Haley was approaching the kitchen door, at the end of her walk home from school. She had put off coming home as long as she could, and on the way home she had contemplated what would be most likely to greet her when she arrived there. She suspected it would be another lecture of some kind or a tale of how she had so much potential yet it was impossible to tell for all her failures. "If they push me any further, I will have to find the words to fight," she thought.
So here she was tonight, alone in her room again. She had just returned from another run in with a brick wall of harsh words. Her head felt fuzzy and dim from the onslaught, like her head was underwater. She sank into the chair at her desk, weak from the wear and tear of her parents' verbal bullying. Remembering what she thought earlier about fighting back, she decided she didn't have the strength tonight. Inside one of her desk drawers lies a box with a sharp tool in it; it's been part of her comfort and relief from her parents for a long time now. But she knows, what they say about her cuts deeper than the sharpest knife. A scene replays in her mind, one that's played over and over in her head throughout the past year: She's in a car, stopped at an intersection, looking at the red traffic light. The red light begs her to stay there, ceasing to urge the car of her life forward through the rest of her life.
Her mind drifts back to the fuzzy feeling in her head and a replay of what happened downstairs. It felt like she could drown in her own mind if she kept listening the sound of their cruel laughter. They didn't know anything about who she really was, but she let her fighting words of stone fall to the ground. The wolves after her life were still crying out, "I'll take you away."
Amidst all of this, she had logged onto her computer and into the messaging system she and Josh used. Now, there was a ping, signaling a message from Josh. His shift at the coffee shop was over. Thankful he remembered to let her know when he got off work, she messaged him back, saying a few words about what had gone down when she got home. He asked if he could take her away to a place where she could relax a little and talk about it if she wanted to. "It's you and I alone," he said. She wasn't sure if she was up to it, so she held off on answering him. She knew he wanted to help her, but she was tired of going around the cycle, so tired she had been considering putting a stop to it, and answering the call form the wolves of the red light.
Josh would not let up though. He wanted to make a deal that if she didn't come meet him, he would come over to her house and bring her out himself. Haley never hesitated much when it came to getting away from her house; it was something she was always up for. Not really sure of what her hesitation meant, he knew he had to get her to talk and if she was sitting in front of him it made it that much harder for her to lie to him. She finally agreed to meet him in the park, and made it there first. After picking out a bench to sit on, she waited, cradling her arms against her. He hoped he wouldn't ask her what they were looking like now; she didn't want to tell him they looked worse than last time. They were supposed to get better, not worse, or they would have to tell someone else about them.
Josh walked up to the bench and sat down right beside her and rested his arm on the top of the backrest. They discussed what her parents had said to her this time, Haley recounting their words and Josh reaffirming her that she was not any of those things, and that it was not the truth. He could tell she was especially low on hope this evening; her face lit by the streetlamp showed much pain and defeat. Sorrow was all around her mouth and eyes. She needed to start standing up for herself and let someone older in on the secret so that she could welcome happiness back into her life. "So will you stand for something, and give them back the ammunition? Or will you let them tell you who you are?" he asked. True, they were hard questions, but something needed to be done. He just needed to see if she was willing and strong enough to do it on her own, otherwise he would stand in the gap.
A long hour or two of deliberation and discussion later, Haley decided that she would go to someone else, someone who could help better than just Josh, as good as he was. It was extremely difficult process though. Josh felt most of his words had been words of persuasion, rather than encouragement as he would have preferred. His hope was that he had not been too harsh or unwise because Haley was crying now. He felt she needed the push though, otherwise the situation would simply continue to get worse, and Haley could wind up in even deeper distress and damage. He put his arms around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. She put her head on his shoulder, tears still running down her cheeks. "Sh-shh. I love you, Haley. I love you and I'm so glad you want to get out of this mess. We can work on it together," he soothed.
"You really love me that much?" she weepily asked him.
"Yes. My love is deeper than the stars, and wider than the sea. And you, you are bigger than the scars you feel at night, when you're holding your pillow tight, and you're wishing someone would call you home. You are stronger than tonight, when their words are crushing, and a real escape seems impossible."