Be Your Everything

Alice felt ready to pass out with happiness as she walked toward her house, having just left Harry behind. He had insisted that he walk her home but she had told him he would just anger Rick. She didn’t want him to get hurt; if Rick saw Harry as a fellow man he would be harsh, maybe even seriously injure him. She wouldn’t allow that. So they had parted with another soft kiss and hug to their respective homes.
Before she even walked in the door she could sense something was wrong. All the lights were on and the house was deadly quiet – usually at least the TV was on. She walked in cautiously, being as quiet as possible.
“Where’ve you been?” her stepfather’s voice made her jump out of her skin. He sounded angry.
“Out…” Alice responded, trying to avoid the ‘I’ve-been-out-with-a-boy’ situation.
“With who? You’ve got no friends.”
Wow. No beating around the bush tonight.
“Well I made one!”
“Don’t you talk to me like that,” he squared his shoulders and took a step toward her. “Was it a guy?”
“N-no…” she tried to lie but, as she had discovered countless times before, she was terrible at it.
“No?” he narrowed his eyes. “Prove it.”
“How the hell do I prove-?”
“I told you not to speak to me like that!” he spat in her face. She’d only seen him this angry on one occasion, and that had ended in her mother’s bruised face.
Suddenly, she thought about it. “Where’s mum?”
Something flickered in his eyes. Regret? “Not here.”
“Not in this house?”
He didn’t answer.
“Where is my mother?”
Alice didn’t wait for an answer. She sidestepped him and raced into her mum’s room to find her sprawled on the floor, unconscious. “What the hell did you do?” she screamed, turning to find Rick in the doorway. He looked furious.
“I told you she was out.”
The sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine but Alice stood her ground. “You’re insane!”
Without warning he lashed out, smacking her hard in the nose. She fell to the floor next to her mother, blood dribbling over her lips. She stared up at him silently with wide eyes. And just like that, she decided that the next time she left that house would be the last.
Struggling to her feet, she glared at him. She didn’t take her eyes off him as she slowly walked to her room, making no sudden movements. He wasn’t emotionally stable anymore and hadn’t been for a while, but it had taken all this time for it to finally click in her head.
When she thought she was far enough away from him she ran to her room and locked the door behind her, going about throwing some clothes and other necessities into a bag.
It only took a minute or two for Rick to start banging on the door, yelling profanities at her. “Open this fucking door! You better not be calling the cops on me!”
She ignored him and kept packing, blinking back tears. She couldn’t cry. If she cried it would make everything seem too real.
“I swear if you call the police I will kill her!”
Alice froze and pictured her mother. Lying on the floor in her bedroom, helpless to anything Rick might want to do.
“I’m not calling the police!” she screamed back at him, hoping against hope that he believed her.
“You’d better hope you’re not lying, little girl.”
“Do you really think I would risk my own mother’s life just to ruin yours?”
There was no reply. Alice didn’t trust the silence though, so slid her window open quietly. She was suddenly very grateful her family wasn’t rich – at least there was only one floor.
She climbed out, careful to make as little noise as possible; she didn’t want Rick hearing her and heading her off before she could get out of the yard.
And here is where she let the tears fall. It was raining - the perfect mood setter, really. When she heard the front door slam open behind her she began to run without even looking back. She had nowhere to live, her mum was unconscious, and her stepfather-turned-psycho was chasing after her. What a wonderful night.

Harry and Liam were watching a movie in the living room on the tiny television set. Liam was on his phone the entire time though and Harry was getting tired of seeing the little rectangle screen light up every few seconds. His mind might have still been trained on Alice, but Liam was driving him insane.
He was just about to tell Liam exactly where he thought he should stick him phone when there was a knock on the door. He hadn’t even managed to get to his feet when it began to get frantic. Liam looked up from his phone, a worried frown creasing his forehead.
Harry rushed to the door to find a dripping wet Alice, her face smeared with blood. “Shit, what-?”
“Let me in, please!” she pleaded, clutching her backpack to her sopping body. He stepped aside and she ran inside. “Shut the door, now!”
Harry did as told, and not 10 seconds later someone else was knocking.
“Don’t you dare open that door,” she commanded him, so he stood, wide eyes flicking from Alice to the pounding door.
“Who’s out there?” he whispered.
“Rick. He’s… completely lost it,” she managed to choke out through her tears. Harry took a good look at her and felt like he was about to pass out; her nose was bent at the wrong angle. The prick had broken his stepdaughter’s nose.
He was seeing red now. If he had been any angrier he would have thrown the door open and socked the man right in the face – but the terrified expression on Alice’s face knocked some sense into him. He didn’t think she could take any more that night.
“Harry,” Liam’s voice cut through the banging. “We need to get her cleaned up. Lock the door, I’ll call-“
“Please don’t call the police,” Alice begged, her eyes suddenly filled with fear.
“Why not?” Liam’s eyebrows were high on his forehead now.
“He… he said he’d…” she took a deep breath. “He-said-he’d-kill-my-mum-if-the-police-got-involved,” she said in one breath, as thought afraid of how the words would taste on her tongue.
Harry narrowed his eyes but took her arm gently and steered her to the bathroom. He sat her down on the toilet (with the lid closed, of course) and ran the tap until it was warm, holding a cloth underneath the running water.
After he had cleaned her up he stared at her, hating himself for not being able to protect her. He should have known something would happen! The way she was talking about Rick – he had already hit her mum! God, you’re so stupid!, he thought.
“Will you at least let me take you to the hospital?” he asked in a gentle tone.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You think I need the hospital?”
Harry sucked on his bottom lip. “Love, your nose is broken.”

Alice almost choked on her own spit. Broken? Harry couldn’t be serious. “Uh… shit,” she managed to get out, shaking her head. Now that she was paying attention to it a little more she could feel her nose start to throb with pain. It was sending shooting pains through her face and she winced. “I think the hospital is a good idea.”