Chapter 13 ( Enjoy!)
Declan quickly grabs her hand, and takes her away from the scene. They run at a fast pace, trying to get back to the apartment, without being seen.
She tries to cover it up, but he can sense it. She was shaking, scared and terrified.
She immediately stops in the middle of the street. He quickly glances over his shoulder and comes back to her.
He gently tugs at her arm. "Abby come on. Only a few more blocks."
"I can't." She hunches over and breathes, fighting the overwhelming urge to puke. She gags, and quickly uses her forearm to cover her mouth.
"You have too, we don't have time for this." He says, breathless.
He tries to reach out to her again.
She shakes her head, and walks into a secluded nearby alley.
Her shaking hands come to cover her mouth as her glassy eyes threaten to let out tears. Her head starts to hurt and the tightness behind her eyes increase. She was strong she reminded herself, she wouldn't cry, at least not in front of him.
She places a hand to her head, looking up at the dirty alley walls. She holds herself, shivering a bit, as the dark clouds moved in overhead.
Declan slowly removes his jacket, draping it around her shoulders. It was starting to drizzle.
"Declan … what … did.. I .. just..see.. I mean.. I don't understand."
She says in between the sobs and sniffles.
He finds a nearby curve and courteously sits her down on it.
Her hands immediately find her temples.
His hands come in to caress the opposite sides of her head.
"Abby."
She ignores him.
"Abby!" He almost screams to get her to focus.
He gently caresses her chin, leaning her face upwards. What he sees has him taken back a bit.
Just as the rain began to fall, so does her tears. Her nostrils were flared and her nose was running. Her eyes were almost bloodshot red.
"Abby I'm so sorry."
He'd seen women cry before, just not Abby. She was so hard and strong. So, stubborn but brave. It almost hurts him to see her like this. The emotion was overbearing, he had to be strong for Abby.
He swallows hard and crouches to get closer to her.
He continues to try to sooth and comfort her.
She quickly brushes off his hands and tries to move away.
He doesn't budge.
"Listen."
"No!" It's a scream, and he gives her a little breathing room, "no." She says it again in a softer tone. "How could he just…" her words fall off.
"He won't get away with this, you hear me?"
Her head is still down.
He tightens his hold on her, making her look him directly into his eyes. " He won't get away with this. I promise."
He softly strokes her cheek before leaning in to give her a hug.
At first she's resistant and tense, but slowly she hugs him back, and lets her tears mix with the rain, staining his white t-shirt.
….
Abby slowly stretches as the thunder wakes her up. She slowly sits up and wipes the crust away from her eyes, the physical evidence of last night's tears. She couldn't tell what time it was due to the darkness outside. She checks her phone.
Ten A.M.
She slowly gets up looking around the room.
"Declan?" She calls out.
"In here." He answers.
She follows the sound of his voice and the savory smell of food, leading her to the kitchen. He gives her a once-over, as her bare feet slap against the aluminum floor.
"Here you are." He lays her a plate on the table.
"Thanks." She quietly slides into her seat.
"Your welcome. You've done it for me plenty of times, thought I'd do It for you. It almost looks as good as yours at the dinner, right?"
"Right, the dinner…..Oh my gosh! Mr. Chartson! It's ten, I'm so late. He's going to fire me!"
"Slow down Abby. I called out for you already. You need rest."
"Thanks." She says in a detached tone, she wasn't used to anybody doing anything for her.
The thunder crackles again, making her jump.
She slowly picks up the fork, and starts to casually playing with her food.
When Declan's eyes fall on her again, she immediately drops it.
" I'm sorry Declan, I can't. We can't go back to normal. Somebody died last night. Murdered in cold blood by the man I once looked at as a father."
She pushes the plate away in disgust.
"I don't know how I'll move on. Do we call the cops? What do we do?"
"No, I'll handle it."
"Handle it?" She scoffs.
"You know nothing about this town and who these people are but you're gonna 'handle it'. Murder. A guy who can't even find his parents."
She swallows.
She's shocked to hear the words come out of her own mouth.
Declan scoots closer and lets the comment slide. "I know she was your friend but-"
"My friend? … She wasn't my friend at all. She was a nuisance. A thorn in my side," she swallows hard and closes her eyes, " But at the end of the day she was still a human being. I should've done something, anything. I knew something bad was going to happen to her, and I still…" She sighs.
He nods taking a seat.
He places his hand on hers. She stares at the gesture, watching, as he flips it, linking his fingers through hers.
"No matter what you say, this is not your fault. We'll get through this."
She nods with her head hung low.
He caresses her chin like he did back in the alley.
"This is NOT your fault, do you hear me?" He says is again for reassurance.
She sighs, looking in his direction.
The tv cuts in, interrupting their conversation.
("And here we are now with Helena Walters parents… Do you have a message for the people of Donovan's landing?"
"Please just bring my daughter back, she means everything to me. She's a good girl, straight A student," she sobs, "Please bring her back to me, I'm begging you." Her parents hug each other, crying.
"If you or anyone else knows anything about disappearance of Helena Walters, the D.L.P.D is urgently asking you to come forward.")
"Declan turn it off."
"Hold on."
"Declan cut it off now!" She covers her ears.
"I can't find the remote."
He moves the couch cushions and the end table.
Finally he finds it and quickly hits the power button.
"I'm sorry Abby."
"And exactly why can't we go to the police, again?"
"Because it's too dangerous."
"I don't care, it's wrong. If you were dead
out there wouldn't you want your parents to know. Instead of torturing them with that one last shred of hope."
He thinks about it.
"I would, but we know what happened and so will she in due time. We can't tell the cops, don't you think he has them on the payroll."
She thinks it over, "You're probably right, then who do we tell? I obviously can't tell my best friend. I can't keep this all in. I can't-"
"Abby calm down."
She nods and sighs. " Then who? Who can we trust?"
"I can think of two people but you're not gonna like it."
(Thanks for reading! I'll be uploading chapter 14 in a couple of days. It's longer and we jusssssttttt.. might see what made Matt 'flip'.? Until then, stay tuned! #happyreading.