The Escape

Chapter 1

ABBY

I woke up to a soft crying noise and jumped from the bed. The clock read 6:05 AM. I'd only been asleep for two hours after working a few hours as a cashier at the gas station.

Rubbing my eyes, I walked into Bella's room and found her curled up in a ball, sobbing. I sat on the edge of the bed and comforted my four-year-old sister. "Shh, it's okay honey, it's only a dream." Gently, I stroked her hair and waited until she was calm. Then, I returned to my room to prepare for my job at the local cafe.

Working three jobs sucked, but it had to be done when you had a drug addict for a mother who was never around and a drunk-ass abusive father. From seven to three, I worked at Bill's Cafe; then, I had an hour to get Bella home from preschool. I waitressed at Pop's Diner from five in the evening until ten. At midnight, I worked at the creepy gas station. I had to because it helped pay the bills. If I didn't pay the bills, there would be no roof over our heads.

I pulled on my oversized hoodie and jeans with black combat boots and returned to Bella's room. She knew the routine by now and was already dressed at age four. It was pretty impressive. It was a chilly fifty degrees outside, so I ensured Bella had a coat. It was now six-thirty, and it was time to walk Bella to preschool. We had to run a little to make it on time, but it all turned out fine. Bill, the cafe owner, understood some of the problems I dealt with and was very lenient, which made me grateful.

Today, I was only a few minutes late to the cafe, and I had sweat running down my back when I arrived. If my mother's ex-boyfriend hadn't slashed the car tires, I wouldn't be in this situation, but no, she had to pick awful men.

"Good morning, Bill," I said once behind the counter.

I clocked in at 7:04 and began making the orders on the screen. My coworker Layla was here on time and taking orders as I made them. We swapped back and forth during the shift, which was nice not having to make drinks the entire day.

"Good morning, Abby. Sleep well?" Bill asked.

I continued making the drink and tried not to show my emotions. I glanced up and smiled at Bill. "Sure did. How about you?"

Bill smiled. "Like a baby as always." He chuckled and went into his office in the back of the cafe.

Layla spoke when the cafe was clear from the first morning wave of people. "How's the bruise?"

I snapped my head around to Layla and put my finger over my lips to silence her. "You can't ask that in here!"

Layla looked around and shrugged. "And why not? There is no one here to hear us talk except for the two of us. Bill isn't going to listen in, and I'm your friend, for goodness sake, Abby!"

Abby sighed. "The bruise is better. Thank you for asking."

"Good. How is that sweet Bella doing?" Layla began wiping down the counters from the mess this morning's crowd had already made.

"She's good and was upset that I was hurting, but I told her I was fine. I'd rather die than let her take another beating from that bastard."

"We need to get you out of there, Abby. You can't keep going on like this. You need to go to the police or something!"

"Layla, I can't. It's not that simple. If I say something, I know Mom will give her two cents. Bella will end up in the middle because even though she isn't biologically Lee's, he will still want to have custody to hurt Nina."

"Abby, you would get Bella fair and square; I know. You have to do something."

I nodded, and tears formed in my eyes, but I kept them back. "I know. I'm just scared of what will happen. I'm a twenty-one-year-old woman and need full custody of my sister." I sighed and focused back on my job as soon as the bell went off on the door, meaning a customer had come in.