I'm sorry for the delay.

Chapter 4

"I'm back," Hannah called into the seemingly empty house. "Finally," she added silently to herself.

"Hannah?" Nina's voiced questioned from the living room. "Is that you, honey?"

"Yeah," she said, tired. "Hey."

Hannah plopped down on the couch on her stomach.

"Do we have anything to eat?" Hannah's mouth was slightly askew because of the leather pressing into her face.

"Actually, Hannah, I need to talk to you about something."

Hannah sat erect in the couch. Oh, no. Too much has happened in the last few days, I don't see what else God can do to them.

"What? What is it?"

Nina sat at the edge of her chair. She looked as though she were preparing to tell a kid Santa didn't exist. Her knees were locked together and her elbows pressed on the top of her legs while she rubbed the palm of her flat hands together. When she found the right approach to use, she clasped her hands together then pressed her palms into her knees as though trying to wipe off sweat to hide her nervousness.

Hannah waited, prepared to spring out of the house and over to the Abbots' or the Browns'.

"Please say something."

"Hannah, your mother called me this afternoon." Hannah waited, widening her eyes to hurry the news out already. "Your father has been sick for quite some time and-"

Hannah took in a sharp breath. "No," she said to herself.

"I'm sorry. The doctors said that he didn't suffer at all."

Nina waited hesitantly. Hannah's mouth hung open and her throat muscles contracted as if to gag but she suppressed it. Nina watched as Hannah squinted her eyes as though trying to read the fine print of her words. Hannah stood slowly, in a daze.

"Hannah...?"

"I-I'm sorry Nina," Hannah forgot what she had been planning to say halfway through her sentence. She barely felt her feet moving slowly moving beneath her. She had no idea where she was going. She had no plan.

Nina ran after Hannah.

"Hannah!" Nina called after her loudly. "Hannah!" Hannah walked to the curb. Nina's breath caught, as she feared that Hannah would step out into the street, intentionally or not. "Hannah!"

But Hannah did not step of the curb. She found herself in front of the trash cans set out for tomorrow's pick up. So she kicked it. It barely budged, so heavy with garbage. Hannah glared at it and kicked it again.

"Hannah!" Nina screamed at her. "Hannah, stop!"

Nina was right behind her, wrapping her hand around Hannah's torso to pull her from the trash cans, literally bringing Hannah off her feet. But Hannah was too far gone.

Ephram pulled on his jacket and said goodbye to his father and Delia. He could barely stop hugging her after what had happened yesterday. Ephram planned on buying some corny flowers and a box of chocolate and heading over to Amy. They'd all had enough of tragedy, they could use a day to be happy and romantic. Or at least try to be.

Ephram closed the door behind him and immediately his head whipped over to the left at the sound of the commotion. Nina was behind Hannah trying to physically drag Hannah away from the trash cans she was desperately trying to destroy. Her legs were kicking at air and her body thrashed as she tried to free herself. Ephram was shocked at the sight of Hannah having an actual tantrum.

Nina, having spotted him, called out to him. "Ephram! Please help me, I can't control her." Ephram ran over, pushing aside any questions he had and assisted Nina in taking over the raging Hannah.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked at them. "Put me down! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you!"

"It's okay, Hannah," Nina soothed, using a hand to smooth Hannah's hair affectionately. "It'll be all okay."

Hannah stopped struggling but held her body stiff. Ephram could tell that it was taking a lot of effort on Hannah's part of keep still and to slow her breathing down.

"Can we let you now?" Nina asked Hannah.

Hannah nodded her head and closed her eyes. Nina and Ephram released Hannah from their grasps slowly, preparing to grab her again if it was necessary. Hannah took two deep, shaky breaths. "I need Bright."

Nina and Ephram looked at each other. "I'll take her," Ephram volunteered. "I was going there anyways."

Nina nodded and Ephram led Hannah to his car. When he tried to steer her with his arm around her shoulder she shook him off her quickly. Ephram didn't dare open his mouth the whole way over to the Abbots'.

Bright opened the door.

"Hey guys!" he greeted them happily. "What-?" but his words were cut short when Hannah put herself to him. She kept her arms clasped across her chest protectively but her forehead pressed into his warm chest and her body leaned trustingly into his. Bright was somewhat surprised and greatly unnerved but wrapped his loving arms around her. He looked into Ephram's eyes when he heard her sniffle into his chest.

"I don't know what happened," Ephram said honestly. "She was freaking out and throwing a tantrum."

Bright turned his attention back to his girlfriend. "Hey, hey," he said soothingly. "What happened?" He grabbed her easily by the shoulders and pulled her away from him so that he could hunch his shoulders and look into her eyes.

"Can we go somewhere?" she managed to get out.

"Sure," Bright said and led her back outside.

"Should I?" Ephram interjected unsure.

Hannah shook her head no so he stayed inside. Bright led Hannah down to his car and he drove her to the high school. Hannah didn't say anything so she let herself be led to the field area and sat down next to Bright under a calm area situated under an old oak tree.

"What happened?" Bright asked. His love for her overpowered his emotions. She had been there for him countless times, he'd be damned if he let her down.

Hannah couldn't trust herself to look into his eyes and waited until her breathing slowed. "My dad..."

Bright thought about her father's illness. "He's not...?"

Hannah nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

"Hannah..." Bright's heart went out for her. He engulfed her in a loving hug. Her father is dead. He couldn't think of anything to say. Hannah had known exactly what to say when his mother died and Amy was... And now she lost her dad and he couldn't think of anything to say.

Bright turned to nurturing, rubbing her back and stroking her hair. Hannah stiffed suddenly, which he did not expect.

"What?"

Hannah shifted so that he dropped his hands. Her head dipped low and her arms were again folded across her chest. She was soon curled into the fetal position and rocked back and forth.

"Hannah...?" Bright eased slowly. He trailed a loving finger across her hairline, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. She flinched when his fingers contacted her flesh. Her eyes were startled and she looked as though she were remembering something from long ago.

"Hannah?"

"It's not just that..." Hannah tried to get out the words. She started daggers into her knees. He listened patiently. "It's not just my dad's death."

"What is it?"

"When I was little... he used to..." Hannah rocked herself again. "Do things... to me."

Bright couldn't breath. He couldn't think. He had no control over his body.

"Wh-what kind of things?" Bright heard himself asking even though he desperately wanted not to hear the answer.

Hannah put her head to her knees to hide her embarrassment. "It used to be just gazing and... lingering touches and..."

FLASHBACK

"Hannah baby," her father called from the family room. "Come in here."

Hannah walked over to the family room. "Is Mom home?"

Her father smiled. "No, it's just us. Here, I wanted to surprise you for your 7th birthday next week but I couldn't wait. I want you to take a look at this."

Her father presented her with a wrapped box. Hannah squealed from excitement. "Can I open it here?"

He nodded and Hannah ripped at the wrapping. At last she produced a silky dress from the box. Hannah gasped. "Oh, Daddy, it's so pretty!" And it was. It was a pale green dress that was sparkly like the ones they wear at the Oscars. Her mother would never buy her a dress like this one, saying that it's way to short and that it shows too much skin.

"Try it on," her father urged.

Hannah smiled and got up to run to her room.

"You can change in here."

"Daaadddd..."

"Hannnaaahhh," he mocked back. "I'm your father, there's nothing that you have that I haven't seen."

Hannah blushed as she ripped off her clothes quickly.

"Whoa, Hannah," her father exclaimed. "Come here. What is that?" He looked at her crotch area like there was something wrong.

"What?" Hannah asked her father urgently, concerned. Did she have a bug on her? Maybe she had a rash and she was sick and would die.

Hannah's father touched her hip and she jerked suddenly. "Shh, relax." He trailed his finger down to her foot and then back up the inside of her thigh as she squirmed. He cupped her hairless crotch and moved his hand back and forth a bit.

"Dad!" Hannah did not like what her father was doing. She didn't like the feeling she was feeling. A million senses she never knew she had fired up all in the area of her crotch.

Her father finally removed his hand. "Good," he said, sounding relieved. "For a second I thought that you had an infection, but you don't."

Hannah wasn't sure if she could trust her father. She supposed she should, after all he was her father. She just overreacted is all.

"Well, don't just stand there naked," he said, almost scolding. "Try on the dress."

Hannah slipped into the dress, feeling silly. But she couldn't help but notice how he took his time in zipping up the zipper in the back and gazing at her in a not quite affectionate way.

"You look stunning," he said. He patted his lap, "let's watch some TV together." He let her control the remote but his fingers seemed to make its way to the skin on her thigh just under the hem of the dress, causing her to wiggle on his lap, and that, he seemed to enjoy very much.

END FLASHBACK

Hannah gasped as she brought herself quickly to the present.

"Hannah?" she heard. She turned her head and saw Bright. "Hannah, are you okay? You stopped talking for like, minutes."

And then she collapsed into a sobbing heap next to Bright.

Bright loaded them into his car and started the ignition. "Take me to Nina's."

Bright looked over at her. "You sure? I mean, maybe if you talked to Amy about-"

But Bright followed her order by her shake of the head.

Bright knocked gently on the door.

"Hannah?" Nina answered.

Hannah pushed herself past Nina's open arms and scurried up to her room. Both Bright and Nina winced when the door slammed.

"Thank you for taking care of her..." Nina thanked him while he saw straight though her comment to her unspoken question.

"I can't really tell you what it is, but I can say that it's more than just her father's death."

Nina smiled gratefully at him although he got a sense that she desperately wanted to wring his neck for with holding information from her.

"Bye, Nina," Bright quickly excused himself and sped back home.

Bright sat in the idle car outside his home for several minutes before getting out and slamming the door. He slammed the front door with a verbal grunt. He whipped off his jacket like it assaulted him and threw it viciously down on the small table. Harold looked up from his newspaper with a nervous face.

"Bright?" He questioned. "Is everything alright?"

Harold stormed into the living room and snatched the newspaper which was still propped open in his fathers arms. He tried to rip it down the middle but ended up getting a quarter of the newspaper torn off. This only served to infuriate him even further. His father looked, if anything, scared.

"No, Dad," Bright growled at his father. "Everything is not alright."

Harold straightened in his chair. He knew is was walking on egg shells.

"I don't get it," Bright raged. "What's the point of our being here, of living, if all that happens in life is bad things?"

"Now, Bright..."

"You don't find it the least bit odd that four women, girls, whatever, that we love with our lives have been ripped apart by God's hands?"

"I, uh... f-f-four?"

"Hannah."

"Hannah?"

"Yes, Dad, Hannah," Bright leered at his father. "Hannah's father is dead."

"That's so... tragic?"

"Tragic? Oh, Dad. After what he did to Hannah, he got more of a free pass than he deserved."

Harold's eyes widened. After what he did to Hannah... That couldn't mean... Harold couldn't imagine any father do something like that.

"B-Bright..."

"There you go. All emotional father crap. I can't take it right now, Dad!" Bright shouted at his father in a tantrum. Bright hissed his next three words with such venom in his voice, Harold felt a knife stab into his heart. "Fuck... you... Dad..."

Bright stormed up to his room and slammed his door so hard that it didn't latch and he slammed it again to close it.

Harold was still sitting in his chair, his eyes were still wide and his mouth still hung open. He inhaled deeply through his nose and commanded his muscles to move. He stood up and crouched down to open the cabinet under the sink. He pushed aside all of the cleaners and reaching into the back. He grabbed the kitchen towel and wiped the bottle free of the dust and spider webs that accumulated around it.

He uncorked the bottle and poured himself a healthy sized glass. He raised his glass to the dark sky outside.

"Rose, glad you left when you did. Hopefully you aren't watching what's happening to us." And with that, he lifted the scotch to his lips and guzzled away six years of sobriety.