Little Talks

Ten

Tenth Call

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Harry waited anxiously, waiting for the phone to ring and to hear the sarcastic lilt of Rooney's voice. It was beginning to get late, and the hotline hadn't had a single call except for one kid claiming that he was doing Harry's mom. Probably the same creep that went on about his little sister before.

Luke peeked around the corner and waved a bottle covered by a brown paper bag at Harry. "Yo, mind holding the fort for me and Em? Fred got us some Grey Goose."

Harry shrugged and waved the two along. Before he would have been bothered at the fact that he had to do all the work of running the hotline while those too were dicking around, but he didn't mind it anymore. That meant he could talk to Rooney alone and in peace.

He glanced at the clock again, it was a quarter past eight, and Rooney was late today. Harry tried not to feel the disappointment that she might not call in, but he couldn't help it. What did he expect? He was probably just a voice over the phone to Rooney, some kid that made her laugh every now and then.

Ring ring.

Harry almost squealed like a girl as he lunged for the phone.

"Hello, this is Little Talks Teen Hotline. How may I help you?"

"..."

Harry could hear breathing on the line, and his heart sank when he realized it was just a prank caller. He was about to place the phone back on its cradle when suddenly he heard a voice.

"Harry?" Rooney whispered.

Harry perked up, something wasn't right. She never called him by his real name.

"Rooney? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I..." There was a noise, something between a screech and a shout, and then there was a loud bang. Harry could hear her ragged breaths and other voices whimpering softly.

"Can you hear me? What's going on?" Harry held the phone closer, heart thumping loudly.

"My dad...  he's gonna hurt my mom..." Her voice was broken, like she was on the verge of crying.

"Where are you right now?"

"In the closet of my room."

"Axel and Adrian?"

"They're with me, I've got them." She exhaled a shaky breath. "I hear her crying and he doesn't care. He doesn't fucking care Harry. He's hitting her and he doesn't care."

"Rooney, you need to call the police. Right now."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"If I do they'll take us away. I can't do that to mom..."

"Rooney-"

There was another bang, the scream of a woman, and incoherent shouting of a man.

Axel and Adrian whimpered louder, and Rooney shushed them gently.

"Just... just stay with me? Until it's over."

"Rooney..."

"Please, Harry." Her voice cracked. "Please."

Harry wanted to call the police, to drive over there himself, to do something. But he knew he couldn't, especially if Rooney asked him not to. So he caved. "...Okay."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Something shattered in the background.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Just making sure you didn't hang up."

"Wouldn't even dream of it."

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Onto a more serious plot-line! But don't worry, there will be more cute moments to come! Please leave a vote and a comment to tell me what you think! J