"Now Nikki may I ask where you got this injury?" Dr Duncan Tyler asked fifteen minutes later as he sat on a chair in front of Nikki who just shook her head, not opening her eyes or moving her head from the back of the sofa. The doctor glanced at Anne who was perched on the end of the sofa and she bit her lip, half wanting to tell the doctor and half wanting to keep Nikki's trust. The doctor saw this and decided to change tactic. "How do you feel?"
"Sick" Nikki replied quietly "dizzy"
"Headache?"
"Yes"
"Any double vision?"
"Why do you think I have my eyes closed?" Nikki asked him and shifted slightly as she tried to ignore her body's will to throw up. She didn't have anything left in her to throw up anyway.
"Nikki where are you?"
"In..." she frowned, keeping her eyes shut, as she tried to remember. She let out a small sob and shook her head. "I don't know"
Harry gripped her hand tightly and smoothed some of her hair away from her face. He hated seeing her like this and it was all her father's fault. He wanted nothing more than to go around and show the other man what Nikki felt like at the moment by giving the same to him. He clenched his fist on his leg and took a deep breath as the doctor kept talking to Nikki who was even more unresponsive to him.
"Right, I want Nikki to have bed rest for a couple of days. She's got concussion" Dr Tyler told Anne fifteen minutes later as they stood in the hallway of the house, the living room door shut so the two teenagers couldn't hear their conversation. "give her plenty of water and also let her have some painkillers if she needs them"
"Okay, thank you" Anne nodded, still wondering about Nikki admitting taking more tablets than necessary.
"How did she get the injury?"
Anne sighed and shook her head, running one hand through her hair.
"Her father" she replied quietly, knowing that the doctor/patient confidentiality would stop the doctor from saying anything to anyone else, and the doctor nodded solemnly.
"Nikki sweetheart do you want to go to bed?" Harry asked quietly while his mother was seeing the doctor out. Nikki chuckled slightly and shrugged.
"I knew you just wanted to get me into bed"
"You've found me out" Harry sighed dramatically and Nikki couldn't help but giggle "Can you walk?"
"Can you carry me please?" Nikki whispered and opened her eyes slightly to look at him. Harry could see how glazed they were and nodded as he stood up from the arm of the armchair and gently scooped Nikki into his arms, worried about how light she was as she snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes. He walked out of the living room and saw his mother and the doctor talking by the front door, he nodded at his mother and then carried Nikki carefully upstairs, her breathing telling him that she was already fast asleep.
Harry gently lay Nikki on her bed and drew back the covers slightly before picking her up again and carefully putting her under them, covering her up and smoothing the duvet down unnecessarily. He then leant down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, moving some of her hair away from her face and then kissing her forehead.
"I'll look after you, I promise" he whispered to her, kissing her gently again before walking across the room and shutting the curtains, blocking out the light so Nikki could sleep properly. He then walked out of the room and shut the door, letting out a long breath and running one hand through his hair as he made his way down the corridor to the stairs.
"How is Nikki?" Anne asked as Harry walked into the kitchen.
"Asleep" he replied quietly "and still feeling sick and dizzy"
"That bastard"
Harry was shocked at his mother's language; he didn't think he could remember ever hearing her swear.
"I know" Harry agreed, walking over to the side and pouring some water in the kettle to make them both drinks. "and she thinks it's her fault"
Anne didn't say anything and Harry glanced at her to see his mother looking at the floor, looking like she was lost in thought.
"Mum?"
"Sorry?"
Harry shook his head and turned back to the kettle, taking a deep breath and then turning back to his mother again.
"Mum did dad hit you?" he asked and Anne looked at her son in shock, opening her mouth to reply and then shutting it when no sound came out. "Mum please, the truth"
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I've been having...I don't know, memories, of dad coming home drunk and him hitting you" Harry told her and Anne's eyes filled with tears "I'm sitting at the banister, it's late at night and I'm watching him storm into the house, but I don't know if they're real. They're not, are they? Dad wasn't like that, was he?"
"Harry your father was under a lot of pressure at work" Anne told him and Harry shook his head, knowing where it was going "He liked to drink.."
"No" Harry interrupted, shaking his head in disbelief, his father wasn't like that.
"He liked to drink" Anne continued like her son hadn't said anything and she swallowed the lump in her throat "and yes he did sometimes get physical, but he was drunk. He wasn't like that at any other time Harry, you have to believe me. He loved us"
"You just used the same excuse that Nikki used and you told her that it was all her father's fault because he was the one who was drunk" Harry whispered, pushing down the tears, he wasn't going to cry, he was sixteen, almost seventeen. Sixteen year old boys didn't cry. "Dad didn't..."
"He hit me Harry" Anne told her son "I thought you were safe upstairs and didn't see or hear any of it"
"I remember sitting in my room" Harry murmured "On the floor with my back against the wall trying to block out the sound of you screaming"
"Oh Harry" Anne sobbed and tears rolled down her face.
"and you're telling me that's not his fault?" Harry shouted at her suddenly and he saw his mother flinch slightly. "I'm not like him am I?" he suddenly asked weakly, tears clouding his vision "I'm not violent am I?"
"Oh Harry no" Anne shook her head and gently gathered her son into her arms, stroking his hair as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly.
"I hit the guy who almost hurt Nikki" he whispered into her shoulder and a few tears dribbled down his neck "I really wanted to hurt him because he scared and hurt Nikki. And then her father, I want to go around there and hurt him for what he's done to Nikki. That's not normal"
"Yes it is because Nikki's your girlfriend and you love her" Anne told him as she moved away and placed her hands on his cheeks.
"Don't be silly mum, I'm sixteen, I don't know what love is"
"You will do" Anne nodded forcibly "You may not know it now or understand it but you will come to understand that you love Nikki and she loves you, you never know you may even fall in love with her"
"What's the difference?"
"You'll see" Anne promised him and Harry nodded, reaching up to wipe his face "You're both perfect for each other"
"Do you think she tried to overdose?" Harry asked, changing the subject. He didn't want to talk about his father again, not after what he had just found out. "With the tablets?"
"Nikki knows that it will take a lot more than four tablets to overdose and I don't think she is suicidal" Anne told Harry and he nodded, feeling a bit more relieved after that "I think it did just make her feel better. We're going to have to monitor what she has though, just in case she does it again"
"Okay" Harry nodded, running one hand through her hair "I can't wait for this holiday" he muttered as he turned around and began to make drinks again. "Get us out of the country and our minds away from everything"
"Does Nikki want to come?"
"She does yes, she just had to ask her father" Harry muttered as he slammed the coffee jar back into the cupboard and slammed the door, taking his frustration and anger out on inanimate objects.
"She's sixteen, she doesn't need to"
"She just wanted to do it out of curtsey I think" Harry shrugged as he poured out the water and then handed a mug to his mother. "At least he knows she's going away anyway"
"If he remembers"
Harry just shrugged again and walked from the room, wanting to have some time alone to think about everything that he had learnt in the past few hours.
Right guys, do you want this story to go through sixth form as well? If you do it will be a pretty long story...if you want it.
xxx