Over The Fence

“Aubrey, can we go now?”

“Yeah. Come on,” Aubrey replies to her younger sister, Harper. The girls can now finally leave for school after Aubrey puts the finishing touches to her make up to cover her bruises.

“I’m sorry you got hurt, Aubrey. I didn’t mean to finish the milk. But I was thirsty,” the chocolate brown haired thirteen year old says as the girls leave the house.

“It’s okay, bubba. It’s not your fault he’s such a fucking ass,” Aubrey says wrapping her arm around her sister’s shoulder.

Aubrey’s friends don’t make a comment about her makeup when she gets to school as Aubrey has been wearing makeup to school for the last few years. She's done it so that it doesn’t look out of the norm when she has to cover her bruises. It wasn’t always like this. The girls used to live in a very loving happy household. It wasn’t until their father was injured at work and now he’s unable to go back to work. Their mother was fired from work because she spent so much time looking after him. It took a while after that before the girls' mother was able to get job working nights in the next city over from theirs.

“Hey, are you working tonight?” Aubrey’s best friend, Zoe, asks her as they sit with their other friend, Clara, during lunch at school.

“Yeah, I’ve got a five hour shift,” Aubrey replies.

“Bugger, I was hoping we could get our homework done tonight, I really need help with this English essay, it’s driving me insane.”

“Sorry Chicka. I’m working every night this week. But we have a double spare on Friday anyway so we can get it done then,” Aubrey says trying to cheer up her best friend. Aubrey has been working at one of supermarkets in town for the last two years.

That night Aubrey doesn’t get home until 11pm after picking up her little sister from her friend Clara’s house. The girls have to walk everywhere as Aubrey can’t drive and she doesn't own a car. As soon as in Aubrey walks in the door she is met with a fist to the face.

“Where the fuck have you been?” her father says angrily, the smell of alcohol clear on his breath.

“I was at my friend's doing my homework, I didn’t look at the time. I’m sorry,” Aubrey says, covering up the fact that she was actually at work. Her father doesn’t know about her job. If he did, he would demand the money she made and spend it on alcohol rather than on food for Aubrey and her sister. Her mother sometimes does a food shop, that's the only way the food in the fridge or pantry gets refilled. But that's only once a month and it's also the only time the girls' mother makes a hot meal for everyone, she does make up a few meals and freezes them.

Aubrey tries to get away, but her father has a tight grip on her arm. “I know you’re fucking lying. Tell me where the fuck you were,” he grits out.

“I’m not lying. I was at my friend's house. I needed to get my English essay finished,” Aubrey says as she pushes her little sister out of the way. She knows this isn’t going to end well, she can smell the alcohol leeching off her father’s body and breath.

“Don’t you think about running away anywhere, missy, you’re next,” he says to Harper with a slight slur and laced with venom.

Harper runs through the house and out the back door as Aubrey tries pushing her father off her. She runs behind the shed and crouches down between the little gap in between the shed and the fence, her heart racing. She can hear her father yelling at Aubrey, knowing that he won't stop until Aubrey either escapes or is bleeding. Covering her ears, she brings her knees up to her chest and starts crying softly. She knows she can't hide forever and has luckily avoided being hit by him as Aubrey always steps in taking the unknown punshiment for her.

Beau and Corbin are sitting in their deck chairs in their backyard around the little fire pit when they hear a door slam from their neighbours and hear yelling. “He’s going off his tree again,” Corbin says, shaking his head.

“What the fuck is that dude’s problem?” Beau remarks.

The guys hear what sounds like whimpering. “Can you hear that?” Beau asks his best friend.

“Yeah. I didn’t know they had a dog,” Corbin replies, furrowing his brows.

The twenty one year old guys get up out of their seats and walk over to the noise to investigate. Beau pops his head over the fence and shines the light from his phone on to the ground. “What the fuck?” he says.

Harper looks up. “P-p-please d-d-don’t t-tell him I’m h-here,” she cries out.

“Harper! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS BACK IN HERE!” her father yells out.

Beau cuts the light off his phone when he sees the scared look on her face and hears another voice, this time it's feminine. “Leave her, it’s me who is to blame. Not Harper. Please, dad.”

Beau quickly grabs a ladder and helps the girl over the fence into his backyard. As soon as she is on his side of the property, they hear the backdoor slam again.

“Harper! Harper get your fucking ass inside right now!”

Harper crouches down in fear next to the fence as the voice gets closer. Beau and Corbin try to act like they don’t know what is going on. “Are you right there, dude? Have you lost your dog or somethin'?” Corbin calls out to the girl’s father over the fence.

“Something like that. You haven’t got my kid over there do you?” the stocky, salt and pepper haired man spits out.

“Why the fuck would a kid come over here? It’s nearly fucking midnight and I didn’t even know any kids lived in your house. I never hear any,” Corbin says.

“Hmmff. Yeah, got two girls. If you see one about this big,” Harvey says holding his hand up to his chest. “Tell her to get her ass home,” he says and slams the door as he walks back inside.

Aubrey used the opportunity to escape to her bedroom. She put locks on the door two years ago after her father came in and ripped her out of bed one night, demanding to know where her mother was. She can only pray that Harper is safe. She can hear her father yelling and swearing. “Arrgh fuck,” she says as she sees herself in the mirror of her bathroom. She has a small split under her right eye on the top of the cheek bone. The swelling has already started. She grabs what she needs to clean up her face and changes into an old t-shirt and a pair of black leggings.

Back at the guys’ house Beau had scooped Harper up and took her inside their house after they made sure that her father had gone inside. He sits her on the couch and squats down in front of her. “What’s your name? I’m Beau and this is Corbin,” he says softly as Corbin sits on the coffee table to Beau’s right.

“H-Harper,” she answers quietly.

“Hey, you’re not in trouble,” Beau says, trying to reassure her.

“Yes, I am. I ran away from him,” she covers her mouth with a gasp and wide eyes. “My sister! Please. He hit her because we got home late,” she says terrified.

The guys furrow their brows in anger. “Your dad hit your sister? How?” Corbin asks her.

“In the f-face. As soon as she o-opened the door. H-he was waiting.”

“What the fuck!” Beau shouts and Harper flinches. “Hey, shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout,” he says noticing Harper’s reaction.

Corbin gets her a drink and the guys continue to ask her questions about why the girls got home late, and how long their father has been like this. Harper openly tells them everything, she's done hiding things. Corbin grabs a blanket and covers her up when she falls asleep. The guys stay up and try and come up with a way to help the girls out. Through Harper they discovered that she’s thirteen years old and her sister, Aubrey, is seventeen. Aubrey works at a supermarket, but their parents don’t know. Their father is a drunk and can’t work due to an injury. Their mother works at night but isn’t home much as she likes the pokies. The father takes his anger out on the girls when his wife isn’t home, but Aubrey takes the most to protect her little sister.