Seven Feet Down

” I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake and moan, like a lone sparrow on the roof” – Psalm 102:6

Seven feet was the reminder to Billy, a memory he kept locked away. Yes, I am talking about the last episode of Stranger Things.

Billy Hardgrove got introduced to the show on season two as the bully who was just angry and impassioned by life and had to deal with watching over his step-sister Max.
Watching his progression throughout both series was moving to watch. We come to learn that Billy has an abusive father, and I could see it in his eyes that he was nothing more than a shattered man that felt there was nothing much left. In some way, I could feel his pain not condone his actions and how he presented himself, but I could understand what was in his heart.

Like Billy, I am misunderstood. Having an illness that no one can see can lead to questioning myself.

Living in our dark places, it becomes our reality that we learn to be, to stay behind that. Billy and I are the same, I present my demons of loneliness differently then Billy did, but we have the same anguish in just wanting to be loved. I must say what an inspiring performance by the actor who played Billy ( Dacre Montgomery). There were so many scenes that I could say inspired so many thoughts in my mind for this blog, but the one in particular that overwhelmed me with emotion was his last one.

A horrible entity has taken over Billy that keeps him away from himself. In his last moments, he lays Elle on the floor while he lays over her. He says, do not be afraid. He looks up, and there is a horrid creature that is wanting to kill her, but she has to say seven feet, and he starts to remember that memory with his mom at the beachside when he was just a little boy. Somehow fights what is inside him, and then he sacrifices himself. It was all in his eyes. It was almost as if our souls connected. I was overwhelmed with tears not just because the scene was well filmed and well-acted but because I felt I could see myself in his eyes, and there was a deep feeling of torment in my heart because it was as if Billy’s character was saving me. What I mean by that is that his role let me see how lonely and painful it is to suffer silently. So, his death was a release of both of our sufferings.

What I find to be a blessing is that God brought both Billy and me together to be able to express how I feel because we need to see what are sufferings are through something obtainable, and for me, God does it through characters in books and films. Billy will never leave the core of my heart; he will live with me always.