Back In time

Thirty-One

Fredricks

"What are you doing here?" I looked up to see Nicholas approach my direction.

"I am here to send the invite to the wedding." He replied with an empty stare while his body swayed in a seemingly lifeless manner.

"You!" I grabbed his collar in readiness to punch him, only to swiftly push him aside and run towards the house. What unfolded before me an Abbey that I had yet seen.

She sat defeated on the floor with her limits long surpassed; all that was left was just an empty shell packed with a mix of emotions. I did not know what my next course of actions should be. I just wanted her to feel happy again. I wanted to see her smiling once more.

"Shhh." I hesitantly placed my arms around her before wrapping her in a tight embrace. How I longed for her pain to be transferred to me.

"I hate him," she sniffled as her body trembled in anxiety, "Fredricks, I hate him."

A sudden realization hit me like a train. Despite of what Nicholas had done; I had no place in her heart. Still, there shall always be a space for her in mine.

"Abbey. We both know that you still love him." The words flew right out of my mouth before I had a chance to filter them, but it was clear that though in her unstable state, the words she spoke deviated from what she truly felt.

"It will be alright, Abbey. It will be alright," no words could offer any form of relief to her current pain, all I could do was to cuddle her close, and to be there for her. We sat there for an extended period till her breath could be heard returning to its steady pace and where sobbing ceased.

"Abbey?" I gently pushed her body a few inches away only to find her fast asleep. Slowly, I arose to a squat position and gingerly hooked my arms under her legs and waist before proceeding up to her room, tucking her under the blankets. Perhaps this is the only way where she could temporarily escape from her nightmare.

*

"Is she still refusing to eat?" I questioned, as Claire stepped out of the room carrying a tray of an already cold bowl of oats.

"I am afraid so, Sir." Claire replied, shaking her head in the process, "if this goes on, I am afraid that it will take a toll on her health."

"Indeed. I will figure something out. In the meantime, please look after her."

"Of course. It pains me to see her in this manner as well." Claire reassured before descending the stairs, leaving me standing outside Abbey's room with the door shut before me.

There must be a way to help her.

I stood firmly rooted to the ground, racking my brain for a possible solution before a sudden though rushed to my mind.

"Eureka!" 

Abbey

"Abbey, dear. Can I come in?" a muffled voice resounded behind the door. It sounded like Agnes, but I couldn't bother at all. Afterall, all I did was sit in bed and stare at the world through the window. I was a living carcass with no soul, numb from all emotions that seemed to have been sucked out of me.

"Abbey, I am coming in, okay?" The doors creaked opened and in came a familiar figure that I caught from the corner of my eye. Nevertheless, all I could focus on was the view outside the glass panels. Suddenly, a warm hand clutched over mine, giving it a gentle squeeze, prompting me to turn my head towards the source.

"Agnes," was all I could say before she pulled me into a hug.

"I am here," she wept, and that was all it took to enable a tear to break free. I thought that the nights of sorrow would have dried my eyes from future laments. Turns out I was wrong. Immediately, I reciprocated her hug with mine as the both of us bawled to our hearts content before allowing calmness set in.