bouncing around Jaime's mind. Where the fuck was Max?

With that in mind Jaime again reached for the door handle, ready to hurl herself in the direction she guessed her sister was in, but all of that came to an abrupt stop when the cars engine roared angrilly to life. This time she didn't need to ask Billy what he was doing because Jaime already knew, and she just prayed they got out of the way in time.

Still staring with hatred at Nancy and the others, Billy pushed down harder on the gas pedal making the car speed across the parking lot directly at Nancy's car.

As if to make the already dire situation even worse a bullet pierced through the glass of the windsheild, missing Jaime by mere inches. "Billy, fucking stop!" She screamed as two more bullets burst through the glass. He was going to get them killed, Jaime just wasn't sure whether it would be from the shots Nancy was firing or the inpending impact, either way she was not going to die the way she had told Steve she would. "FUCKING STOP!"

The Camaro was no more than a few feet from Nancy, they were so close that Jaime could now see the shining silver of Nancy's gun. In that moment the two girls locked eyes, and Jaime watched as Nancy's grew wide in shock -obviously they hadn't seen her. It was too late though, they were going to crash.

Jaime braced as much as she could, her body rigid with fear but they never made contact with the station wagon.

A force so hard it knocked the air right out of Jaime's lungs hit her side of the car, the scream that so desperately wanted to tear from her lips unable to do so as the world decended into darkness once again.


"Billy? I've got the first aid box." Jaime called quietly through the closed door of Billy's bedroom. Not waiting for a response that was unlikely to come, she slipped into his bedroom after checking that Neil wasn't lurking by the living room door ready to go another round with his son.

Pacing his room manically, fists clenched by his sides, Billy didn't seem to notice Jaime entering the room much too preoccupied with his own rage. Neil had reached levels that Jaime hadn't even known existed, so much so that even she felt entirely unsafe in his presence. He was a ticking time bomb, and it was only a matter of time before he did something irreversable.

"Sit down." Ordered Jaime, clicking her fingers at the bed. "Before you bleed all over the floor and stain it."

Buzzing off of adrenaline Billy snatched ahold of Jaime's free arm, his eyes frantically darting over her checking for any sign of an injury. Ever since the night Max had drugged him Jaime had been putting her self in the middle of the fights between he and his dad, so much so that Billy was afraid of what Neil would do to her. "You've got to stop this shit, Mayfield!" He barked. "If he ever hurt you..."

The was a wildness in Billy's eyes that Jaime had never seen before and it had her heart beating irratically in her chest. Clearly Neil wasn't the only time bomb.

"I'd kill him."

On many occasions when Billy had lost his temper he had threatened to kill someone and not once had it scared Jaime, this time it was different. There was a seriousness to his voice and a darkness in his eyes that told Jaime he would make good on his threat if he needed to, and that terrified her. "He'd never hurt me."

Billy let out a harsh scoff, she had no idea what his dad was capable of. Neil didn't care that Jaime was a female, he'd seen him hit his mom enough to know that. "You don't know shit, Mayfield. Stay out of his way."

Jaime wasn't entirely sure whether to be touched by how protective Billy was being, or offended that he was treating her like some brainless bimbo. In the end she settled for the latter. "Fuck you. Don't act like I don't see what goes on in this house. Don't you dare." Snatching her arm out of Billy's grasp, Jaime waved the first aid box she was holding in his face violently. "I'm the one who cleans up, remember?"

"Then do as your told!"

Jaime didn't know who the hell Billy though he was but she was damn well going to remind him. No one spoke to her like that. "You going to clean yourself up, Hargrove? Because I don't see anyone else in this town who gives a shit about you. Without me you have no one. We're not in California anymore unless you've forgotten!"

How could he forget? Every second spent in Hawkins was like torture even with Jaime by his side. Billy was done. For some time he had been thinking about what Jaime had suggested before Christmas, why couldn't they just leave? School was almost over and that was the only thing keeping them tethered to Hawkins as far as he could see. "What if we left?"

"What?" Jaime couldn't believe what she was hearing. It wasn't that long ago that she had jokingly suggested leaving and Billy had basically laughed in her face, now he was asking her like it was the most obvious solution in the world. "Let me get this straight, when I suggest leaving I'm a dumb bitch but when you do suddenly it's a good idea?"

For the first time since his mom had walked out Billy had a spark of hope. Hope that his life didn't need to be miserable, that it didn't need to be controlled by his Dad. All of that was because of Jaime, not that he would ever tell her -she was narcissistic enough as it was. "What the fuck have you got here, Mayfield? Last time I checked all you had was Carol and we both know she'll be leaving for college soon. You've got nothing, so why do you want to stay?"

Jaime hesitated for a moment, her brain still processing that Billy was infact being one hundred percent serious about leaving. Of course she had dreamed about running away, she had never dreamt that it was actually going to happen though. "Where would we go? What about money? Max?" There were far too many things to think about, to get right, they couldn't just up and leave on a whim. Billy really hadn't thought it through.

"Think about it."


A/N/ I'm sorry there has been such a wait on this! I am here and updating I swear! Alot of stuff has been going on and has been super stressful so please stick with me because I am still her and I'm not abandoning this story :) I will be updating again next week at the latest (hoping to get another up at the weekend if I have time)
I know it's been a long ride and I just hope you guys are still enjoying it and haven't got bored :)

Kaori: I'm sorry it was such a wait, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter even though there wasn't much happiness :)

Guest: Thanks so much and I hope you enjoyed :) I am planning to update Lavender soon too!

Guest: I will update quick I swear! :)

Guest: I'm so happy you love Jaime and Billy. I hope you liked the update :)

Savysnape7: Thanks so much! Hope you love this one too :)

Jo: There are a few more flashbacks to come so that you can see more of how their relationship began/evolved, so hopefully you'll enjoy that. I can't thank you enough for such a lovely compliment and I am so touched! I hope that this chapter lived up to your hopes and you love it :)

Kairi: Thank you so much! I hope you like this chapter just as much :)

BirkenstockBilly: Apart from life getting in the way it did take me forever to work out how I was going to start the Battle of Starcourt Mall, because I want to do it right. I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the last chapter (especially as it took so many attempts lol) I hope you stuck around for this update and enjoy it :)