Lies In The Darkness

Chapter Two

Abby pulled into a parking spot at a condominium in Anchorage. She sat in her seat, looking over the pain pills she received from the pharmacy. Sighing, she turned off the ignition, slinging the keys into her purse, and stepped out into the dying rain.

"Hey, Abby! Hey! Wait up!" Abby turned to see Daniel Boyd chasing after her. Daniel was a co-worker at the Home Depot she worked for. While she worked in the garden section, Daniel worked in packaging and shipping. Daniel had become friends with Abby when he had to give her a lift home after she had a flat tire in the parking lot. Abby knew Daniel had been crushing on her ever since. But they were just too good of friends to begin dating.

Daniel was a slightly attractive person. He had light skin with the clearest face anyone ever saw. His eyes were a dark gray and were mostly covered by his eyebrows. His lips were small but made his smile look excellent with his square jaw. His body was toned. Abby never really liked toned. Maybe that's why she's not attracted to him much. Daniel liked sports. Aside from Home Depot, he was currently in college playing baseball, trying to get a major in that.

"Daniel, hey." Abby slightly smiled as she kept walking towards the building.

"Where've you been?"

"Just went to see the doctor." She sniffed near him. "Been running?"

Daniel looked down at his sweaty shirt. "Uh, yeah," he chuckled, "Why were you at the doctor's?"

"My muscles are killing me." Abby explained.

"Want me to give you a massage?"

"Daniel..."

Daniel threw up his hands. "Sorry, sorry."

Abby walked through the door, Daniel hot on her trail. She pressed the elevator button to go to the fifth floor of her condo. She tapped her foot on the ground, waiting for the elevator to come down.  

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you following me?"

"I thought we'd watch a movie."

Abby examined him. "You're drenched in sweat."

"But-"

"Man," Abby interrupted him, "This elevator is taking too long."

"What?"

"I'm taking the stairs." Abby rushed off, annoyed by the elevator.

Daniel glanced up at the elevator, seeing it light up on the first floor. The elevator doors opened. Daniel looked over, not seeing Abby at all.

Abby reached her condo and opened the door. Cold air hit her and chills went up her arms. She pulled off her brown jacket and hung it up in the closet meeting her at the front door. She slid her purse on the handle of the door. Abby faced her condo. Ahead of her was a kitchen with a dripping sink and a few dishes piled up. The milk in the cereal bowl was souring. In fact, Abby had accidentally left the milk out. Everything in the kitchen was white - refrigerator, sink, dish washer, oven, and microwave. The pantry was full of cereal, seasonings, and pizza crusts. What she wouldn't give for a tuna sandwich right now.

 The living room, which was to the right of the kitchen, contained a bookcase filled with books - dictionaries, mystery books, journals, and non-fiction history books. History had always been Abby's favorite subject in school. In fact, as soon as she scraped up enough money for college, she was thinking about majoring in history. Beside the bookcase was a fireplace with a large abstract painting she had done her senior year of high school. In front of the fireplace was a brown and white striped sofa chair with a black satin pillow. On the opposite side of the wall was a brown leather couch with a guitar leaning against it. The floor was a cream colored carpet with a few stains from spilling coca-cola one night when she and Daniel were watching some horror flick. She really needed to get that cleaned. There was a balcony that looked over a pool. White, veil curtains draped over the balcony doors.

Down the hall was a large bedroom - Abby's bedroom. Abby walked down the hall to her room and opened the door, gazing around. Her window looking out to the pool was left open with the veil curtain flapping out. She could smell the rain's must and realized that some of the rain had flown in, damping the work on her desk. Her desk was covered in magazines and a few health books. Her laptop was closed and still charging. She had run the battery out looking up medical conditions about her change. God, the change. The desk was wooden and a brown leather chair was neatly pulled into it. The cabinets on her desk contained some books, magazines, downloaded software boxes, and a photo album. She loved looking through the photo album. It was of the old days in her family when things seemed to make sense. Abby's favorite photo was of she and her sister Lillith swinging on their old swing set in Arizona, where she use to live. Her father had taken the photo one summer day. It was a hot day and surprisingly the two had not come in for a break. Abby was wearing an orange dress with leopard black spots. Her brunette hair was spread out in ringlets. Her sister, Lillith, was wearing a floral dress and her dark blonde hair waving in her face, her blue eyes sparkling.

Abby sighed and kicked her shoes off of her feet, sliding them underneath her bed. Her bed was low to the ground covered with a white blanket and pillows. Her favorite teddy bear, Mr. Alfred, was slumped against the pillows, his black eyes shinning at her. That managed to come out as a smile on Abby's face. She flopped onto her bed and hugged him tight.

"Oh, Mr. Alfred."

She starred up at her ceiling that was covered in photography she had taken her junior year of high school. She aced that class easily. Taking photos was easy...it was just the projects you had to do with those photos that seemed hard. Luckily for Abby, she was well at putting those together. Aside from the photos, on her walls were posters of animal rights. Yes, Abby was an animal rights activist. She prefered to let the animals live rather them be smacked between some buns and smothered in ketchup. She was totally against the animals being shot, killed, or just plain hunted for sport.

Abby leaned over to the night table and grabbed the remote to switch on the television in front of her. She flipped through the channels and finally stopped on Food Network, learning a new health recipe. Abby grabbed her notepad and scribbled down what the chef was directing. She loved learning about new recipes.