Page 1 of Abigail
PROLOGUE
Twenty-five years ago…
“Police! Open up!” Seven-year-old Robert Ford heard just seconds before his chaotic world became utter pandemonium. Huddled on the dirty floor of a rundown house on the wrong side of town, he clutched, Abi, the small brown-haired little girl of about four years, closer to him. He’d only just met her a few days before when he arrived at the shack with Nicole, his crack-head of a mother.
Robert’s mother dragged him from one shitty place to another, in between times when his grandmother had temporary custody of him. Robert’s mother liked to sniff white powder that made her weird and often act mean. He hated it when she sniffed the white stuff. After she did it, she acted crazy. She would go in one of the rooms to naked wrestle the men. He didn’t like that either. Sometimes, he believed the men were hurting her. He could hear flesh slapping flesh. His mother screaming and moaning, but he'd only tried once to stop what was happening. The door had been locked and he had beat and beat on the door until his mother had jerked the door open. She stood in front of him completely naked, breathing hard, sweat covering her skin.
“What is it, you little brat?” she’d yelled at him. Tears were streaming down his face. Robert pushed past her and headed to the man standing near the bed. He was also naked. Something was wrong with his dick. It was sticking out and the man looked pissed. Robert leaped at him throwing punches and screaming at the man to stop hurting his mom.
The man laughed, easily fending him off, but Nicole was pissed. She ran across the room and dragged Robert off the man. She dropped him to the floor, uncaring if it hurt him to land on his butt. Robert jumped up to head toward the man again, but Nicole stopped him cold. She slapped him hard across the face causing his head to swing violently to the side.
“Shut the fuck up, stupid brat!” she yelled. “Get out and don’t come back in here again! I swear I should have left you with mom!”
Robert, too stunned to speak, meekly turned to walk out of the room. He heard her apologizing to the man for her retarded son’s behavior. “It’s all right Nikki,” The man laughed. “He was just trying to protect you. You were getting so loud he thought I was hurting you. At least he was looking out for his mom.”
“The stupid retard ruined a perfectly good orgasm and my buzz…” She slammed the door, and Robert proceeded on down the hall and outside. It was the last time he had cared about what his mother did or what happened to her. He had only been five years old at the time.
‘Boom!’The loud sound closely followed the officers’ announcement of their arrival. The front door flung open. The old house was so run down, it’d only taken one hard hit to send the door along with shards of the door frame flying into the small room. Robbie wrapped his arms around Abi, covering her small body as best he could. He needed to keep Abi safe. No one else would. Not even the adults who should be protecting them.
Although, Robbie had noticed over the last few days how Abi’s mother had tried to make sure the children had food and drink. She tried her best to keep them from seeing all the depraved shit going in that hellhole. Even as little as he was, he’d been thankful that she had at least tried to look after them a little. His mother didn’t even speak to him after they’d arrived. She’d been too busy wrestling with men and sniffing the white stuff up her nose with a straw.
Abi was brave like him. He suspected it’s because she’d been as exposed to the underside of life as much as he had. Glancing down at her, she looked as lost as he felt. She didn’t cry when the police burst into the room with guns raised after shattering the front door with a battering ram.
Nicole and her boyfriend of the week, along with all the other adults in the room jumped up and tried to escape in the sudden chaos. A man who Robert knew was the little girl’s father had drawn a gun and fired shots at the police as he turned to run down the hallway, which led to the bedrooms and a back door. The police returned fire. The rapid-fire popping sound had been deafening in the small shack.
Robert and the little girl were huddled in the back corner of the living room. When bullets started flying, he kept her head down with his hand over her eyes. He didn’t want her to see what was happening. The girl’s mother had run their way, but Abi’s dad grabbed her as she passed him. Using her as a human shield, he escaped out the back door. Dropping the woman once she became useless to him, he left without a backward glance. ‘Thud!’ She landed on the floor near where the children cowered, reaching out toward the children with her bloody hand. Robbie was too afraid to move. He just gripped the girl tighter keeping her eyes shielded from the horror playing out in front of him.
“Hold your fire!” yelled one of the men in black gear. ‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’ Shots continued to ring out.
“God dammit hold your fire!” he yelled again. “There are kids in here!”
The deafening noise in the room suddenly stopped leaving an eerie calm after the chaos. Robert’s ears were ringing badly from the sound of gun fire in such a confined space. He could just barely hear the last choking breaths from the woman laying just a few feet away from the two children. He watched as the life faded from her body; her eyes became unfocused. Staring at him, but unseeing.
Apparently, the police hadn’t expected there to be kids in the drug house when they raided it. Who would expect such a thing? Robert overheard snippets of conversations between the officers as they cleared the scene. He didn’t move from the spot where he held a trembling Abi.
“What the fuck?” the first officer exclaimed. “What kind of piece of shit do you have to be to have kids in here with all this shit going on?” The man shook his head in disgust. Robert wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about but thought it must have to do with the all the white powder and naked wrestling that had been going on ever since they had arrived at the shack.
“Some sick shit that’s for sure,” another officer answered. “We better call DCBS to get a social worker over here.” The two black clad men looked down at the children. Robbie saw the pity in their eyes and it made him angry with his mother all over again for putting him in this situation. It wasn’t the first time and he knew it wasn’t likely to be the last.
Hours later in the cold dark of night just before dawn, Robbie, with tear-stained cheeks, stood behind a police officer in a dark blue uniform. A light snow had begun to fall. The flakes landing in his hair were almost imperceptible on his blond head. A breeze ruffled his hair and caused the tattered collar on his too small jacket to flop open. He shivered as the wind chilled his wrists and ankles. His pants and shirt were also much too little on his thin frame.
Robbie glanced down at Abi. The snowflakes were clearly visible in her wavy locks. She too was thin and wearing mismatched ragged clothing that was overlarge on her tiny body. She scooched closer to him when the wind blew again. Snowflakes hit them in the face and stuck to their eye lashes. He released her from his grip just long enough to open his coat and wrap it around her small frame, tucking her into his side to shield her from the cold.
Robert was very frightened earlier, but he has tried to be brave for Abi. Now that he and Abi were here, he knew what came next, even at his young age. He’d been in this situation before. He had seen a lot in his seven short years on earth. The foster family would talk with the social worker. He would have to stay here for a while until they figured out where his Gran lived and contacted her. He would only have to stay a few days at the most. His Gran always came and got him every time his mother got in trouble and he was taken into custody.
This time, however, Abi was with him. He looked over at the little girl only a few years younger than him. What would happen to her when his Gran arrived? He’d only known the girl a few days. However, in that short time, the two formed a tight bond. He’d felt a need to protect and watch over her from the moment he first laid eyes on her in that shithole they’d been removed from. His need to shelter and protect her grew exponentially in the hours during and after the raid.
As they waited for what came next, he took her small hand in his. He held her hand tightly in his grasp, pleased that she was grasping him back, putting her trust in him. She lifted her eyes to gaze up at him. She wasn’t frightened at all despite what the two juveniles had just witnessed.
The officer knocked on the front door of a small suburban home. A frazzled looking woman in a rumpled business suit stood on the other side of the officer. She had a brown messenger bag thrown over her shoulder and clipboard in her hand. She dug in the bag to extract some files. She checked the names on the files to ensure she had the right ones. She sighed loudly as the officer knocked a second time. She was obviously annoyed that this was taking so long. The sound of someone stomping toward the door was heard inside the house. Locks clicked, the sound of metal scraping metal, followed by the jingling of a chain was heard just before the door was pulled open.
“What do you want that this ungodly hour?” a man asked gruffly. “Oh, hello officer,” his voice softened, sounding contrite. Standing in the doorway with the backlight shining around him was a balding older man with a protruding abdomen. The man was dressed in pajama bottoms and a fraying white tank undershirt. Movement inside the house behind the man caught Robbie’s eye as he peered around the policeman. A woman’s voice called out. “Who is it, Henry?”
“The cops and a social worker,” he threw over his shoulder. He stepped back to give the woman a view of those standing in the door. “It looks like they have brought us some guests.” The man walked away from the door as the woman approached. She was hunched over pulling her flannel robe tighter around her plump frame as she got closer to those waiting outside.
“You better get inside before you catch your death out there in the cold,” the old woman said, as she attempted to smooth her grey hair which was sticking out in all directions. Evidence she had just gotten out of bed. She pulled the door wider as she swept her right hand in an arch, welcoming them to enter her home. The social worker hurriedly entered first. The policeman turned to usher the children through the door before stepping inside himself, closing the door against the cold and snow blowing around outside.
“Come on in the kitchen,” the old woman said as she headed toward the back of the home. “I’ll put on some coffee for us and hot chocolate for the little ones. Henry, be a dear and turn the space heater on in the extra bedroom. It’s freezing in there. These kids will need a warm place to sleep. I’ll make up the beds when the paper work is done. They can take a nap after their bath and lice treatment.” The old man nodded and headed down a hallway to the right as the woman led them to the left and into a warm and cozy space.
