Thank you to everyone who reviewed this chapter before but I really didn't like it so I've changed it slightly, not really sure if it makes it any better though.
May 2004
There's an impatient knocking on the door. Abby gets up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and glancing at the clock, 1.30 am. She wonders who could be calling now as she opens the door.
"Maggie?" She hopes this isn't like one of the usual visits she receives from her mother, she doesn't need this now, when she's so nearly sorted her own life out.
"Abby!" the woman throws her arms around her daughter, engulfing her daughter in a hug. "I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"For everything, I never thought about how you felt, about what you had to put up with."
"What are you on about?" She asks still confused unsure whether her mother is on her meds or not.
"I found this." Maggie pulls the diary out of her bag, "I was turning out some boxes in the attic, I wasn't going to read it but I couldn't help myself. I'm so sorry that I put you through all that. I knew I screwed up but I didn't think I'd hurt you that much. I didn't even realise you'd kept a diary. I'm so sorry!"
"It's in the past now, it wasn't you, it was the disease." Abby, relieved that Maggie is on her meds, sleepily repeats the line her mother used to say as an excuse.
"But that was part of me, the disease was part of me."
"It isn't any more."
"No it's not, I'm taking the pills, I'm not going to stop taking them, I've put you through enough already and what with Eric also having it I need to be able to help him if he needs me." She hugs her daughter again.
"You came all this way just because you read my diary?"
"Yes, I had to tell you how sorry I was, for what happened then and for everything else. And I had to ask you about the last thing you wrote. You said things would be better next year, were they?" Her face falls as her daughter slowly shakes her head.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I started another diary but a year later I burnt it. I realised things weren't going to change however much I wished them to. That year, it was the first time you tried to kill yourself.
"Oh Abby, I'm so sorry." The woman breaks down in tears while her daughter holds her, trying to comfort her, whilst trying to block out the bad memories of her childhood that she'd only just managed to put behind her.
May 2004
There's an impatient knocking on the door. Abby gets up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and glancing at the clock, 1.30 am. She wonders who could be calling now as she opens the door.
"Maggie?" She hopes this isn't like one of the usual visits she receives from her mother, she doesn't need this now, when she's so nearly sorted her own life out.
"Abby!" the woman throws her arms around her daughter, engulfing her daughter in a hug. "I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"For everything, I never thought about how you felt, about what you had to put up with."
"What are you on about?" She asks still confused unsure whether her mother is on her meds or not.
"I found this." Maggie pulls the diary out of her bag, "I was turning out some boxes in the attic, I wasn't going to read it but I couldn't help myself. I'm so sorry that I put you through all that. I knew I screwed up but I didn't think I'd hurt you that much. I didn't even realise you'd kept a diary. I'm so sorry!"
"It's in the past now, it wasn't you, it was the disease." Abby, relieved that Maggie is on her meds, sleepily repeats the line her mother used to say as an excuse.
"But that was part of me, the disease was part of me."
"It isn't any more."
"No it's not, I'm taking the pills, I'm not going to stop taking them, I've put you through enough already and what with Eric also having it I need to be able to help him if he needs me." She hugs her daughter again.
"You came all this way just because you read my diary?"
"Yes, I had to tell you how sorry I was, for what happened then and for everything else. And I had to ask you about the last thing you wrote. You said things would be better next year, were they?" Her face falls as her daughter slowly shakes her head.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I started another diary but a year later I burnt it. I realised things weren't going to change however much I wished them to. That year, it was the first time you tried to kill yourself.
"Oh Abby, I'm so sorry." The woman breaks down in tears while her daughter holds her, trying to comfort her, whilst trying to block out the bad memories of her childhood that she'd only just managed to put behind her.