6

JOYCE

I kept looking over the maze of drawings Will had drawn. Then somebody knocked on the door.

I hurried to it and slipped outside, careful not to let the person see the mess inside.

I was surprised to see a boy I'd never seen before in front of me.

"Hello, are you Raya and Jonathan's mom?" He asked.

I nodded.

"I'm Nick, Raya's boyfriend, is she here?"

"Um, no. I'm Joyce, nice to me. You can find her at Steve, her best friend's house."

"And where is that?"

I gave him directions and he thanked me before driving off on his motorcycle.

RAYA

I groaned when I heard Steve stomping down the stairs. Billy was resting on my bare chest, his arms wrapped around my waist.

I pushed some of his hair away from his eyes and tried to move from his embrace. He groaned and tightened his grip on me.

"Wake up."

"Five more hours."

I chuckled. "No, get up."

He groaned and tightened his arms on me. "I'm gonna shower and you could come." I said as seductively as I could.

His eyes popped open. "What about, Harrington?"

"We'll be sneaky."

BILLY

I swerved into the arcade parking lot and Max began to get out, and Raya started climbing to the front.

"If you're not out in an hour-" I started.

"Walking home. Yeah, yeah, I know." Max finished.

"Hey!" I snapped, as Raya put on her seatbelt. "Watch the attitude, shitbird."

Raya closed the door and waved at Max. "Have fun."

I adjusted my sunglasses before racing off. I saw Max flip me off and really wanted to turn around and run her over.

"Billy." Raya said softly.

I didn't even look at her.

"Billy, stop the car."

I slowed to a stop and she sighed. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing." I responded.

"Was it last night-"

"No, no! Last night was fine."

"Then why are you like this?" She demanded.

"Just mind your own fucking business!" He snapped. I saw her flinch and instantly regretted yelling at her.

Before I could apologize she said, "Take of the glasses, Billy and look at me."

I sighed and looked at her. She pulled the glasses off and saw the bruise around my eye.

"Why'd he hit you, you were barely in the house?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Billy, don't push me away."

"I was ten when my mom left me and my dad. We were in California. She left me with an abusive asshole! He hit me because I cried. I was a fucking child, of course I cried. And everything became a bit better when he dated Susan because he didn't have time to punish me for every little thing."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologising?"

She shrugged. "My ex, Nick, was abusive."

"Where is he?"

"In the lame ass neighborhood I used to live in."

"Good."

"So what are we gonna do until it's time to pick up Max?" She asked.

"I don't know, what ever you want to do." I responded.

She groaned. "Billy."

"What?"

"Answer the question."

"But I'm fine with anything." He argued.

"So you would go to a hospital to watch a woman give birth?" She asked.

I shook my head. "How about we go back to Steve's house and do something there?"

I nodded in agreement and changed gears before racing off. Raya turned on the radio and turned it up so it was very loud and began singing along to every word of the songs that came on.

By time we got to Steve's house, his car was gone so I parked in its spot. I turned off the engine and followed Raya inside.

She walked to the kitchen and held up a note.

Raya,

Going to go patch things up with Nancy. Some guy had stopped by to see you, don't remember his name.

"Whose the guy-"

"I don't know and don't care." She snapped. "Nancy and Jonathan are out sharing a hotel room!"

"Steve's plenty cute for the bitches around here, he can find another girl." I explained, pulling her to me.

"But he and my brother are in love with Nancy."

"I don't know why."

"Billy." She groaned. I went in to kiss her and she ran from my grasp. "I've decided that boys have cuties." I chuckled and she playfully spun away from me. "Must not get cooties."

"You're already infected." I pointed out. "I was all up in you last night and this morning."

She blushed. "I wanna see your artist skills."

"There are none."

"Nonsense."

"How about I see your artwork?"

She shook her head and her face fell a bit.

"But you get to see my baby."

"Everyone sees your baby when you obnoxiously drive it down streets that have a twenty miles per hour speed limit and blast your music." She pointed out.

"Stop trying to change the subject." I countered. "Why can't I see your art?"

She walked towards me, grabbed my hand and put it on her face. "It's dark in here and I don't want to scare you off."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm obsessed with you and not scared of the dark." I said.

"I'm serious, what happened last year has given me some serious trauma-"

"I'll be here for you. I have baggage too."

She nodded and took my hand, dragging me upstairs. I took a seat on her bed while she dug through a drawer and pulled out two worn sketchbooks.

She handed them to me and then hurried to her closet while I began flipping through the pages.

Some were drawings of Hawkins, her family, the woods, the labratory. And then there were sketches of monsters, Hawkins covered in darkness. Skulls, strippers, a shabby house, a drawing of Steve and Jonathan.

And then the last few pages were drawings of my car, me, and more of the arcade.

I smiled and she blushed noticing the pages I had gone through. She turned back around and began to go through the closet as I looked at her next sketchbook.

The first drawing was of a shadow thing over Hawkins. Then the lab on fire. Her little brother lying on the ground. Each one got darker and darker and looked as if she had furiously drawn them.

I looked up at her to see her holding a canvas. She looked almost nervous.

"I've spent a lot of time on this. Ever since the Halloween party."

I put the sketchbooks down and she turned around the canvas.

And I was shocked.