Here's a new chapter... The longest one so far :P

I'm waiting for ER to finish downloading... Damn it takes forever!!

But anyways, ENJOY!! And thanks for the reviews :)


Chapter 12 – Hurt

"I hate you!" Abby slammed her door and threw herself on her bed, hugging her pillow tight. But as she expected, it didn't take long before her mom came bursting into her room.

"Don't you dare talk to your mother like that!" Abby rolled her eyes and sat up.

"You're not my mother, Maggie." Abby knew that would tick her off, but right now she didn't care. At all. If she really was her mom, then she would trust what Abby said.

"Abby, don't you dare go there! I am your mother whether you like it or not! And I will not allow this rudeness. Looks like we need some discipline in this house, young lady!" She was pointing her finger at Abby, like she was some little kid who'd spilled pop all over the computer.

"You might be my mother by blood, but besides from that you mean nothing to me!" Somehow Abby enjoyed seeing the hurt in her mother's face, but she didn't show it. It was nothing compared the pain she'd caused her.

Maggie opened her mouth about to talk back to her daughter, but was interrupted by the sound of Richard coming home.

"Don't think I'm done just because he's home. We'll finish this conversation later." Letting out a breath she fell back down on her bed as Maggie went out to greet Richard. She could hear her mom crying, and she had absolutely no doubt that it was because of her.


It had always been Abby's job to do the laundry, but today Maggie had come home and decided to do it. Usually Abby wouldn't mind, but Maggie had smelled the alcohol in some of her clothes, and right away she started blaming Abby for drinking, sneaking out to go to parties, and other things like that.

Abby had tried to explain to her that all those things she was accused of weren't true, but she simply wouldn't listen. Whenever she set her mind to something, it would be as good as impossible to change it. Her mom was stubborn enough as it was already, and the disease only made it worse. It made it as good as impossible to be with her for more than a couple of minutes before she was getting too much on your nerves than you were able to handle.


The sound of the main door slamming brought her out of her thoughts. She was barely able to sit up before Richard came into her room with a mad look on his face. Abby felt her heart beating faster as she backed up against the wall. Not only was she scared about what he was going to do with her, but she was also thinking about Luka. She was supposed to meet up with him later, and she was afraid that whatever Richard had in mind would somehow make that impossible.

"Nice job, Abby. You caused your mom to be even more freaked out than she usually is." She bit her lip as he slowly moved closer.

"I'm sorry. I…" She was cut off by a hand hitting her face. She was used to that and didn't really care about it. Except this time it wasn't a slap like it usually was, but a fist. Surprised, and in shock, she moved her hand to her burning, upper cheek. She bit her lip, trying to ignore the burning, stinging pain, but it was impossible to prevent tears to appear in her eyes.

She looked up at her step dad, expecting him to continue what he'd started. But he was just starring at her with his arms crossed.

"Maggie will be back soon. She just needed some air after the way you upset her." Abby looked down, suddenly a bit more calm, if that was even possible. "Now, I promised her I'd talk some sense into you. So do you think you'll be able to behave, or do I need to beat it into you?" Abby just shook her head, speechless, but apparently that wasn't good enough for Richard. He grabbed her skinny upper arm and dug his fingers into it. If Abby hadn't known any better, she'd think the fingers would penetrate her skin, along with her flesh and her bones, and maybe even go all the way through her arm.

"I'll behave!" Her voice was desperate and it cracked halfway through the sentence.

"Good girl!" He let go of her arm and she started rubbing it with her other hand, trying to ease the pain. "Now, go be useful! I think there are a few dishes in the sink that needs cleaning. And if not, the living room could always use some vacuum cleaning." With Richard still staring at her, she slowly got out of her bed. She slightly nodded and walked towards the kitchen, soon followed by Richard.


It wasn't long before Maggie returned. Abby was standing in the kitchen, cleaning the counter when she felt her standing behind her.

"Got anything to say?" Abby bit her lip as she put down the washcloth.

"I'm sorry," She took a deep breath. She really didn't want to say this, but she knew she had to. "Mom." She started playing with her nails as she looked down at the now clean counter.

"Look at me, Abby!" She bit her lip as she turned around, not wanting her mom to see her face. She could feel that it was swollen, and as she expected, Maggie gasped.

"What happened." Abby looked down, not sure what to say. So she was actually kind of relieved when Richard entered the kitchen.

"Well I tried talking with her, but she kept on being rude and talking back. I didn't really mean to hit her, but she asked for it herself." She could feel herself shrinking under Maggie's gaze. She'd somehow expected Maggie to be on her side, but the look she gave her was confusing.

"Okay." This made Abby's head snap up. "I hope it taught you your lesson." If she thought she was in pain before, then she felt terminal now. This was like a slap in the face, way more painful than the fist. She looked at Maggie with a combination of shock, hurt and disbelieve in her eyes.

"But, mom…"

"Oh so now you can call me 'mom'?" Abby bit her lip as she felt a tear slide down her cheek, soon followed by another. Knowing that she was about to break down, she pushed past the both of them and ran through the apartment, out into the street. Into the cold, windy, February evening air. But she didn't care. Even though she was only wearing a thin, long-sleeved t-shirt and pants, and it felt like the tears running down her cheeks were freezing to ice, she couldn't feel it. She already felt numb.

She might not care about her mom, but the fact that she was okay with her husband beating her own daughter hurt her more than anything. If she was okay with the hitting, then she probably wouldn't care about the other things either. Maggie probably even thought she deserved it.

She bit her lip as she tried to wipe away her tears. But it was impossible since they kept on coming.

She started running towards the park where she was supposed to meet up with Luka. It would only take her about 20 minutes and she had more than an hour, but right now that didn't matter.

When she got to the park, she sat down on the nearest bench she could find. She backed up into the corner and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her forehead on them as the tears continued falling. She didn't care that she was sitting alone in a park, late at night, with almost no people around. She didn't care about anything right now.


"Abby?" She looked up at the sound of Luka's voice. She had completely lost track of time. "Oh God, are you alright?" She quickly dried her cheeks, remembering that she probably looked horrible. "What happened?" Abby just nodded and looked away, not sure what to say.

"I'm fine. It's nothing." But she knew he wouldn't believe that. She wouldn't even have been able to convince herself the way she just said it. She felt his hand on her back, which caused her to wince.

"I'm not buying that." He sat down on the bench next to her. "If that was true, you wouldn't be sitting on a bench in a park in the middle of the winter while not wearing clothes." It wasn't until he said it that she realized how cold she was. Her whole body started shivering, but she tried not to show it. "You wouldn't have tear strained cheeks, and you definitely wouldn't have a huge black eye!" When she looked up she saw Luka taking off his coat and soon after felt him laying it on top of her.

"No, Luka. You'll get cold." She started taking it off, but he put his big hands on top her small, freezing, shaky ones and stopped her.

"I've got 2 huge sweaters on. You need it more or you'll get hypothermic! Your lips are already bluish, and you're shaking like you were just pulled out of Lake Michigan!" Knowing he was right, she tightened the coat around her and looked away.

"Thanks." She felt Luka starting to rub her upper arm where Richard had caused some sore bruises. She bit her lip, but forced herself not to wince in pain.

"So are you gonna tell me what has happened, or do I have to guess?" His voice was firm and full of concern, but also very demanding. Abby shrugged her shoulders.

"It's nothing, Luka. Let it go!"

"Abby!" She tried breathing through her nose since her throat hurt too much due to the freezing cold air, but it was stopped up from crying.

"It's… I was fooling around with my brother. Got hit by his elbow." Luka was quiet, so Abby forced herself to look up. He was looking at her with a combination of disbelieve and concern. And she didn't blame him. Her excuse had sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Okay." Abby's eyes widened, surprised that Luka believed her. "Let's say that's what happened for now, and then maybe later, you can tell me the real story." Abby looked down. It made sense now. But she didn't know if she should understand the last thing he said as a question or a statement.