Born Again *on hold*

Chapter 4

As Abby walked through her front door, she was greeted with cries, coming from Dora's room. Abby looked into the living room for her mum, stuffing her keys into her pocket. Her mum was no where to be seen. Abby rolled her eyes and ran up stairs. Dora was sitting on the floor of her room, tears streaming down her coffee-coloured cheeks. Dora's dad was a South African who had come to London for business. A few weeks after Dora was born, 10 months after originally came to Britain, he fled home, saying his trip was over. He had promised that he was just going to finish the job and then come back a few weeks later, to look after his daughter and the woman he had promised to make his wife. Abby scowled at the thought. That idiot. 16 months later and he hasn't returned. He hadn't sent  any money, no letter, no phone call. He had abandoned Gabriella and her three children, left them with hardly any money and a small council house. Abby had never liked Jason. Not one bit. The first time she met him he nearly ran Sam over when he pulled up outside he house. Needless to say, there were some hard feelings.

Jason wasn't much better than her dad though. He was a druggie, and an alcoholic. Gabriella met him at a party, and they hit it off right away. About 8 and a half months later they had Abby, but only just. She was born a month premature, and had a complicated birth. It didn't look like she would make it, so Daniel began taking more drugs than ever. He got aggressive, and one of Abby's earliest memories was him throwing the T.V at her mum when she was four, and her mum had just found out she was pregnant with Sam. Daniel left that night, and hadn't got in touch since. Every now and then a cheque for a couple of hundred pounds came through. But two hundred quid a year wasn't going very far. He had never met Sam, his own son.

Abby shook off all the thoughts of the stupid men her mum committed to, and picked up her baby sister. At 17 months, Dora still couldn't walk, and could barely talk. This wasn't because she was dumb, she was actually a very smart girl; she had inherited her father's business mind. Most kids learnt things by watching their parents and siblings, but since Dora was often left alone for hours on end in a room with the door shut, she didn't have anyone to copy. Gabriella was a good mother when she was around, but she wasn't often around. She went out most nights, and worked a lot during the day. Dora was normally sent nextdoor to Ms Fiona, an old woman in her 70's, who lost her husband and twin daughters in a train accident when she was in her 30's. She also lost the baby she was carrying due to the shock, and the poor sad widow had wanted a child to look after ever since. Her twins had only been  about a year old, so she loved looking after Dora. However, Dora couldn't learn to walk from her, because she used a wheelchair. When at home, Dora was ignored, Abby and Sam had homework, and leisure, to attend to, and Gabriella often forgot about her, because Dora was normally quiet.

However, sometimes, Ms Fiona couldn't take care of Dora, and a sitter was needed. But, sometimes, Gabriella forgot to get a sitter. So Dora was left alone in her room, with no food and no nappy change all day. Like today.

Abby picked up her sister and took her to the bathroom to get a nappy. She changed her as fast as she could, and disposed of the dirty nappy, before getting a pouch of baby food out and giving it to Dora. Abby put her homework out on the table next to the high chair and worked on her History homework.

A couple of very dull hours later, Abby put away her homework. She went up to her room, taking Dora into her room on the way. She could happily amuse herself for a while. Abby flopped onto her bed and checked her phone. No messages. She sighed, and wondered what to do. Suddenly, she remembered the CD Leyanne gave her. It couldn't do any harm to listen to it. She got it out and slotted it into her laptop; she didn't have a CD player. A load of options came up, and after clicking 'Play Music', the music finally started coming through the headphones. The first song was called 'We Exalt Your Name' by Kari Jobe, feat. Matt Maher. It was slow and haunting, but powerful. Abby wasn't sure if she liked it. It was very 'worship-ey'. Then again, it was on a worship CD. Abby listened to it critically. She loved Kari Jobe's voice, but didn't like the lyrics at all.