Abigail

by Gloria Kitchens

  “Do you trust me?”

  “No.”

  “Well that’s probably a smart choice.”

  Abby laughed, “Was I supposed to say ‘Yes, I trust you’ to some guy who picked me up, had a few laughs with me, and brought me to a restaurant? We’ve only been together for an hour, you weirdo.”

  “Ouch. Another blow to my ego,” Deely laughed with her before he quieted down and continued on as seriously as he could manage, “Can you suspend yourself in a hypothetical situation where you do, for some odd reason, trust a total stranger like me?”

  “Heh...I don’t trust anyone. Never could.”

  “I want to help you,” he continued, leaning in closely, “I want to help you get away from that house.” Deely paused waiting for the girl to have some kind of reaction. The girl would’ve been stunned if she hadn’t heard dozens of men before him say the exact same thing. All of them bargaining different versions of the same thing in exchange for sex. The first time that she had agreed, the man dragged her right back to her hellhole all over again. So to Deely’s question, she could only laugh. She laughed hysterically until tears started to well up in her eyes.

  “You really think I’ve never heard that one before?” Wiping a tear from her cheek, she said, “That trick only worked once before and it won’t work again.” Abigail felt surprisingly hurt by what she assumed was his proposition. “I really thought you were a little bit different from all the scummy guys that usually pay for my time.” She started to get up from her seat when Deely grabbed her wrist forcing her to stay right where she was.

  “That is not what I meant.” He said the words so sternly she couldn’t help but somewhat believe him. “And trust me, I don’t have any problems picking up girls anyways so I wouldn’t need to buy anyone for that.”

  “Why am I here, then?”

  “Because I truly want to help you. And then you’ll owe me one.”

  If he didn’t want or need her for sex, then she had no idea what she was needed for. A part of her still wasn’t believing what Deely was saying. She couldn’t tell if it was the years of being lied to or the fact that someone actually needed her that kept her hanging onto this inkling of doubt. Maybe it was both.

  After another silent moment, the girl started. “Say that I actually believe the shit that you’re sayin’. What the hell are you gonna do about this?” she asked holding her thin wrist up with the tracking bracelet sticking tightly to it.

  Just then, the bodiless jingle came from the door, and a short figure walked in. Not close to Abigail’s height, as Abigail happened to be taller than most people that she encountered even sometimes taller than men when she wore the right kind of heels.

  The short figure finally stepped in closer, into the light of the restaurant, her curly brown hair falling around her short brown face in two puffy braids. She dressed much older than she looked, wearing dull colors and bohemian sandals that were slightly too big for her feet. She walked forward not directly looking at anything, seemingly looking past both Deely and Abby but still in their direction. Her eyes looked like they were shaking, twitching almost from what Abby could see.

  “Abby, this is my sister. Adopted,” he said before Abby had the chance to question the difference in skin color. “Meri, this is Abigail.” Meri reached her hand up toward Abby, waiting to shake hands. And they did for a second before Meri pulled Abigail’s wrist closer, using her other hand to feel over it, down to where the tracker was placed. She trailed her short fingers over each crevice. Abby noticed that the girl’s fingernails were short and bitten off making the tips of her fingers look rounder than they should’ve been.

  “Yeah I think this should be easy,” Meri said turning in Deely’s direction.

  Abby snatched her wrist away feeling weird about the girl touching her arm and also not looking into her eyes.

  “What the fuck does she mean by that?”

  “I mean,” Meri continued answering for herself, “that I could get that bracelet off you in a few minutes if you wanted me to.”

  Charlie came back in, holding two full plates of burgers and fries and setting them right in front of the two of them. Abby could feel her stomach rumble from the scent of the freshly made food.

  “So, what do you say? You gonna let me help you or not?” Deely insisted.

  Chapter 3

  Abigail felt something soft under her head. A pillow that held her head slightly higher than was comfortable and by the time she felt the blood rush to her hands again, she felt a rough blanket itch against her skin, making her warmer but uncomfortable at the same time. She noticed that she was in a much smaller room than she last remembered. Taking in the closeness of the walls, she surmised a bedroom. That’s when Abby noticed the small girl whose back was turned toward her, sitting hunched over the table twiddling with something. Abigail couldn’t see and hadn’t felt strong enough to raise her head all the way up just yet.

  Then she felt her wrist bare as could be, absent of the tracker that had kept her attached to her home every time she left. And she was on the verge of having another panic attack before realizing that the band hadn’t hurt her like Mother always said it would.

  Mother had sat her down at the kitchen table, waving a finger in her face about how bad the tracker could shock her if she were to take it off. Even demonstrating on a small rat, which died from the voltage. She figured it could probably even kill her, if she was weak enough. A point she was surely at by now. She had never even tried to tamper with it. Abby caught a glimpse of something over Meri’s shoulder as she adjusted her vulture-like position upon the stool. The tiny wristband lay there broken apart plugged into the port of a screen shining against Meri’s face. Her movements were slow against the keys of the keyboard as if she had to find the right key every time she placed a finger down.

  “Hey,” Abby called toward Meri, but she didn’t budge at all.

  And then Abby noticed the buds in her ears and tried calling a little louder.

  “Hey!” Abby still received no response and she began getting more frustrated by the second, wriggling around to get herself back up but before she could make any good enough effort, Deely walked in holding a plate of food. The same food that Charlie had laid in front of her before she hit the floor. The burger and fries still smelled fresh and made her mouth water from anticipation.

  “Don’t try to move around too much.”

  “What happened to me?” She thought for a second about everything she’d done leading up to that moment. All she could remember was taking a sip of water. “D-Did you drug me?” Abigail immediately froze and felt so completely vulnerable being in a room that she didn’t know and around people she hadn’t grown to trust yet.

  “No, Abigail. You fainted.”

  “I don’t believe you. Take me back home, please. I won’t say anything about what happened. I’ll forget about it.”

  Deely sat on the side of the bed causing Abby to move away from him the closer he got.

  “Settle down, please. I’ll show you.” He put up his right wrist showing her the time on his watch. 9:53 p.m.

  “What’s that supposed to prove?”

  “Do you remember what time it was when you read my watch earlier?”

  Thinking for a second, Abby could clearly remember. It was all she’d been focused on for the better part of an hour. Every time Deely had looked at his watch, Abby had taken a secondary glance over.

  “9:48”

  “Mhm. So, you couldn’t have been out for more than five minutes. See?”

  Abby had figured that if they wanted to hurt her, they would’ve already done it in her incapacitated state.

  “What happened to me, then?”

  “Seems that your blood sugar might be a bit low. Have you eaten anything today?”

  Abby shook her head, looking down at her rumbling stomach. Deely hurriedly
pushed the plate toward her.

  “Please, eat.”

  It didn’t take Abigail another moment’s thought to start stuffing food in her mouth. She didn’t dare make an attempt at conversation. The food would simply fall out of her mouth if she began talking. Deely just watched her indulge herself until she began to slow down, finally. Only making it through about half of the burger and a few of the fries. Her face longed for more, but her body wouldn’t let her continue eating the delicious food. She just felt disappointed.

  “What’s she doing?” She made a darting glance toward Meri who was still perched up on her stool, not paying any attention to what was happening behind her.

  “Oh, she’s helping to get rid of your tracking bracelet.”

  “What’s wrong with her?” Abigail started thinking back to how the girl’s eyes would dart aimlessly never landing on one single point. And she didn’t exactly look Abby in the eyes when offering her hand up. All the girl’s actions seemed incredibly approximate.

  “She’s blind.”

  “Oh.”

  “Not completely though. She’s got a little thing in her head that lets her see general shapes and some outlines.”

  Meri suddenly turned around with a sort of unhinged excitement.

  “I’m done!”

  “Could you get rid of it while Abby and I go on a little walk? I think she’s in need of a little fresh air.”

  It didn’t take long for Abigail to start feeling like herself again since she’d woken up. In fact, she felt better than herself. Though her stomach felt as if it was weighing her down now. It felt immensely better than having it make her feel light as a feather to the point where all she could feel was that absence. Deely had walked right beside her and held her arm as they walked down the street from the restaurant. She still had no idea where they were going. This area didn’t seem like any place where people just walked around for fun.

  Everything was so quiet except when the high-speed train would pass over the magnetic rails above them. It ran through every city dome on the east coast with a few stops in between for dropping people off at airports. Which continued to be the only way to cross over the Atlantic to any country your heart desired. It came back through New Atlanta every few days never taking breaks. It seemed to be the only vehicle that remained grounded, for the most part. The rest were way up above the roads along with the transportation tubes that were sort of a middle ground between the train and the gliders. But those seemed just as empty as the roads, with a person going through it every once in a while.

  They turned a corner and Abby could see the smaller dome that lay inside this massive city dome. And she couldn’t make out what was inside at all. It was covered in gray so that no one could see what was in it. Deely seemed to know what was in it, leading her confidently in that direction. The sign on the door read New Olympic Park with five golden circles below it. A faint blue scanner sat right next to the door and Deely pulled his holographic ID up to the scanner prompting a robotic voice to start speaking.

  “Welcome, Thomas Deely. How many guests are in your party today?”

  “Only two.”

  “You have 20 minutes. Please enjoy. And remember any time spent over will be charged against you. Your timer has started on your ID.”

  Then the door opened with a huge gush of air seeping out rustling the hair on Deely’s head and blowing back Abigail’s puffed out curls. Stepping inside, Abby almost lost her breath looking at everything around her. Trees reached the top of the dome and stopped just a little under the faint light that came from the surrounding dome. Abby had of course seen a few trees in her lifetime, and that was even pretty rare for most people who didn’t live near parks like these.

  Vibrant colors filled every spot of the dome even down to the neutral sidewalk. The pebbled path was drenched in full browns and grays that Abby could never have imagined looking so beautiful. They seemed to sparkle under the soft lights. It didn’t take long for Abigail to become spectacularly overwhelmed by the site of fat bees bouncing from flower to flower and tiny birds flying through the treetops. She could only imagine what else inhabited the dome. Deely finally started to slow, walking her toward a bench and ushering her to sit down.

  “Did you make your decision?”

  “Huh?” Abby had completely forgotten about his question.

  “Will you let me help you?” Deely looked toward her waiting for her to finally answer.

  “I don’t think so. I still don’t trust you.”

  Deely thought for a moment.

  “Well, that’s unfortunate,” he continued, “But you don’t really have a choice in the matter, anyway. Your tracking bracelet is probably miles from here now. How do you think she’d react if you came home without it? You think she’d be proud that you’d chosen her instead of yourself? Or would she treat you worse than she already does? I’ve also been meaning to ask. How the hell did you end up like that?”

  Abigail sat for a few more seconds realizing that what was done was done. And there was no turning back now. Not that she wanted to go back, running into Mother’s claws. At least she knew what to expect. But even Deely’s questions made her wonder what Mother was truly capable of. And she really wanted to be mad at the man for not giving her a choice but all she could do was smile.

  “You’re really an asshole, you know,” she laughed and Deely laughed with her. And they sat quietly together until a muffled robotic voice came from Deely’s back pocket.

  “You have five minutes left, Thomas Deely.”

  “You ready to head back now?”

  Abigail nodded and they headed back to the restaurant into the room where she’d woken up just a while ago. Meri was nowhere in sight and it really made Abby wonder how exactly Meri was getting rid of her tracker. Or at least how long it’ll take Mother to actually find her or if she’d even go looking for her. But Abigail was too tired to worry about anything. She simply laid down on the bed and drifted to sleep with a full stomach for the first time in a while. Then she nearly jumped out of her half-asleep state when she realized that she’d never see her ants again. They’d never get to nip at her tiny body again, and she felt a little selfish for being relieved by that.

  Chapter 4

  It didn’t take long for Abby to get used to the luxury of waking up in a bed. Not the floor and single sheet she had convinced herself into calling a bed. But one with a mattress, a modest wooden bed frame that lifted the mattress just a few inches off the ground, leaving only the tiniest bit of room underneath. She let the covers engulf her each night, not attempting to feel the least bit selfish even though she was sharing the bed with Meri, who never seemed to be around when she went to sleep or woke up. All she left of her existence was a child-sized wrinkle in the sheets.

  Every morning seemed to start the same way. Abigail would wake up, get clean, get dressed, and eat and then sit on her ass for the rest of the day while Deely disappeared off to God knows where until night. It didn’t take much to entertain the girl at first, as soon as Charlie had shown her how to work the television in Deely’s study, she was hooked for hours at a time.

  She wouldn’t necessarily pay attention to what the people on the screen were saying. She’d just look at their clothes, all the way down to their shoes if they were showing. She’d really look at the way they carried themselves. And with that she was able to surmise what the person was like. She had always been quite good at figuring people out. Granted, it did take her a few tries in the beginning to get the hang of it and use it to her advantage.

  She was able to get a lot more money out of the shier men, even though none of it would ever cross the girl’s hands. It just went straight to Mother. But she’d at least try to get the most out of them when it involved food. Every time she went out, she’d always come back with an aching stomach and try so hard to hide it from Mother. If she thought the girl was getting too
fat, she’d surely start cutting her food off again. She couldn’t exactly get all of what she wanted from the more abrasive men. But all it really took was a simple pout to sometimes turn decisions in her favor.

  As she watched the lady on TV, the reporter sat with her hands together behind a desk that read “NEWS!” all over it. Abigail kept the volume turned down so the noise of it didn’t distract her as much. The reporter wore a plain blue dress, nothing especially flashy, but it did make her stand out against the dull background and it brought out her hazel eyes. Her hair was cut neatly right above her shoulders making her fine locks swing with every twist of her head.

  Abby couldn’t see a wedding ring on the woman’s finger but even she knew that that was a bit abnormal for a woman her age. And finally Abby had figured out this woman. Her name was Sharon Masters. And she looked so plain almost like anyone else. Even though she was a TV anchor, Abby saw that in a more social setting she’d probably just blend into the crowd. Or maybe even stand out but not in the way that anyone wanted to stand out. The news anchor would sound so sure of herself on television, letting a little more grit and bass come out so that her words would be respected.

  However, the woman’s personal life didn’t amount to much more than a pet or two. A dog or cat maybe, Abby wasn’t quite sure. Abby would spend hours envisioning life through these different people. For the reporter, she’d imagine walking into her own home, maybe a little sad to find it free of any other human occupants but comforted by the cat that’d been waiting for her to come back.

  For the woman in the ad after the reporter, who wore a soft light pink sweater and wore her hair up in a messy bun, Abby would imagine her coming home to a family, her husband waiting for her to get home so they could read stories to their two kids before falling asleep. That’s at least what she thought a mom and dad were meant to be like. She really had no idea what kind of mother the lady could be, and it just started to make her angry the more she thought about how a mother should act. Knowing that Mother would never be able to fit neatly into that mold. So she’d stop analyzing people on television for a while. Thankfully, it was easy for a restless body to get stuck in Deely’s cluttered office.