The Boy With The Hopeless Dreams

Sam's POV

Obsessing over what Lily would think of my small, shabby apartment, we headed back. I’d gotten far too hot in that stupid café so was relieved when we left and felt the cold air biting my bare skin. 

I’d skipped a couple of errands this week and knew the boss wouldn’t be pleased so I’d been stressing about that, praying that I wasn’t going to be jumped and attacked at any given moment.

I knew Lily had picked up on this as I often caught her looking worriedly at me but I nevertheless changed my expression as quickly as possible.

She could never find out.

She would have to find out.

I looked up and saw Harvey.  Every ounce of panic I’d felt that week paled in comparison for the panic that I felt when I caught his eye. I tightened my grip around Lily’s shoulders.

“Oh, for fu-“

On closer inspection, I clocked a gun in his chest pocket, a knife in his sock and was sure that there was another knife hidden somewhere. I instinctively did a quick check and was reassured by the smooth surface of my own eight inch knife. I had yet had the need to use it and really hoped I didn’t have to today, not in front of Lily.

“Murphy, I’ve been expecting you this week. Haven’t heard a thing from ya,” Harvey growled. His voice made my stomach churn. It reminded me of how he’d found me after I moved from London to get away from him and knocked my door down. The bruises and cuts hadn’t healed for three weeks. 

The memory made me utterly furious and I almost went blind with anger. Taking three deep breaths, I replied,

“Well, I haven’t heard from the boss so don’t blame me.”

I knew he knew I was lying. I’d just confirmed his suspicions.

Excellent job, Murphy.

“Is that so, eh? I’ve ‘ad words with the boss and he ain’t too pleased with your conduct either. Says you’ve been slacking.” 

I shifted my weight, unsure as to how to respond. I glanced at the knife in his sock, thinking of ways I could get Lily and myself out of this situation without being stabbed.

As Harvey poked me in the chest, something inside me snapped. Something outside Harvey snapped too: his finger was now at a right-angle to his hand. 

“How dare you…”

His fist landed in my stomach and I heaved. I was not going to be sick.

I heard Lily scream for us to stop and saw Harvey throwing her to the floor.  Her head hit the pavement hard. Harvey’s rough hands forced me into the dingy alleyway but my eyes didn’t leave Lily’s.

I was not going to let her get hurt. She would not be involved in this. I would protect her.

My fists connected with his grimy face and strong chest over and over again. Good.
I was causing him pain.

I felt Lily’s arms around me, trying desperately to pull me off.

No.

She needed to be out of the way.

Praying she would fall back to the floor, I released myself from her grip and eyed the surrounding area quickly to see if I could do any damage with anything. Anything at all.

A brick caught my eye. That was suspiciously lucky.

But I was too late.  Harvey had been beating Lily, my Lily, up because I wasn’t watching. Her head was cut, her hands were bleeding…

She was clutching at her stomach and I knew she would have internal damage, hopefully not permanent but damaged all the same.  I lifted the brick up and brought it down heavily onto Harvey’s head, knowing the right place to hit to knock him out.

I didn’t fancy being labelled a murderer.

I bent down to Lily and tried my best to clean up her face, squeezing her hand all the time. She pushed my hand away and tried to speak:

“Sam…What the actual heck? What was that?! Why-“

She winced massively and gripped her stomach.

It was the worst thing I had ever seen, Lily in pain. Worse, even, than seeing my mum, because I knew there was nothing I could have done to help Mum but the fact that Lily was in pain and it was my fault and that I could have stopped this was just completely unbearable. For the first time since Mum, I felt myself start to cry.

But before the tears could fall, I wiped them away and crouched down to pick up Lily. Thank God we were at the back of town. Nobody saw and nobody was in the street.

She looked woozy, her eyes flitting open for a few seconds then shut for a worrying amount of time. I had to get her back to mine.

I couldn’t possibly take her to the hospital: they ask too many questions. Luckily (or unluckily, whichever way you choose to see it), I had been beaten up enough times to know that Lily would not die. I would not let her die.

Unless…

Her eyes hadn’t opened for about thirty seconds so I broke into a panicked jog.

Please don’t die. Don’t die on me, Lily.

I literally kicked my front door in and slammed it shut with the same foot.

Lily was still motionless but her eyes were half open. She tried to smile but faltered and gave up.

I lay her as gently as I could on the threadbare, slightly-too-small sofa and stroked her face, telling her I was fetching a blanket. When I reached my bedroom, I ripped the slightly-too-small duvet off of my slightly-too-small bed and rushed back.

But she had passed out.

Just to be sure I checked her pulse and felt a steady heartbeat, thank the Lord.  I got a damp cloth from the kitchen, adrenaline still pumping, and tried my best to clean up all the blood from her face and hands.

I cried.

I cried as I cleaned her wounds; I cried as I checked her stomach for bodily bruising; I cried as I threw the cloth away. I only stopped crying when I reached the kitchen sink, where I promptly vomited my guts out.

When I’d finished heaving, the consequences of what had just happened caught up with me.  Harvey had no idea where exactly I lived because I’d made sure of that.  He wouldn’t find me here, would he? The police would only find out if there were witnesses.

But Lily’s mum was going to have a fit.  Whoops.

I heard the door open and grabbed my knife.  Nobody called out so I edged my way over to the living room door, keeping my body close to the wall.  I saw the new entry and sighed heavily.

It was just Thomas, my brother.

He stared, wild-eyed at the knife which I swiftly hid again and then told him that we had a girl on our sofa and she was hurt.  I also told him to take a knife with him every time he went out.  I realised just how much I appreciated and loved my brother when he asked no questions, nodded and hugged me.

He walked into his bedroom and I soon heard the soft strains of his stereo.  I returned back to Lily and sat right next to the sofa.  I felt totally drained and with every blink, my eyelids got heavier and heavier until I felt them stick close.

I slept.

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asdfghjkl Sam is amazeballs. 

So yeah. I tried reeeeallly hard to make this one good. And YES the speech is deliberately exactly the same.

I really hope y'aaaaallll like it loads.

Also: anyone have any thoughts on the cast? If you do they have to be British. Sorry!

Lots of love,

Meg x