Sorry it took me so long to update, but here it is :P
Well, as usual, thanks for the reviews (even though I barely got any this time :( ) and ENJOY!!
Chapter 29 - Avoiding The Subject
When Luka came back less than 15 minutes later, he found Abby wiping off the blood from the kitchen floor. The living room and the bathroom had already been completely cleaned for any kind of trace that there had ever been blood or mess there.
"What are you doing?" She got up from the floor quickly, putting the free hand on her head in an attempt to stop the spinning. A couple of seconds later she put the red paper towel into the trash and instead grabbed the counter for support.
"Cleaning." She ripped off some more paper towel, but as she turned around to continue what she was doing, Luka grabbed both of her now covered shoulders. At first she looked scared into his eyes, but pulling herself out of the trance, she looked down, trying to get out of his grip. "Luka, I need to clean up. I need it to disappear. "
"You don't have to." She just ignored him and continued struggling. "Abby!" He shook her gently and she finally looked up at him. "Go sit down, you're obviously in no state to be cleaning right now." She looked at him like she wanted to protest, but nothing came out of her. "Go, Abby. I'll take care of this." He nodded towards the floor to make sure she knew what he meant, gently slipping the paper towel out of her hand. Looking defeated, she started playing with the sleeve of her shirt, the huge t-shirt that Luka had given her, the one which fell all the way down to her knees.
"Okay." She didn't like giving in, but she knew she had no choice. Biting her lip she slipped out of Luka's grip, and while he watched her, she slowly turned around and left the kitchen.
Entering the living room, she sat down at the far end of the couch, pulling her knees up below her chin. She couldn't believe what was happening, why did things always have to go wrong? She wiped away some tears before they fell, not wanting to cry and especially not in front of Luka. He wasn't supposed to know about this, at all. Why couldn't this just be some horrible nightmare?
It didn't take long before Luka came into the living room, carrying two cups of hot chocolate. Placing one of them on the table in front of her, he sat down on the couch.
"How did you get done so fast, Abby? There was quite a lot to clean up. Did you even clean the rest of the wounds?" She just nodded, starring at the cup in front of her. It smelled really good, she just couldn't get herself to reach for it.
"I did. I'm just really used to doing it." Seeing Luka's confusion turn to pity, she quickly looked away.
"But how... How do you usually clean out the ones on your back? Isn't that hard when you can't reach them?" She took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders, still not wanting to face Luka nor talk about it.
"He usually does it for me if the wounds are bad." She was whispering, not wanting to think about it. She could feel Luka tensing up next to her.
"What? He'd hurt you and then try to help you? Why?" She could feel a small tear slowly sliding down her cheek. She nodded slightly, looking at him for a split second before turning back to a spot on the wall.
"He doesn't want me to end up in the hospital." She continued staring at the really uninteresting spot on the wall, but it was better than having to face Luka. "And he just uses it as another way to hurt me."
"What?" She felt another tear slide as she looked at Luka, who looked pretty broken himself.
"He pours pure alcohol in them." Once again Luka felt like his heart was breaking in even smaller pieces. He silently cursed himself for continuing to ask her questions, when it was obvious that the answer would only hurt the both of them.
"Luka, please. I don't want to talk about it anymore." She pulled him out of his thoughts and he noticed the tears running down her cheeks. For the first time he realized that the sparkle in her eyes, the one he had loved so much from the beginning, was more than just this beautiful, unique sparkle. It was a silent cry for help.
How could he possibly feel bad himself, feel so hurt and broken, when Abby was sitting right in front of him. Thinking about how bad he felt himself, he didn't even dare imaging how horrible she must be feeling, going through all those things, having to hide it, and telling about them would definitely be worse than hearing them.
"Yeah, sure, sorry." He shook his head, pulling himself out of his thoughts. Putting his cup on the table, he picked up Abby's and held it in front of her. "Drink something, Abby. You love hot chocolate." It wasn't that he wanted to push her, he just tried changing the subject. Besides, she probably hadn't gotten anything to eat or drink all day. Hesitating, she took the cup from Luka, starring at it for multiple minutes before taking a sip from it.
The hot fluid flowing down her throat calmed her down a bit. Even though it tasted absolutely amazing, it reminded her how hungry she actually was. Taking another sip she put it back on the table.
"Thanks." He gave her a small smile and moved a strand of hair away from her eyes. He didn't know what to say, the silence felt so awkward, but he didn't want to do anything which could break Abby even more.
Luka walked back into the living room after having been to the restroom. Sitting down on the table, he looked at Abby who was still curled up on the couch. They had been sitting in the living room for more than an hour, barely having said more than a couple of words to each other. Checking the time, Luka sighed.
"Are you hungry, Abby? It's getting pretty late." She looked up for less than a second before tearing her gaze away again, slightly shrugging her shoulders.
"Not really:" She was lying. She felt like she was starving to death, but she couldn't tell him that.
"Well I am, and I bet you are as well. I got some pizzas we can put in the microwave, so what do you say, Hawaiian or triple-meat?" She closed her eyes, hating that he was right.
"Hawaiian I guess." A small smile formed on Luka's lips, happy that he had gotten a reply out of her.
"So, do you want me go ahead and try figuring out your kitchen by myself, with the possibility of me blowing this whole building up, or do you want to come join me?" This even got a small smile to appear on Abby's lips, but it far from reached her eyes.
"I trust you." She looked up at him and he nodded understanding. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to come with you." She wasn't smiling and her voice sounded like it would crack any second., but Luka still chose to look at it as a positive sign. He held out his hand for her, and Abby reluctantly took it, letting him help her get up.
She followed him to the kitchen, getting up on the counter as Luka got the pizzas out of the plastic bag. She still wasn't wearing any pants, just underwear and the t-shirt, so she felt pretty uncomfortable sitting on the counter. She tried ignoring her thoughts, though, telling herself that Luka wouldn't care. Why would he? He had already seen her entire body, so why worry so much about her exposed, bruised legs?
"So, now we only have to wait 3 minutes." She gave him a small, forced smile before looking down, feeling her hair against the exposed skin on her arms. "Hey, let me see your arm." He sounded a bit more serious, so Abby looked back up at him, holding out her bandaged arm. He grabbed it carefully, looking at the few reddish pink marks on it.
"Well, it looks like a little blood diffused through the bandage, but it doesn't look too bad." He let go of it again and Abby placed her hand on the table. "I would actually be surprised if it hadn't, considering how bad it was bleeding." She bit her lip as she look down at her lap, noticing the huge bruises on her inner thighs for the first time. She wasn't really sure how to respond, so she was more than happy when the microwave started making that annoying sound it always did when it was done.
"Hold on a sec." Abby just nodded, watching Luka get the pizza out and putting it on two plates, grabbing some silverware from the top drawer. "Wanna go sit in the living room, or?"
"Sure." Shrugging her shoulders she carefully jumped off the counter. "That's where we usually eat anyways." She followed him into the living room and sat down on her normal seat, tensing up internally as Luka sat down on Richards seat across from her.
"Are you okay, Abby?" He pulled her out of her thoughts by waving his hand in front of her.
"What?" She looked up at him like she didn't hear what he said, but then nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly picked up the fork and the knife, cutting off a piece of the pizza and eating it. She had to admit that it was delicious, and it felt really good to eat something.
