Midnight Doesn't Last Forever

Chapter 12

"Harry, you didn't do this to me....my dad did."

After I said those 10 little word the worry in his eyes left and there was nothing. He looked at me with empty eyes and a blank stare. I didn't know if he was going to say anything or just sit speechless for the rest of the day. I knew I shouldn't have said anything, I chided myself. We sat for a few minutes and then finally he came back to life. His eyes overflowing with hate.

"When?" he asked.

"Five days ago."

"Why?"

"I walked away before he gave me permission..so he grabbed me."

Harry huffed with annoyance and probably anger too. He sat back in his chair and let my wrist gently fall from his gingerly hold.

"How long has he been..ya know?"

I had to think about that question. It was after my mother died, I knew that. But how long ago exactly? I wasn't sure.

"Physically..or mentally?"

"Both."

I thought again and decided it was about a month after my mom died.

"About a year."

He looked down at the table and I could tell he was feeling something horrible. I wasn't sure if it was anger, hate, vengance, or something else but I knew he was upset.

"Will you tell me?" he spoke up looking away from the wood of the small table top to my curious eyes.

"Tell you what?"

"Everything. Why it started..how often....how badly. Just tell me, please?"

"Why do you want to know? We never spoke to each other before yesterday and now you want me to spill my guts to you. Why would I do that?"

"Because I know you trust me. I know that you know Im not just curious, I care."

I did trust him..Im not sure why I did so much but I did and I couldn't change that or the fact that he knew that. I also knew that he cared, I could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes and his expression.

"I will if you tell me why you care so much."

He paused, contemplating my offer."Ok," he said slowly," but you have to go first."

I nodded my head and looked down. Where was I going to start? So many things have happened in the last 12 months and I dont know if reliving it all is the best thing to do. I push myself to start somewhere before I chicken out.

"Last year my mom was killed. She was walking home and some guys thought she was some girl they knew. They stabbed her 6 times and then left her to die. My mom spent her last few minutes of life scared and cold and with no one to hold her hand and tell her that they loved her for the last time."

Harry was silent, a sign that he wanted me to continue.

"She was left there for 18 hours before someone found her. 19 hours before she was placed in the mourge. 23 hours before anyone got around to calling my father and I and telling us about what happened. 24 hours after she was murdered, I had to look at her life less body and confirm who she was. I was so confused at first, I didn't know why fate had led her to such a terrible thing, I didn't know how my mother could ever be confused with anyone else. She was so beautiful, such unique beauty that I couldn't fathom how anyone could mistake her someone else."

"A three weeks later we had her funeral. I don't remember most of that day. It was all so sureal that sometimes I wonder if it actually happened. Did I really sit in that dumb litle chair as the preacher spoke. Did I really stare off at nothing while I was passed around to different people who ofdered condolences. Was I really there while my mother was closed inside a box and barried six feet deep....never to be heard from or seen again."

Harry wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking at the table again, staring at it. So I kept going.

"After the funeral my dad and I went home. We didn't speak to each orher for three days. Neither of us had anything to say. After the third day he spoke to me. I still remember exactlt what he said."

It took me a moment to grasp the courage to say the words that started everything.

"He said, 'Go upstairs, Im going to have a drink and you're to be quiet. I don't want to hear you or see you for the rest of the night so make sure I don't.' That was the first night he drunk himself to sleep. And every night that week was exactly the same. The following week is the week that the verbal abuse started. He would say I was ugly or that I was a slut, things like that. Every week after that his words would get more hurtful and more often. Eventually he stopped going to work. He used to work just to have something to do, we have plenty of money so it didn't really matter. Everyday after I would come home he would sit me down on the couch to "spend time with him". It would always end with him screamind about how he wished I was killed instead of her. He wished I never would have been born."

Harry grabbed my hand and I finally realized that I was crying when I noticed that everything was a little blurry and the spit on the table I had been staring at was covered in little droplets.

"Shay, you don't have to tell me anymore..I understand if you want to stop." he said, looking at me gently.

I shook my head. "No I have to finish now..or I never will."

He nodded his head in understanding and I sucked in a breath to finish my tale.

"A week after the first time he

hit me, I met Louis-"

"Louis Tomlinson? The jock?" he interupted.

"Yea, he's the one. Well I met him and he introduced me to Char. They were my only friends at the time and they were perfect. I got so close to them so quickly and ended up telling them about my dad and my mom and everything going on. And eventually Louis introduced me to Mark. Mark was so sweet and so understanding, caring. He asked me out eventually and I said yes. He was my first boyfriend, the first guy to even ever ask me out and I felt SO special because he could have nearly any girl he wanted yet he chose me."

I had to stop for a moment and prepare my self for the night I was about to relive..again.

"We had been dating for 2 weeks when I went to his house. He had invited me over that day at school, he said that his parents were at a party and wouldn't be back till the next day. I snuck out and went to his house late that night and I was so excited to have some time with him where we would be compleatly alone. When I got there he opened the door and let me in. He was being so nice. We went to his room and layed down on the bed and..things escalated. He kept trying to take off my pants..I didn't want him to, I told him to stop but he-he wouldn't."

I was nearly sobbing when Harry stood up and walked around to my side of the table. He sat in a chair beside me and did the last time I was expecting.

He pulled me over to him and wrapped his arms around me, letting me cry into his chest silently.

We sat like that for a long while. I was all out of tears and about to pull away when Harry tensed and I heard his heartbeat get quicker.

I pushed myself out of his arms, reluctantly, and looked at his face. His eyes were staring hatefully at whoever walked in just now and I was scarred to see who it was.

Was it my father? I immideatly thought out of panic.

I turned to see the person walking toward us.

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It was Mark...

(A.N. Heyyyy so I loved writing this chapter. Its longer than the last one and I worked pretty hard on it. Thanks to Kaylee for the encouragment and I hope you all like it. SORRY IF THERE ARE TYPOS I JUST REALLY QANTED TO GER THIS UP AND ILL FIX THEM LATER I PROMISE. So ya, comment, vote, ride a tortise. Whatever floats your boat. ♥♥♥♥)