It Can Only Get Better

"You were what?" I asked. Was I hearing her right, "Joey, don't make me say it again. Please." She hugged me tighter. "Soph. I know I promised I wouldn't say anything but... " she sat upright, "Joey, you promised. If you tell anyone what I said, I'll never talk to you, ever again." She said, moving further away from me, looking more scared by the minute. I kept hold of her hand, "Soph, baby. I love you so much, and I think that the bastard who did this to you should be fucking locked up for life. Please, just talk to someone, tell mom." I looked at her. "I promised that I won't tell anyone, but, that doesn't mean that you can't talk to someone else. Please, it will be for the best." She looked so horrified. The front door closed with a bang. "Soph, please, will you talk to mom. I'll go down and ask her to come up to talk to you. Okay?" she nodded her head a little, "Joey," she paused, "can you stay with me?" she asked quietly. "Yeah, of course babe. I'll go get her now okay," I said kissing her again, and left the room.

"Hey mom, hey Jakob, mom Sophie needs to talk to you, like now. It's important." I said, running over to mom, who looked exhausted. "Okay, Jakob, can you go put the groceries away, and then just watch TV I'll be down soon." And she followed me up the stairs. We walked into the room, I sat down beside Soph, she had washed her face, to make it look like she hadn't been crying, and mom sat opposite us, at the end of the bed.

Adie looked at our worried faces, "guy's, please tell me you aren't pregnant. I thought you would have more sense than that." Sophie burst into tears. I grabbed her and looked at mom. "No mom we're not fucking pregnant, we aren't that irresponsible, and we haven't slept together," Sophie bawled harder. I looked down at her, "do you want me to tell her?" she nodded into my chest, and I looked up at my mom, took a deep breath, and paused, "Mom, Sophie was raped." Mom looked so shocked and scared, on a way I've never seen her before. "When, where?" she asked, but Sophie couldn't speak, she was too upset. "Okay, I'm going to go call Billie, and Mike. I'll try to get them home as soon as they can, but don't worry hunny I won't tell them over the phone. It's okay," she said hugging Sophie, "it can only get better now, I'll be back soon."

*Ha ha you're dead, and I'm so... *
"Hello, Mike's phone, Billie speaking." Billie answered.
"Hey Billie its Adie, is Mike around?"
"Yeah, hang on, do you want speak to him."
"Billie, get you and Mike together, and put me on speaker, cause I need to talk to both of you, and before you ask, yes Tré can sit in, and no the kids aren't pregnant."
"Baby, you sound tense, are you okay?"
"Billie, for once do what I'm asking."
"Hey, Adie, we're all here. What's up?" Mike's voice came through.
"Guy's I want you to all sit down, I have something important to tell you. About the kids."
"Okay, shoot."
"Guy's we need you to come home straight away, especially you Mike. Now don't worry, but just get home. I'll just say, it's worth cancelling a few shows for."
"Okay, we're on the first flight home, see you soon. Love you. Bye." Billie said and hung up.

"Holy fuck, what could be wrong with the kids, Billie. Why didn't Adie tell us? I need to know." Mike said looking at the guys.
"I'll go phone the pr and shit like that, Tré pack up everything, and quick, it's serious, and Mike phone the airport and... Shit, Mike, breathe dude. Sit down, breathe." Mike was having a panic attack, SHIT, "Mike, Adie would have told us if it was critical, okay. Now calm down, breathe and phone the fucking airport. Get us on the next flight home." I really was shit at calming people down.

"Hello, Melanie. Yeah. Billie Joe Armstrong here, *pause* from Green Day... Yeah, bit of a family thing came up, can't be ignored so we're gonna have to postpone the rest of the gigs on the tour. I don't care what it costs. Tell them to keep their tickets, and we'll resume the tour later in the New Year or something. I don't give a fuck what it costs, our families are FUCKING IMPORTANT to us, take it from our fucking account if you need to. This is urgent and our families need us. And if anything leaks to the press about our families or us, I'm holding you personally responsible. You are the only other person that knows and you're ass will be fucking sued." And Billie hung up.

I lay on the bed, cuddled into Joey. I can't believe, after all these years, I had actually told someone. It haunted me every night since it had happened, but I could never tell anyone. My parents wouldn't have believed me, and I wasn't ever close enough to anyone else to tell them, and if he ever found out he would have either killed me, or done it again, and I was terrified. Joey had finally fallen asleep around one thirty. He didn't understand why I had never told anyone before, or why I couldn't tell him who it was. Dad was coming home as soon as possible.
*Bang* the door swung open and hit the wall. Mike ran over to the bed and pulled me into a tight embrace and wouldn't let me go. "Dad. I can't breathe," I coughed out, and he slowly loosened his grip and eventually let me go. Tears were streaming down his face, "Soph," he paused and looked at my face, "why didn't you tell me?" his gaze was hypnotic, like he was reading my thoughts. "Dad, I was scared... " and that's all it took. He pulled me into another hug and wouldn't let go.
"Wah, what's going on here." Joey woke up slightly confused. Mike let go of me and looked at him. "Morning Joey," Mike said wiping the tears from his cheeks and trying to look dignified. "Okay kids, let's go down to the kitchen. We all need to talk about this shit." He kissed my forehead and left the room. I turned to Joey, "Well, may as well get it over with. Just don't leave my side. Please."

We walked into the kitchen hand in hand. Joey was my rock. I needed him there for support, but this was the first time he would hear too, so I didn't know how he would be about it. Mike, Billie, Adie and Tré were all sitting around the kitchen table. They stopped talking as I walked in. Everyone looked scared and confused. I walked over and took a seat beside Adie, and told them everything.

"So, you don't remember who it was?" Mike asked, tears falling down his cheek. I shook my head, "I spent years trying to forget his face, and what he done, but I still have nightmares, only now, I don't see a face anymore, just a shadow grabbing me and pulling me into a blue car." I looked at Mike, "yeah, all those times I woke you up cause I had a nightmare wasn't cause I dreamt about my parents, it was him." I looked around the table. Everyone looked shocked at how someone could do that to a nine year old. Joey squeezed my hand tighter as tears fell again. "We have to call the cops," Billie said suddenly. "No, he'll kill me." I shouted, shocking everyone. "It's probably too late anyway. It was six years ago and I can't remember his face." I didn't want the world to know what had happened to me. I looked at Tré. He hadn't said anything since everyone had found out, he had stayed completely quiet. "Tré are you okay?" I asked, he looked up, "what? Yeah, I' just thinking back to," he paused as everyone turned to look at him, "I'm sorry Soph, for all that shit I pulled when we all first met you. Trying to grab you from behind and everything. It must have brought up bad memories for you." He stopped and looked at me. "Tré, it's okay. I'll admit that every time, you did scare the shit out of me, but you guy's didn't know, and I didn't tell you. It's okay now." I walked over and hugged him tightly. "dad." I turned to Mike, "I'm tired. Can I stay here tonight, or do we have to go home?" Mike looked at Billie and Adie, who both nodded, before he replied, "no, its okay go on up to bed." I gave everyone a hug and said goodnight. A few minutes later Joey came up to the room and knocked on the door. I opened it, "Joey, you know you don't have to knock to come into your own room." I said as he came in. "Soph, I'm so sorry about everything. Especially this morning, you know, the way I acted. I'm sorry." He said walking over to me. I kissed him, but he pulled back. "Joey, what's wrong?" I asked looking into his eyes. He looked back at me, "I don't want to do anything that might hurt you." He said looking down at his feet. "Joey, you aren't going to hurt me. I love you." I said not taking my gaze from his eyes. "I love you too." he said and kissed me softly, and we got into be. I cuddled into him and fell asleep.

Ouch, what the fuck was that? I opened my eyes and ducked as Sophie's arm hit the pillow where my head had been. I sat up and looked at her. She was thrashing about the bed, covered in sweat and crying. "I didn't tell anyone I swear. Leave me alone." She screamed as she rolled over. I tried to wake her, but couldn't. I ran from the room to mom and dads door. I opened it and walked over to the bed without turning on the light. I had learned when I was younger that dad sleeps in the buff, and it's not a pretty sight, believe me. "Dad," I whispered as I shook his shoulder. "Dad, come quick. It's Sophie. Something's wrong with her." Dad sat up straight, "go get Mike, I'll be over in a sec." I ran out of the room to the door opposite it, "Mike, something's wrong with Sophie." He jumped out of bed and ran into my room and I followed him. Dad was already in there trying to wake Sophie up, but nothing was working. He put his fingers to her neck as we walked in, "Mike, dude, she's burning up badly and her pulse is racing." He said looking worried. Mike ran over and looked at Sophie. "I'll be back in a minute." He said leaving the room. When he returned wearing jeans and a t-shirt, Sophie had stopped flailing about and screaming, but still wouldn't wake up. He lifted Sophie up gently and started to walk out the door. "Where in god's name are you taking her Mike?" dad asked. I was terrified by this whole situation. "Billie, I'm taking her to the hospital." He looked at me, and then moved closer to dad, "I can barely feel a pulse." He said quietly, thinking I couldn't hear him, and he left the room. A few minutes later we heard a car screech out of the drive and speed down the road.

"Fuck, Soph. Don't do this to me. Come on you can make it." I shouted at Sophie while speeding down the freeway. Her pulse was weakening with every minute and I needed to get to the hospital. A few minutes later I pulled up and abandoned the car at the entrance. I lifted Sophie out gently. "Hey, you can't leave that there." A security guard came running over yelling. "You don't like it, you fucking park it." I yelled throwing the keys at him and running inside. I walked over to the reception of the a&e. "Someone help me." I yelled and a lady ran over to me. She took one look at Sophie and yelled, "Jimmy, help me here." And as he ran towards us the first girl took us into an exam room. I placed Sophie down on the bed and stood back as the two doctors checked her over. Another girl came in and took me out to another room. "Hello, I'm Mattie. I just need to get some information. Firstly, what's your name?"
"Mike Dirnt"
"And the girl's name?"
"Sophie."
"And your relationship with her is... "
"I adopted her, about a year ago. I'm her legal guardian."
"What age is she?"
"Fifteen and a half."
"Okay, so tell me what happened?"
"What the fuck is with all the fucking questions? You people aren't going to have a file on her cause she's from Ireland."
"That's precisely why I need to ask these questions. The more we know about her, the better we'll be able to treat her. Now please tell me what happened."
"Well, she gets nightmares. They're pretty frequent but not that bad. Tonight she was thrashing about the bed in a cold sweat, but she was burning up and her pulse was racing. And no-one could wake her. Then I went to put something on so I could come here and when I got back into the room Billie told me that she had stopped moving and screaming. And she barely had a pulse, so I took her here as fast as I could."
"Okay. Does she have any allergies?"
"Not as far as I know, like I said I adopted her."
"Is she on any medication?"
"No, she's not. She's perfectly healthy. Not even been ill since I met her."
"Okay, that's all I need for now. We'll come and get you when you can see Sophie. The doctor will explain to you when they're done." And with that she left me in the room, alone, with nothing to do but worry.

After what seemed like hours, I was called another room. Sophie was lying on the bed hooked up to lots of different machines, wires, and drips. There was a little beep every few seconds, which I assumed was her heart rate. The female doctor walked over to me, "Mr. Dirnt, I'm Doctor Covach. I'm treating Sophie. We are still unsure what has happened to her tonight, but we are doing tests to try and figure it out. I have to tell you that while we were trying to get Sophie stabilized, her heart stopped. It was only for about a minute and we got her back, we just have to wait on the test results now and we'll let you know if anything new arises." She looked at me, "Okay," I said worriedly, "oh, and a few people will come looking for us. Can you send them in. They're family." I paused hopefully. "Okay, but it is family only outside of visiting hours." She replied. She would buy the 'family' excuse now, but not when she met them, but I don't care. All I care about at this precise moment, is Sophie. The doctor left the room and I took the seat beside the bed, and held Sophie's hand.