Did I hit my head?

Who: Harper and Isaac
When: 8am (and possibly later in the day as well)
Where: Harpers Home/Phone

Harper had gone to sleep early the night before. It wasn't exactly like her, but she got home from work and just felt beat by the day. So she went to sleep. Nightmares plagued her. Nightmares of eyes in the darkness, creeping around a large fire. Nightmares about grey cats, cats like the ones she'd seen in her vision before. Cats that she knew could kill. It was a nightmare she couldn't pull out of. It sucked her in. She watched as cats attacked kids, people she didn't know and a few she recognized. She'd seen them at the party Isaac had invited her to. Floating above the chaos, her dream seemed to put her as an observer. It was madness, and worse of all she couldn't wake up. Then she saw him- Isaac.

Most of the rest of the dream Harper watched in a daze, sure that it was happening as she lay sleeping in her bed. She couldn't wake up. It was like watching her parents die all over again. She was helpless to stop it. Then, the dream stopped- or at least -that- dream stopped. Her mind drifted into REM sleep and at five in the morning Harper started up in bed. Cold sweat still clung her hair to the skin on her back, and her tank top to her skin. Isaac... she had to see if... Her body was moving before her mind could finish the thought, her phone was in her hand and her fingers poised to dial. It could have been a dream.... but it might not have been. Harper chose the safer of solutions and sent Isaac a text.

5:02am
Hey, it's me. Please... Please call me when you get this. Please!!!!
-Harper

Isaac wasn't terribly with it today, what with everything going on, so it wasn't until he'd left Thom at the hospital with Leija that he actually checked all the messages on his phone. "Fuck," he muttered, seeing how many exclamation points Harper had put onto her text message. He dialed her number and backed out of the parking place. It was around three-thirty or so, he hoped that whatever was wrong wasn't an emergency on her end. He tucked the phone between his shoulder and his head, keeping both burnt hands on the wheel, and listened to the other end ring.

Harper was at work when Isaac called, she'd started to read the book she'd picked up before work but couldn't seem to get very far. All day she'd had this worry in the back of her mind that something was seriously wrong. When he finally called she was relieved, if only that the phone rang. Quickly she made sure that no customers were needed her, which there weren't the last one had just left the store and it was quiet for a little bit again. Knowing that it was the worst thing ever she picked up the phone and answered it. She shouldn't be on it at work, but she was so worried... she didn't care.

Sitting back behind the counter she picked up the phone, stay calm, stay calm... it could have just been a dream. The phone had rung a total of three times before she answered it. "Isaac? Are you ok? Are you hurt?" She asked almost frantically... so much for calm.

He blinked, not having expected that as a greeting. Huh. Well ... maybe she knew somebody there. Had they made the news? Probably so, stuff like this got around really fast in Marquette. So, assuming she'd just heard through the grapevine or whatever, Isaac hurried to fill her in. "No, no, I'm okay," he assured her, taking the driving slow back in the direction of his neighborhood. "I didn't get scratched up too bad, and I kinda feel sick, but it's getting better. Only a couple of us are serious, two in the hospital, but I think everybody's gonna be okay." He left out the bit about his hands for the moment, 'cause she sounded really worried.

"Oh god, the hospital? I'm glad you're ok." God she didn't mean to sound like a worry wart. "I was just kinda worried. Those cats..." Harper trailed off. "I don't want to keep you, I just wanted to check... make sure you weren't... that you were ok." She sounded like a freak, blabbering on. So she stopped.

"Well ... thanks," he said, smiling a bit on the other end. "I really didn't think word had traveled so fast." He knew he hadn't talked to any press or anything, maybe somebody in the ER had a big mouth. Probably so. "I'm okay. Hey, just ... be careful at night, okay? Don't walk around by yourself."

"Word travel- yea... ummm." Shit, Harper had to learn to think before she spoke. Especially when already frazzled. "I'll try... Work nights a lot. Maybe I'll get a pocket knife for when I have to wait for the bus." She chuckled. She was blushing, and very happy he couldn't see. "You be careful too... those cats aren't good."

Isaac frowned a bit. A pocket knife? Wasn't going to do it. And he wasn't comfortable with the idea of Harper standing around in the dark for any length of time by herself. "Maybe you can talk to your boss?" he suggested. "'Cause really, these things are bad news, Harper. You should get off before dark. Or have somebody to go wait with you." Not that numbers had deterred the goddamn things in the bonfire case.

"I know they're dangerous. Very dangerous." She said, her voice wavering a bit, she remembered Manson's death very vividly. "But my boss can't work nights... I'll be ok. If it feels like a bad night I'll call a cab or something." Harper offered up to ease his worry.

He was of the opinion that it was shitty to make a girl work every night, with nobody there to even like ... walk her to the bus stop or whatever. But this was Marquette. "Okay," he said after a minute, and sighed. She must've been following the news, she sounded kind of upset.

"I'm sorry... you probably need to rest, and I'm keeping you." Harper said after a moment silence. "I'm really glad you're ok... and if you need anything..." Her mind was playing over parts of the night, like flashback clips from a TV show. She wished it would stop. "Wait... the girl who fell in the fire... do you know if she's ok?" It had been one of the moments that Harper truly wished she could wake up. It had shaken her greatly, though finally talking to Isaac had made her forget for a moment. "Is she one of the ones in the hospital?" Why hadn't she woken? She could have called the cops, animal control... and ambulance, something.

Isaac's eyebrows drew together slowly. Okay, how in the hell had she known about that particular little tidbit of information. He hadn't even told anyone at the hospital that Kaysen had fallen in the fire, because there wasn't a mark on her. They hadn't even told their parents. "That's my sister," he said slowly. "She's fine. ... how did you know about that?"

Shit, spoken without thinking again. Quick how did you know? "I had a dream." Ok, so it wasn't a lie. "It's hard to explain. But I'm so glad your sister's ok." Especially considering she really fell into the fire. 'Fine' seemed almost like a brush off, however considering that Harper seemed to have crossed over a line. Stupid, should have just kept it to herself.

"Thanks," he said, sounding unsure about that. A dream? With that kind of detail? And she'd sounded confident that she knew what she was talking about, too, which was the weird part. Isaac wondered briefly if she'd been there somehow. But dismissed it for the moment. "It was really weird, she didn't burn at all. But listen, I gotta go. Take care tonight, okay? Be careful." Goddamn he needed some normalcy in his life.

"I will." Harper said nodding. Her eyes were diverted from the counter she'd been staring at as they talked to the door, a customer had entered. "Call me later... give me an update? When you're feeling better." She asked, giving the customer a polite smile and nod of acknowledgment.