Prologue
Abigail
One year ago
A blanket laid over my shoulders to keep me from shivering. There was snow on the ground. It was pretty. Light, fluffy, and cold. So cold. It was hypocritical. Something terrible had happened, I felt it, and the snow was so beautiful it contradicted the horrible feeling. It wasn’t fair. Whatever happened, the situation deserved to have a light shone on it. Instead, it wasn’t taken seriously.
“Abigail?” an officer said my name and squatted low to the ground to meet my eyes. I stared at my hands. Blood.
So much blood.
“Abi,” I corrected him in a monotone voice. “I don’t like my name. Call my Abi.”
“Sure,” he nodded. “Abi. Is there anything you need?”
“My parents,” I breathed out, and the air froze in front of me, creating a small cloud.
He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “We want to talk to you about that. Think you can give us a statement on what happened?”
“Where are my parents?” I asked, unblinking as I stared at him.
“Abi, do you know why we are here?” he questioned me, and when I didn’t answer, he glanced up at another officer, concern lining the middle of his brows. “How about we get you something warm. You want some coffee or hot chocolate?”
I shook my head. Blue and red lights swirled around me, striking the darkness with the word emergency. What was the emergency? I didn’t know.
“She’s in shock,” a voice said to the officer who tried to help me. “We need to get her away from here before they---” her voice dropped to a whisper. I couldn’t hear anything besides a hiss from her speech, but I couldn’t make out the words.
I didn’t care. It wasn’t important.
“I need to go home,” I said, dropping the blanket off my shoulders. I was only wearing a nightgown. “My parents will be looking for me. It’s really late.”
“No, honey,” the woman said. “You have to stay here. Your mom and dad aren’t home anymore. Do you remember what happened? Tell me what day it is. What do you think is happening?” she asked with a kind smile, one full of patience and understanding. “Take your time.”
“It’s Saturday. I just got home from school yesterday for the weekend. I come home every weekend from college.”
“What did you do today?” Why did she have to keep asking?
I didn’t answer her because I didn’t know what happened today. I remember waking up, having lunch, going to the movies with my parents, and then everything else after that was black. I didn’t remember anything.
“Are my parents okay?”
She took my hands in hers. Gosh, her fingers were cold. It made sense because of the weather. The officer tossed the blanket back over me, and a few pieces of snow froze my skin and wet the blankets. “No, honey. They aren’t okay. Do you remember anything?” she asked again.
I glanced at my hands and saw they were stained red. Blood. I’m not too sure how I got blood on me; I shook my head again. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t remember. Are they going to be okay? Are they on their way to the hospital?”
“Do you remember something?” she repeated the same question, and it was getting annoying. Did I look like I knew anything?
“No, but I feel it. I feel it,” I finally looked up from the spot on the ground I was looking at and see my house in front of me. I was home. I could walk inside and go to sleep, maybe shower first to get the blood off me. I stood again, and my vision blurred, and a sharp pain pierced my skull, throbbing. I lifted my hand to feel the back of my head and brought it in front of me to look at it.
Red.
Wet.
“We need an ambulance! Right now!” The officer yelled over his shoulder, and I heard the racing boots of the paramedics behind me. It was too late. I was falling. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and my body gave in. I was limp. The officer caught me before I hit the ground, and the paramedics got there right as I was laid on the ground gently. The back of my head was cupped by a large palm, making sure I didn’t injure myself further.
That was nice of him.
A young man’s face filled my vision. He had brown eyes and messy blonde hair. He was cute. “Hi there, I’m Josh. I’m going to take care of you, okay?” he shined a bright light in my eyes and winced, turning to his partner. “Right pupil is blown. We need to get her to the hospital now. How did no one see this injury? It’s massive!” he shouted at the cops as they rolled me onto a gurney.