Trouble |The Outsiders|

12. A Suitcase

Virginia had changed in the past ten years. Her once thick brown hair had faded to a grey and thinned out tremendously. Abigail could clearly see her bones protruding through her skin and thin clothing. Her pale eyes locked with her daughter's, pleading.

Danny was sitting on the couch, looking more confused than Abigail had ever seen before. His eyes dropped to the leather suitcase clamped in his mother's fist.

"Abigail, it's been so long, I-"

"And whose fault was that?"

A proud grin crossed Eddy's face as Virginia recoiled her reaching hand. The air was alive with anxiety as the once-happy family stared one another down while Danny pushed himself off the couch to stand with his sister. "I dunno what happened," he whispered, "she just showed up."

She nodded grimly as Eddy raised his voice again. "See? They don't want you here either, get out of my house, Virginia!"

The suitcase dropped to the floor with a crash as Virginia started to wave her arms and scream back. "They're kids Eddy, they don't know what they fucking want! They need their mother!"

All she could focus on was her mother's trembling fingers and wild eyes. Her lips were chapped and bleeding, so were her dirty fingernails. Abigail had seen the symptoms too many times before from junkies coming to the Dingo at all hours of the day. They searched frantically for something to fill the hole they'd rotted through their stomach. Abigail helped them the best she could, coffee and toast. It never worked, and she knew she'd see them again soon when they tried to kick their bad habits.

"They don't need a fucking addict for a mom, you can barely take care of your fucking self."

Her wild eyes filled with tears as she raised her fists to her hair. Abigail instinctively wrapped her arms around Danny's broad shoulders, trying to protect him as if he was five again. Virginia wailed, fat tears flowing down her pale face while Eddy paced and muttered. "You can't do this to me, Eddy! You said you'd love me forever, you promised!"

The suitcase was the same one she held all those years ago when Abigail crept down the stairs. It was torn and filthy, but she recognized the gold clasps that held it shut. She wondered what was inside it now. Probably clothes, the odd pair of shoes and a toothbrush. Maybe a photo of the children she left behind. The children she sacrificed.

"And you promised to never leave! You said we'd do it together, no matter how rough things got!"

Without realizing it, Virginia and Eddy had grown closer. They were now only a few feet apart, though they screamed as if the distance was a continent. Danny pushed against his sister's grip, eyes frantic. "Is he gonna hit her?"

"No," Abigail told him immediately. She saw it in her father's eyes. Eddy still loved Virginia, even if she stole his heart and vanished into the night with it in her suitcase. The damage had been done and was unreversible, yet he would never hurt her.

He knew there was no possible way he could make Virginia feel the pain he felt every day, even if it was just for a second. 

An ugly purple vein in his neck was pulsating as he continued to scream, this time gesturing to the children he raised alone. "We don't fucking need you, we're better off without you, Abigail and Daniel don't love you!"

Virginia's sickly skin flushed red as her lips fell shut. There was a faraway look in her eyes, as if she wished to be anywhere but in the mess she created. "How could you do this to me?" She sobbed, more tears rolling down her thin face.  "How could you just kick me out like this, Eddy? I made a mistake-"