A/N: Thanks for all your really sweet reviews! I'm trying to figure out where to go from here – hope you like it!
"What happened, Sum?" Marissa asked, forgetting that Summer hated that nickname. It was what her father once called her, in a time long long ago, when he was actually sober. She felt a cold feeling run up her spine as she thought of him. Her father. Her hero. Her tormentor.
"He-He-" She buried her face in the soft cushion Marissa had given her and felt her jeans tightening around her legs as she crossed them. They were tight, and not made for sitting that way, but Marissa didn't care. She mimicked Summer, crossing her long legs and squeezing a big bear. Her face was full of concern as she sat opposite her on the new double bed. She'd somehow successfully brought her passed out best friend up to her room without her Dad or Hayley hearing, and she managed to revive her with something she'd learnt in first aid. But for someone so weak, and gentle, she had a lot of difficulty dragging the body up the stairs, which was really all she could do to get her up into her room. She was relieved when Summer came to and said she didn't feel a bruise from the trip upwards.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she saw a tear trickle down Summer's face, like a little fairy footpath, and sink into the cushion. A dark ring of moisture formed around where the tear had fallen. Where so many tears had fallen before, and how many would probably fall again.
"No…I just want to go to sleep." She crawled under the blankets and rested her head against her pillow. The cushion she was squeezing so forcefully a second ago lay deserted on the floor.
Marissa gave up and turned out the lights. Her bed was big enough to hold the two of them, so she crawled under the blankets too and tried to go to sleep. Eventually her breathing slowed, and she fell into passive dreams of technicolour and frivolities.
But even in her subconscious, her fears for Summer lurked in the corners, darting out of sight, but unfortunately, not out of mind. She didn't even know who Summer was ever talking about – it was her private life, and she never wanted to share it with Marissa. She just found refuge with her when it got too much to be around whoever it was. This mystery person remained He, and all she knew was that he was tormenting Summer, in both her reality and in her dreams. She fell asleep, but half of her remained awake, listening to Summer toss and turn in her sleep, whimpering every so often.
In the morning, she would have to sneak out undetected so he wouldn't know in the future where she went every time.
Summer rolled over again and again, trying to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, horrible creatures would laugh and scream and lunge at her, and she would flick open her eyes again in shock. Then she'd coax herself into shutting her eyes again, but she wouldn't see the creatures - she'd see his face. This continued all night. She gently stroked a cut on her stomach and felt her breathing become more ragged. Her feet felt awful, and stung from a soothing cream that Marissa put on the bottom. She eventually felt herself nod off, into a world where he had, instead of passing out and allowing her to escape, he'd found her and she was punished for all she had done to him.
A/N: Hey, that wasn't too hard. Gotta keep it slow cause I don't know where it's going…mysterious, eh? Well, we did establish one point – the man is indeed her father. Keep ready for the next chapter!
