Abigail

N i n e

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Her tear-stained pillows were now dry, she had bawled her eyes out until all the moisture left in her eyes had dried up and left them unbelievably scratchy. However, Abigail lay still on her side gripping and hugging onto a pillow looking for some sort of comfort whilst she blankly stared at the view outside the window.

The summer had started to mature as September welcomed the season of autumn with open arms. On a normal occasion, Abigail would have been excited to exploit the remaining sunny days, arranging activities such as picnics or going for a walk in nature and getting lost whilst finding goldmines of ripe berries to pick. But today she watched the clear sky with no thoughts in her head and she couldn't care less; her chest felt numb and empty.

Despite the blanket wrapping her small body, her hands and feet were freezing; it felt as though she was ill, not because she may have caught an unpleasant bug but from the lack of care she had for herself.

Her dinner, that Marie had sent up to her, grew cold on her desk. All week she had no appetite to eat anything, she felt so nauseous that with any food she had chewed and swallowed made no effort to stay in her stomach and instead was thrown up minutes after.

Marie had expressed her worry for Abigail, watching the once bright and cheerful girl slowly deteriorate from her shine; she refused to eat, sleep or even effort a small smile. Marie, in great concern, had offered to stay over to at least supervise the girl, however, despite her efforts, there was nothing she could do.

Abigail gripped the pillow closer to her body, she just wanted to freeze time or even run away and start a new life where she was free.

A knock at her door snapped her out of her trance. She didn't bother to look at her visitor, she closed her eyes and stayed still pretending to sleep.

She felt her bed dip behind her, "Abigail sweetie, I know you're awake."

Even with Marie's soft tone, she didn't reply.

"I have prepared some fresh fruit for you downstairs, you need to eat."

Giving no reply, Abigail felt Marie hug her from behind. "I know you're scared Abigail, but please don't punish yourself even more. All I ask is for you to eat a bit of fruit, can you do that for me, honey?"

Abigail nodded feeling herself frown to keep her tears from falling.

Abigail thanked Marie for the freshly cut fruit in front of her. With endless options of summer berries, melons, bananas, and others, she had yet to gain her appetite back.

"Please Abigail, you haven't eaten properly this past week. I bought these fresh from the market." A plate of mango was pushed in front of her, cut in the way Marie had always done, cut in half without the pit with sliced squares where it can be pushed up and eaten in mini cubes bites. "How about a smoothie? Or some yoghurt?"

"It's okay Marie, thank you so much."

Taking a seat to her left, Marie sat down and placed a gentle hand on top of hers, "I know you must be feeling so anxious lately with this whole arrangement but I promise everything's going to be fine. Your uncle has hired stylists and a whole beauty team to come this afternoon to help you prepare for this evening. You'll look unbelievable tonight." Marie gave her a small smile, "It's all going to be fine."

Abigail's chest sank at the reminder of tonight's event. She had dreaded the thought of it all week as the date grew painfully closer. She wanted to forget about the engagement party entirely. She understood now that it was only a way for Ricardo to flaunt and showcase his new connections. It was all about business.