Katana's Revenge

Just A Nightmare

Song: Fear by Blue October

I look down at my arms. I have deep scratches all the way up them on both sides. I also have new bandages around my wrist from where I was clawing at them.

"They had to redo the stitches...so it may be a few more weeks before that heals all the way." She gestures to my arm with her hand. "Those will heal in time. Katana, what happened last night?"

I shrug feeling defeated. "I don't know," I say honestly.

"You sure about that; look it's just me alright; I'm not judging you."

"I don't know. I was sleeping and he was there."

"Who was there?"

"Mr. Harper, he was there. I was trying to escape."

"So, this Mr. Harper, he is the one that hurt you. What was he doing?"

"Very bad things." I reach for my neck and she looks at it. I have a few scratches there as well but also a faint scar from the belt. Hopefully it will fade in time but who knows when that will really be. Even if it ever does I will forget about it.

She gets up and grabs something from the shelf and then comes back over to me. "You want to play a game?"

"Seriously...a game." I look up at her and she is just giving me that look. "Sure...why not," I sigh. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

"So this is a deck of cards, on each one it has a question. Some are simple, some are hard. You play who has the highest card. So it's like whoever has the highest number card replies to the question on their card and you keep the cards in play." She is dealing out the cards between the two of us, while she is going over the so called rules.

One the first round she got a ten I got had a two. She replies to the question, simple as that. Guess this isn't too bad. We play a few rounds answering back and forth. I tell her my favorite color and hobbies and other things. This is a more as a getting to know you type of game. So I am starting to relax a little.

The question comes up."What are you afraid of?"

 I look up at her and bite my bottom lip.

"It's ok, we are all afraid of something; there is nothing wrong with being afraid. I'm afraid of being alone at night." She looks back at me waiting for my answer.

"I'm...I'm...afraid he will come after me."

"Who, Mr. Harper?" she asks.

I nod my head.

"I heard that he is locked up, may be there for a long time."

"What if he gets out? What if he comes after me again?"

"I hope he never makes it out. Do you want to tell me about it?"

"What that night or the dream?" I ask her, even though I really don't want to talk about either.

"You tell me, I'm listening."

 "I was stupid. I made the biggest mistake in my life." I shake my head looking away from her. "You see the squad likes to go caroling at Christmas to cheer up the neighborhood and his was on the list because his son Anthony played on the football team. His little brother came out to watch and I...being me picked him up so he wouldn't get hurt. When I took him to the door he was sleeping and Mr. Harper asked if I would put him to bed."

Her eyes slowly look up to me. "So you took him to his room?"

I nod, "Stupid right?"

She doesn't say anything.