The Holidays

   “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I have to find her.” Abigail’s mother screamed as she was running out of the door.” Abigail’s mother started her intensive search around the town looking for her daughter. While her mother was searching, Abigail watched the play Lucas was starring in and started to fall madly in love. She had to find Lucas after the play. She waited for what seemed like forever and when she finally found him, Evelyn came out.
    “Hey beautiful. I really liked the show and I wanted to show you what a true number one fan I have become.”
    “I am sorry. What is your name?” Lucas questioned.
    “You can call me Evelyn. Now, can I show you a good time or what?”
    “Well I am a little busy tonight but here is my number and you can call me anytime.” Lucas said as he walked out of the theatre.
     Evelyn was beside herself and couldn’t wait to call Lucas. She thought he would bring a good time. She walked out of the theater and started on her way home. From the very beginning of her walk, she could feel someone watching her. After a block or so, she turned around only to find her uncle running after her. Immediately, Evelyn was scared and allowed for Lucy to take over.
     “Hey. I haven’t seen you in awhile. You never return my calls and it depresses me” her uncle said. He grabbed her arm so hard, she was sure that he would leave a bruise.
     “I missed you so much and then I see you talking to some stupid theatre kid and then I walked closer to make sure that wasn’t my special sweet Abigail talking to some loser. And turns out it was you!! And you talked to him like I wished you would talk to me. But you never do. I am so angry that he got attention that I never do.”
     And then, he started punching Abigail senseless. During his beating, he broke multiple ribs, cracked her skull, and broke her arm. When he was finished beating her, he kissed her cheek, and said,” Don’t make me wait so long to see you. I will be over to your house soon. Love you beautiful.”
     Abigail lays there unconscious for hours into the early morning. Since it was so cold, her body started to freeze. The blind man is walking down the street and runs into Abigail. At first, he thought Abigail was a big bag of trash. Then, he started to feel her body and realized she was in desperate need of help. He starts to scream for some help. At the same time, Abigail’s mother was driving by and heard the blind man’s cry for help and recognized her daughter’s body lying on the ground. She parked the car and ran to her daughter.
     “I am calling 911.” she said. The operator promised a response unit in less than two minutes. Abigail’s mother held Abigail and apologized for never paying enough attention to her. Her mother promised she would help Abigail with her problems. The response unit came to the scene and drove Abigail to a nearby hospital.

The Final Straw

       “What the hell?!! Get away from me you freak!” Otis yells as he runs away. Evelyn is hurt because guys usually fall for her seducing tactics. To cheer herself up, she walked around the city. She saw Isabella’s Café and decided to cheer herself up there. As soon as she stepped in, she felt right at home. She walked to the stage and started to dance.

By the end of the night, she had made over $800 and gotten numbers too. Evelyn felt good because she made money by doing what she was best at, making guys horny. She walked home and set her earnings and numbers on the night stand. She sadly got into bed because after such a good time out, she knew Abigail would make her go away for awhile.

The next morning, Abigail woke up feeling as if she had passed out. She couldn’t recall anything about the past day except talking to some Otis guy. She looked to the nightstand and saw a huge wad of cash and a pile of guys’ numbers. One note read: Had fun tonight. Call me back baby girl. 770-555-8984. Big Papa. 

“Who the hell is Big Papa? And where did all the money come from? What the hell is going on?!!” Abigail thought. Still confused, she got dressed and went downstairs. Her mother was rushing to work and then started screaming at her. 

“When I get home Abigail, we are going to have a huge talk! You can NOT come home anytime you want wearing slutty ass clothes. What the hell are you thinking?!! If you EVER, do that again, I will ring your neck right then and there. If you are not home at 6 o’clock tonight, you are kicked out of this house! I am tired of your bullshit!” And with that, her mother left the house and Abigail in shock. She had no idea what her mother was talking about. She didn’t even give Abigail a chance to explain.

To blow off some steam, she went to take pictures. She ended up spending all day taking pictures of Occupy and then the Forever 21 fire. It neared 6, so she started walking home but she saw this handsome young man walking into the theater. She followed him inside and heard a girl calling him Lucas. She immediately wanted to be close to him and was determined to meet him. She saw that a show was playing that night and decided to stay completely forgetting that she had to be home. Unfortunately, her mother didn’t forget and waited for Abigail until 8 o’clock. She had no other choice but to throw all of Abigail’s things out. She walked back into the house to hear the phone ringing.

“Hello. Mrs. Watson. This is Dr. Tanner and I have some news for you about Abigail.”

“I am sorry Dr. Tanner but I just kicked Abigail out of the house because even with therapy sessions with you, she is still acting out. You never did a damn thing to help her. I am no longer in need of your assistance. Thanks for wasting my time and money.”

“Wait. Mrs. Watson! I finally have a solution to Abigail’s problems. The times she acts out… Its not really Abigail acting out.”

“What the hell do you mean?! Don’t make excuses for the girl!”

“Mrs. Watson… I am afraid your daughter is schizophrenic.”

The Coffee Shop

The next morning, Abigail woke up and felt a bit of a headache. She felt as if she had been asleep the whole day before and she couldn’t remember anything that had happened. Nevertheless, she started her mourning routine and was walking out the door when her mother commented on her outfit.

“Well I am glad to see you are not dressing like a little girl anymore with those pigtails and bows” she said with a sarcastic tone. Abigail had no idea what her mother was talking about because she would never dressed in such a childish way and she wondered why her mother would take notice to her clothes but the bruises left from her uncle went unnoticed. She decided to ignore the comment and continues on her way to school.

She had left earlier than needed so there was extra time and she decided to stop by the coffee shop. She decided this was a perfect opportunity to take pictures and a man with a very nice leather jacket caught her attention. The leather had wear to it, making it seem as if it had a story to tell. The man noticed her taking a picture of him and started a conversation with Abigail. Come to find out, his name was Otis. He had just moved to the area and he started to talk of his travels. They talked a little bit about the town and all the weird characters in it. He mentioned the old blind man he had met earlier who played Simple Twist of Fate by Bob Dylan twice in one day.  Otis tried to talk to the old man but at first, he was unresponsive. The second time he tried to communicate with the old blind man but he just talked about what will come will come. Abigail wished she had seen this man because he would have made for very interesting pictures. Also, she didn’t understand what the blind man’s words meant but paid no attention to the matter.

All of a sudden, Bus #17 tries to turn right by the coffee shop but then stalls. All of the passengers were forced to depart the bus. Surprisingly, her uncle stepped off the bus and Abigail immediately was frightened. She tried to hide from him but it didn’t work. Her uncle spotted her and started to walk over with his signature mischievous smile. She had no idea how to handle the situation. Otis left to figure what happened. Her uncle finally wormed his way through the growing crowd and found Abigail. Everything he said to her was inappropriate. He asked when she would be alone so they could play their sex games. He started to touch her in very uncomfortable places and she continued to feel disgusted with herself. Her uncle soon felt pleased with himself so he left and said they would have a special date soon. Otis soon came up to Abigail. Otis saw her scared expression on her face and became increasingly worried about her. He commented on how weird her uncle was and how uncomfortable Abigail looked while talking to him. It was as if she wanted someone to save her from the situation. Abigail responded in a way that surprised Otis.

“Baby, you could never save Abigail but you can save me any day because I have been a very naughty girl.”

“Abigail?! What’s wrong?” Otis asked.

“You can forget about Abigail. Evelyn is here now and I am ready to do things to you that you have never heard of before.”

Doctor Visit

             It is Tuesday afternoon which means that Abigail should be going to her weekly appointment with Rick Tanner, PhD at Good Samaritan Clinic.  However, today Abigail just isn’t feeling like talking to anyone.  So, being the good friend that she is, Lucy has chosen to attend the appointment with Dr. Tanner in Abigail’s place.  This will not be new to Dr. Tanner since Lucy and Evelyn share these appointments with Abigail all the time. 
             Today, Lucy is discussing Abigail’s last couple of days with the psychologist, explaining why Abigail has once again decided not to attend her appointment.
            “Well, Abigail’s uncle came by again.  And, like always, he made her very sad after dinner.” explained Lucy.
            “How did Abigail deal with this most recent visit with her uncle? I taught her some self-defense techniques during our last appointment. Do you know if she used them?” said Dr. Smith.
            “What does self depends taqueeks mean?” asked Lucy in her innocent, young voice.
            “They are ways that someone can use to fight off big meanies that are trying to hurt you.” explained Dr. Smith, smiling.
            “ Oh! Ok. Nope, she didn’t.  He was bigger than her and she was stuck in a corner in the basement and she couldn’t get out. She knew no one would hear her scream. I told her to kick and hit him but whenever I try to tell her what to do, she gets those bad headaches and she can’t think. So I tried to save her but she didn’t let me.”
            “Well at least you tried Lucy. That’s all that matters.” said Dr. Tanner. Lucy smiled with pride.
            “Speaking of headaches, has Abigail been getting a lot of those lately?”
            “No, not really. Me and Evelyn--she lets me call her Evie!--have been helpin’ with that.   I think that Abby is gonna get real sad soon.  So, like we always have to, we’re probably gonna have to help her. But maybe not though.” said Lucy.
            “I am very proud of that you two you are helping her. Well, that’s all the time we have for today, Lucy. I need to see all three of you soon, ok? I have seen you a lot and a little bit of Evelyn but not so much of Abigail. Do you think she will be available soon?” asked the doctor.
            “I don’t know, maybe. I’m gonna go see her later.  I will tell her to come see you! Thank you Doctor!”
            “See you later, Lucy!” Lucy walked out of Dr. Smith’s office, heading for the front door. The young receptionist reached into the candy container on top of her desk and said, “Here is a strawberry Dum- Dum for you Abigail. You look so cute in your pigtails and bows!”
            “Ms. Kline, I am not Abby! I am Lucy!”
            “Oh I’m sorry sweetie. I always get you two confused.”
            “Oh don’t worry Ms. Kline! Thanks for the lollipop! See you soon!” Lucy responded as she skipped out the door on her way to the grocery store while sucking on her lollipop. She continued down the street, memorizing the short grocery list given to her by Abigail’s mother. She couldn’t forget any item because Abigail would suffer the consequences of her forgetfulness and neither she nor Abigail would want to witness that speech.
              Luckily, Lucy had no reason to worry because the shopping trip was really easy. She remembered everything on the list, paid the cashier, and left. The interesting part of her day came while she was prancing and dancing back to Abigail’s apartment.  Right in front of the pawn shop, she ran into this old, blind, homeless man and she accidently knocked his stereo down.  Lucy was very embarrassed and reached down to pick it up for him.
            “I’m so sorry mister! I liked your songs that you played. Who sings them? Why are you all dirty? Why don’t you take a shower? Do you not have a bath? Do you live in a house? I am going to see my friends Abby and Evie.  I just went to the grocery store for Abby’s mommy.  Abby is always so sad and mad so I help her out all the time! Do you help people out? Why do you have a brown shiny bowl with money in it? Why are your eyes like that?  Can you still see? Me and Abby like to take pictures of what we see. Her mommy just bought her a camera and we take pictures of everything.”   
            “Whoa little girl, why so many questions? I can’t answer all of them at once. Are your parents around?” asked the poor old man.
             “No. I had to go to see the doctor and then the grocery store. My doctor is very nice and Ms. Kline, she always gives me candy. I like her a lot!” answered Lucy
             “Sweetie, what are you doing roaming these busy streets by yourself?” asked the old man.
            “I tole ya, I am gonna see my friend, Abby.  She lives at The Castle Apartments on Poplar Avenue in apartment number 1153, so I know where I am goin’. Are you ever gonna answer my questions?” asked Lucy.
            “Honey, let me tell you this … I have already. The truth with all its power lies inside me.” said the blind man.
              Lucy had no idea what the man meant.  So, she hugged the man, said goodbye and walked the rest of the way to The Castle Apartments to see Abby. She kept thinking about the man saying that the truth lies inside him. Try as she might, Lucy didn’t have any clue what this meant.  She stopped thinking about it and decided that she and Abby would need to figure it out together.  Whatever the real meaning, she had a feeling that Abby could benefit from hearing this quote.  

The Beginning

The day started with Abigail wanting to go out into the streets to photograph passerbyes. She lived in the Castle Apartments, so Abigail could accomplish this task with ease. She couldn’t wait to get outside and photograph the world and its beauty, especially since her uncle was coming to visit for dinner and all the world’s beauty exits while he visits. But for now, her parents continued to nag her to clean the house so it would be presentable for the guests. She reluctantly rose from her window seat and cleaned what needed cleaning. She decided her photo shoot would have to wait until after dinner.

Her cell suddenly rang and she wondered who it could possibly be. She hoped that it was someone finally asking her to hang out with them over the weekend. After Eric, she hadn’t reached back out to any of her old friends. Abigail answered the phone and talked with her chemistry lab partner. She made plans to work on Sunday to finish up the lab report and perhaps study a little if there is time left over at the end. After updating her mother on her elaborate plans for the weekend, her mother responded with happiness. She lectured Abigail on how education was the way to success and one day, her classmates would appreciate that thought. Soon enough, they would ask her to weekend parties and other social events but Abigail highly doubted any such thing would happen. Her classmates were too obsessed with becoming liked among the upperclassmen and going to their parties. Abigail knew she didn’t have the flamboyant personality needed for the upperclassman, or anyone for that matter, to notice her. Luckily for her, she has photography, Evelyn, and Lucy to make her life interesting.