New chapter!
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The next evening, Wyatt peers through the door that leads into Callie's room. Nervous and insecure, he shifts his weight and remains at the doorway.
Callie looks up and sees Wyatt. Confusion and sadness washes over her. Why hasn't he seen me? She thinks.
She looks him up and down, she sees his hunched shoulders, his low head, and his hair almost as messy as hers, dangling by his shoulders.
"Come in already," she groans, and gives a weak smile, but it soon fades away.
He steps in, the room full of tension.
"Hey, Callie." He says, distracted by all the monitors and machines making noise.
"Sit down," Callie says, invitingly.
He looks at the edge of the bed, and then looks to the chair. He sits in the chair, not brave enough to be so close.
Callie leans into Wyatt, looking up to him.
"You okay? Talk to me." She encourages.
She sees the pain and guilt on his face.
"He was gonna come anyway," she whispers.
Wyatt looks to her, a bit shocked.
"It was only a matter of time, so…" she tries to continue, but doesn't know how to comfort him.
"...Save me next time." She jokes, but it's even too dark for Wyatt.
"I came back, so it'd be twice," he replies with a shy laugh. "But, I did leave you, so I guess you're right, the first doesn't count."
Everything is serious again. Callie looks down, uncomfortable with his underlying truth.
He continues, "I just-I lost you, and I turned around for a minute. I didn't think-"
"No one does." She responds coldly. "But I'm not angry with you." Callie bargains.
Overwhelming sadness enters the room and disappointment creeps in after.
"I know, he came before, and I should've expected it, Callie." He says with sorrow.
"That's not when it started, not at the school… Can we just be friends again?" She asks.
"Tell me about him, you never told me anything. I'm all ears, if you want to."
Callie rolls her eyes, "I'm tired of talking about him, what's going on with the rest of the world?" She teases.
"Well, you've missed a lot of school and you won't be copying my homework."
"No way! It's always wrong!" Callie jests.
"Oh! I see how it is!" He says, offended.
"This...I want this…" Callie says, slowing the conversation. "Not sympathy for the situation, just normal. Thank you."
"Well, you need a shower. Bad."
Mariana walks into the room, laughing.
"I didn't know how to approach that subject," she giggles. "But I'm glad we're talking about that. And just, like a complete makeover? We can shop online, Callie! And then, when you're ready, we can go out to the stores to try them all on!"
"Mariana, I hate to break it to you, but I will never be ready for that day!" She says, sarcastically serious.
Mariana bickers, "Missy, I will make you ready for that day, just you wait!"
Wyatt looks back and forth from the girls, baffled.
"That's my cue. Callie..." He looks to her. "Get well soon."
He leaves. Mariana squeals, and sits on the bed.
"So he came back, what did you guys say? Anything about me?"
"You wish, but no. What time is it? Moms let you come this late?" Callie asks, confused.
"Yeah, they're at home and it's like 11, but I wanted a sleepover, so...here I am!"
"Hmm...okay. Well, I'm going to participate in the actual sleeping part...but you can stay with me!" Callie responds, smiling.
"You're a simple person, aren't you?" Mariana says sarcastically.
"The simplest! But seriously. Lights out."
And with that, Callie turns out the lights and pulls up her covers.
"Callie...are you still awake?" Mariana whispers.
After a moment of silence, Mariana can hear Callie snickering.
"You underestimate me, I was taking a power nap!" Callie laughs.
"Fine, if it's sleep in a sleepover you want, a sleep in a sleepover you will get-but I won't let you forget that it's weird."
Both girls giggle, wondering how they'll ever actually fall asleep. Yet, somehow, within a few minutes of quiet, they are both fast asleep.
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In the middle of the night, around 2 A.M., Callie's head thrashes and her arms flail.
"Please. Stop."
Mariana stirs, groggy.
"Not tonight, how about tomorrow, okay?"
Mariana sits up, confused.
"Please, get off. You're hurting me!" She wails.
Mariana jumps up to the side of Callie's bed.
"Callie! What's going on? Wake up!"
"Ow. I'm not ready! Stop!"
Mariana grabs her shoulders and carefully shakes her, trying not to injure Callie.
Callie takes hold of Mariana's wrists and struggles with moving them away from her.
"I swear to God, I'm gonna tell!"
Mariana runs out of the room, frantically searching for a doctor.
"I need help! My sister is freaking out! Or having a nightmare or something!" She screams.
A nurse and doctor follow Mariana into Callie's room, but the nurse stops Mariana at the doorway.
"Just for precautions, we need you to wait outside." She kindly says.
Mariana sits in a chair in the waiting room, stunned. She immediately pulls out her phone and calls Stef, crying.
"MOM! Something happened to Callie! You need to come; I don't know what it is. She was having a nightmare, but the doctors rushed in and now I don't know what's happening anymore. They won't let me in the room.
Stef had already jumped out of bed when the phone rang, knowing there was trouble.
"Babe, you need to breath. I'm just getting into my car," Stef reassures.
"Please," she weeps.
"I'm on my way, hold on, honey." Stef's heart breaks.
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Stef bursts through the hospital doors and runs to hug Mariana who latches onto her like a vice grip.
"Hey, I'm here now. Are you okay?" Stef asks, holding her daughter close.
"It's not me, it's Callie. She woke me up and had some nightmare, but the doctors seemed really concerned. I don't know what happened! She was saying these weird things and I just couldn't get her to wake up! I couldn't help her!" Mariana escalates her worry into sobs.
Stef holds her head and rocks her side to side.
"Nightmares can be scary, remember yours? I'm sure it's just the same." She reassures.
"I think it was about Liam," Mariana says, barely audible.
Stef looks at her, all the kindness is gone from her face.
"How would you know that, Mariana?"
Mariana looks to the floor, uncomfortable with what Callie was saying. She couldn't say it herself.
Stef grabs her hand, "You need to tell me so I can help Callie, sweetie. We both want her to feel better-"
"But she's not better!" Mariana interjects half concerned, half angry.
"I think Liam did something to her that she can't get better from! These nightmares seemed terrifying; I was surprised how she moved, like nothing was hurt or broken."
"The nightmares will subside, the doctors can assist with that."
"It seemed like...like she had to do something against her will. She kept saying stop, and get off. I assumed it was from the attack? I tried to shake her, but she wouldn't budge."
"That's good, honey. I'm glad you told me. You won't need to worry about Callie, she'll get through this. Just like you did."
"This is worse, Mom."
The doctor comes in and nods his head to the side. Stef walks over to him, separating herself from Mariana.
"What happened? She was okay, until some nightmare?" Stef worriedly asks.
"These seem to be frequent occurrences, has she ever had something like this before when she was at your home?"
Stef thinks back, but comes up with nothing.
"No, this has never happened before."
"Never happened at your home?" He clarifies.
"Correct." Stef answers, hating that Callie had a long list of other homes. Other homes that put her in danger.
"Her body reacted to a severe nightmare; however, she seemed to have controlled her movements in a way."
Stef interrupts, "I'm sorry, but my daughter said that she was uncontrollable, moving around and-"
"Well, it seems uncontrolled to those who have never seen something like this. But, based upon Callie's movements, this was a routine night for her."
"Routine?"Stef seethes.
"Yes, ma'am," the doctor says, noticing her anger. He continues, "She's awake now, you might want to ask her a few questions regarding her 'nightmare.'"
"Why is that?"
"It seems like something a cop should know," he replied.
Something a cop should know, Stef thinks.
The doctor leaves, Stef looks to Mariana and puts up a hold-on-one-minute finger.
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"It's happened before, almost regularly. It's the same thing, over and over again. But, I've learned to deal with it, so…" Callie's voice veers off.
"Sweetie, I don't think you have yet. While this may be routine," she thinks of the doctor, "it shouldn't be. The doctor said there are better ways to combat this. To stop it, really." Stef says.
"Really?" Callie says, astonished.
"Can you tell me what happened in the dream?" She asks.
Callie just stares at her blankly. The situation flashes before her and she jumps. Stef comes closer to her and comforts Callie.
"You can tell me, it's safe, you're safe."
Callie remains silent. Tears are starting to form in her eyes as she shakes her head.
"No. No, I can't tell you. One's too many." She begins to cry, silently.
Stef hugs Callie, "You can tell me anything. There's nothing to worry about and-"
"He made me promise. I can't, Stef," her voice breaks.
"Who made you promise, Callie?"
"Liam."
Stef's empty hand curls into a fist. She takes a deep breath and looks into Callie's eyes.
"Did he say you'd be in trouble if you told?" She asks.
"He'd be in trouble if I told…" Callie says, trying to control the conversation. "But, so would I, so, we never told anyone."
"Told anyone what? Callie, I need to know." Stef strongly says.
"He said he'd kill Jude," she wails. Callie's head shakes side to side, "I can't risk it." Her shoulders begin to shake and Stef holds onto the girl.
"He's never going kill Jude, he's never going to hurt you two again. I won't let him touch you."
"He already did."
Everything stops. Stef looks into the broken girl's eyes, trying to understand what she really meant.
"Is that what happened? What you were saying last night?" Mariana chimes in.
Callie looks up to her and another tear streams down her face.
"Did 'maybe tomorrow' ever work, Callie," Mariana barely musters out from her own tears.
Callie shakes her head, unable to speak.
"Was it Liam?"
Callie nods.
"Did he…?"
She nods again.
Stef looks to each girl with sadness.
"Callie, honey, this is going to be tough. I need you to tell me what Mariana means, okay?"
"It's okay, Callie. We all support you." Mariana says, walking up to her to sit beside Callie. She holds onto Callie's already shaking hand.
"You can tell Stef."
There's a beat and then Callie's eyes shift to Stef's.
"He… Uh-Liam forced me...to… He forced me." She couldn't get it out.
"Are you saying Liam raped you?" Stef asks, tears brimming her own eyes.
"He raped me." Callie sobs. Both Stef and Mariana hold onto Callie as she cries into their shoulders.
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I know, pretty heavy. Hope you guys liked it! R&R!