School was the same. She got through the first three weeks of December without incident. As Jimmy promised, they talked every day. It wasn’t the same as being together but she would take whatever she could get at this point. Her parents decided one weekend that they were going to have an overnight Christmas shopping trip in Portland.
“Maybe you can get Holly to come over and keep you company.” Her mom suggested.
“Maybe, I am sure one of us will be at the others house at some point this weekend. Don’t worry about me, go have a good time.” She assured them.
Abby had finished up with her holiday gift shopping about a week earlier. She and Holly had taken a day trip to Augusta. Abby needed some scrapbooking supplies and some photos printed for the gift she was making for Jimmy. What does one get for a rich boyfriend that has everything he needs? Abby hoped she knew. As Abby was watching out the window at the falling snow, she saw the mail truck pull up.
“SHOOT” Abby cried and jumped out of the chair. “I hope they left the mail key.” She said to herself out loud.
Her parent had installed a mail box with a lock and a key three years ago. They had heard there had been some kids messing with the mail and wanted to take precautions. Her mom was always home to collect the mail when it was delivered so Abby had no idea where the key was. She had no plans for the moment so figured she would spend some time looking for the key to pass the time until Holly came over. She looked all through the drawers in the kitchen, the key hooks were empty on the wall. No key in the armoire in the dining room. She wasn’t prohibited from her father’s office but out of respect, she didn’t want to rummage through there. Once she had looked every possible place she could think of, she decided she would just look in the top drawer of her father’s desk. If it wasn’t in there, she was done. She walked in to her father’s sanctuary. A red and gold oriental rug covered the wood floor, there were shelves filled with books that covered three walls. Behind the desk was a painted portrait of her mother and father when they were married. She walk behind the big oak desk and opened the thin top drawer. She moved a few papers around and found the key.
“Sweet!” she exclaimed and left the office to retrieve the mail.
She opened the box and pulled out a variety of items, Christmas cards, utility bills, credit card statements, sales flyers and one letter that made Abby freeze in her tracks.
The blue envelope sat on the table. Abby thought it was a hideous blue, a mix between a slate and cornflower. It was addressed to her, mailed from The Maine State Prison in Warren. Abby’s hands were shaking as she picked up the envelope. She contemplated waiting to open it when her parents returned from their weekend away. Should she call them and tell them about the letter? No, she didn’t want to spoil one of the few times they could actually get away. She turned it over and slid her finger in between the folds of the flap and tore it straight across. It was open. She still wasn’t sure she should read it yet. Hands still shaking she reached inside and pulled out the folded letter, she placed it on the table. She ran her hands through her hair, pickup it up and opened the letter. After two seconds she dropped the letter back on the table. Abby was now hyperventilating and the room was spinning. She was glad she was sitting down or she would have fallen down. She heard ringing, she wasn’t sure if it were in her ears or if the phone was actually ringing, she didn’t care. Abby wasn’t sure what a panic attack felt like but this had to be close. Abby closed her eyes and the memories of the day she had tried so hard to block out came flooding back.
* * * * *
Chapter 11
If Abby had heard once she had heard it a hundred times, her Uncle Roy was trouble. Her father’s brother was constantly the topic of conversation when it came to the heartache her grandmother had suffered. Grammy Frances had passed away nine years ago when Abby was eight. Uncle Roy had shown up to the funeral drunk crying how no one loved her as much as he did. Her father was completely embarrassed but not surprised. His brother often showed up drunk wherever he went. But to have this display in front of the people he worked with was about as much as he wanted to deal with today. Her father had slowly gotten out of his seat and escorted Uncle Roy out of the funeral home all the while Uncle Roy shouting how he had no right to keep him from seeing his mother. After that my father was the one that was called anytime Uncle Roy was too drunk to drive home from any one of the bars in Rockland. The cab companies stopped taking him as a fare, he gets belligerent and physical when he drinks so it was too much of a liability to the cab companies if Uncle Roy had ever assaulted a driver. So whether it was the middle of the afternoon or the middle of the night, her father would stop what he was doing, pick him up and take him home to sober up. He did it mostly out of the respect of his late mother but also the less Uncle Roy was arrested the less his name was in the papers and the less it was brought to his superiors attention. He didn’t fear being fired because of his brother actions, that was not his company’s policy but still, he had to face customers every day and they may lose faith in a person that had a convict for a brother. So, he did what he could to keep his brother out of the papers.
Abby was home alone that afternoon when the phone rang. She was 14 and certainly old enough to care for herself for a couple of hours while her parents went out for awhile. It was one of the local bars her uncle frequently inhabited.
“Yes hello is Tom there?” She heard when she answered the phone.
“No I am sorry he isn’t, can I take a message?” Abby replied
“Ugh just great.” The caller moaned. “Now what?”
“This is his daughter maybe I can help.” Abby tried to sound older to gain some confidence from the caller.
“This is Dan at the Time Out Pub, we have Roy here and he needs a ride.” Abby’s dad had gone to all the local bars and given his name as a contact if and when his brother needed a ride.
“Um ok, well I am not sure what time they are coming back” Abby looked around to see what time it was when she noticed the keys to her mother’s SUV.
“Well I can’t let him leave and walk the streets as drunk as he is, he’ll end up arrested or worst dead in a ditch hit by a car.” Dan was obviously frustrated.
“Ok wait,” Abby said. “I’ll be right there.” Abby hung up the phone and grabbed the keys.
Her father had let Abby drive lots of times, mostly on the back roads where traffic was slim to none. She knew the fundamentals of driving. It was only about five miles to the bar on the main road. It was a sunny spring day late in the afternoon so no worries of wet or snowy roads. She could pick up Uncle Roy, take him home and be back all within 30 minutes. This would save her father embarrassment and make sure Uncle Roy made it safely home. No one would be the wiser if she returned home before her parents.
She made it to the bar no problem. Slow and steady. Uncle Roy was leaning on a table outside the bar. She pulled in to the parking lot, retrieved him from the table and put him in the passenger side of the vehicle. Abby backed out of the parking spot and pulled out of the parking lot onto the road. No one had seen her. Uncle Roy lived in a trailer off Rt. 131 heading towards St. George. Abby had just turned onto Rt. 131 when her uncle spoke to her. She thought he had been sleeping or passed out, either way she was fine with it, but now he was awake.
“So, how old are you now Sweetie?” he asked slurring his words.
“14.” Abby answered and focused on the road.
“14 huh, well you are certainly turning in to a fine young lady.” He was staring at Abby, this made her a little uncomfortable.
“Why are you sitting so far away?” He started to unbuckle his seat belt.
“I don’t think you should do that.” Abby said looking back and forth between her uncle and the road. “That’s not safe.”
Well I thought I’d sit a little closer to you, you sure are pretty.”
Abby could feel his breath near her face. She turned to look at him. He was sitting very close. He put his hand on her leg.
&
nbsp; “Please, Uncle Roy I just want to get you home safely, it’s getting dark, please put your seatbelt on” Abby begged.
“Well Abby I just want a little kiss, you have a kiss for your old Uncle Roy?” He leaned over to kiss her
Abby backed away as far as she could, pushing him away with her right hand leaving her left hand on the wheel. She had to correct the vehicle a couple times to keep it in her lane. His hand was moving up her leg towards her thigh. He then unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her towards him. Abby screamed as she tried to keep the vehicle under control, pleading the whole time for him to stop. She didn’t see the oncoming minivan crest the hill. Roy had her pulled half way into his seat when she crossed the center line and hit the van head on. The SUV hit the ditch on the opposite side of the road and rolled over, Abby felt herself being ejected from the vehicle. She heard screaming, she felt herself hitting the ground, she heard her leg snap and she barely saw the rock before she rolled into it and hit her head.
She woke up in the hospital 12 days later. Abby tried opening her eyes, they were heavy. She tried lifting her hand to her face but felt it heavy too. “What is wrong with me” she thought to herself. Her parents had seen her move when they rushed to her bed side.
“Abby, Abby Honey can you hear me?” she heard her mother ask, she sounded like she’d been crying. Didn’t they have a good time on their day out she wondered?
“Abby Sweetheart, it’s Dad, can you open your eyes Baby?” She thought even her dad sounded weird.
Was it late, she didn’t remember going to bed but she must have if she were sleeping when they got home. Abby tried again to open her eyes. She could see through the small slit she was able to make them open. She wasn’t in her room. She tried a little harder and her eyes got a little wider. She wasn’t in any part of her house, what was going on?
“Mom.” She said just barely a whisper.
“Yes Baby, Moms here, I‘m right here.” She was crying Abby confirmed.
“Why are you crying?” Abby wanted to know that before she wanted to know where she was. She hated to see her mother upset.
“Because I’m happy Baby, you’re awake and everything is going to be ok.” She kissed Abby’s forehead. That’s when Abby realized she had a major headache.
Abby squinted her eyes and tried to rub her head when she saw all the tubes connected to her arm. Abby tried to sit up. Her parents kept her still in the bed.
“Lie back Sweetie.” Her father urged. “Don’t try to sit up, let me get the nurse to help you.” He hit the call button.
Nurse, get what nurse, Abby thought, trying to figure out what was happening. She started to panic. She tried to focus on the room. Mint green walls, an annoying beeping sound that was getting faster and the smell of antiseptic, hospital Abby concluded. But how did she get in the hospital, she was home, her parents were away and she was home, how did……? The stark realization of what had happed hit Abby like a ton of bricks. She stopped moving. She felt her left leg with her hand, she had a cast from hip to toe. She raised her hand slowly to her head, a small bandage covered a sore spot at her left temple most likely the cause of her major headache. She stared at her parents, put her hand to her mouth and started to cry.
It took a few minutes for her parents to calm her down. The doctor had come onto the room by this time.
“How is our Sleeping Beauty doing? You had us all quite concerned young lady” He had his pen light shining in her eyes. “Good, good” he said when he was done and wrote something on his chart.
“It's good that she has come around, the worst is over.” He addressed her parents. “I’d like to keep her here for observation. Her charts look good, we’ll run another cat scan, if we see that there isn’t going to be any long term neurological damage, I don’t see why she can’t go home within the week. Keep her off the leg, we’ll give her something for the pain if she becomes uncomfortable. Sound good to you Abby?” He was looking at her like she had a choice. Abby just nodded her head. Abby winced at the constant throbbing. “I’ll have the nurse bring you something for the headache, a side effect of a coma I’m afraid.” He walked out of the room to get the nurse.
“Coma?!” Abby asked in horror. “I was in a coma? How long?
Her parents looked at each other her mother crying again.
“Dad, how long was I in a coma?” She demanded to know
“12 days Baby, 12 long days, but you’re here now and that is all that matters.” He said trying to keep her calm.
“Do you remember what happened Honey? Why were you in the car with your uncle?” Her mother asked with a hint of distain in her voice.
Abby started to cry again, she did remember what happened but she didn’t want her parents to hate her for what she had done.
“Please Baby, what happened?” her Dad asked this time.
Abby relived that afternoon. Stopping occasionally to let out a sob and wipe her eyes. When she was done explaining that she had only done it to help her father and never meant to cause this much trouble, Abby looked up at her father and she was scared. She had never seen that level of anger on his face before. She knew it was directed at her.
“I’m so sorry Daddy.” she was only able to get it out in a whisper.
“I’m going to kill him.” Her father said furiously. That son of a “
“Tom, please.” Her mother interrupted. “Not now.”
Abby just then remembered the van.
“Oh my God, the people in the van, how are they?” Abby asked franticly looking between her mother and father. Neither one of them said anything.
“How are they?” Abby asked again this time with urgency.
Her mother took a seat next to the bed and took Abby’s hand.
“Sweetheart,” she started “The person driving the van was a boy at your school, Mitchell Robinson, do you know him?”
Abby thought for a minute, “Yes Mitchell, he’s a junior, Honor Society I think, he plays basketball too. Is he ok?”
Abby’s mother started to tear up again, “He died Honey. When you crossed the center line you hit them head on without braking. He died instantly.
“Was he alone?” Abby was sobbing
“His mother was in the passenger seat. She sustained a few injuries, some bumps and bruises, she was released after a day or two.” Abby was having a hard time breathing.
“No it isn’t!” Abby’s father demanded. “It’s his and he is going to pay the price for it.” He said referring to her uncle.
“They have done the preliminary investigations of the crash scene. Due to the fact you both were unbuckled and he was lying in the driver seat. It appears as though he was driving. Since you both are about the same height they couldn’t tell by the seat position who was driving. The detectives wanted to talk to you but according to what Cliff Applebee has heard, they are looking to arrest Roy for vehicular manslaughter.”
“But Dad.” Abby shrieked. “He didn’t do it, I did. He can’t go to jail for something he isn’t responsible for.”
“He is responsible Abby, this is entirely his fault. Something like this was bound to happen and now he has to pay for it. Own up to all the mistakes he had made over his lifetime. I’ll be dammed if he is going to take my daughter down with him. When the police come to question you this is what you will tell them. Yes, you made an unwise decision to drive without a license but you were thinking of the safety of your Uncle and wanted him to get home without incident. When you arrived at the bar he took the keys from you and got in the driver seat. Not knowing what to do you got in the car with him thinking you could help him drive if you needed too. He became belligerent as he always does, he tried to get physical with you and he lost control of the vehicle and hit the oncoming van. That is what we are going to tell the police had happened. Do I make myself clear?”
“Dad?”
“Do I make myself clear!” he shouted an
d pounded his fist on the tray table making Abby and her mother jump.
“Yes” Abby whispered thru her tears.
The next few days went as her father said they would. The detectives handling the case came and asked Abby for her side of the story. Since Roy was drunk at the time of the accident he didn’t remember anything that happened, so when Abby’s father told him that he tried to rape his own niece, Roy could do nothing but believe it. He agreed to a plea barging and plead guilty to Vehicular Manslaughter, he received 20 years. However, Roy could have faced as much as 60 years in jail for the offense of aggravated vehicular homicide had he not accepted the plea and taken his chances with a jury. Abby had not seen or heard from her uncle since the accident, until today.
* * * * *
Chapter 12
Abby was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, knees hugged tightly to her chest and rocking back and forth when Holly arrived. Holly looked around and saw the house had been ransacked.
“Oh my God Abby are you ok? We’re you robbed?” Holly hugged her friend. “I’m calling 911.” She reached for her cell phone.
“No, don’t!” Abby shouted and grabbed the phone out of her hand.
Abby picked up the pile of blue envelopes and letters and showed them to Holly.
She looked at the envelopes, Maine State Prison, Holly only knew of one person Abby would know in there.
“Abby?” Holly looked at her.
Abby said nothing. Holly looked at one of the letters. It only had six words on it. She looked at the other letters, the same six words were written on every single one. “It should be you not me”
“How do you think he found out?” Holly asked
“I don’t know, but he has been writing me one of these every week for the last three years. There are over 150 letters here, all saying the same thing, it should be me and not him.