Chapter 3

*Trigger Warning: This Chapter includes rape and drug use. *

Boston Mass. 1997

“Quit playing games with my heart, Quit playing games with my heart. I should have known from the start.” Abigail belted from the backseat. 

“Would you stop dancing around like that, you’re going to get us pulled over.” Her step- dad, Robert said sternly from behind the wheel. 

“Oh Nick, I love you,” she said to the radio. “I hope they play this song at the dance tonight.” 

It was her first school dance at this new highschool, and she was excited. She had only been at the school for two weeks, and hadn't really made any friends. She hoped tonite would be the night she did. 

“Dad, can you please drop me off around the corner so I can walk up to the school?” Abigail asked.

“Why?” Robert, her step-dad, answered. 

“I just want to be like the other kids, none of them have their parents drop them off in front of the school.” Abigail didn’t want to tell her step-dad that she was embarrassed by their station wagon. She didn’t even know why they had one, she was the only child.  

“I will drop you off around the corner on one condition,” Her step-father started. “You have to kiss me, the way you do when your mother is asleep.” Abigail hated kissing him. He always shoved his tongue down her throat making her gag. But she did it anyway, what choice did she have? 

“You kiss better than your mother.” He said smiling as he dropped her off around the corner from the school. The comment made her shudder. She quickly popped a piece of gum from her pocket in her mouth to get the taste of his tongue out of it. 

As she walked up to the school she tried to not think about what just happened, or what would inevitably happen later when she got home. Instead she would focus on actually making friends at this new school. 

Abigail hummed as she skipped up to the highschool building. The closer she got, the more it smelled like skunk. She looked around to see if she could see the furry little creature, but all she saw was a group of older teenagers passing around what looked like a cigarette. When one of them spotted her and he proceeded to  snarl at her,she quickly looked away and ran into the gym. 

The music was loud and the air was hot and thick. The freshmen were sitting on the bleachers watching the older kids dance.  Abigail quietly made her way over through the mass of hot pink and lime green skirts and to the bottom bleacher. 

There she sat for a total of 5 songs. Daydreaming of a cute older boy pulling her onto the dance floor and asking her to be his girlfriend and instantly being accepted into his group of friends. She dreamed of belonging. At the end of the 5th song one of the older teens she saw smoking outside came up and sat next to her. 

“Do you want to dance?” He asked 

“Didn’t you snarl at me outside?” She replied.

“Um… Yeah that was me.” He answered as he ran his hand through his hair. “So about that dance?” 

“Sure.”

He took Abigail's hand and led her out to the middle of the gym. A slow song started playing, he pulled her in closer. They swayed for the entire song. When the song changed to Quit Playing Games With My Heart, Abigail squealed.

“This is my favorite song.” She explained excitedly.

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” He said, smirking. “I’m Azria by the way.”

“I like your name. I have never heard anything like that before. I’m Abigail.” 

Azria twirled her around the gym for the next 3 songs. They were sweaty and out of breath by the end of the 3rd song. 

“Do you wanna go out in the hallway and cool off, it’s hot in here.” Azria asked. Abigail didn’t answer, she just nodded and followed him into the hallway. They stopped in front of what Abigail assumed was his locker. When he opened it she knew she was right. He pulled out what appeared to be a bottle of water and took a small sip. 

“Do you want a drink?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m dying of thirst.” She answered. But when she put the bottle to her lips and tipped it back, she instantly regretted it. Even though it looked like water, water was not what she drank. 

“Easy, easy, I should have warned you. That’s not water sweetheart. That’s vodka.” 

“I kinda already figured that out.” 

Azria started laughing at the face that Abigail made as the vodka made its way down her throat, and the burn made its way back up. 

“That is nasty, oh it burns.”

“Just give it a second it will go away. In the meantime I can distract you.” He said as he grabbed Abigail around the waist and pulled her in closer. Abigail, already feeling the effects of the alcohol, got dizzy and crashed into Azria. He slowly started kissing down her neck and whispering in her ear.

“I’ve been watching you around school, and for a freshman you are really beautiful.” He said. Just then heavy footsteps made their way down the hallway. 

“There better not be any kids drinking in my hallway!” Mr. Anderson bellowed as he rounded the corner. Azria jumped and handed the bottle of vodka to Abigail, who in her drunken state took it without thinking, and ran out of the school as fast as he could. 

“Ms. Davidson, I see you have lived up to the reputation that your last school warned us about. Drinking at a school dance, I am going to have to call your parents. But first you're coming with me, I’m going to teach you a lesson.” Mr. Anderson said disappointingly. He grabbed her arm and dragged her down the hallway to his classroom. 

Once in the room he proceeded to close the door and turned on the lights. The bright flooresents blinded Abigail. What happened next seemed as if she was watching herself and not really there. Mr. Anderson grabbed her arm again, this time leading her over to the desk. He forced her to bend over and lifted her bright yellow skirt. 

It lasted only about fifteen minutes, but that fifteen minutes was the most excruciatingly painful thing Abigail had ever experienced in her life. She was no stranger to sex, her step-father Robert had, had his way with her since she was about ten. But she never thought that a teacher, someone who was supposed to protect her, would ever do something so horrid.     

“You tell anyone of this little lesson Ms. Davidson and I will find you and I will kill you and your mother.” He said breathing heavily. He slowly peeled himself off a now very sober Abigail, and pulled up his pants on his way out the classroom. 

“I’m going to call your parents now.” He said sternly as he turned out the door on the way to the office. Abigail pulled up her leggings and slowly walked to the door. She looked out to make sure he was nowhere in sight, and took off as fast as she could out of the school. 

She didn’t wait for Mr. Anderson to call her parents, she ran all the way home. As she went to open the door from the outside her mother was opening it from the inside. When Abigail saw her mother she collapsed in her arms and cried. 

“Mama, mama he, he…” She muttered

“Abigail, what are you talking about?” Her mother, Katherine asked. 

“Mr. Anderson, he raped me!” She yelled. 

“Now hold on a damn minute. Mr. Anderson just called me and said that you were caught drinking at the dance. Are you drunk now? You are.”  scolded as she smelt Abigail's breath. “How dare you come home drunk accusing your teacher of all people of rape? Do you even know what rape is?” 

“YES MOTHER I KNOW WHAT RAPE IS! I HAVE KNOWN SINCE I WAS TEN, THAT’S WHEN YOUR HUSBAND STARTING RAPING ME.” Abigail screamed as loud as she could. Her mother let go of her and stepped back, clearly in shock. 

“What did you just say?” She asked

“Your husband has been raping me since I first got boobs mom.” Abigail repeated.

“You jealous little shit! How dare you, all because someone is not giving you all the attention you decide you're going to pull this shit. Robert didn’t have to treat you like his own daughter. Going out and buying you all the shit he has and this is how you repay him? By accusing him of rape?” Katherine started. “Now you listen to me, this one is mine. I will not let you come between us like you have with every other relationship I have had, I should have just sent you to live with your drug addict father, Steven.” She gagged at his name. “Matter of fact, that sounds like an excellent idea. Since you wanna act just like him and start drinking at fourteen, go pack your shit and get out of my house.”

“What?” Abigail was dumbfounded.

“You heard me, GET OUT!” 

Abigail had another one of those moments when you watch yourself do something, she watched herself climb up the stairs, go to her room and pack all the clothes she could fit into her school backpack. It was at that point that reality had set in, and she realized she had nowhere to go. She cried. Hard. 

She left her mother’s house that night, but before she did she made a silent vow never to return to her mother. Never.

With nowhere else to go Abigail found herself wandering back to the school. There he stood as if he was waiting for her to return. Azria. She walked up to him, and when he realized that it was her, he stopped leaning against the wall. 

“I see you survived.” He said casually.

“Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it.” She said, her voice hoarse from crying. 

“Hey are you alright? I didn’t think you would get into that much trouble. You are only a freshman.”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it. But hey do you have any more vodka left?” 

“No, I drank it all. But I do have this.” Azria pulled a strange looking cigarette out of his pocket. When he lit it, it smelled like skunk. He put it to his lips and took a drag. “This is better than vodka anyway.” He handed it to Abigail, she repeated the things she saw him do. That was the first, but certainly not the last time, Abigail got high. 

They sent the night together. Abigail told Azria that she was kicked out of her moms house and he let her stay with him. Azria lived on his own, his parents died when he was sixteen and he emancipated himself. After that night Abigail didn’t return to school. Instead she spent the days getting high in Azrias apartment. 

Five months passed by and Abigail was always sick and in pain constantly. Azria suggested going to the E.R but that would only cause more problems because she was underage and had been reported as a runaway. 

“Babe, I got something for you to try.” Azria said when he walked in the front door. “It’s supposed to help with your pain. I hate seeing you in pain, love. This will help.” Azria said, pulling a little ziplock bag with white crystals inside it. He dumped a little out on a mirror and crushed it up with a playing card and his hand. He handed it to Abigail with a straw. “You sniff it through the straw.” He explained. 

Abigail did what Azria said. Her head slumped as the effects of the drug started to hit her. After about three minutes she got a sudden burst of energy and was no longer in pain. After that Abigail couldn’t survive the day  without doing a line or two. 

Unfortunately she was not the only one the drug was affecting. One night after being awake for two weeks Abigail began to feel movement inside her. Painful movement.

“Azria! Azria! They’re inside me! Get them out. They’re trying to kill me!” She screamed.

“What are you talking about?” He asked. Then Abigail heard a pop like a balloon had been poked and deflated. Her pants became soaked and the pain became even more intense. 

“See! See! I told you! They’re inside me.” Abigail continued to rave on. 

“Get in the car!” Azria said sternly. “We are going to the hospital.” This time it was not a request. Abigail quickly walked out the door and down the stairs to the car. Azria was hot on her heels. 

They sped to the ER. Once inside Azria walked up to the front desk and talked to the nurse. Abigail wasn't close enough to hear what was being said. But after they were done talking they made her sit in a wheelchair and wheeled her through the hospital. 

“Labor and Delivery.” Abigail said out loud reading the signs she rolled past. “I'm not having a baby? HEY, NURSE I’M NOT HAVING A BABY. WHY ARE YOU TAKING ME TO LABOR AND DELIVERY?” She screamed when she realized what was going on. 

“Calm down, love.” Azria said quietly. “We’re going to get them out of you, just like you wanted ok?”

“OK.” 

Once they got Abigail into a room, they immediately did a sonogram to check on the baby. Well babies. When the doctors saw that the placenta was detaching he rushed Abigail to the OR, and began prepping her for surgery. 

“What’s going on? Why do I have to lay on this bed? What are they doing? Azria, Azria? Where is Azria? I’m not doing this! I want Azria! You can’t make me do this! You just want to cut me open and take my organs and give them to the shadows and I won’t let you! NO! I won’t let you kill me! Just like the things inside me are trying to do! They are trying to kill me! Azria!” Abigail was in hysterics. The nurses had to restrain her just to get her on the bed. But once her arms were strapped down, it was a whole different battle. “NO!NO!NO!NO!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her body thrashed around like she was possessed. When the anesthesiologist walked into the OR it was utter chaos. He walked over to Abigail’s side and looked her in the eye. 

“I’m going to be your best friend.” He said holding up a needle. “Now be still and you’ll feel much better in a minute.” Abigail listened to what he said and stopped thrashing almost instantly. The anesthesiologist made quick work of the IV and placed a mask over Abigail’s face. 

The all too familiar feeling of being high washed over Abigail like a wave and she fell hard into a dreamless sleep. When she woke up she was in a different room. A long sensitive cut ran along her abdomen and two bassinets were closely beside her bed. Abigail just had twins. 

They both had pitch black hair, and dark eyes. Their skin was like porcelain, fragile. They were beautiful. Once Abigail looked at her babies she knew she had to get out of the hospital. The cops were on their way and she was sure of it. She slowly shuffled across the room unable to walk correctly because of the pain and gathered her clothes, changed in the bathroom and walked out of the room. She looked back at those two beautiful babies. 

“You’ll be safer without me. You won’t survive if I stay. I love you.” She whispered as she left.  She made it down to the end of the hallway where the elevators were before she popped her stitches. Still she continued on, her t-shirt was soaked in blood by the time she made it out of the hospital doors. 

“What are you doing Abigail?” Azria asked as he was walking in. 

“Take me away!” She said, gasping for breath. “I can’t stay here. I can’t be here. I know Katherine has been informed and is probably on her way. They look just like him.”

“They look like who?” Azria was confused; he thought the babies were his. They had been together for just a little over 8 months. 

“They look like Mr. Anderson, and I just can’t.” Abigail held her stomach where she was cut. “Take me home Azria. Take the pain away.” She was faint and pale. 

“I think you need to go back inside.” Azrai said, looking around to see if anyone could help. It was then he made eye contact with a woman being escorted by two police officers inside. He knew then that he had to get Abigail out of there. 

He scooped her up and carried her, half-conscience, all the way back to the car. Once in the car Abigail passed out.