Chapter 4. Abigail: The Forgotten Past

Abigail

I knew both of their voices. The silly mask covering Damian's eyes hid nothing from me. I just didn't say anything about it yet because there were more important things to talk about. His rhythm thumped fast. His looks are similar to Daniel, but I am sure they are complete opposites. The large man next to him, I also knew. Hamia. I knew that this was my hamia. It was so long ago.

Damian asked, "What are you two talking about?" He was looking back and forth at me and Jason.

Jason was still staring at me.

I bit my lip. "It was a long time ago. I was a kid. I was tortured by… him."

Damian narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

I hesitated. I was looking at the floor biting my lip, I remembered what Daniel said to me. Damian cared about him. He did right in Damian's eyes. He treated Damian differently than us. I could never care about him, the one who caused so much pain. The one who took… them.

Jason spoke for me "Your grandfather."

I slowly nodded. Damian looked utterly annoyed, but he was hiding his confusion well, I could still tell. I mean I have been studying that face for the better part of my life.

Damian's voice turned cold. "Explain."

I took a deep breath. "The… the old man took me away and he hurt me … for a long time. At some point Jason found me chained next to the pit." My voice trembled.

"You were probably three or four. This was the time when I stayed with the league. For years I didn't remember much about my past, so Talia made me her personal babysitter for you Damian." This part sounded familiar to Damian as he was nodding to Jason. "You were about seven when my memory started to fully come back, I couldn't leave as I was bound to serve Talia. Once I had my memory back, I noticed Ras going down to the pits nearly every night, about every third night he would bring water. After six months of this I decided to investigate. I waited and followed him down, hiding behind a bolder. What I saw … there are no words." He said looking at me. "After Ras went back up, I went to get a closer look. I saw you battered, scared, branded, and when you heard me-"

I cut him off "I thought it was him again. Before that night, I thought me and him were the only things that existed. I knew nothing else. Then …" my voice trailed off; Jason picked back up.

"You were terrified, and I tried to calm you down. I asked your name, and you hesitated and said 'child'."

I flinched at the name. No at the brand, I was given that still haunts me till this day. Damian noticed but didn't say anything, though I am sure he will ask later. Damian's face appeared to be stone, but I saw the tells. 'His left hand tensed around the table because of rage, the slight quivering of his lip not wanting to believe one thing out of our mouths'. He hid them well, but not enough for me not to notice. His rhythm pounding faster, as if he should be running.

Jason continued, "I knew she couldn't live without a name, something to call her own. I thought and gave you the name Abigail. I told you my name was Jason, and I wasn't there to hurt you. You were so scared. I quickly undid your chains and picked you up, I couldn't… leave you there. When we came up, alarms went off and I tried to get you out of there. There were assassins on our tail, and they hit me with something."

"Metal stars." I whispered. "Many hit you, you were still running. Finally, he came and stabbed you before we could escape. There were others trapping us, he was… about to kill you when a woman came to us with a kid trailing behind. She told him no, that she would decide your punishment." Hot tears rushed down my face, "I thought he still took you and killed you. I don't remember anything after that other than pain."

They were both staring at me, Damian was visibly showing his shock. "I am going to check on Daniel". I said, walking into the other room. I had told them the first part of my story, I needed to breathe before I brought up anything else.