My Call (BOOK ON HOLD)

Chapter 6

/////HARRY'S P.O.V\\\\\

==================

I jogged up the creaky wooden stairs towards the landing. I was still in disbelief from the story I had just heard. It was horrific. I could hear a slightly muffled crying from one of the rooms and I pushed open the door a tiny little bit.

"Kate?"

I entered in a light blue room. It was fairly large. There were pictures of the Manchester United team all over the walls. Kate was sat on her windowsill, staring out of the window. I walked in, my feet padding across the fluffy white carpet and sat down on Kate's bed next to her. She still didn't face me.

"Sam told me what happened," I whispered.

She faced me. "Hmm. Course she would. Don't say you're sorry for what happened because I've had enough apologies to last a lifetime. It happened, it's over. Everyone I ever loved or ever loved me is gone, and no amount of comfort can change that."

"I'm not here to apologise, I'm here to check you're ok," I said softly.

"I'm fine. I can take of myself. I have done for the past 10 years," she snapped.

"Why do you do so much sport?" I asked her quickly. Her eyes filled with tears again. "It's ok if you don't want to tell me."

"I've never talked about my past before," she said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm scared."

"What of?"

"The demons."

Kate hugged her knees tightly. She was 15 but right now she looked like a small vulnerable child. She had grown up too quick, her protective nature had caused her to look after people younger than her, and she couldn't control it.

"What demons?"

"They'll hurt me. The said if I tell anyone they'll hurt me."

I sat stunned for a while.

"Who are the demons?"

"My dad. Loads of them. They stand in the corner of my room at night, cursing me. I have to sleep with the light on to keep them away. They have a gun in their hand. They'll kill me if I tell. I don't want to be like my sister!"

She broke down in tears. I went up to the windowsill and wrapped my arms around her. She cried into my shoulder.

"Shhh," I soothed. "They're not real. They're just hallucinations. You've been mentally scarred from when you were younger. You need to forget. And do you know how you forget?"

She shook her head, her sobs becoming less.

"You talk."

She looked up at me, confused. I wiped a tear away from her cheek with my thumb. She sniffed lightly and nodded her head. I guided her over to her bed and we sat down on it.

"Are you ok?" She nodded. "So why do you do so much sport?"

"Michelle. She loved sport. She err.. Used to take me down to the park at weekends and we'd play football for hours. She was amazing at it. I was only a few years old but I could remember everything. I remember how I used to visit Sean's restaurant and how he'd make me my favourite dinner, chicken and bacon pasta."

She smiled, thinking of the memories. She tugged a stray chocolate curl behind her ear.

"You know, I would be so scared of seeing my dad. All the little kids at my nursery would jump into their dads arms when they came collect them. If I did that my dad would have punched me. My dad would come home blind drunk, and he'd hit my mum. I could cope with that, hiding away in Michelle's bedroom where we were safe. But that night..."

She trailed off, tears stinging her eyes. I felt them prickle in mine too.

"She was my age, Harry. She was so young. And Matty. He was 9 months old. He hadn't even had his first birthday yet, his first Christmas. I'd planned his presents out. I was acing up all my money to but him a little toddler trike. Michelle had said she would help me buy it and we would pay for it together. I remember hearing those gunshots from the bedroom then Michelle bursting through the bathroom door. My dad was banging on the door, threatening us. He started firing through the door and Michelle threw me out of the window to go and get help. I'd just knocked o. My neighbours door when Michelle screamed. I was too late."

"I'm sorry Kate," I whispered.

"It doesn't matter anyway," she said, standing up. "Like I said, apologies are pointless. They can't bring Michelle back, Sean back, Matty back. They can't stop those sleepless nights I spent grieving. They can't stop the fact I wasn't allowed to go to Michelle's funeral. They can't help whatsoever."

She slammed her hands against the wall. Tears flowing down her cheeks. She collapsed to the floor in a heap of tears. I walked over to her.

"Kate stand up, please."

I slipped my large hands under her arms and lifted her up. I stood her in front of her so she had to face me. Her cheeks were red, the same colour as her now puffy eyes.

"We want to help. Me, the boys, everyone. We want to be a proper family to you, the one that you've never had."

She looked up at me, her deep blue eyes boring into my own emerald ones.

"Really?" she said.

"Really."

She hugged me tight and I held her close. I didn't ever want to let go.