She can't sleep. She keeps having nightmares.
She slowly opens her brother's door. He's asleep, but she walks over and crawls into his bed, like she used to when she was little, and she was certain there was a monster that she called "The Vacuum Monster" living under her bed.
He wakes up, but he's only half awake. "Fi?" he asks.
"Can't sleep, Decs." she mumbles, tears running down her cheeks.
She gets under the covers and snuggles up close to him. He puts his arms around her, still half asleep he says "Why not?"
She wipes the tears away from her eyes. "Don't worry, Declan, just go back to sleep."
He does sleep, until he wakes up a few hours later and his sister is crying in her sleep.
He shakes her shoulder until she wakes.
"Fiona?" he asks.
"It was just a bad dream." Fiona answers.
"Are you sure you're alright?""It was the dream with the zombies, Declan… that's all." Fiona says, remembering a dream she had a few months ago.
"Well…it's not possible for the dead to walk… so you can go back to sleep.""I know, Declan." she says, acting as if she's annoyed. She isn't annoyed though.
They're quiet for a minute before Declan speaks again.
"Fiona?"
She turns and faces him, but it's dark and he can only see her silhouette.
"We can talk, if you want."
She almost says Ok, Bobby's been hurting me, and you need to help me.
Instead she says "Talk about what?"
"Anything you want, Fi." Declan says.
Fiona rolls over so Declan can't see that she's crying.
The next day, she has to go to Bobby's house again. It's part of the 'deal'. The 'deal' is that if she comes to his house every day at two p.m. or if they have school, right after school, and stays until he says she can go home. She doesn't know what will happen if she doesn't follow up to her part of the 'deal'. She doesn't feel like going today.
"Decs?" she asks.
"Yeah?"
"Will you pick me up from Bobby's early today?""Why?""Cause, I feel a little sick."
"Then don't go."
"I have to.""You can cancel… he'll understand." Declan says.
Fiona gives a little sarcastic laugh. She's already thirty minutes late.
"I've gotta go, Decs." she says, getting up and leaving.
"I can drive you."
"No." she says, slamming the door. She opens it again saying "I mean no thank you, Decs."
She walks to his house. When she gets there she knocks on the door. His parents are home. They usually aren't.
"Hello, Fiona." his mother says.
Fiona gives Mrs. Beckonridge a smile and knods.
"Bobby's in his room."
It would look weird if she didn't go and see him in his room, so she goes up the stairs.
As soon as she opens the door to his room he grabs her and pulls her in.
"I was waiting for you." he growls.
"I'm sorry, Declan… he was asking questions." Fiona says. It's half-true, but not exactly in the way Bobby's was thinking.
He pushes her down on the bed.
"Wh-what? About me?"She thinks for half a second then she says "Yeah."
"Well… what'd you… tell him, you know?" he asks.
She wonders if she says that she told him everything, if Bobby would let her leave, or if he would hit her.
"I told him I was sick."
"That's all?" Bobby asks.
"Yes."
He sits down besides her and hugged her.
"You're such a sweetheart."
She smiles, because this is what she wants. She wants someone to love her.
"No." she says.
"What?""Bobby, yesterday… I said that I didn't want to, and you hit me and told me you didn't care… that's not… Bobby, no."
"What are you saying?" he asks. His friendliness is gone. Completely and he's shaking her by her shoulders again.
"We're going away for a few days, bye Bobby, hun, see you Fiona!" his mother calls up.
Bobby stops briefly to say "Bye, love you!" in the most emotionless way possible. Then he turns back to Fiona tightening his grip on her shoulders.
"I want to break up." she says, tears springing to her eyes.
She doesn't know when he gets it, but suddenly he has a baseball bat.
The first thing that enters her mind is I'm going to die.
He hits her in the stomach with it, and for a second she can't breath.
"Are you sure, Fiona?" Bobby asks, raising the bat again.
He always asks her to specify on everything, but she's not sure what Are you sure means.
"No…" she coughs out through her tears. To be sure he understands she says "I don't want to break up with you, I love you."
"Yeah?" Bobby asks angrily, yanking her off the bed. Her stomach hurts so much it's unbelievable.
There's a knock on the door.
Bobby runs downstairs, dragging Fiona along with him.
He presses the speaker button by his door.
"Who is it?" he asks.
"Declan… I'm here to pick up Fi."
Bobby glances at Fiona "One moment." he says, pressing the button again.
He spins Fiona to face him and smashes her up against the wall.
"You go down to the bathroom, and you make sure you look alright, then you come out as soon as possible, ok?"
She knods and runs off to the bathroom.
As she closes the door she can hear Bobby saying.
"Yeah, she's in the bathroom, she'll be out in just a second."
She doesn't remember him hitting her there... She has a black eye. Or is that an old one? Is that bruise on her arm from yesterday? That whole pile of bruises on her stomach can't just be from the baseball bat… some had to be from another time? Did he hit her with the bat once or twice? Three times?
If she just puts her jacket on, then he won't see the ones on her arms. Her leggings cover up most of the bruises there… it's not like her brother will be taking her shirt off… and it's winter so there won't be any chance of some last minute swimming…. What if her shirt slips up when she sits down?
No… she's being too paranoid, she tells herself. She puts makeup over her eye and then heads out.