Below the Sky

Chapter 24: Abigail

I awoke the next morning, and groaned. I was laying in Luke's bed, but when I reached over to see if he was still beside me, I didn't feel him. When I looked over, Luke was gone. He must have awaken earlier than me and went elsewhere.
I swung my feet over the side of the bed, landing on the hard floor. I felt calm, at peace, but that would soon end.
As I stood up, the events of the night before came rushing back to me in full force. I almost had to sit down, so overwhelmed. Lila, Riana. Seeing the two girls collapsed, clinging to each other as if they let go, they would drift away from one another. The tattered, ruined clothes hanging from their thin frames. It was all so much to handle in so little time.
I shook off the anxiety from the events of last night, and forced myself up. I walked out of Luke's room, to the bathroom, where I stopped for just a second to check my reflection.
I had never considered myself a particularly beautiful person, but I didn't think I was ugly. Now though, with my hair a tangled mess, and adorned with only an oversized t-shirt and shorts, I wasn't exactly pleasant to the eye. I quickly raked my hands through my auburn hair, and brushed my teeth. That would have to do.
When I came downstairs, I stopped dead at the sight before my eyes. Riana was sitting at the kitchen table, looking in much better condition than last night. Her hair was dripping water, but neat and combed through. She wore one of Luke's old shirts, and just plain shorts. To some she may have appeared as messy, not put together, but compared to the sight before, this was much better.
Riana turned when she saw me, a smile lighting up her eyes. She stood, coming over to greet me. "You must be Abigail," she said, grabbing my hand. As Riana got closer to me, I really noticed how their were specks of gold flakes in her otherwise brown eyes.
"You can call me Abby," I shook her hand back, smiling. Riana seemed friendly enough, but she had showed up on our doorstep last night looking on the verge of death.
"Well it's very nice to meet you Abby," she said. Then she returned to her breakfast.
I made my way over to the table, choosing a seat near Riana. Not exactly right next to, but close enough. Rebecca turned around, a pan filled with sizzling bacon in her hand. "Good morning Abby," she said. She got a plate down, and started piling the meat onto it. "Is this good?" She asked, pointing to the amount of bacon on my plate. I simply nodded my head.
The food was good, but I didn't have much of an appetite. Mainly I was just stressed, and still a little shocked. Riana on the other hand ate as if she had never had good food before. Her plate was filled with eggs and bacon, and in a matter of moments all of it was gone. Then she asked for more, shoveling food into her mouth.
"So, Abby," Riana turned to me, a fork in her hand, "where are you from?"
"I'm from Vermont. I'm staying with the Davis's until college starts in the fall and I move into the dorms there."
"Are you going to college at Upstate?" Riana asked.
"Ya," I said shyly.
"I'm technically already in college. I was just interning for Bill Hayes until I went back to school in the fall. Then...then he kicked me and Lila out," Riana's tone turned somber suddenly. She turned away from me, pulling herself together.
"Its okay, you don't have to tell me," I told her. I wanted Riana to know that I wasn't going to pressure her into explaining why exactly she and Lila had showed up at our door last night.
"No, you deserve to know, I am staying in your house after all." Riana glanced around, shooting her eyes at Rebecca. They lingered for a second, then she turned her gaze back to me. "I'll tell you the story later," then she set her empty plate in the sink, and walked away.
I looked at Rebecca, confusion written all over my face. "Do you know the story?" I asked her once Riana was long out of earshot.
"Not exactly, I can put some pieces together though..." Rebecca started. Her words stopped suddenly though. An expression of anxiety came over her.
Then I heard it. A creak, so faint that if you weren't focused you wouldn't catch it. I turned around, and saw Lila, coming down the stairs.
Lila was dressed, like Riana, in one of Luke's old t-shirts, and shorts. Her hair was a mess, and she still had stains of dirt and tears all over her face. The heavy bags that had laid under eyes the night before weren't has visible today though, which was good.
"Good morning Lila," Rebecca called. "Would you like some breakfast?" Lila nodded her head, short and quick. Then she scurried over to a seat, picking one as far away from me as possible.
Something I noticed about Lila right away that I hadn't caught last night was her beauty. Her skin was a deep tan, not exactly brown but not white like mine either. Her hair was umber, and her eyes the color to match that. She was gorgeous though, her features seemed to just radiate beauty. Immediately I grew envious, but then I chided to myself that she had just been kicked out of her home by her own parents, and I shouldn't feel jealous of her.
Lila was also very shy and timid. I figured that she didn't really like to talk too much.
She ate quickly, answering the few questions Rebecca prompted her with quickly, and not descriptive. When she finished her food, she pushed her plate in Rebecca's direction, and got up to head back upstairs.
"Are you done Lila?" Rebecca asked. Lila just shook her head rapidly, then raced back upstairs. It was almost like she was afraid to be around me and Rebecca, which I figured wasn't that unlikely.
"She's probably still really traumatized after what happened," Rebecca assured me.
My heart ached for Lila still though. What had she done that was so horrible that her parents had kicked her out of her own home? And not just Lila, no, also Riana with her. It was unfathomable, unreal, but it was real. It had happened, and it was horrible.
I've done my share of things to anger my mother in my life, but I can't even think of anything that would prompt her to kick me out. It was like...a mother bird simply pushing her new eggs out of the nest. The eggs containing that mother's soon to be children would splatter on the ground, the children dying immediately. This was like that, too surreal to even put into words.
I thanked Rebecca for breakfast, and ran upstairs, fighting back tears.