A Pillow For Harry
"Get out of the house!" Harry heard his mother scream above him as he sat in the basement with his little sister, Maisy, watching a movie. They looked at each other and ignored it. The arguments had been going on for as long as they could remember. Harry was seventeen years old and his sister, Maisy, was ten. It seemed like day in and day out all his parents ever said to each other was something rude and ended up starting an argument. Harry knew the reason for the fighting was because of finances. Ever since Maisy had been born their dad had become an alcoholic and spent the money they would have used to pay bills, to buy alcohol. The family had gone into great debt and his dad had blamed it on his mom. During their fights the whole neighborhood knew what was being said.
Another noise came from above. This time Harry could tell it was one of his dad's drunk yells. "Crap." Harry thought to himself. Maisy scooted herself closer to Harry on the couch and asked him "Is it going to be ok?"
"Yeah, just watch the movie." Harry replied skeptically.
They sat and tried to forget about the screams above them, though Harry could think of nothing else than helping his mother. Just as the movie was ending the loudest sound of the night took place, a painfully loud bang. Harry and Maisy-nearly asleep-shot up and looked at each other again. Suddenly in the pit of Harry's stomach and in the back of his brain he knew something worse than usual had happened but he tried to stay calm for Maisy.
"Give me your hand," he whispered to her as they started up the stairs.
He held onto her like he had no intent of ever letting her go. They took one step at a time, breathing quietly. Harry had a million things running through his head. He was imagining everything bad that could be happening just beyond that nearing door. Harry turned around to look at Maisy before he opened the door; she was more scared than he had ever seen her. He reached for the door handle and slowly turned it. He held his breath as he pushed it open. As he walked out of the doorway with Maisy clinging to his side, his mother and father became visible almost immediately. His worst fear hadn't come true. He quickly scanned the room to see what had caused the bang. His eyes locked on a chair in the corner of the room that he knew was supposed to be placed on the opposite side.
His parents stood there, barely five feet from where Harry and Maisy stood, screaming at each other with no plans on stopping.
"I should have never married you," he heard his mother fire at his father.
"You're worthless," his father roared in reply.
Harry could feel the fight escalating. He grasped Maisy's hand tighter than before and made a mad dash to Maisy's bedroom and slammed the door behind her.
"Harry, I'm scared." Said Maisy dejectedly.
"Don't be, we know it will all end in the morning," Harry replied.
"What if it doesn't?" Maisy asked.
"I don't know." Harry replied. "Why don't you just go to sleep?" He didn't want her to hear any more of the crude remarks their parents were saying to each other.
"What made this happen?" She asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about. Now I'm serious you need to go to sleep, it's getting late," he said.
"Fine." She sighed as she walked towards her bathroom with her pajamas.
After she left the room Harry started thinking about the night and wondering what was actually going to happen. He wondered if his dad was going to hurt his mom this time. He had come so close too many times before, Harry feared this was the night he was going to actually do it. Harry thought about how much he cared for Maisy and how he would do anything to keep her safe. He started thinking about himself and how his life was so different than his friends from school. None of their parents fought like his did; they were allowed to stay children longer, whereas Harry was forced to grow up faster to help care for Maisy while these fights were happening. He could hear his parents below them still bellowing their arguments at each other. Just then Maisy walked back in the room.
"Ready for bed, kiddo?" Harry asked
"Yeah" she replied
She climbed into her bed and sighed. Harry leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, I love you."
"I love you too," she answered
He turned and started out of her room. "Will you please stay in here? I'm really scared." Maisy asked him hopefully.
"Yeah, sure" he answered. He sat down in her chair while she dozed off. He sat there wanting to sleep and forget about everything, when all he could hear was the never ending anger below him. He wanted to go down and yell at them-yell until there was no tomorrow. He wanted to tell them they were pathetic, that they were being awful parents. He wanted to tell his dad to leave them all alone, he wasn't doing any good at the house. Harry knew it wouldn't do any good though. These fights are their own battles and nothing he says will change it.
He looked over at Maisy. She was sound asleep. Everything would get better in the morning and he knew it. He sighed again and walked over to her bed, grabbed a spare pillow, and took it back to the chair. He laid his head down, covered his ears and fell asleep hoping to wake up to a peaceful house with everything perfectly fine.