The Lying Game

Twenty one

"It didn't exactly." Abbey answered.

"Didn't exactly what?"

It's been a year, when Abigail finally decided to talk to someone, and even though the woman sitting in front of her was a doctor, she didn't trust her.

"It didn't exactly scare me, dying, I mean." She explained, "the first time."

"Why not?"

"Because of what he did to me."

"Abbey, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can talk about something else." The Doctor said soothingly. Doctors were supposed to sound like that, right?

"No." she shook her head, "my brother made me think he wanted to keep me. As his sister."

"And you've accepted that he's your brother?" She wrote something down.

Abbey looked at her, "not completely. My brother tried to kill me five times, killed all but two people in my life, and raped me multiple times."

"I didn't know that." She stated.

"They kept it out of the press." She continued to look at the chair.

She didn't listen to the apology, because that's all people ever said. I'm sorry you almost died, I'm sorry all your friends are dead, I'm sorry you lived and they didn't. Abbey was tired of the word, tired of the world, tired of everything, but she wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to die, and people didn't seem to realize that. They didn't understand that if Abbey died, he won. He couldn't win, he couldn't get what he wanted. So the people around her treated her as a fragile thing, like the wrong thing would make her shatter.

She didn't shatter when the man she worked with made fun of her for someone breaking a window after hours, or when a woman laughed when she refused to do something she must have thought was simple. She wasn't going to break, people needed to know that.

Abbey was okay, even though she wasn't, and she'd stay okay. Over time, scars would fade, nightmares would end, and everything would be fine again. She had to hope for that. Even if her life was crappy and a lot of things happened at one time, there would always be people she could count on.

Sierra, who no matter how mad she got, would never stray from what she wanted to do. Who would make comfort food the way Abbey's mom used to, and would stay up with her when she had a nightmare.

Sam, who didn't mind the night light in their room, who loved her for her scars and everything that came with them. Who made popcorn just the right way and watched the romantic movies even though he didn't like them. Who read her favourite book so she'd have descent sleep.

Abbey didn't deserve either of them, but they were always there, and that's what she needed.

"I'm okay." She nodded as the appointment ended and she got into her car, driving to her apartment. there she'd see the people she needed most, the people who'd always be there for her, that made her feel like more than just a survivor.