Sanctuary - Side 2

Today's the day we're leaving Abby's hometown for and it's also the day that she's going to take one last walkthrough of her childhood home. I woke up and saw that Abby was already awake. I walked to the bathroom and saw that the door was shut. I opened it to see her sitting on the floor with her head in her hands.

"Abby." I said, kneeling in front of her.

She remained silent.

"What's wrong?"

I lifted her head since she wouldn't look up at me and also took her hands in mine. That's when the tears began to run down her face.

"Please talk to me."

"I can't."

"You can't what, baby?"

"Today."

This is when I sat down and pulled her into my lap.

"I know it's gonna be difficult, but you're gonna get through with flying colors."

She let out a laugh.

"Can you just hold me? For a little while?"

"Of course." I said, kissing her neck.

I held her for what felt like an eternity until we heard footsteps, but in reality was actually twenty minutes. She turned around and kissed me when we stood up.

"I love you." she said.

"I love you, too."

I kissed her and smiled.

“I’ll meet you in the living room.” she said before I walked out of the bathroom.

I came out and sat beside her on the couch.

“Hey.” I said.

“Hey.”

We heard someone walk into the living room a few minutes later.

“Good morning, you two.” her mom greeted.

“Good morning.” Abby and I said simultaneously.

“Is everything okay, Abby?”

“Yeah. I guess. There’s something I need to talk to you about, but it can wait.”

“You sure?”

Her mom looked concerned.

“Yeah.”

“Whatever you say, honey.”

I didn't appreciate the hint of an attitude in her voice.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me my father came for me?”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“I had a dream that he came for me when I was four on Christmas.”

“Who remembers something like that?”

“I don’t fucking know. Well, is it true?”

I tried to hold her hand, but sheshook it loose and got off the couch in anger.

“First of all, don’t you dare curse at me and yes, it’s true. He knocked on the door and I unfortunately answered it. He tried to make his case about wanting to be in your life and hurt me when he attempted to talk to you. He pushed and hit me, Abigail.”

“You never thought to tell me this? I have the right to know. Maybe I would’ve liked to spoken to the man myself. Did you ever think of that? I am 28, after all.”

“He’s a bastard. A bastard who is in prison for rape. Would you like to see your rapist? Because I don’t think you would.” she laughed at the last part.

Tears came to Abby's eyes and she dashed to the bedroom. I was beyond furious. How can you possibly say something like to your child? I simply don't understand.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shouted at her mom.

I came up from behind an already dressed Abby and placed my hands on her shoulders. She touched them and started to sob.

“M-my m-meds n-need to k-kick in alr-ready.”

“You need to sit and relax.”

She nodded and sat down; I sat down beside her and she laid her head on my shoulder.

“She was out of line. Why couldn’t she have said that like a civilized fucking person? And how do you say something like that about my rapist while laughing? Like what happened to me was nothing? That’s fucking disgusting.”

“I didn’t think your mom could ever talk to you like that. You deserve so much better than that.”

“Yeah.”

“Let me finish packing.”

“Alex...”

“I got this. Just relax.” I said, kissing my temple.

She nodded and held her head in her hands again.

Five minutes later, our suitcases were packed and I called a taxi.

“Let’s go.”

She grabbed her purse and walked beside me as we made our way out of the bedroom. Her mom and Tyler were in the living room when we came out. She rushed over to Abby and grabbed her arm tightly which brought back a terrible memory, back to that night.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t t-touch me. G-get off of me. G-go away."

She started to do the motions she did when she was raped and that following day when she had a nightmare.

“Abigail. What’s going on?”

“What’s it look like? She’s reliving painful memories.” I replied venomously.

She wrapped an arm around mine as we walked out of the house, slamming the door. We waited on the porch as she began to cry incessantly into my shoulder.

“I can’t believe this is even happening. I thought things were good between us. I thought my nightmares were gone.” she said after a few minutes.

“Neither can I. It’ll get better though. I promise you.”

Five minutes later, our taxi was there and we were ready to head to the airport. Sure, we’d be there a bit early, but I didn’t care; I wanted out of there almost as much as she did. She sighed as we went past her home which she couldn’t believe she wasn’t gonna be able to visit. We sat at a table in the airport eating breakfast, but she was more picking at her food than anything else.

“Can I get you anything?” I asked.

She shook her head and took a bite of her food.

“I miss the dogs.” she said randomly.

“So do I.”

Baz and Peyton are the sweetest dogs.

“When can we get them?”

“Tonight.”

She was hardly there.

“Cool.”

She only had a few more bites before she pushed it toward me. I dropped my fork and placed my hand on her; she pulled her hand back. I frowned and went back to my food.

“Why do you love me?” she asked.

What?

“Why are you asking me this, Abby?”

She shrugged.

“I’m worried about you and to answer your question, it’s because you’re the most amazing person I've ever met. It’s because when you fall, you get right back up again which means you are also the strongest person I know. You have a wonderful spirit about you and always make me smile when I need it the most and you’re hands down the most beautiful woman on this earth. The fact that you chose me is one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. I love you, Abigail Shaw. I love you more than anything in the world.”

She smiled with tears in her eyes and kissed me hard.

“I needed that. I’m such a fucking mess... again.”

“A beautiful mess.”

“Shut up.” she said laughing.

I laughed as well.

She got her appetite back and finished her food.

“Glad your appetite’s back.”

“Me too. This is delicious.” she said with her mouth full.

I shook my head as I finished my own meal.

“How long till our flight?” she asked.

“An hour.”

“Ugh.”

She tilted her head back much to my amusement.

“Time’ll pass faster than you think, babe.” I said, kissing her cheek.

“Ok. Hey, I have a question.”

We were walking toward the seating near our terminal.

“Yeah?”

“You think I’ll ever take that last walkthrough of my house?”

“I do. It might be a while though till you do."

She sat down and leaned against me. When we got in our seats, she sighed and buckled her seatbelt and looked straight out the window.

"I seriously can't wait to go home. I miss California."

She smiled at me and I smiled back.

The time passed quickly and soon, we were back in Cali. After taking her shoes off, she dragged her suitcase into the bedroom and laid flat on her back. Peyton and Baz jumped on the bed and began licking her face.

“Looks like they missed you.”

“Because I’m so lovable.”

“The loveliest. Let me on the bed, boys.”

I managed to climb on the bed and kiss her.

“Family photo?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I laughed and nodded.

“Family photo.”

Notes