LINGR

[Seven] My Fail of a Twilight Moment

It's my Twilight moment, the one where I pull a Bella Swan and Google "Cold Ones."

Just kidding, I don't do that. However, I do Google Abi's full name on my dinosaur of a laptop. (It's chunky, and it likes being so, though it does need to be plugged in all the time in order for it to even work.) I know that's a little weird, Googling your friend, so there's a squirmy part of my stomach that is absolutely judging me right now. At the same time, Abi has told me very little about herself, let alone about her family. Mostly, she's been a guiding light on how to vampire.

As for the Abigail Montgomery search results, I get nothing substantial. I guess it's probably more common of a name than not... or maybe it's not even her real name. Or maybe she likes Veronica Mars so much that she made an obscure reference to a minor character?

I groan, bringing a hand up to my forehead. Think, Vic: has Abi ever indicated that she has a different surname?

I guess she has, since she's been alive for seven decades. There's no way she could always use her actual, legal name without there being some kind of suspicion... Then, it clicks: Abi mentioned being turned when she was twenty-three, just started in her first job (controversial for a woman at that time), and engaged to her high school sweetheart who just got back from the war a few years before that. Could it be that she was considered a 'missing person'?

It's worth a try. I write Abigail Montgomery missing to my Google search and... nothing substantial.

Damn, Vic, c'mon. Use that English major for something!

So, without further ado, I do a little math and add 1950s to my search term.

This looks a little more promising. There's an "Abigail 'Monty' McBride" that looks promising, but there's no photo available, and maybe it's not really her after all. It's only when I see "Sisters Monty and Sadie McBride tie at local spelling bee" where I pause. I click on the news article. There's a picture and—no... yes! That has to be a child Abigail, standing with an arm around her sister, beaming. Sadie gives a small, shy smile at the camera. This is from 1940. 

I feel like a sleuth and a creep all at once. But once I start, I can't stop. I Google "Sadie McBride" and sift through some profiles. Nothing really fits, but maybe it's enough to ask Abi about—although how does one ask about Googling another's sister?

This is why you don't have friends anymore, Vic. You're an internet creep.

I hush the voice in my head. It's always mean, but I can't give into it. I take a couple of deep breaths, breathing out longer than I breathe in, to calm myself. Then, I check outside the window to see that the sun is setting. Perfect. I know Abi's local bar isn't too far from here, and it's Trivia Night on Thursdays, so she'll be there. She never misses Trivia Night, not even for feeding or a hook-up. She likes campy stuff like that.

I slip on some sandals, wince as I brush a finger through my tangled hair, and go out the door. Maybe her making light of my scrappy appearance will put her in a good mood to break the news to her. Or maybe I'm being too optimistic for once. 

***

Sure enough, within the dark and smoky local bar, there's Abi sitting at a booth with a couple of people I don't recognize. Not that I'm surprised, since Abi is quite popular and embedded in our city's Underworld scene. The more I learn about the Underworld, the more Abi seems to pop up. I'm not super pumped that the two people with her might just happen to be human? The two of them look a bit uncomfortable, eyes wide and darting across the room at the Underworlders hanging around.