Forever, Ever

There was continuous knocking on Ana's door as she hurried over to it, unbolting and unlocking it to reveal a grinning Harry, arms full of things. She ushered him inside and he sat down all his goodies on the kitchen table not far from the door.

"Alright so I brought movies, my laptop to watch the movies on because I remembered that you said you didn't have a tv, lots of junk food, and of course my clothes," he rambled off. "So, I say we jump into our jammies and then set up."

She agreed and quickly moved into her bathroom to change into her pyjamas which consisted of a pair of black yoga pants and a sweater. She waited a little longer in the bathroom to make sure Harry had enough time to change before walking out and tossing her clothes in the hamper. Harry was set up on her couch with the laptop sitting on the coffee table, a movie already inside. There were bags of food and drinks scattered around the laptop, even a tub of ice cream.

"Come take a seat and get comfy, let's get this show on the road," he called to her, patting the seat next to him.

They reached for snacks and sodas and sat munching on them while watching movies. Somewhere along the third movie, nearing midnight, Ana had fallen asleep with her head on the arm rest and her feet resting on top of Harry's legs. He shifted gently being careful not to wake her as it was storming quite nastily outside. He carried her to her bedroom and gently laid her on her bed and covered her up. She snuggled into the pillow and pulled the covers up around her ears.

Harry returned to the couch and played the movie quietly, waiting for himself to get tired. He was barely in the beginning of a fourth movie when a nasty bit of lightning struck outside, shaking the ground and the power flickered off, turning the laptop screen black. He let out a frustrated sigh and pulled out his phone to play some games until the power went back on or until his phone died, whichever came first.

No sooner than he had opened the app he heard Ana scream from the other room as more lightning struck, more violent than before. Harry got up quickly, rushing into the room to see her sitting up in her bed, hands gripping the sides of her head.

"Shh, darling, it's alright. Come on, I'm here, you're going to be alright," he said, sitting down beside her and placing his hands over hers, trying to pry their death grip from her hair.

She cried and seemed to grip harder on to her hair despite his efforts to stop her. He pulled her shaking frame into his chest and wrapped his arms around her, stroking the hair she didn't have gripped between her fists and whispering comforting words into her ear, trying to calm her down. Finally, he managed to get her hands away from her head, but they moved their grip to the front of his shirt as she sobbed into his chest. He only continued to hold her and rub her back, soothing her.

"Ana, darling, it's going to be alright, okay? Nothing's going to hurt you when I'm here, alright, you're safe," he whispered to her.

Harry moved them so that they were laying in the bed. Ana curled into his side and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing whenever thunder or lightning struck outside.

Harry was glad that he had came over, he didn't want to imagine what she would be like by herself. For her, storms didn't just make her a bit uneasy, they terrified her. He didn't know what had happened to her to cause this extreme fear but he knew he always wanted to make sure that she was never left alone during them ever again.

Eventually, Ana had calmed enough to drift into an uneasy sleep. Harry stayed awake, soothing her back to sleep every time she startled and started to whimper. Just as the sky had started to grow lighter, the storm subsided and Ana slept more peacefully without all the noise. Harry finally allowed himself to drift to sleep.

* * *

A light snore woke Ana from her sleep later that day. She peeked open her tired eyes and was met with Harry sleeping next to her. He laid on his back with his arm underneath his head, the other resting on his stomach. She was instantly filled with gratitude that he had stayed with her the night before. No signs of last nights storm were evident as the sun shone through the windows, casting rays on the floor through her curtains.

Ana stood in front of the stove, quickly stirring the contents of the pot in front of her, willing them to cook faster. James was due home shortly and would not be happy to see that dinner was not waiting for him on the table when he walked through the door. Ana had overslept when she laid down earlier to take a small nap, exhaustion had crept up on her and caused her to sleep longer than she had planned.

Ana was just getting out the plates as she heard the front door open. She willed her body to move faster to get his plate prepared. She scooped spoonfuls of food upon his plate hurriedly. Ana had just turned around to set the food down on the table when she saw James come through the kitchen walkway. She froze in her spot as James moved his eyes to her.

"James," she breathed out, "I was just about to set your food down," she smiled weakly at him.

Ana saw his jaw clench slightly before he quickly composed himself and nodded, moving towards the table. She set the plate down in front of him as he moved his chair in towards the table, slapping her hands away and picking up his silverware to dig into his food. Ana quickly straightened and went to prepare her own plate before taking her spot at the opposite end of the table.

James ate silently, not moving his eyes away from his plate the entire meal. Ana could barely stomach more than a few bites, her insides felt like they were on fire, and not in a good way. She could feel her stomach churning, threatening to give back all she just consumed. She set her silverware down quietly as she waited for James to finish his food. She watched him silently as he continued to eat.

James eventually finished and set his silverware down and sat back in the chair. Ana moved to get his plate up but James quickly raised his hand in the air, signaling for her to stop.

"Sit down," his voice cold as ice.

Ana quickly did as she was told and sat down, hands moving to grip the edges of her seat.

"Ana.. All I ask, all I fucking ask of you, is to have dinner waiting on the table when I come home. Not in your fucking hands," he said, slamming his hands down upon the table making Ana jump in her seat.

"I-I'm sorry, James, I overslept but I got it out as quickly as I could," she said quietly, barely above a whisper.

"Overslept? You overslept?," he nearly shouted at her, causing Ana to shrink down in her seat, "I work long, hard days to provide for you and you just sleep around the house all day?!"

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"I'm sick of your 'sorry' bullshit, Ana. I don't ask for a lot but apparently it's too much for you!"

"It's not, I promise!" Ana said, getting up from her seat.

"Sit down!" James yelled. "I'm so sick of this, Ana, clean this shit up, I'm going to bed."

James shoved his plate away from him and pushed out of his chair so harshly it fell over, causing Ana to jump again. James stormed out of the kitchen, banging and hitting things in the flat along the way. Ana waited until she heard the bedroom door slam shut before she moved from her seat and quickly started picking up the kitchen before James came back. She had the kitchen clean in record time and everything was back in its proper place.

Ana finished wiping the counter down and tossed the dirty rag into the hamper. She slowly made her way to her and James' bedroom. She laid her ear against the door and heard nothing, she opened the door as quietly as possible, assuming James was asleep. The room was dark as she made her way in, moving towards her dresser to get her pyjamas out. She had barely made it to the dresser before she was being dragged back by her hair and thrown onto the bed. She quickly scrambled to the other side to get away from James.

"James, please, not again," she begged, terror forming in her eyes.

"Shut the fuck up," he growled, pulling her towards him by her ankles.

He quickly opened up her jeans and ripped them from her legs, tossing them across the room before reaching for her shirt. Ana grasped helplessly at his hands, trying to pry them off of her.

"Stop, James," she sobbed as she pulled on his wrists.

A sudden pain blossomed on her cheek that made her drop her hands from his wrists. The side of her face quickly became hot with pain from his slap. James made quick work of the rest of her clothes before he was pulling her up and shoving her face down into the bed. Ana heard the zipper of James' pants and then his hands were on her waist, holding her down.

"Don't make a fucking noise," he warned her.

Pain, unbearable pain. That was all Ana felt. It seemed like hours that she was pinned down, face shoved into the sheets, hands wrapped around her neck to keep her from making a noise as he went harder and rougher. Tears streamed down her red cheeks, her throat was raw from muffled screams and sore from the hands that had gripped until she was struggling for air. Finally, James seemed to be finished and rolled off of her to his side of the bed to settle down to sleep, but not before shoving Ana off the bed and onto the floor.

Ana quickly scrambled out of the room, her exhausted body barely able to keep her upright as she made her way to the bathroom. She collapsed onto the floor in a heap of limbs as soon she had the door shut behind her. Sobs racked through her body, she felt as though she was being ripped apart. Her body screamed in pain with each movement and every sound the fell from her mouth was met with an intense pain in her neck. Ana sobbed herself hoarse before she gripped the counter and pulled her body up. She stood in front of the mirror examining her body.

Bruises circled her neck, his hand prints clearly visible, there were more near her mouth from where he held his hand there so tightly to keep noises from escaping her. Her wrists were bluish-black with them. Ana slowly moved her hand down, dreading what she was going to find when she pulled it away. She gripped the counter again with her other hand as her legs buckled as she felt the most painful part of her. When Ana pulled her hand away she was met with her fearful suspicions. Blood covered her finger tips causing her to collapse into sobs again on the bathroom floor.

Ana laid there until she could hear James' snores coming from the bedroom. She slowly got to her hands and knees, not trusting her legs to keep her up. Silent tears ran down her face as she opened the door quietly. She crawled slowly to peek into the bedroom to see if James was really asleep. When she confirmed that he was she made her way towards the living room to grab the phone off the table before returning to the bathroom and locking the door behind her. She quickly dialed the police with shaking hands, she had a pain in her gut from the fear that at any moment James would bust through the door.

"What is your emergency?"

Ana opened her mouth to find no words came from her.

"Sir, ma'am, can you tell me your name?" the operator asked.

"Ana," she choked out.

"Ana, dear, can you tell me what's happened?"

Ana still could not get the words out of her mouth no matter how hard she willed them to.

"We've gotten an address, Ana, and we're sending help immediately. Just stay calm and try to tell me what's happened," the operator said soothingly to Ana.

"H-he.. I n-need... please, p-please help m-me," Ana finally sobbed into the phone.

"We are, dear, we are. Help is coming as quickly as possible. Stay on the line if you need, Ana, we're going to make sure you'll be all right, okay? You're safe now, Ana."

Ana listened to the operators soothing words as she could get no more of her own out, only whimpers and cries escaped her.

Life seemed to go in slow motion for Ana as she heard the front door bust open and heavy footsteps running down the hall. She heard James' yells and voices shouting out for her. Ana stayed silent in the bathroom with her back against the tub. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the noises to go away. Fists pounded on the bathroom door heavily and Ana brought her hands to her ears, covering them tightly. The next thing she knew, a blanket was being draped over her and gentle hands were guiding her into a standing position. Ana kept her hands firmly over her ears as the police woman guided her out of the flat. She bumped into various things as she refused to look up from her feet. She didn't want to see James' furious face, or her neighbours shocked faces, she didn't want to see the flashing lights of the police car as she was guided outside into the pouring rain.

"I'll kill you, AnaBelle, I'll kill you!" Ana heard James yell at her as a crash of lightning came down.

"What happened to you, Ana?" Harry whispered, bringing Ana from her thoughts.

"I was 15 and he was 20..."