Hello! Thank you so much for all the response to the first chapter.
Hope you enjoy the second one!
Chapter 2 – The Road
Abby woke to the sound of birdsong. She opened her eyes slowly and peered up at the sun through the tree's branches and leaves. She lay there for a while, just enjoying the sunshine warming up her cold skin. For a couple of minutes she was at peace, but then the stubborn hunger came crawling back. Frowning, she sat up. She had to find something to eat.
She got to her feet but fell back to her knees when she realized that she'd stepped on a flower. It was a small, blue, delicate flower. The stalk had broken off from its roots. Abby picked it up carefully and put it in her pocket. Then she stood up again.
The road seemed to go on for eternity in both directions. The way she came from seemed longer than Abby remember it felt like walking. She looked around the fields and saw some hills but only a couple of houses in the distance. Or maybe they were farms! Anyway, there were no people in sight and the only movement she could see was the wind making the flowers and the leaves on the trees dance.
Abby felt like the only person in the world.
But wait! Abby scrunched up her face as she tried to make out what sound she was hearing. Whistling? Trees and hills don't whistle. And sure enough – a group of people appeared around one of the hills. Abby counted to three big people, two medium people and one smaller one, like her. They were sitting on two separate carriages, pulled by horses. Piles of something that looked like large dry grass straws covered the carriages and the big people sat in front of it, guiding the horses, while the two smaller people lay on their backs on top of the pile in the front carriage. The smallest person was standing behind the pile on the second carriage, holding onto the wooden railing.
They had gotten the horses up on the road and were now only twenty yards ahead of Abby. They were moving very slowly. So slowly that Abby figured she could catch up to them if she ran. She wondered if they had food.
Suddenly, the smallest person jumped of the back of the carriage and went down to the ditch to collect some flowers. The person looked up from a yellow flower and noticed Abby in the shadows of the tree. Abby smiled as the person waved to her. It seemed like Abby was welcome to join the flower-picking.
Abby immediately started running, trying hard to catch up. The person was walking along with the carriages but kept looking back to see if she caught up.
As Abby came closer she saw that the person was a little girl like herself. She had short blonde hair and a pointy nose.
"Hi", the girl said. "Look at this! Isn't it beautiful?"
Abby just nodded: she was a little out of breath.
"Do you like poppies?" the girl continued without waiting for an answer. "I love them! They're so wonderful."
"I like them", Abby confirmed – a little hoarse from the lack of water.
"Oh! I saw these white flowers by the stream", the girl exclaimed. "You should check them out, they're great."
"There's a stream?" Abby asked as her throat felt more and more like sandpaper.
"Yes, right over behind that little hill, in between some trees."
The girl pointed from where they came from.
"Anne! Come on", the man from the second carriage shouted.
"Coming!" the girl shouted back, jumped up from the ditch and ran up to the carriage. With one great leap she was back up on it, holding onto the railing.
"Bye!" she yelled and waved to Abby.
"Bye!" Abby shouted back but it ended in a cough.
The carriages became smaller and smaller, but Abby stayed were she was, watching the girl disappear. Then she turned, crossed the road and walked towards the hill. She climbed over it and found that it continued downhill longer on that side and ended in a collection of trees. Abby wouldn't call it a forest: it was not enough trees. She stopped on the top of the hill and listened carefully. She shone up in a smile as she heard the low sound of running water. The sound took her back to when her parents had owned a very small farm and she'd been out in the nature every day.
She'd still been very young when they'd had to give up the land. On a similar carriage as the one with the blonde girl, the family of three had made their way into the city. Abby's father had sold the horse and the carriage and managed to get them a place to live. He'd gotten a job in a factory and worked long hours. Abby remembered that she rarely saw him at all and had to rise up early to be able to eat breakfast with him. Her mother had later gotten a job as a sewer. Abby had gone with her quite a few times and watched her work with the fabrics. She especially liked the dark ones. She remembered one piece of fabric in particular. It looked like the sky at night; almost completely black and it was wavy in the way of how Abby imagined the wind at night. The fabric had later turned into a dress.
That dress had come to life only days before everything changed. The day when Abby's mother had gone to the factory to bring Abby's father his lunch. No one walked out of that building alive that day. From that day and on, the only living creatures who entered and exited that building were the brave firemen. Bodies had been pulled out, been identified by loved ones, cried over and Abigail Scuito was standing forgotten on the street, staring into the great black mass that had cost her, her whole family.
Now, standing on top of a hill while listening after water, Abby could hear her father's voice telling her how the river is her best friend.
Abby carefully walked down to the trees and found the stream running loudly in between them. It was quite soothing actually. If she hadn't been so thirsty she would have stopped to listen as the water accompanied the birds in the song of nature. But thirst came first and in the matter of seconds had Abby practically dipped her whole head in the stream.
The water tasted of earth and nature. But it was certainly refreshing. Abby only came up for air after several deep gulps. She drank until she was full and then she laid down on the grass and drank the air. Smiling at the nice feeling in her stomach, she followed a butterfly with her eyes. But as the butterfly disappeared through the leaves, the hunger came back. Abby groaned but stood up.
She decided that it was probably a good idea to get back to the dusty road. She wasn't going to meet any farmers in the middle of nowhere.
As she walked up to the road again she realized that walking was very dull. As much as she loved watching the flowers and the small insects, it got boring quite fast. She wanted something to happen – anything. The thought had barely entered her mind before a low clapping noise reached her ears. She looked around searching for the source of the noise. It got louder and louder and soon she realized that whatever it was – it was behind her. Excitedly she turned around and a man was galloping her way. Well, the man wasn't galloping but the horse he was sitting on was. It was a beautiful horse; reddish with a brown mane and a long brown tail. Abby had a vague memory of her father's horse looking a bit like that.
She watched the man and horse come closer and closer. When they only were a short distance away Abby realized that the horse was slowing down. It was practically walking by now. Abby didn't move from her spot next to the road. She followed the horse's movements with her eyes. She didn't notice that the man was watching her as well, until he stopped the horse right next to her.
Slowly – like in a trance – Abby's eyes went from the horse to meet the man's gaze. The man smiled a half smile at the little girl's obvious staring. He swung his leg over the saddle and jumped down on the ground.
"Hey there", he said.
Abby just stared.
"What are you doing out here alone?" he tried.
When the girl still didn't react, he led the horse over the ditch onto the grass so that it could eat. Then he grabbed a package from his bag and went to sit down by the road. Abby was still standing completely still – frozen because she didn't know what to do. She still followed the man's movements with her eyes. He was unwrapping the package that appeared to contain a sandwich. Immediately she felt her mouth fill with saliva.
"Are you hungry?" the man asked casually.
Abby sucked in her breath. Yes I am. But the words didn't come out.
"Okay then", the man seemed to decide that she wasn't hungry. "If you're sure…"
Finally Abby nodded.
"You are hungry?"
Abby nodded again.
"Here", the man reached out the sandwich to her.
Abby took the required step towards him and accepted it. It smelled of heaven and cheese. Like a wolf she dug into the soft bread and proceeded to fill her mouth to the point where she couldn't breathe.
"Take it easy", the man said. "Sit down and chew."
Abby sat down a few feet away from him and slowly began to process the food in her mouth. Half the sandwich was gone before she managed to slow down her eating enough to take a good look at the man. He had short, grey-ish hair and pale blue eyes. His face looked hard and cold but then he smiled and an instant softness entered his gaze and lines of laughter showed. He looked confident, like one of the sheriffs in town. He looked like he wasn't afraid of anything.
"Is it good?" the man asked her and nodded towards the little piece of sandwich left in her hands.
Abby nodded but then felt guilty. This was probably the man's lunch. And here she was eating it!
"My name is Jethro", the man said.
Jethro. Abby frowned. That didn't suit him very well. He looked like a Jonathan or a Christian or something else brave.
"Jethro Gibbs", the man continued.
"Gibbs", Abby whispered into her last bite of sandwich. Yes, that was more suiting.
The pair stayed quiet for a moment while Abby ate the rest of the food. When she swallowed she smiled. She felt better than she'd done in a long time.
"Gibbs suits you better", she told the man.
"Really?" Gibbs laughed. "Well there you go. What's your name then?"
"Abby", Abby said. "Really it's Abigail but…"
"… Abby suits you better", Gibbs finished for her.
Abby smiled. She liked Gibbs. He was nice. And he'd given her food. For free!
"Do you want to tell me what you're doing out here alone?" Gibbs asked.
Abby frowned. Yeah, what was she doing? Oh, that's right!
"I'm going to get a job at a farm", she said. "Because I can work. Do you have a farm? I can work really hard!"
"What do your parents say about you getting a job?" Gibbs asked instead of answering.
"I don't know", Abby said and looked up in the sky. "Mom and dad had jobs before they died. They wouldn't mind."
"I see."
"The man in the grocery store told me that farmers are nicer than city-people and someone might give me a job so that I can have food", Abby explained. "And I'm good at working."
"Well, you're good at talking too", Gibbs said.
"Uhu", Abby nodded. "I can talk with my hands too."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow.
"You talk to your hands? What do they reply?"
"No, not to my hands, with my hands", Abby spelled out her name using her hands to prove her point.
"You know sign language."
"Yes. See, I just spelled my name."
"That's really good", Gibbs complimented.
"Thank you", Abby said. "My mom was even better than me because she had done it her whole life. She couldn't hear, you see. So instead of talking and listening with her mouth and ears, she learned to sign and watch with her hands and eyes. And she taught me how to, also."
Gibbs nodded in understanding but frowned as well. Abigail. He had heard that name before. And those hand movements woke up some memory.
"What is your last name?" Gibbs asked the little girl.
"My name is Abigail Scuito", Abby replied. "But I like Abby better."
Gibbs closed his eyes painfully. He had an old friend. Mark Scuito. He married a deaf woman out of love and they had a little daughter together. Abigail. Gibbs sighed heavily as he realized that Mark and his lovely wife must have been dead for a while.
He looked at the girl besides him. She was skinny and pale, with Mark's dark hair and her mother's green eyes. She had scooted a little closer to him sometime during their conversation. What was he going to do with her? But he knew there was only one answer.
"Why don't you come with me?" he said and Abby looked up at him. "I live not that far from here."
"On a farm?" Abby asked peering up at him.
"Yes."
"Yes! I can work for you", Abby jumped up on her feet.
"I was thinking you could stay there while we find somewhere for you to go. You don't need to work."
"I don't?"
Gibbs shook his head.
"But I get to live with you anyway?" Abby asked.
Gibbs nodded.
"You sure?" Abby asked, frowning.
"I'm sure."
Gibbs rose to his feet.
"Are you good with that?" he asked.
Abby nodded. Gibbs smiled slightly and went to get the horse.
"This is Louie", Gibbs told Abby as he led the horse over to the road.
"He's cute", Abby said.
"My youngest daughter said the same thing", Gibbs said. "She was the one who named him."
"You have kids?" Abby asked trying to imagine what small Gibbses would look like.
"Two sons, two daughters", Gibbs answered. "They're about your age I would say. You'll meet them when we get there."
Abby nodded.
"Have you ever ridden a horse before?"
Abby scrunched up her face trying to remember. She looked so unsure that Gibbs stopped her.
"It doesn't matter, it's not hard", he said. "You just need to hold onto me and not be scared."
"Okay", Abby said.
Gibbs grabbed the girl and lifted her up on the horse. Then he climbed up behind her and grabbed the reins.
"You ready?"
Abby nodded seriously.
"He was right", she said.
"Who?"
"The man in the shop that told me that farmers are nicer. He was right."
Gibbs grinned and they were off.