Judged

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Sirens. All I hear are sirens. God, that's so fucking annoying. Where are these sirens coming from? I don't see an ambulance or a fire truck anywhere. I'm in a field, sitting on what seems to be an abandoned swing set. Where am I? I get up and look around vigorously. The harsh wind hits my face, and I can already feel a wind burn coming on. Jeez, it's cold out here. For miles all I can see is grass, yellow brittle grass that looks like it hasn't seen any water in months. I feel something wet hit my nose, and I look up to find gray and black clouds claiming the entire sky.. The swings squeak behind me, unwillingly being moved by the wind. The sirens are still blaring loud and clear continuously.

I practically jump out of my skin when I feel something tugging at my black dress from behind me. I whirl around so quick that my head spins to find a little girl with frizzy red hair and wide green eyes staring up at me as if I’m an alien or something. “Who are you?” I wonder aloud, somehow managing to make myself be heard over the sirens.

“You don’t belong here,” she says.

“Where is here? How did we get here? Where is everyone?” I ask so fast I don’t think she’ll be able to understand me.

She doesn’t look the least bit fazed when she grabs my hand, leading me away from the swing set “We need to leave, you don’t belong here.”

A strange outburst of fear and anger over come me “No! I don’t want to leave, I don’t even know where we are! I don’t know who you are!” I snatch my hand out of hers and take off running in the opposite direction.

She yells after me, but doesn’t chase me, “Harper! Harper! Come back! You don’t belong here, don’t you understand? HARPER!”

……………………….

“Harper, wake up!” I gasp, sitting up in my bed, sweat pouring down my face and look up to see my older brother, Hudson standing at the foot of the bed.

“Shit Harp, you’re sweating like a pig! Must’ve been some dream.”

“Nightmare,” I correct him. “What are you doing in here?” Hudson never comes into my room.

“I heard your alarm going off for like five minutes straight,” That would explain the sirens in my dream. “So, I thought I’d come and wake you up. You know, spare you some yelling from mom? She seems to be mad at you a lot lately…” he trails off.

“Thanks. But, I think I’m gunna go back to sleep. I’m not feeling so good,” I finish, hoping he bought my lie. And he does.

Being gullible is one of my brother’s downfalls, but in this case I guess it works in my favor. I’m not actually sick, I just don’t want to go to school.

“Still sick, huh? What’s it been, like, two weeks or something? Maybe you should go to the doctor, get some meds so you can go back to school. Junior year is the most important year of high school, Harp.” He says this with such seriousness that I wanna throw something at his face.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother. He’s funny, courageous, honest, and he’ll kill the occasional eight-legged creatures I find waltzing around the house, but sometimes he gets on my nerves. He’s such a hypocrite when it comes to school and responsibilities.

Here he is, telling me to stop missing so much school but he’s been fired from three jobs for not showing up on time, if at all. He’s telling me how important junior year is because those are the grades colleges take the most seriously, but he hasn't even considered going to college himself.

Maybe he just doesn’t want me to make the same mistakes he did. I get where he’s coming from I guess, but he should mind his own business. High school was a breeze for people like Hudson. Me….not so much.

“Listen Hud, I’d love to sit and chat, but I seriously don’t feel good. Could you leave now?”

He sticks his tongue out at me before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. Frickin’ weirdo. I skyrocket out of bed and over to the door, locking it, to prevent from further interruptions of my much needed sleep.

Lately, sleeping hasn’t been so easy. It takes me forever to fall asleep at night, my mind constantly keeping me awake. And when I do eventually fall asleep, I have troubles staying that way. I toss and turn all night long. Restlessness plagues my body, making it impossible to get comfy. I can sleep for twelve hours, wake up, and still feel dog tired as if I hadn’t slept at all. It’s utterly exhausting, not being able to sleep soundly. Sometimes, I’ll stay up for a full two days, just so that when I pass out, I go comatose. Dead to the world. I could sleep through a tree falling down outside, or a levee breaking, or a tornado. Okay, maybe not those last two, but you know what I mean.

My mom doesn’t understand this though. “Go to sleep at a decent time and maybe you’d actually be able to wake up in the morning” she tells me. If only it were that simple. Lay down, sleep, wake up. I wish.

******

I wake abruptly to the sound of my door handle jiggling, and then my mom screaming at me through the door.

“Harper, wake up NOW! I mean it young lady!” I groan, and pull the blanket over my eyes to shield the sun coming in through my window.

“Go away mom!” I shout at her.

“No Harper, I’m not going away until you open this door and get ready for school.”

“I don’t feel good. I’m still sick, just let me stay home and sleep,” I plead.

“BULLSHIT! You aren’t sick, you’re just lazy! Get out of bed, NOW,” she jiggles the door handle again. Seriously?

I hear my dad’s voice outside the door “For crying out loud Teresa, just leave her alone. She’ll get up when she feels like it.” I can tell he’s super annoyed with her. I can’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to be married to that either.

I faintly make out my mom’s footsteps going down the stairs, and then she slams their bedroom door. Not wanting to unlock my door, I grab a sharpie and index card off my desk. I sprawl Thanks Dad across the side with no lines, and then shove it under my door, knowing he’s still standing outside of it, probably leaning against the wall, with his head in his hands wondering what happened to his loving wife.

Assuming he doesn’t want to talk in case my mom is listening downstairs, I slide the sharpie under the door too. Minutes later the index card returns. On the side with lines it says No problem sweetie. Get some rest. Love you. What I would do without my dad, I have no idea.

Authors Note: Kind of a short chapter, but I'm happy with it. It elaborates on the relationships Harper has with her family. And that dream was a bit strange huh? More about that in the later chapters :))