Hannah's Point of View

"Wait, it's due tomorrow?" I yelled over to Alli on the phone.

"That's what Mr. Garrison said," Alli's voiced buzzed on the speaker phone. "I don't get it though. Why would he assign a due date on an essay a day we don't have him. Tuesday's an 'A'day right?"

"And we have him on a 'B' day," I concluded. "I swear to God, none of our teachers have their heads screwed on right."

Alli laughed. "I know! Why would a history teacher assign a paper on~?"

"~Wait!" I interrupted and shushed her. When Alli asked what was wrong, I answered. "Do you hear that?"

Alli listened from the other line for a few seconds. "I don't hear anything, Hannah."

"Exactly. Ian and Anthony ARE home."

Alli took a few seconds to respond. "Ok, I'm sorry. I have no idea where you're going with this. Ian and Anthony are home. So?"

"When they're home, are they ever quiet?" I sarcastically asked as I rose from my bed. The shifting caused my color guard flag to fall behind my bed. Ugh, I have to move that. I complained. That's like the fifteenth time this week it's fell. As I reached down, Alli answered. "Well, no."

"And what does it tell us when they're quiet?" I lead her on as I walked over and leaned my cello case gingerly against the wall.

"Something's terribly, TERRIBLY wrong with the world." Alli laughed.

"Right," I agreed with a smile. "So, I'm going to head off and see what this is all about."

"Alright, talk to you later, honey!" Alli added as the phone clicked off. Quiet as a mouse, I crept outside my room, closing the door with a small click. From the hallway, I listened for voices. They came from the living room, but they were too muffled for comprehension. Curiosity overtaking my will to stay out of it, I slowly walked down the hall to the living room. I peeked my head over to Ian and Anthony, who were sitting on the couch simultaneously holding a folded letter. What could that be?

Trying to see what the letter read, I placed weight onto my left foot, ultimately causing the floors beneath me to squeak. Ian and Anthony spun around to find me sneaking in, causing me to blush in return. "Sorry," I managed to mumble.

"Well, we were about to call you anyway," Anthony responded while receiving a look from Ian that told him they weren't. "Come here, Han." I walked over at sat on the opposite beige couch. Anthony tugged the letter from Ian's hands and handed it to me. What could it be to get this kind of reaction from Ian? I pondered.

On the top of the letter, it read the two words I had been dreading for a while now.

Court Summons. My heart seemed to sigh. Oh, you've got to be joking. Can the world just give me a break? "A court summons." I murmured. When neither of them responded, I sighed. "Well, I guess I can't say I'm surprised. Is it for…?"

"The driver, yes." Ian finished. "His name is Alex Perry, and his trial is Sunday next week. Since you were~" Ian gulped as he forced out the words. "~the, well you know, victim you were asked to testify."

"And Ian, being your legal guardian, was asked if they had the permission to allow you to." Anthony continued. "AND, him being the awesome guy that he is, wanted to know how you felt about it."

This caught me off guard. How do I respond to this? Of course, I knew Ian would ask how I felt, but what do I say? Yeah, I want to see this guy rot behind bars, but how do I face a court full of people that'll judge me before, during, and after I testify? What if I….screw up? Say something wrong, and somehow by magic Perry goes free?

No, my realistic side pulled through. There's no way he could go free, and I know he knows it. He's going to spend 50+ years behind bars for what he did to me and my family. And if testifying makes sure this happens, I was willing to suck up and do it. Once I explained myself to both of them, my words added up to a 'yes, I'll do it.'

Anthony and Ian smiled. "Well, good." Anthony said as he rose from the couch. "Now that that's out of the way, I bid you all a good night." And with a sarcastic bow, he left the room.

Automatically, I crawled over the couches and laid where Ian was sitting, my head placed onto his lap. He began to stroke the ends of my ginger hair and sighed. "That's pretty ballsy of you, Hannah." Ian eventually said, breaking the silence. I half-smiled and closed my eyes. "Dudes got to do what a dudes got to do." I replied.

Ian leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. He placed his head against mine and said, "Mom would have been damn proud of you. Not just for this, but for everything you went through. You're brave, Hannah. The bravest person I know."

I locked eyes with him. "She's proud of you too, Ian." When he returned a confused look, I explained. "You're ten times braver than me, Ian. You and Anthony. What you did for me was….unheard of. Unspeakable."

"We did it because we love you, Hannah." Ian replied with a smile. "You're our sister, and we're a family, as Family Mattery and cheesy it sounds, it's true."

I sighed and paused for a moment. "You know you did keep your promise to Mom, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"You promised her you'd always be there for me. And even when the last seconds came, you were." Ian's eyes went blurry. They read that he knew it too.

Ian sniffed at patted me on my shoulder. "Alright you. It's almost midnight, you need to get to sleep."

I nodded and sat up from his lap. As I headed back to my room, inside I screamed, Ha! He forgot tonight! Yes!

"Oh, wait!" Ian called while I was in the hallway. "I almost forgot! Go get the scar cream, we haven't done that today!"

I moaned and cried back, "Oh, come on, Ian! It's so gross and it smells weird. Can we just do it tomorrow? It won't hurt if we miss one day!"

"I'm not stupid, Hannah," Ian responded with a laugh. "That's the same thing you said this morning."

Damn! "Pleeease!" I pleaded.

"Do you want to have those scars on your back forever?" Ian teased.

Damn-damn! Giving in, I cried back. "Fine…" With a groan and complaints in my head, I sluggishly walked to my room and opened the drawer to my dresser. The smell already began to ooze. I gagged as I picked it up. As I walked back to Ian, I called throughout the quiet house, "Just wait until you burn yourself on the teapot again, Hecox. Just. You. Wait."