Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

“What happened?”

“Well, that night, while I was sleeping, I heard the wood creak below someone's feet just outside my door. I sat up, turned on the lamp and looked at the time. It was just after two in the morning. I called out but heard nothing else. I just assumed it was John going to the restroom so I fell back to sleep.

“The next night, at the same time, the same thing happened but this time I stayed quiet and kept the light off. That’s when I panicked a little.” I grabbed Callum’s hand and held it tightly at the memory. “My bedroom door opened a crack and I sat up quickly but no one came in. It was an old house and I figured it just fell open. I scolded myself for being so paranoid. I chocked it up as an overreaction to a new home.

“Two weeks later, I became pretty comfortable again, not experiencing anything weird at night again. John and I had also become pretty good friends but one school night, I woke up to him sitting beside me on the bed.” Callum squeezed my hand. “I asked him if he was okay and if he needed anything but he just sat and stared at me. I sat up and scooted as closely to the headboard as possible but John lunged himself at me. I opened my mouth to scream but his big, meaty hand stifled it. ‘Don’t speak’, he told me. I shook my head in agreement, hoping I was misreading what was going on. He kept his hand over my mouth though and I knew I should most definitely be concerned. ‘Harper,’ he said, ‘I want you to sleep with me.’ I shook my head hard but he just clamped his hand tighter across my mouth. ‘Not to have sex with me but to sleep next to me,’ he said. He laid his body next to mine and drug me into him. I’d never felt so frightened in my life. John was so much larger than me, I couldn’t fight him. He cruelly dug his nails into my arms to keep me in my place. He whispered in my ear that if I left or told anyone what he was doing that he would kill me. I just nodded and endured the night next to his sweaty, awful body. I eventually fell asleep and woke to no one there. I didn’t know if I’d dreamed it or not but when I stood up and noticed his nail marks in my arm, I knew.

“That morning, I showered, trying to wash him off of me, then dressed. The foster family I was staying with made it very clear I couldn’t be late for breakfast. So, I nervously trudged down the stairs and entered the dining room. Everyone was sat there, including John. The foster mother scolded me for being late and I apologized. John sat directly across from me and smiled. He said, ‘Good morning, Harper. How’d you sleep?’ I almost spit up the orange juice I’d nervously downed. I told him I’d slept terribly. He said that he thought that a shame. I couldn’t bear to look at him the rest of the morning. I avoided him at school but at the end of the day, he forced me to walk with him home.”

“My God, Harper. Please tell me you got out of that house.”

“I tried, Callum,” I said, a single tear falling down my cheek. “I tried so very hard. I went to my social worker but I stupidly didn’t tell them what John was doing to me and they told me there was no need to change my home, that I needed to adapt.

“It was all about power and possession for John. He would force me to do strange things like sleep on the floor while he slept in my bed, or tie his shoes for him, or clean his laundry. Once, he made me go to a dance with him but forced me to sit in a corner. He told me if I moved that he’d kill me. He always threatened death.

“Finally, after a few weeks, it dawned on me that I’d forgotten who I was. I’d forgotten that I was friggin’ Harper Bailey and that I didn’t take shit from anyone.

“I knew I couldn’t get out of that foster home without some sort of proof of his craziness so I figured out the perfect way to get him. John couldn’t stand being out of control so I started locking my door at night. At first, he ignored it, deciding to take my decision out on me later but I endured it all and kept on locking my door. He’d knock softly and ask me nicely to open up but I refused. He’d threaten me the next morning but I’d ignore him, patiently waiting for him to lose control. Finally, after the sixth night, John couldn’t take it anymore and began to beat at the door violently, waking our foster parents. They wanted to know what he was doing and John, not being a very bright guy, told them I’d taken a cd from his room without asking. I told them that I did nothing of the sort and that the cd he was referring to was actually in his stereo as we spoke. They confirmed it was true and I was given my out.”

“Harper, that is awful.”

“I know,” I said laughing, trying to avoid the sob threatening to leak from my throat.

Callum, sensing how tense I was, hugged me closer.

“Where did you go after that, Harper?” He asked.

“An alcoholic’s but, to be honest, it felt like a reprieve. They were winos, their floor was littered with corks. I lived in a literal sea of corks but I didn’t mind it so much. They were cool as long as you left them alone and whatever trouble you got into didn’t directly affect them.

“I stayed there for at least a year, but social services paid a surprise visit to them and they hadn’t cleaned up yet. So...” I shrugged as if that was explanation enough.

“And you were forced out?”

“Yup.”

“Then where’d you go?”

“To the last foster home I’d ever have to endure again,” I said.

“Was it as awful?”

“Depends on your definition of awful,” I offered. “Was it as bad as John Bell? No. As laid back as the winos? Nope. It was somewhere in between. They weren’t physically abusive or anything but they would scream at one another every night over money and I was sort of endured because I provided a steady stream of the very cash from the state they’d yell about.”

“And when you turned eighteen?”

“See you later, alligator.”

Callum

I had it pretty bad growing up but Harper seems to have endured every awful situation a person could conjure up, short of rape and even that I think she narrowly escaped. I wanted only to wrap her in my arms and tell her that everything would be okay but that would have been a lie. I didn’t know if everything was going to be okay. I did know, however, that whatever we did go through that we were going to sustain it together, that I was quite certain of.

“And then you met me,” I said.

“And then I met you,” she said, smiling softly.

“And all was right with the world,” I joked.

“Exactly,” she said seriously.