Stacy was as quiet as a cat when she was moving, she came in and was shocked when she saw Abigail. She pointed at her and started yelling, “How did you get in here? Are you stealing? Have I not been hard enough on you the other day, and now you are doing this? How dare you come in to Joshua and Michelle’s bedroom!”
Stacy looked furious and evil, and she scared Abigail. She still remembered the last time when Stacy was beating her up, and tried to go out of her way since then.
Good thing was, she didn’t walk in here by herself.
Abigail fixed her dress, and said calmly to Stacy, “I am not stealing anything, you can check, your brother allowed me to come in here.”
“Pf!” Stacy spit on Abigail’s face. She clearly didn’t believe a word that she was telling her. She stood in the door, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and looked at Abigail evil.
“Don’t always drag my brother into everything, and then expect yourself to be safe. Let me tell you, I remember every single thing about you, and as soon as I get the chance, I am going to make you pay!”
“I don’t.” Abigail’s eyes were flashing, she was explaining herself to Stacy. Her eyes were firm, the shock that she just felt a minute ago was now vanished, instead they were fearless.
“If I say you did, then you did!” Stacy was just as dominant as her brother, and rude too. She interrupted Abigail in her word, and almost pressed her onto the ground with the forceful way she spoke.
Abigail was smaller and weaker than Stacy, and she didn’t know any fighting skills like her, so she was in a really bad situation now.
But she stood up tall, and didn’t back off.
“I didn’t.”
She repeated.
And what she received back from Stacy was the sound of a whip, and horrible pain on her body.
Stacy took out a horse whip from her sleeve, and smashed it onto Abigail.
The whips she got didn’t hit her stomach, but if they only hit her a little lower than they did, her baby would be in danger. Abigail was afraid for her child, and she turned, trying to take the next whips on her back.
She was changing her position again and again, trying to keep herself alive, but in the end, she had no where else to back off to.
Stacy raised the whip up high above her head, and said in a high voice, “There is no where to go anymore, just wait for death!”
She hit her again and again, Abigail’s body was covered in bloody lines, where the whip hit her.
She didn’t dare to turn around, and she already backed herself in a corner, so she had no choice but to take in Stacy’s hits.
Stacy on the other hand was enjoying this as if she was watching a comedy, she would laugh once in a while, and if there wasn’t the sound of her whip hitting on Abigail, others might have thought they were playing a game.
“Let me tell you, don’t you even think of telling my brother about this, if he gets wind of it, I am going to kill you!”
She warned Abigail while hitting her again.
“Did you hear me!” She put more force into the next hit when Abigail didn’t answer her, giving her another bloody wound.
Abigail closed her eyes, and didn’t make a sound whenever she was hit by Stacy.
Stacy was furious, and even hit her harder.
“That’s enough!” Abigail waited for the right moment, and grabbed the whip, holding it in her hand.
Stacy tried to pull it back, but didn’t succeed, which made her so mad, that she tried to kick Abigail.
“If you keep going, I definitely will tell him about this.” Abigail gathered all her courage, and was looking at Stacy, who’s eyes were burning with murderish thoughts. She could die, but not like this.
She hoped to die without anyone’s accusations pressuring her. And of course, she would like to give birth before that, because her child was innocent, wasn’t it?
Abigail took a hit on her face when she was grabbing for the whip, and there was blood running down now.
She wiped her face, and her gaze was more firm now.
“I am going to forget about everything that happened before, but if you hit me just one more time, I am going to tell not only your brother, but the press and media, that Miss Stacy Caunter has sadistic intents. This is not only going to ruin your name, but also your brother, your father, your whole family. If you want that to happen, then please, go ahead.”
“You…” Stacy didn’t think that Abigail was capable of it, and her whole face was deforming, she raised her whip again, and hit another time.
“Stacy, let’s go, Joshua is home!” Annie came running into the room, and dragged Stacy out, her smile was covering her face.
Bill didn’t allow her to touch Abigail, but that didn’t mean that no one else was allowed to. So she went to Stacy, who of course agreed to help her, forgetting about her brother’s warning.
Annie was right, she was Joshua’s sister, even if he knew about this, he wouldn’t do anything to her.
“If I only hear a word about me beating you up, you are going to be dead meat.” Stacy said to Abigail, and left with Annie.
Abigail just went through a horrible storm, trying to stand up with her body weak, the wounds on her back felt like fire burning, and there was not an inch of skin that was untouched. Every step she took, was pulling on the wounds, hurting her so much that her sweat was running down.
There were uncountable pictures of Michelle, in each of them she was smiling, but was she smiling about her being unable? Or was she smiling about her dream of gaining Joshua’s love? Or was she smiling about her being over-confident, and thinking that not talking about the car accident will bring her security, but what it actually brought her was injuries all over?
Or maybe, she was smiling that she has now entered her world, and got to know secrets that no one else knew about?
Abigail locked the diary again, and she wanted to leave the room, now!
Michelle’s world was too complicated for her, her life had too much mishaps, and she realized that the two of them would never be the same, she never wanted to be a second Michelle.
…
The wounds on her back were all bloody, and covering almost every inch of her back. Abigail was looking at herself in the mirror, and it was shocking to her. She was only lucky that none of them hit her on her belly. Stacy was putting so much force into every hit, her baby would’ve never survived.
She took a breath, and her wounds were paining her.
“Miss Abigail, can I come in?” Rowena asked at the door.
Abigail quickly dressed herself again, thought about it, then said, “Yeah… come in.”
Rowena was holding a box in her hand, on it was a little red cross, showing that it was a medical aid.
Rowena…
She ignored the questioning look on Abigail’s face, put the box on the table and said, “I just heard Miss Stacy and Miss Annie talk about beating you, so I thought maybe this aid can help you, it has some medication and bandages in it.”
“Thank you.” Abigail said, her heart filled with warmth. Even though she had no temperature when she was speaking, but Abigail felt Rowena was her rock in the sea, where she could hold herself during a storm.
“Oh…” She had pulled the wound again, and it was hurting her.
“Let me help you with it.” Rowena guessed right that the injuries were on her back, she took out the medicine, and asked her to pull up her shirt.
Abigail could feel that Rowena was trying to be soft to her, and she suddenly felt tears in her eyes. Just before, when she was being beaten by Stacy, she didn’t even feel the urge to cry.
When Rowena was done, she closed the box, her face was emotionless as usual, as if nothing in the world could make her show any feelings.
Abigail put on her shirt again, and the pain was already much better. The cream that Rowena applied on her injuries were relieving the pain, she didn’t feel the burning fire anymore.
“Thank you, Rowena.” Abigail said again. “You treat me so well.” She meant every word.
“There is no need to thank me, I just don’t want to see you die yet, the three years are far from over.” She said coldly, her voice just as sharp as Joshua’s.
She walked to the door, and said without turning around, “Mrs. Caunter is coming back today, Mister Joshua will be back on time for dinner. He wants you to show up as well.”
“But…” Abigail took a deep breath, she was covered in the smell of medicine, can she show up to a dinner gathering like this?
Before, Joshua has never asked her to join dinner with the others, even Mrs. Caunter has always eaten alone. What was happening today?
Sitting at the dining table, Stacy didn’t look happy at all, and she said, “Joshua, what is wrong with you, Granny never eats with us, and you know that she likes to act up. Why on earth are you allowing her to join us today, isn’t that just extra?”
“Stacy, don’t talk like that.” Annie was on time walking to the table, she saw Joshua sitting next to Granny, so she sat down on the other side.
“Granny, what do you want to eat?” She acted as if she cared, her hand stroking on Mrs. Caunters arm, and tried to give her a hug.
Mrs. Caunter leaned away from her, scared, “Joshua, I don’t like her, she is not good, she would hit me!”
“Hey, who is hitting you, take a good look! She is Annie!” Stacy said louder to Mrs. Caunter, telling her. And then Stacy looked at Joshua, giving him a look that said “I told you!”.
Joshua took Mrs. Caunter into his arms, and gave Annie a long and deep look, then he looked towards the dining room door.
He was waiting for someone.
“Granny, I won’t hit you.” Annie’s face blushed out of awkwardness, but she quickly controlled herself. She showed a fake smile, her hand touching Mrs. Caunter’s hand.
She didn’t like this old woman at all, and if Joshua wasn’t there, she would never be this nice to her. This old witch didn’t know any manners, she clearly wanted to make her look bad in front of Joshua. And she swore to herself, that she is not going to let her life a happy day in this house.
Annie had a poisonous heart under that fake soft smile of hers.
“Sit over there, Granny doesn’t like you.”
Joshua gestured to another chair, asking her to stay away from Mrs. Caunter.
“But…”
Annie looked to both her sides, and then she chose to sit next to Joshua.
Abigail finally arrived in the dining room, she looked like a prisoner going into court, stopping after every few steps she took, hesitating, walking slowly.
She looked up with her innocent big eyes, and when she saw the people gathered around the table, she looked back down again.
“Hurry up!” Joshua’s demanding voice was loud, and making her walk faster.
“Sit here!” He pointed to the chair which Annie had picked before, and demanded again.
Abigail listened to him, and sat down next to Mrs. Caunter, her eyes flashed.