Lillian was taking a shower, completely unaware that her evening was getting ready to flip upside down. As she came out into the bedroom, she was alarmed to see Billy was in the room. He was shirtless and sweaty, which usually meant that he had been working out. Lillian was almost used to that, but he didn't usually come into her bedroom unannounced.
Then, to her horror, she saw he was holding the sketchbook up to the lamp. "Interesting read."
Lillian said nothing, biting the inside of her cheek. All the progress she had made in developing his trust was shot. What the hell was she going to do now?
"Still hung up on Munson?" Billy sneered, tossing the journal onto the bed. "It's been months." He strolled over to her arrogantly. "No doubt that freak has forgotten all about you by now."
It happened before she could stop it. Blood boiling hot, her hand flew through the air, smacking him in the face. It was no sissy slap, either. She hit him hard, to the point that the sting shot through the palm of her hand.
Even Billy seemed dazed by this before his pretty- boy, blue eyes shot daggers. Before Lillian was able to put distance between the two of them, his hands grabbed her arms, pushing her back into the wall.
"I had you once. You were mine," he hissed. He didn't fail to notice the fact that she was only wearing a bath towel, and it was starting to fall away from her. "I've been patient, haven't I? Gave you everything you wanted..."
"We both know that's not true." The one thing she really wanted, which was to go back home, was the only thing he never gave her.
Still unbroken, Lillian shut her eyes as he shoved her against the wall, his grip tightening on her arms. Suddenly, she screamed in horrible, agonizing pain. It was as if a branding iron had seared her left arm where he grabbed her. Billy pulled away. It might have been possible that he lost control over his Firestarter power, because he quickly stormed out of the bedroom. Lillian held her arm, collapsing to the floor as the spot began to blush and blister.
In his rage, Billy left with the car, forcing her to take care of her own injury. She rinsed it under cold water, applied some cooling gel from the first aid kit to it, then bandaged it up as best as she could.
She was fed up.
That was her chance to haul ass out of here. Whatever Billy needed to do to cool down, it would give her enough time to get dressed and return to the site where he found originally her, 121 days ago. She needed to try at least one more time.
She ran most of the way, but Lillian had never been much of an athletic person, and her lungs tired quickly. The burn on her arm seared with pain, and it was hard to disregard. By the time she arrived at the familiar road, she sought out the exact spot, which wasn't hard to locate once she saw the skid marks from Billy's tires. She looked around, recalling her fall, retracing her steps, until finally...
Crossing through the concealed gate was like passing through two sheets that were being blown towards each other, sort of like a vaccuum. It was only for a few seconds, just enough for her to take another look around after the sensation went away. The purple in the sky was gone, and she was certain she had returned to Limbo.
"Okay. Shit, now what?" she asked herself, panting. With some luck, her pike still laid where she left it, and she grabbed it to take it with her. There had to be a gate back to her home world, and she remembered Billy saying she drowned. She returned to Skull Rock, though it felt like hours by the time she got there. The lake was bone-dry, covered in the same, tentacle-like appendages that seemed to cover the whole city in this world.
For a good while, she looked, much more careful with where she stepped this time. Quietly, she searched, but nothing seemed to even hint a way back home.
No gates, no nothing.
"Damnit," she cursed under her breath.
Unsure of what else to do, she went to the trailer park. As she did, she swore she could hear voices as she neared Eddie's home.
"You live here alone?" A girl's voice came from what sounded like above her, and it sounded vaguely familiar. Was she from school? In the living room of the trailer, Lillian stood, confused.
It was Eddie's voice that answered, sounding so far away. "With my uncle. But, uh, he works nights at the plant."
She should have called out to him, but somehow, his name was stuck in the back of her throat, and there was something else...
Lillian was trying to gather her thoughts and her emotions. Eddie had Chrissy Cunningham at his trailer? And he was giving her drugs? What the hell had he gotten himself into?
Was Billy right? Had he really moved on?
Tears in her eyes, Lillian staggered out of the front door of the trailer. Her fingers were a vice grip around the pike in her hands. Could she really blame him? She had been gone all this time, and everyone probably thought she was dead by now.
Yet, another voice inside of her was less forgiving. She had given everything to Eddie - her innocence, her heart, her fucking soul... And now what? She was out of the picture, and he was looking to get laid with some cheerleader from school?
Anger welled up inside of her, and on her trek back to the gate, she didn't care where her feet went. If the bats came for her, she was ready to spit fire. If this was what a broken heart felt like, then she never would have wished it on anyone in the world.
She hadn't even realized she blacked out until that gravity-squeeze feeling over her body told her she had passed through the gate once again, back into the haze of purple and vermilion.
Then, she hissed in pain at the sensation of what felt like razors on her upper arm. Blood soaked her mauve-colored tank top, and she looked down to see that her burn had started to bleed. There was a lot of blood on her, on her arms, her legs, her face...
Most of this blood, however, wasn't her own.
Those flying rats came for her at some point, and during the trek back, she must have taken a bunch of them out. Limping all the way back to the house, she hardly even noticed that Billy's car still was nowhere to be seen in the driveway.
She passed through the double doors, pausing in the dark foyer to catch her breath. She took her time going up the stairs so as not to further traumatized her body, using the banister to support her weight.
Her dirty, bloodied mess of clothes went in the sink. Billy had made sure she had plenty to wear at her disposal, so she didn't really care that they were ruined. She climbed into the shower once again, washing the evidence off of her. Maybe there was a chance that Billy wouldn't find out she had been away, that she never went to Limbo, and she never went to the trailer.
She found out that was immediately debunked when she noticed the fresh bite on her stomach, right next to the old one she first got upon her arrival. It didn't start hurting until now, though it wasn't quite as deep.
Lillian shoved her fist into the tiled wall of the shower, but there were no more tears. She had apparently done all her crying before she left Limbo. Didn't even remember that happening.
"Assholes," she sneered under her breath. Eventually, she had finished getting cleaned up, though it did take a while, and she absently picked out a black, chiffon nightgown that reached down to the floor. Once she pulled the thin straps over her shoulders, she thought she heard the front doors shut.
She stayed in her own room for a while, hearing Billy's music from down the hall. He never came in to check on her, which was unusual. Maybe he was still sour about their last encounter.
It was time to apologize. Lillian inhaled, making herself look more presentable by brushing out her hair and applying just a little makeup to cover up the puffiness in her eyes. She tried to tell herself she wasn't doing it for Billy, and that she was trying to make her own self feel better. After all, her ego had been hit pretty hard.
Once she was satisfied, she made her way towards the living room. She could hear Queensryche playing on the radio, and as she came into the living room, she saw Billy was smoking a cigarette on the deep-seated sofa, wearing dark, blue jeans and his denim jacket wide open. She paused for a second, trying not to look too hard at the smoothness of his partially exposed torso underneath.
He looked at her as if he was waiting for her to say something. He didn't seem angry anymore, but the air was still really tense. She almost thought of telling him he was right, maybe clear the air a little, but she didn't really feel like talking, lest her voice gave away her hurt.
Instead, she climbed on top of him, her knees digging into the burgundy cushions of the couch. Billy watched her, his hands quick to firmly grab her waist.
"There she is."
Lillian tensed at his hold on her for a moment. She had bandaged her newest injury herself this time, but Billy didn't inquire about it.
"Didn't I tell you there was nothing out there?"
"Yes."
His hand found her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes, and hesitantly, she abided. "Mhmm... And I also told you I would take care of you." When their eyes met, it was like a switch had flipped. Lillian couldn't really explain it. It was as if her pain had just...shut off. "Let me."
His hands pushed her upward, and he dipped forward and down to level his face towards her stomach.. As he did, his hands lifted the skirt of her dress. His mouth hovered over the deep cut that resided to the right side of her belly, and as he kissed it, the pain evidently disappeared entirely. As she looked down with a nervous shudder in her breaths, she saw him peel away the bandaging, and the skin had completely healed up, as if it was never there.
Then, he looked up at her.
"See? All better. All you had to do was just let me in."
"I like to look at shadows sweating on the wall
I get excited when I hear your footsteps in the hall
Outside your balcony, I have a room with a view
And I'm watching you..."
Lillian closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts and sinking herself back onto his lap. Her hands took his shoulders, and she leaned in to kiss him.
A hand gripped at the roots of her hair, causing her to forcefully open her eyes again. A gasp shot into her lungs. Billy had noticed she wasn't looking at him, and though she thought nothing of it at first, she recognized it, too. She still didn't feel quite right about this whole thing, but there was no turning back, now was there? Not unless she wanted to suffer his wrath.
And then, on the flip side of the coin, there was this... curiosity...
Only when their eyes met did he finally claim her lips in a kiss. She remembered him being a little gentler back when they were dating in school, but this was clearly a darker, inhuman Billy that she had gotten tangled up with.
"I'm gonna get close to you,
So close to you."
With Geoff Tate's sinister lyrics echoing what Lillian imagined was Billy's inner dialogue, she cast her caution to the wind. Every time their lips collided and met again, it almost seemed to suck out the last bit of resistance inside of her.
She moaned slightly against his mouth, her hands lowering to the front of his jacket. Her thumb traced over something that wasn't there before, on the left side of his chest.
A tattoo of a demon's head.
Wait... no...
She pulled back, half-expecting she was going to be staring down at Eddie, but it was still just Billy. No tattoo on his chest, either, like she had just blinked it out of existence.
"Let...me...in."
Billy insisted again, his hand sliding between her legs. Lillian, who couldn't determine at this point what was real and what wasn't, couldn't help but surrender now. She gasped softly as he fondled her, fingers clutching the cushions behind him. She felt his breath against her neck, and though she made her decision to go through with this, she was trying not to moan. What on earth for? Lillian couldn't determine if it was still her stubbornness shining through, or if she intended to challenge him. Could it possibly be a bit of both?
She hadn't been ready for his hand to pull away, his wet fingers tearing down her dress to where it gave at the straps. Pulling the curtain aside to reveal her completely, Billy took a moment to fully take her in. Strong hands moved up her flat, pale stomach, then up to her ample breasts. He had only ever touched them once, a couple of years ago, and when he did, she pushed him away. They were making out in his car - and, back then, having obviously been a virgin, she wasn't ready to do much more than that.
Funny, how much time had changed.
Over his shoulder, Lillian could see through the window that the amethyst sky practically swirled, as if afire from the building eroticism. She had never seen it do that before and could only speculate that it was actually responding.
His lips grazed the swell of her breasts before catching one of her nipples, and his hand returned to its previous place between her thighs. It was only when his fingers pushed inside of her that she almost let slip a sound, and she bit her lip, barely keeping the pleasurable sound contained.
"I know what you're doing." Billy's voice was almost sing-song, and the way his fingers wiggled inside of her silly confines only weakened her resolve. "Why are you being so stubborn?" As if to make his point, he added his thumb to the equation, pushing circles against her rosebud.
That was all she wrote.
With a whimper, Lillian bucked her hips almost unwillingly, her hands gripping his shoulders tightly.
"Jackpot."
