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54

As Olivia turns the doorknob to walk us inside her and Abby's house, anger bubbles within me again.

It's strange to observe how much Abby has changed over the last few months, given that she and Olivia used to be good enough friends that they decided to live together. Last school year we even went out to dinner at The Grill a few times. We grew apart a little over the summer and especially once she started to hook up with Blake, we didn't hear from her much.

Our fights over Blake were always immature and a bit trivial to me; nothing compared to the hateful person she has quickly turned into, and I don't understand how it happened.

When we reach Olivia's open living room, I'm surprised to see she is nowhere to be found, despite her car being parked in the driveway.

After helping Olivia pack the very last of her things for a few minutes, I excuse myself to the bathroom. It isn't until I open the door that my lingering anger about everything is soon replaced by shock.

Abby is sitting before me on the bathroom floor with her face resting between her knees, stifled sobs bursting from her lungs.

"What the hell happened?" I ask, my voice a mixture of both disgust and concern.

Abby flinches slightly and raises her head from her knees, and my eyes widen in shock.

I instantly know that the punch I delivered to her nose earlier did not cause all the brutal injuries I observe on her face.

Abby's weak voice trembles as she speaks. "Lucas happened..."

I feel physically sick as I take in the appearance of her face, showing the brutal aftermath of what looked to be a vicious attack. Her swollen cheeks are black and blue and blood trickles down from her split lip. Both of her eyes are bruised too–  she looks almost worst than Lucas did earlier.

I feel so flustered all of a sudden that I barely hear Olivia walk up behind me. She gasps at the appearance of Abby, asking her the same question I just did.

Despite Abby being my least favorite person in the world besides Lucas, I can't help but feel a pang of sympathy for her. No matter what she has done to me in the past, nobody deserves this kind of sickening physical abuse.

It is well known by now that Lucas is a master manipulator, and if Abby is telling the truth about him causing these injuries, I'm sure there is a lot more to this story. I know Olivia will try to argue that Abby knew what she was getting into with Lucas, but I'd have to disagree.

It took me two years to see the person Lucas truly is under the surface, and now that he is on steroids and at this point probably on other drugs too, his manipulation and unexplainable rage must only be intensified well past anything I ever experienced.

"C'mon Elena, lets go," Olivia mutters, turning to leave the room.

I shake my head and grab her wrist, the empathy in me not allowing me to follow her out. "No. If Lucas hurt her, we need to get to the bottom of this."

We then turn to Abby nervously and I sit down on the edge of her bathtub to get closer to her level, Olivia sitting across from us on the closed toilet lid.

"I'm really sorry to you both," Abby sniffles, using a shakey arm to wipe away a few tears.

"Sorry isn't really gonna cut it," Olivia scoffs, rolling her eyes. I nod in agreement, still feeling incredibly angry.

Abby shakes her head. "I know... I've made more mistakes than I can count. But after today, I want to tell you everything."

I feel a mix of emotions swirling inside my veins— part of me wants to leave this bathroom and never look back, but the other part wants to give Abby a chance to explain herself, even if she doesn't deserve that chance.