Trouble

TEN

TEN

After rejoining the world, I let Matt take me to Jeff and Beth's house. Their little girl Ruby cheerfully greeted me with a hug. I forced myself to stay calm until I was alone. Abigail joined me in the front yard a couple of minutes later.

As soon as she saw me, the Abigail Creature walked over to me and crawled into my lap. She wrapped her arms around my neck and wept into my shoulder. I held her, suddenly painfully aware that this little creature was indeed actually a child after all and she'd just lost the only parent she knew.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Abby," I whispered into her hair. It felt odd to call her that, but she no longer seemed to mind.

"I know," she whispered back. "You did everything you could, Michael."

I lost it then. I started to cry along with her. I held her tighter. She snuggled against me and I think it comforted me as much as it comforted her.

"You loved her almost as much as I did," Abigail told me.

"Yes, I did," I confirmed.

Together, we mourned Emily. I hadn't known her long, we had only been dating for a little while, and we'd never even had sex, but I had loved Emily on a level I couldn't even begin to explain. I never really believed in soulmates before, but I'm certain that Emily was mine.

"She loved you, too, Michael," Abigail told me. "I tried to keep you away because I wanted to protect her, but she loved you anyway. She was happy with you."

The creature's words were breaking me. "Thank you," I told her because it was clearly hard for her to admit this to me.

After a few moments, I felt compelled to say, "I really tried to save her..."

"You couldn't. No one could," Abigail said. Her next words shocked me. "I got her killed. This is my fault."

"Abby, no! You didn't do anything to cause this."

"I'm seven, but I'm not stupid. I'm not a normal kid. I know what happened, how it works... We have paths we can follow. Mom was following one, but then I disobeyed her. I showed up, knocking us all onto another path, and Jamie had to come after me... Aries was able to kidnap her because I was there, and Lauren got stuck in the middle, and he took them... And then you and Mom had no choice but to split up because James and Jeff were hurt... She had to go after the girls because you had to save us... But if Jamie hadn't been there, that wouldn't have happened. She would have left with you. If I hadn't been there for Aries to try to attack and Jamie didn't try to save me, my mom would still be alive." She was freakishly calm as she explained this to me. She sounded clinical and detached, like she was describing a phenomenon found in nature.

"Abigail, listen to me," I said firmly. I forced her to look into my eyes. "This is not even slightly your fault. You said it youself; you were supposed to be there. You did what you had to do, and your mom did, too. She died-" My voice cracked. I took a deep breath and tried again. "Your mother died a hero."

She nodded, seemingly satisfied for the time being. We stayed outside until Beth insisted on feeding us. A few hours later, Dixie drove up to Jeff's house.

Dixie gave Abigail a big, warm hug. Abigail liked Dixie, so she let her. Then Jeff offered to take her to one of his secret spots so she could find her inner creature or something.

"What's wrong, D?" I asked when we were alone.

"I'm sorry, Michael, but this can't wait," Dixie said. "Emily's lawyer called."

"Um... I didn't even know she had one."

"She had a will. I helped her set this all up... She left everything she had in this world to her little girl."