A/N- ok I am sorry I have not posted in awhile. No excuses (been painting
my room, sewing a dress for renaissance fair, 'planning' my trip to Peru
and work 20 hours a week, ok I lied) But I have my cup of coffee/hot
chocolate (I can not be the only person who mixes the two) and the frig is
stocked with Pepsi so I am not 'sleeping' till this chapter is up.
A/N2-this is going to get confusing but I a basically combining two chapters here. The first have is a continuation of the events in the last chapter. The next section (which is clearly marked) is the start of a new series of events in Beka's life. I just thought the chapters where kinda adding up (although I have covered over 20 years so far in 7 chapters and I have 7 years left)
A/N3- Tara and Kari are Harper's two 'dead' sisters (I invented them in my first story and they have 'made an appearance' in every story since)
~~~*~~~
Better being crazy than being scared. Better doing something than sitting in a corner. Better facing your fear than running away forever.
-another quote I have no clue where I copied it from
~~~*~~~
"Beka?" I picked my head, startled from my latest nightmare by Harper's voice. What was wrong he never called me Beka?
"What Harper?"
"You've been crying."
"No I haven't"
"Either that or I am calling Trance in here because you are getting sick."
"Haha, have you forgotten the rules of our game, no questions"
"It wasn't a question boss, it was a statement, you have been crying or you are getting sick because your eyes are completely red."
"And no pressing for answers."
"Maybe I have forgotten how to play."
"After a year?"
"Boss, Tim's gone, we're safe."
"I know Harper."
"In your head or your heart"
"Both, and who are you to be playing Freud on me all of a sudden?
"I just, well.."
"See my point."
"Beka," Harper paused. It looked like he was conducting a mini debate in his head. With a sigh he continued talking. "If you tell me what your nightmare was about," he paused again stumbling over his next words, "then, then, I will tell you mine." The end of his sentence was rushed but I caught it all. I didn't want to tell anyone the nightmare that invaded my sleep at night but in the year I had known Harper he had never told me about any of his dreams. I asked him after every nightmare if he wanted to talk and he always shook his head and put on his biggest smile saying he was fine. He was no smiling now. He had a look of panic in his eyes and I could see him taking deep thought out breaths trying to calm himself. If he wasn't careful he was going to hyperventilate.
"Harper, are you sure?" He gave a quick nod but I could see the determination along with the panic in his eyes. "Alright I'll tell you. Is that what you want?"
"Yeah boss."
I took at deep breath, and started telling him my dream trying to be factual and detached, "I was sitting in this room. It was set-up like it was when I was a little girl. Crayon drawings on the walls and three posters my father gave me when I was little, a horse, a sunset, and some flowers. Anyways I went to open the door and get out but I couldn't the door was locked. I tried it again; I tried everything thing I knew to get out but the door wouldn't open. I was trapped in here. Then I went to climb out the air vent over there, but I couldn't reach it. I tried dragging stuff over and piling it up but everything was too heavy. I couldn't budge any of it. And then everything started getting bigger and bigger. That's when you woke me up.
Harper took a deep breath. I waited for his comment that the dream was stupid and how could I have a nightmare about a room. "I was sitting in my house back on earth. Well you couldn't call it a house it was a one room shack, we rolled out some blankets at night for beds." He spoke deadpan voice, completely out of character for Harper. "I heard screaming outside, it was Kari's voice. I knew I should hide but I couldn't. I ran to the cloth that we had up for a door and I hit that cloth running but it felt like I had hit a concrete wall, not a piece of cloth. I tried to get past but I couldn't. I pushed it aside and I saw Kari. Two Neizchiens pigs they were, they were…" Harper stumbled over his words. I could see the pain in the eyes and could only imagine the horrible images in his mind. In a hoarse voice Harper continued, tears running down his face, "I tried get outside to help her but I couldn't. I could just watch them do that to my sister. Brothers are supposed to protect their sisters, keep them safe from creature like that. Even younger brothers, that's our job."
I now had tears running down my face. Memories of Rafe entered my head. All the times he stood between me and some crew member or worst my own father. He protected me till the day he left me to fend for myself. Those days seemed so far away.
Still deep in my own thoughts I wrapped my arms around Harper. He stiffed under my arms and then planted his head on my shoulder. He tears soaked my shirt and I soon found my face wet from my own tears.
I don't know how long we cried in each others arms. Finally Harper I felt Harper fall asleep on my shoulder. I laid him back down on the mattress and straighten up the tangled mess of his blankets. When I had finished tucking him in I went back to my room. I grabbed my pillow and two blankets. I lay down on the floor in Harper's room on my makeshift bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out. I don't remember my dreams that night or hearing Trance enter the room the next morning. I woke up as she was finishing examining sleeping form of Harper.
"How is he doing?" I asked. A night of reliving his childhood and crying to evasion probably put him even closer to death door step. What was I saying; the kid lived on death doorstep. He was just a decoration next to the boot scraper and welcome mat.
"A lot better, another day of rest and I think he will be up and crawling through the innards of the Maru."
I smiled. Harper had slept through Trance and my conversation, Harper was normally a light sleeper. I let out a yawn and then decide to go back to sleep while both of our nightmares where still at bay. I pulled my blanket back over my head after I stole one last glance at the peacefully sleeping mudfoot.
~~~*~~~
I know you're lost and drifting
But the clouds are lifting
Don't give up you have somewhere to turn
Candle on the Water-Pete's Dragon
~~~*~~~
This is about a year later
WARNING-more Harper owies (can I write a chapter w/o him bleeding, naaaaaa) and lots of bad langue from Beka.
~~~*~~~
come stop you're crying it will be alright
just take my hand, hold it tight
I will protect you from all around you
I will be here don't you cry
For one so young, you seem so strong
Phil Collins- You'll be in My Heart
~~~~*~~~
"Beka, Beka" Trance called out my name.
"What do you need Trance?"
"Where's Harper?"
"He's out, why what's wrong?" The little purple girl was scared which scared me too. She seemed to know what was going on even before me and Harper did. I had learned to trust her sixth-sense in the past year. She had become a strong crew member and friend. She had even gotten Harper to come out of his shell. His real shell, not the show he did for people trying to be friendly with him.
"It's nothing,"
"What is it Trance?"
"Well something is wrong, but it will be ok, I mean I think it will be ok. There is a definite good solution that I can clearly see." I walked up Trance and put my hand on her back leading her into the main room. I pulled out a chair and motioned her to sit. Her trembling continued and she was still visibly shaking. I had to step back after I got hit by her tail a couple of times.
"Trance, I need you to stop blabbing and tell me what's wrong."
"I don't know. Well I think I know but I am not sure. I just need to find Harper." Find Harper, was he in danger, damn I knew I shouldn't have let him go down to the planet by himself. We needed the parts but Harper always found trouble, well trouble found him. Harper could never stay out of trouble or in perfect health. The moment either happened he would upset some one in a bar by looking at them the wrong way or catch some ancient flu. Harper was just a magnet for trouble and I let him go out by himself. I had known the kid for two years; he was the closest thing I had to a best friend. What was I thinking? Alright two panicking women would help no one.
"Alright, clam down," I said to myself as much as Trance. I knelt beside the frighten girl. "Harper went out for parts. Do you need me to go find him with you?"
"No, I think we should wait here, that would be best." She faded out mid-sentence like she was looking at something just out of my line of sight. Somehow I knew not to question and go with Trances observations.
"Alright we'll wait." I said looking at Trance for her reaction. She just nodded but now had gone to staring at the table with a worried look on her face. I couldn't take it anymore. I straightened up and began pacing around the room. I then walked to the crew quarters and back to the main room. He was fine, I thought to myself. He is just looking for some spare parts. It won't take long, he'll be back soon. So why wasn't he back already? What was taking him so long? I sat down for a minute and then got up and walked to Harper's room, turning when I got to the door and walking back to the main room. I was about to do another walk around the ship when I heard a noise coming from the airlock. I turned and ran to the airlock. I didn't care how it looked, I was panic. Something had to have happened to Harper. The airlock was still closed when I got to get but I could hear a person behind the door.
"What's the matter kid forgot the code?" I said trying to hide my panicking state with a laugh. I undid the lock from the inside and let the door swing open. Here I was all panic, and Harper was here safe and sound. Or at least that is what I thought.
As the airlock swung open I saw Harper in the arms of a magog. My hand was on my blaster before the door had finished opening. I pointed at the creatures head. "Drop him now or I drop you." I yelled. I tried to keep my voice flat but it faltered for a moment.
"I mean no harm." The piece of magog filth said.
"Like hell you did. Put the kid down on the deck now and I might let you live." The stack of fleas bent down and put Harper on the deck. The gesture was so gentle if I didn't know what he was I might have felt bad. "Ok, now back away from him." The Magog took a few steps back.
"Miss I did not harm…"
"Like hell you didn't, if you think I would believe that flimsy lie."
"I saw him leave your ship…"
"And decide to jump him, now leave or else."
"No miss you do not understand."
"Fuck you, I know what happened. And the moment you show your filthy magog ass around my ship again I will shoot. No questions, just a dead magog carcass, free for the skinning, and trust me no one will care."
"I understand miss." With that he turned and left. I slammed my hand into the airlock controls the moment he cleared the door. Filthy magog, attacking Harper, no wonder Trance was panicked she must have known.
"TRANCE" I yelled as I knelt beside Harper. His hair was matted with blood and dirt. He didn't even respond when I began searching through his hair for the source of the blood. I found a small cut on the back on his neck. It was tiny but still bleeding heavily. I pressed down on the cut trying to stop the bleeding. Still Harper's face showed no signs of waking. "Come on, work with me kid. You're stronger than anything that fucking a magog did to you. Come on wake up." I shifted so Harper head was now resting in my lap. "Come on Harper you know the drill, I sit cross legged with your head in my lap and say wake up and then you make some off handed comment and then I drag you back to your room. So feel free to make that comment at any time. I'm waiting."
Trance appeared in the doorway. I would say she turned pale when she saw Harper but it is hard to define pale on a girl who is purple. She knelt beside Harper and began checking him for injuries. She started at his head nodding at me when she saw the head wound and continued down Harper's body. She rolled up his shirt revealing a mess of forming bruises. "Filthy, fucking magog, no good bag of flies," I yelled out, exploding with rage at the sight of Harper's injuries.
"A magog did this to him?"
"Yeah and then the son of bitch dragged him back here."
"Why would he do that Beka?"
"Probably scouting out the ship, trying to use him to get in here and have the rest of us for dinner."
"Is he?"
"No, I just see the bruises; there would more if he was."
"I think Harper may have a broken rib, but it's better than…" She broke off her sentence and continued her investigation of Harper's injuries. "I think it's safe to move him back to his bunk. I can clean and bandage the wounds there."
Now it was my turn to nod as we each took one of Harper's arms and carried him.
~~~
I reached up and ran my hairs through Harper's hair. He rarely let anyone touch his hair. He said the 'look' a lot of time to maintain. In reality I had never seen him even use a comb, but I think he didn't like people touching him.
Over the past year Harper had slowly started telling me a little about his life on earth. From the bits and pieces I could see why Harper had trouble sleeping at night, and then to be attacked by a magog, the same creatures that raided his village. That was the little that I had gotten. He told me of watching people die of infestation, slowly having their organs eaten and having to be killed for the good of the camp. His eyes always clouded over on that line 'for the good of the camp,' I wondered who he had to kill 'for the good of the camp.'
There was so much I still didn't know about him. He once mentioned being a brother but maintained he was an only child. He only told the bits and pieces with a smile on his face. Sometimes at night he would talk about it but never in the face of day. Something's are too hard to bring to the light I guess.
How long would the nightmares last from this attack. How long after the physical wounds healed would he still be fighting the demons. What did that magog pick him? Would Harper ever truly be free of the hellhole he grew up in?
"No!" I jumped back as Harper sat straight up screaming. He glanced around the eyes fearfully and then dropped back down into the mattress.
"You're ok, that creature will never touch you again."
"What creature Boss?" I looked at him. His eyes where filled with confusion and worry. Could he not remember the attack? Had he blocked it out?
"Do you remember what happened?"
"I thought so; I was walking back to Maru when some guys jumped me. They stole the parts and the few credits I had left. Then they beat till I passed out."
"No Harper," I paused, I wasn't sure how to say the next part. Maybe it was better he thought he was just jumped by some guys. Was it so bad to spoil his version of reality? I took I deep breath, I had to tell him the truth. "Harper, you where brought here by a magog," I watched panic fill his eyes. His hands went to his stomach. He lifted up his shirt and began to claw at the wrapping over his chest.
"He didn't…I wasn't that out of it... I mean I would have woken up…oh Boss why did you?"
"Harper, Harper," Harper continued trying to rip off the bandages. I took his hands and brought my face right into his. "Listen to me, you're not invested. He cracked your ribs, that's why your chest hurts, that's the reason for the bandages."
I watched Harper's breathing return to normal and then a new must have entered his mind as he began to hyperventilate again.
"Harper talk to me, what's the matter?"
"Beka, I don't remember being attacked by a magog. Why don't I remember? I mean I hate those SOBs and I kill those fuckers on sight. So I mean, what happened out there?"
"I don't know, but you are ok Harper, some bumps and bruises but they are going to heal and you are going to be fine."
"Boss it doesn't make any sense. All magog do is kill and destroy." Harper began rubbing his arms and legs, like his was trying to rid himself of an invisible stain.
"Harper, his gone, and he is never coming near you again."
"How sure of that are you Boss, how sure uh? I thought I had gotten away from those creatures. I thought I was safe, but then they come back again. And I don't even remember it. Are you sure it was a magog?"
"Yeah kid it was a magog."
A/N2-this is going to get confusing but I a basically combining two chapters here. The first have is a continuation of the events in the last chapter. The next section (which is clearly marked) is the start of a new series of events in Beka's life. I just thought the chapters where kinda adding up (although I have covered over 20 years so far in 7 chapters and I have 7 years left)
A/N3- Tara and Kari are Harper's two 'dead' sisters (I invented them in my first story and they have 'made an appearance' in every story since)
~~~*~~~
Better being crazy than being scared. Better doing something than sitting in a corner. Better facing your fear than running away forever.
-another quote I have no clue where I copied it from
~~~*~~~
"Beka?" I picked my head, startled from my latest nightmare by Harper's voice. What was wrong he never called me Beka?
"What Harper?"
"You've been crying."
"No I haven't"
"Either that or I am calling Trance in here because you are getting sick."
"Haha, have you forgotten the rules of our game, no questions"
"It wasn't a question boss, it was a statement, you have been crying or you are getting sick because your eyes are completely red."
"And no pressing for answers."
"Maybe I have forgotten how to play."
"After a year?"
"Boss, Tim's gone, we're safe."
"I know Harper."
"In your head or your heart"
"Both, and who are you to be playing Freud on me all of a sudden?
"I just, well.."
"See my point."
"Beka," Harper paused. It looked like he was conducting a mini debate in his head. With a sigh he continued talking. "If you tell me what your nightmare was about," he paused again stumbling over his next words, "then, then, I will tell you mine." The end of his sentence was rushed but I caught it all. I didn't want to tell anyone the nightmare that invaded my sleep at night but in the year I had known Harper he had never told me about any of his dreams. I asked him after every nightmare if he wanted to talk and he always shook his head and put on his biggest smile saying he was fine. He was no smiling now. He had a look of panic in his eyes and I could see him taking deep thought out breaths trying to calm himself. If he wasn't careful he was going to hyperventilate.
"Harper, are you sure?" He gave a quick nod but I could see the determination along with the panic in his eyes. "Alright I'll tell you. Is that what you want?"
"Yeah boss."
I took at deep breath, and started telling him my dream trying to be factual and detached, "I was sitting in this room. It was set-up like it was when I was a little girl. Crayon drawings on the walls and three posters my father gave me when I was little, a horse, a sunset, and some flowers. Anyways I went to open the door and get out but I couldn't the door was locked. I tried it again; I tried everything thing I knew to get out but the door wouldn't open. I was trapped in here. Then I went to climb out the air vent over there, but I couldn't reach it. I tried dragging stuff over and piling it up but everything was too heavy. I couldn't budge any of it. And then everything started getting bigger and bigger. That's when you woke me up.
Harper took a deep breath. I waited for his comment that the dream was stupid and how could I have a nightmare about a room. "I was sitting in my house back on earth. Well you couldn't call it a house it was a one room shack, we rolled out some blankets at night for beds." He spoke deadpan voice, completely out of character for Harper. "I heard screaming outside, it was Kari's voice. I knew I should hide but I couldn't. I ran to the cloth that we had up for a door and I hit that cloth running but it felt like I had hit a concrete wall, not a piece of cloth. I tried to get past but I couldn't. I pushed it aside and I saw Kari. Two Neizchiens pigs they were, they were…" Harper stumbled over his words. I could see the pain in the eyes and could only imagine the horrible images in his mind. In a hoarse voice Harper continued, tears running down his face, "I tried get outside to help her but I couldn't. I could just watch them do that to my sister. Brothers are supposed to protect their sisters, keep them safe from creature like that. Even younger brothers, that's our job."
I now had tears running down my face. Memories of Rafe entered my head. All the times he stood between me and some crew member or worst my own father. He protected me till the day he left me to fend for myself. Those days seemed so far away.
Still deep in my own thoughts I wrapped my arms around Harper. He stiffed under my arms and then planted his head on my shoulder. He tears soaked my shirt and I soon found my face wet from my own tears.
I don't know how long we cried in each others arms. Finally Harper I felt Harper fall asleep on my shoulder. I laid him back down on the mattress and straighten up the tangled mess of his blankets. When I had finished tucking him in I went back to my room. I grabbed my pillow and two blankets. I lay down on the floor in Harper's room on my makeshift bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out. I don't remember my dreams that night or hearing Trance enter the room the next morning. I woke up as she was finishing examining sleeping form of Harper.
"How is he doing?" I asked. A night of reliving his childhood and crying to evasion probably put him even closer to death door step. What was I saying; the kid lived on death doorstep. He was just a decoration next to the boot scraper and welcome mat.
"A lot better, another day of rest and I think he will be up and crawling through the innards of the Maru."
I smiled. Harper had slept through Trance and my conversation, Harper was normally a light sleeper. I let out a yawn and then decide to go back to sleep while both of our nightmares where still at bay. I pulled my blanket back over my head after I stole one last glance at the peacefully sleeping mudfoot.
~~~*~~~
I know you're lost and drifting
But the clouds are lifting
Don't give up you have somewhere to turn
Candle on the Water-Pete's Dragon
~~~*~~~
This is about a year later
WARNING-more Harper owies (can I write a chapter w/o him bleeding, naaaaaa) and lots of bad langue from Beka.
~~~*~~~
come stop you're crying it will be alright
just take my hand, hold it tight
I will protect you from all around you
I will be here don't you cry
For one so young, you seem so strong
Phil Collins- You'll be in My Heart
~~~~*~~~
"Beka, Beka" Trance called out my name.
"What do you need Trance?"
"Where's Harper?"
"He's out, why what's wrong?" The little purple girl was scared which scared me too. She seemed to know what was going on even before me and Harper did. I had learned to trust her sixth-sense in the past year. She had become a strong crew member and friend. She had even gotten Harper to come out of his shell. His real shell, not the show he did for people trying to be friendly with him.
"It's nothing,"
"What is it Trance?"
"Well something is wrong, but it will be ok, I mean I think it will be ok. There is a definite good solution that I can clearly see." I walked up Trance and put my hand on her back leading her into the main room. I pulled out a chair and motioned her to sit. Her trembling continued and she was still visibly shaking. I had to step back after I got hit by her tail a couple of times.
"Trance, I need you to stop blabbing and tell me what's wrong."
"I don't know. Well I think I know but I am not sure. I just need to find Harper." Find Harper, was he in danger, damn I knew I shouldn't have let him go down to the planet by himself. We needed the parts but Harper always found trouble, well trouble found him. Harper could never stay out of trouble or in perfect health. The moment either happened he would upset some one in a bar by looking at them the wrong way or catch some ancient flu. Harper was just a magnet for trouble and I let him go out by himself. I had known the kid for two years; he was the closest thing I had to a best friend. What was I thinking? Alright two panicking women would help no one.
"Alright, clam down," I said to myself as much as Trance. I knelt beside the frighten girl. "Harper went out for parts. Do you need me to go find him with you?"
"No, I think we should wait here, that would be best." She faded out mid-sentence like she was looking at something just out of my line of sight. Somehow I knew not to question and go with Trances observations.
"Alright we'll wait." I said looking at Trance for her reaction. She just nodded but now had gone to staring at the table with a worried look on her face. I couldn't take it anymore. I straightened up and began pacing around the room. I then walked to the crew quarters and back to the main room. He was fine, I thought to myself. He is just looking for some spare parts. It won't take long, he'll be back soon. So why wasn't he back already? What was taking him so long? I sat down for a minute and then got up and walked to Harper's room, turning when I got to the door and walking back to the main room. I was about to do another walk around the ship when I heard a noise coming from the airlock. I turned and ran to the airlock. I didn't care how it looked, I was panic. Something had to have happened to Harper. The airlock was still closed when I got to get but I could hear a person behind the door.
"What's the matter kid forgot the code?" I said trying to hide my panicking state with a laugh. I undid the lock from the inside and let the door swing open. Here I was all panic, and Harper was here safe and sound. Or at least that is what I thought.
As the airlock swung open I saw Harper in the arms of a magog. My hand was on my blaster before the door had finished opening. I pointed at the creatures head. "Drop him now or I drop you." I yelled. I tried to keep my voice flat but it faltered for a moment.
"I mean no harm." The piece of magog filth said.
"Like hell you did. Put the kid down on the deck now and I might let you live." The stack of fleas bent down and put Harper on the deck. The gesture was so gentle if I didn't know what he was I might have felt bad. "Ok, now back away from him." The Magog took a few steps back.
"Miss I did not harm…"
"Like hell you didn't, if you think I would believe that flimsy lie."
"I saw him leave your ship…"
"And decide to jump him, now leave or else."
"No miss you do not understand."
"Fuck you, I know what happened. And the moment you show your filthy magog ass around my ship again I will shoot. No questions, just a dead magog carcass, free for the skinning, and trust me no one will care."
"I understand miss." With that he turned and left. I slammed my hand into the airlock controls the moment he cleared the door. Filthy magog, attacking Harper, no wonder Trance was panicked she must have known.
"TRANCE" I yelled as I knelt beside Harper. His hair was matted with blood and dirt. He didn't even respond when I began searching through his hair for the source of the blood. I found a small cut on the back on his neck. It was tiny but still bleeding heavily. I pressed down on the cut trying to stop the bleeding. Still Harper's face showed no signs of waking. "Come on, work with me kid. You're stronger than anything that fucking a magog did to you. Come on wake up." I shifted so Harper head was now resting in my lap. "Come on Harper you know the drill, I sit cross legged with your head in my lap and say wake up and then you make some off handed comment and then I drag you back to your room. So feel free to make that comment at any time. I'm waiting."
Trance appeared in the doorway. I would say she turned pale when she saw Harper but it is hard to define pale on a girl who is purple. She knelt beside Harper and began checking him for injuries. She started at his head nodding at me when she saw the head wound and continued down Harper's body. She rolled up his shirt revealing a mess of forming bruises. "Filthy, fucking magog, no good bag of flies," I yelled out, exploding with rage at the sight of Harper's injuries.
"A magog did this to him?"
"Yeah and then the son of bitch dragged him back here."
"Why would he do that Beka?"
"Probably scouting out the ship, trying to use him to get in here and have the rest of us for dinner."
"Is he?"
"No, I just see the bruises; there would more if he was."
"I think Harper may have a broken rib, but it's better than…" She broke off her sentence and continued her investigation of Harper's injuries. "I think it's safe to move him back to his bunk. I can clean and bandage the wounds there."
Now it was my turn to nod as we each took one of Harper's arms and carried him.
~~~
I reached up and ran my hairs through Harper's hair. He rarely let anyone touch his hair. He said the 'look' a lot of time to maintain. In reality I had never seen him even use a comb, but I think he didn't like people touching him.
Over the past year Harper had slowly started telling me a little about his life on earth. From the bits and pieces I could see why Harper had trouble sleeping at night, and then to be attacked by a magog, the same creatures that raided his village. That was the little that I had gotten. He told me of watching people die of infestation, slowly having their organs eaten and having to be killed for the good of the camp. His eyes always clouded over on that line 'for the good of the camp,' I wondered who he had to kill 'for the good of the camp.'
There was so much I still didn't know about him. He once mentioned being a brother but maintained he was an only child. He only told the bits and pieces with a smile on his face. Sometimes at night he would talk about it but never in the face of day. Something's are too hard to bring to the light I guess.
How long would the nightmares last from this attack. How long after the physical wounds healed would he still be fighting the demons. What did that magog pick him? Would Harper ever truly be free of the hellhole he grew up in?
"No!" I jumped back as Harper sat straight up screaming. He glanced around the eyes fearfully and then dropped back down into the mattress.
"You're ok, that creature will never touch you again."
"What creature Boss?" I looked at him. His eyes where filled with confusion and worry. Could he not remember the attack? Had he blocked it out?
"Do you remember what happened?"
"I thought so; I was walking back to Maru when some guys jumped me. They stole the parts and the few credits I had left. Then they beat till I passed out."
"No Harper," I paused, I wasn't sure how to say the next part. Maybe it was better he thought he was just jumped by some guys. Was it so bad to spoil his version of reality? I took I deep breath, I had to tell him the truth. "Harper, you where brought here by a magog," I watched panic fill his eyes. His hands went to his stomach. He lifted up his shirt and began to claw at the wrapping over his chest.
"He didn't…I wasn't that out of it... I mean I would have woken up…oh Boss why did you?"
"Harper, Harper," Harper continued trying to rip off the bandages. I took his hands and brought my face right into his. "Listen to me, you're not invested. He cracked your ribs, that's why your chest hurts, that's the reason for the bandages."
I watched Harper's breathing return to normal and then a new must have entered his mind as he began to hyperventilate again.
"Harper talk to me, what's the matter?"
"Beka, I don't remember being attacked by a magog. Why don't I remember? I mean I hate those SOBs and I kill those fuckers on sight. So I mean, what happened out there?"
"I don't know, but you are ok Harper, some bumps and bruises but they are going to heal and you are going to be fine."
"Boss it doesn't make any sense. All magog do is kill and destroy." Harper began rubbing his arms and legs, like his was trying to rid himself of an invisible stain.
"Harper, his gone, and he is never coming near you again."
"How sure of that are you Boss, how sure uh? I thought I had gotten away from those creatures. I thought I was safe, but then they come back again. And I don't even remember it. Are you sure it was a magog?"
"Yeah kid it was a magog."