Abby

by Anthony McGirr

  Macie attempted to grab handfuls of the carpet, but couldn't even dig her nails in to stop herself from being dragged. He drug her across the floor to the only window in the whole room, then grabbed onto her by the shoulders and lifted her into the air. She started to cry, begging the man to let her go, but he slammed her against the wall.

  “What did you do to Abby?!” the man snarled. “What did you do to her?!” He angrily pulled her away from the wall, then slammed her body against it a second time. “Answer me!”

  “W-we were j-j-just playing a j-joke. We d-d-didn't-t mean any...”

  “A joke? A JOKE?! My sweet, darling Abby is laying in a pool of her own blood!” With one swift move, the angry man pulled Macie away from the wall for the third time, then tossed her through the second-story window. She screamed the whole way down until she landed on the ground with a violent "thump."

  He turned his attention towards the sound of two girls screaming as loud as they could in the living room. Then suddenly, there was silence, followed by a voice: There's a man who came out of the bathroom. He's trying to kill us! We think he killed Eva and Abby and he took Macie. Please hurry! The address is 9784 Yosemite Lane. Oh God I think I hear him coming!

  When the man emerged from the top of the stairs, he stared out at the empty living room filled with party decorations. Slowly, he descended the stairs, trying not to make any noise, but he was a tall, large-framed man and with each step, the stair buckled under his weight and squeaked. Once he reached the bottom, he stopped and watched patiently, his eyes scanning every inch. He knew they were there somewhere, hiding and waiting for him to give up and look for them elsewhere.

  The man then started to creep into the kitchen, stopping only to look behind the couch and to toss the coffee table to the side, spilling all the food onto the ground. Once he was in the kitchen, he found the knife rack and pulled out the large butcher knife. The metal made a nice sound as it exited the wooden holder it was in. He held the knife to his side as he continued to eye the living space, hoping someone would move just an inch.

  He stalked back the way he came silent and deadly, not knowing if either girl had any idea where he was. Then, out of nowhere, the closet door nearest to the front door swung open and out came Samantha, rushing towards him with a metal baseball bat held high above her head. She'd played softball for many years, and felt she could take him on. She let out a piercing scream as she charged. But when she brought the bat down towards his head, the man dodged out of the way, moving quicker than any person she'd ever seen.

  He then thrust the blade of the knife deep into Samantha's gut and watched as her eyes widened in horror at what happened, all confidence draining from her face. She thought she would be the hero and save the day as she wrapped her hands around the bat. If only she had stayed hidden in the closet a little longer, she'd be fine. Scared, but fine.

  When the man pulled the knife from her stomach, Samantha fell to her knees and placed both hands over the wound, still in shock. He grabbed her by the hair to keep her upright, then kneeled down so they were face-to-face. The look on his face was one of great anger as he glanced down at the blood pouring between the girl's fingers, then stared back into her eyes.

  “Poor Samantha. I watched you as you and that other girl planned to play this trick on my dearest Abigail. I should have stopped her from going into that bathroom and if I had, none of this would have happened. But girls just want to have fun, right? Right? Why are you such a horrible person that you have to pick on girls much smaller than you?”

  “Isn't that what you're doing? You horrible monster!” Samantha screamed, then spit in his face. The angry grimace on the man's face turned into a grin as he then thrust the knife into her a second time. Samantha let out a sickening guttural sound. When he pulled the blade out, he tossed her aside and left her to die on the rug in the entrance way.

  “Three down. One to go,” he said as he stood to his feet and wiped the blood off his knife onto his black pants. “I let you down Abby! I let you down!” he howled, tearing apart the house. He proceeded to toss over cabinets, throwing chairs and tables, breaking mirrors, tossing the bowls full of chips and other foods, all with no sign of movement from Alexa.

  Out of breath, Maxwell collapsed to his knees and stabbed the knife into the floor. Tears streaming from his eyes, he wiped his face with Samantha's blood and continued to howl in pure agony. The fury within grew to the point where it could grow no more and instead transformed into sorrow. Wiping away the tears, Maxwell thought he saw movement from the corner of his eye.

  Quickly he stood and yanked the knife from the floor. Indeed, Alexa was hiding behind the blinds that covered the window that overlooked the backyard. It was a large bay window that had plenty of room for someone to huddle themselves on and stay nicely hidden. From inside the house, you couldn't tell it was a bay window, which made it the perfect hiding spot...unless you moved and disturbed the blinds.

  Knowing her cover was blown, Alexa stepped down from the window and attempted to run for the front door, but she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Samantha's body laying across the way out. Before she even had the chance to think what to do or where to go, Maxwell took hold of her and tossed her over back of the couch.

  Alexa rolled over it and landed on the ground, but quickly regrouped and was back on her feet. She sprinted into the kitchen and pulled the second-largest knife from the holder and turned to face the monster that was chasing her. He stopped just short of entering the kitchen, seeing that the girl had a weapon in her shaky hands and held it out, ready to strike if he got any closer.

  “Should I have mercy on you Alexa? Hmm? You could've prevented all this from happening. But you didn't. You avoided doing the right thing,” Max said, inching closer.

  “Apparently so could you. What happened was an accident, pure and simple. We had no intention on hurting Abby. Where in the hell did you come from, anyway?”

  “You wouldn't believe me even if I told you!” Max snapped back.

  “Don't come any closer!”

  “Max! Stop it!” came a yell from the top of the stairs. He turned back to see a bloodied Abby descending the stairs.

  “Abby?” Max instantly dropped his knife and ran to meet Abby.

  “What have you done?” she cried. Max could see the tears pouring down her cheeks and suddenly felt ashamed.

  “They hurt you! I was only...”

  “Do you realize what you've done, Max? You did it again! Y-you ruined my l-life!”

  “Abby, I love you so much! You're the only person I care about! I only wanted to protect you from...”

  “You didn't have to kill them! You just don't get it! You can't kill whoever you want here! I will never forgive you for what you've done! I want you to go back and never, ever return!” said Abby, wiping the tears and drying blood from her face.

  “Please Abby. Don't do that to me. Without you, I have nothing. I have nothing!”

  “And because of you, I now have nothing. My life was starting to look up and you just ruined everything for the second time. Go back and never return,” Abby commanded. Max's countenance fell as he lowered his head in shame. He then glanced up at Abby and stared into her eyes before stepping out of her realm and back into his. Maxwell blinked out of existence as if he had never been there in the first place.

  Alexa was frozen in place. She held the knife out, her body shaking wildly, hoping she was just stuck in a bad nightmare and would wake up any second. But when Abby walked up to her, Alexa allowed the knife to be pulled from her grasp. She had a million different questions to ask, but her brain was still trying to fathom everything that just happened.

  “I tried to tell everyone he was real,” Abby finally said.

  “Who...what...”

  “You should probably call
the police. And Eva's parents. I don't have much time left,” Abby said. She turned and left Alexa standing alone in the kitchen.

  * * * *

  Officer Carlson couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't know if the dispatcher had her information right when it first came through the radio. But as he patrolled the neighborhood on the lookout, it didn't take him very long to find her. Abby was a few years older and taller than the last time he saw her, but he knew it was her. Except this time, it was much worse.

  Abby walked absently down the sidewalk, wearing pajamas and an overstuffed backpack on her back. When Officer Carlson pulled up alongside of the girl, he was shocked to see her face was covered in dried blood. It also appeared to have run down her neck and stained her pajama top.

  “Abby?” he called out. She kept walking, staring forward, but recognized his voice.

  “Hi Officer Carlson. It's been a few years,” she said.

  “Abby, please hold on where you are,” he said. Officer Carlson parked his car and jumped out as fast as he could. “What in the heck happened to you?”

  “Just let me run away Officer Carlson. Please?! I need to go away on my own. Everywhere I go, I bring death and misery with me. Let me disappear. I'll run far, far away from here,” she said.

  “I can't just let you run away. I need you to come with me. I need to get you to a hospital,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders so he could get a good look at her. He saw the injury to the back of her head; the deep gash that he hoped was no longer bleeding.

  “I told him to go away. It won't happen again, I promise. Just let me go.”

  “I'm sorry, but that's just not an option at this point.” Abby listened and allowed herself to be led into the backseat of the cruiser, tears pouring down her cheeks. Lightning sparked in the night sky above, bright enough for her to catch a glimpse of her own reflection in the window. Maybe I'm Bloody Mary after all, Abby thought as the cruiser began to move.

  To Be Continued...

  Author's Note:

  I wanted to give a personal, heart-felt thank you to all who have purchased Abby! I sincerely hope that you enjoyed my story and will continue to follow Abby's journey. I also wanted to give a quick thank-you to all who have helped me get this story out there. I couldn't have done it without you!

  There is so much work that goes into making a story successful and one of the ways YOU can help (yes, YOU dear reader!) is by promoting this story to your family and friends and leaving reviews on Amazon! Reviews and word-of-mouth is the lifeblood of new authors who hope to get their work in the hands of many people. I thank you as well for your support and (hopefully positive) reviews!

 

  Sincerely,

  Anthony J. McGirr