Nightmares

Chapter twenty-two: Harper

I opened my phone to see a message from Carter and immediately started to smile. Danny looked at me oddly.

"What?" I asked him defensively.

"How can you trust this guy, Harper? You barely know him." He scowled.

"Stop saying that. I'm never going to get to know him if I don't talk to him." I snapped back. We'd had this argument so many times. He was really against Carter, and for absolutely no reason. What was his problem?

"He lives in the dark." He snapped.

"That is such a stereotypical response! Not everyone who walks around the dark is a murderer. Some people are star-gazers, or they enjoy midnight walks. But because he's a teenage boy you assume he's something evil." I shot back at him.

"I don't think he's evil, I just think it's reasonable to be distrustful of the person who threatened you with a knife." He scowled.

I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. "He didn't mean to do that. He was trying to prove a point." I sighed. We'd had this conversation already. Why had I even told him about it in the first place?

"A point that people like him are dangerous and are not to be trusted."

"He isn't 'people', he's Carter, and I trust him."

He scoffed.

"So he didn't make a very good first impression with you." I continued. "Maybe he's not very good with new people. How can you be so quick to distrust someone you just met?"

"How can you be so quick to trust someone you just met?" He threw my words back at me.

"You're hopeless. How are we even friends? What made you think that you could trust me?" I asked.

"You didn't look like you were hiding anything. An eight-year-old typically doesn't." He told me, harshly.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"You know, Danny. I'm beginning to wonder if it's not him I shouldn't trust, but you. You never seem to give me a straight answer when I need one." I stood up and walked away from him. Brushing away a stray tear and trying to forget his words.

~*~

I headed home, trying not to think about Danny's accusations about Carter. What did he have against him? Why wasn't he willing to accept that I had found someone who made me happy? Why was he automatically labelled 'evil' just because we had met in the darkness?

Didn't I deserve to find someone?

I sighed, what was his problem? Why was he being so overprotective? Why didn't he trust me? All of his accusations against Carter, all his warnings about him, they all boiled down to one thing. That he didn't trust me. He didn't trust me or my judgement. Why? Why didn't he trust me to stay safe?

You did meet this guy properly for the first time when he was drunk at two-thirty in the morning. A little voice in my head reminded me, but I shushed it.

I picked out my phone, wanting to call Carter. I needed to hear his voice, because I was scared that, if I didn't, I might start to believe Danny's theory that he was someone other than the person he pretended to be. I pressed his name and waited for him to pick up, hoping he wasn't sleeping.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Hi, Carter. It's me, Harper." I said, feeling a bit stupid for calling without a reason. Oh well, it was too late to bottle out now.

"Oh, hey." He said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You sound annoyed."

"It's nothing, really." I told him. "How have you been?"

"Alright." He replied.

I struggled to think of something to say. Why did this boy get me tongue-twisted?

"Want to meet up somewhere?" He asked, out of the blue.

"What?" I asked.

"You know, we could get a drink or something." He said, in a soft tone.

"Okay, where?"

"There's a little café near the park. Lesley's. Heard of it?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, meet in ten minutes?"

"Sure. See you."

"Bye."

After hanging up, I thought about Danny again. Why didn't he trust me? I didn't expect him to trust Carter, but why didn't he trust me?

I went off to have a shower and get changed. As I slipped on a blue top and threw a silvery-black cardigan over the top, I wondered why everyone thought I would make the wrong decision in my life. I might have an illness that needs observing, but I wasn't incapable of looking after myself.

I don't see why my epilepsy causes people think I can't cope with big decisions. With a sigh, I left the room to retrieve the straightener from Mum's room.

"Harpy!" Carlos squealed in glee, as he ran to me and clung to my leg.

"Hey little man." I said with a laugh.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going to meet a friend." I told him, picking him up.

"Danny!" He said joyfully. He loved Danny.

"No, not Danny. It's a boy called Carter." I explained.

"Oh." He said, his forehead scrunching as he considered his next question. "What's he like?"

"He's funny and likes stars." I told him.

"Stars?" He asked.

"Yes, he showed me the big dipper." I told him.

"Really? Do you think he could show me?" He asked, curiously.

I laughed. "I'm sure he could."

I gave him a kiss on his forehead and put him down, holding his hand as we went down the stairs. We went to the living room, where Mum was sat at the table.

"Harper's got a date." Danny squealed with excitement when we entered.

"Has she now?" Mum asked, quirking an eyebrow in my opinion.

"It's not really a date, Mum. I'm just meeting Carter for a drink." I said.

"Okay." She said, before mumbling something that sounded like "sure sounds like a date".

I just smiled and kissed her cheek before I left the house. Honestly, a part of me couldn't wait to see Carter. As much as I knew this wasn't a date, I still felt giddy with happiness. That boy had a strange spell over me, I'll admit it. I'm just not sure I would call it love.

Do you think Harper is dumb for trusting Carter so easily? It's true that not everyone is as they seem. Hmmm.

And is she going on a 'date' date with Carter? I dunno. We'll find out next week.

Anyway, that's all for now folks. See you next week.