The House Project

Prologue - Abbi

Abbi woke up from her single bed in her small bedroom to the sun hitting her eyes at dawn. Stretching out her muscles she yawned and rolled to her left to stand on the cold wooden floor beneath her. Another day... Better get started, she thought to herself as she wandered out of the room and into the dark hallway. A small step ladder lay against the wall beside her, pulling it out she climbed it to the top and reaching up she grabbed the string attached to the light above her. Thomas Edison has done well for us... I wonder what will come next! If only I was a bit taller. Abbi was short for her age, at 12 she was 4'2" while others in other houses were approximately 4'9" on average. Surely the others can reach their lights just fine, she pondered the idea of height for a few moments before descending down the ladder and continuing down the hallway. Her mother sat the old wooden table with a newspaper. "Good morning, Abbi! What a delightful day!", her mother said to her before resuming reading her paper. This happened every morning, her mother would sit with her legs crossed at the table, not that you could see this well under her long dress. Her hair dark brown hair with silver highlights was always pulled back into a tight bun behind her head. Her name was Margaret and she was the prettiest woman that Abbi had ever seen... Well she was also the only woman Abbi had ever seen but that was okay, Abbi enjoyed her small life, in her big house. At least, she thought it was big, she didn't have much to compare it to. Sitting at the table, Abbi read the cover of her mother's newspaper. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL - The First Telephone Call! Abbi sat back in disbelief, she had read about the concept of the telephone in the paper yet she had no idea that the invention would ever work. It seemed like sorcery, to speak to someone who was far away from you! It just seems impossible. Abbi knew that she would never actually need a telephone, as much as she admired the invention. There simply was nobody to talk to, she had her mother and father and that was all she needed. She had only ever known of these two people and that was fine, it was a well-known fact that children did not leave their houses. It was unheard of, the house is a safe place that will protect you until you are old enough to be trusted to be on your own, get married and then have children and protect them with your next house. 9 more years! Then I will be able to feel the grass, trees and breathe the fresh air! I can't wait to be a grown-up! Just then her father came down the stairs that lead into the living room, he held his brown leather briefcase with one hand and used the other to hold onto the railing. A slight whooshing sound could be heard as his suit moved against him as he walked. Abbi ran from the kitchen across the short hallway and into the living room as quick as she could to see her father before he left for work. This was one of Abbi's favourite time of the day, the door would open and sometimes if she was lucky her mother would allow her to stand on the porch and wave off her father as he walked to down to the railroad just down the street. Abbi loved her father very much yet still, she looked forward to his leaving as it was her only way to slip a glance or sometimes stand outside and breathe in new fresh air. Yesterday, Abbi had begged her mother to allow her to stand on the wooden porch as her father left. After a couple hours of pleading and negotiation, Abbi had been granted a quick 5 minutes outside this morning. 

Her mother entered the living room and hugged her father, "Goodbye, Charles. I will see you soon.", she said calmly. They said their goodbyes and Abbi reached for her mother's hand and stepped out onto the warm oak planks of the porch. Despite being against the law, this was when Abbi felt the most right. She took in a deep breath and enjoyed her moment outside with her mother, her father made his way down the steps leading up to the house and began walking down the street towards the train. After a few moments, she heard something new. Something she had never thought she would hear, the voice of a girl. Whipping her head to the right and to the house two doors over, she saw it. There were three people standing outside of their house, a girl who appeared to be a young adult and two older ones. The girl probably just turned 21, Abbi inferred, why else would she be out here? The other two people were slightly older. Abbi looked at them in wonder, their clothing was the most strange thing she thought, That girl's dress is so short! It shows her knees! The dress was black on the top and the sleeves covered only her shoulders, while the bottom of the dress came out a little bit and was a light pink colour with a small dog printed just above the hem. She wore a white headband with black polka dots all over it, it was tied into a knot at the top of her head. Just then, a big black machine with wheels on it drove onto her street. It was the weirdest thing she had ever seen! Sort of like a carriage, yet there were no horses and no driver! It had a nose that came out of the front, the whole thing was metallic, it was bizarre for her to see! A giant moving box right outside of her house! The girl with the pink skirt turned and looked at the machine and also looked shocked to see it. Maybe not quite as much as Abbi was, yet still she was clearly not expecting to see such a captivating machine. Her mother began telling Abbi that it was time to go inside before someone saw her but Abbi just couldn't leave now. This is an amazing discovery, it could be the beginning of a career for me, the first female inventor/discoverer! Margaret began tugging at the back of Abbi's collar but she refused to budge, Abbi fought her mother pulling her back into the house for as long as she could. This was just too amazing to just turn a blind eye to! However, when the box opened and her father got out of it, Abbi didn't know what to think. 

My father is a politician! What could he possibly be doing in that mystery machine? In her moment of shock, Abbi found herself yanked back into her house by her mother. The door flew shut and her mother had an expression she couldn't quite place. Afraid? Panicked? Furious? It was nearly impossible to read her, the woman paced back and forth quickly. What is she scared of? Father in the horseless carriage? Or maybe it's me? Also, what was that girl wearing! And what on Earth was that box? Whatever time Abbi spent flipping through different possibilities and scenarios in which anything made sense, everything was wiped away when her mother approached Abbi and said frantically, "What did you see?", Abbi was unable to speak, when she tried all that came out was a small noise that proved all that Margaret needed to know, Abbi saw everything and now it was time to fix it. Abbi didn't know what to think when her mother walked to the kitchen and returned shortly with a small rectangular box, with a glass front that glowed. Margaret tapped on the box a few times and raised the device to her ear, and began speaking. What is that! Abbi thought, but quickly she discovered it was a version of a telephone. A man's voice came through the device, it was quiet but yet loud enough for Abbi to hear. As tears streamed down Abbi's scared face, her mother nodded and continued talking into the box. Abbi backed against the wall and slumped down into a chair nearby, a million thoughts flooded her head and even though Abbi loved puzzles and riddles, she just couldn't solve what just happened. Nothing made sense anymore, she felt as if nobody could be trusted, not even her mother. Soon, her mother put the small box onto the coffee table and approached Abbi who was curled up in a chair, staring straight at a wall, her face stained with tear marks. As Margaret got closer, Abbi's glossy, blue eyes looked up at her mother, as if pleading for some kind of explanation. Margaret sighed and crouched down, looked into Abbi's eyes and promised her that soon, all of the worry and confusion would be over. Abbi was unsure of her words and promises, as they had spoken on multiple occasions of the concept of a telephone which her mother was just using. Breaking eye contact with her mother, Abbi's cold hands wiped her face of tears and without speaking a word, she nodded. Hopefully, she will leave me be if I just nod. I don't even know if I can trust my own mother! 

Unfortunately, Abbi's wishes didn't come true, a knock at the door signaled that her mother had used the telephone to make someone come. At first, Abbi was scared, nobody had ever knocked on their door before but that irrational fear quickly left, as a much worse fear took over when a tall man in his 60's entered with a silver case. "Hello,", the man said, "my name is Cole. I am here to fix this little problem here and help you understand everything. Okay, Abbie?". Abbie was unsure of how this man knew her name and her instincts told her not to trust him but she was given little choice as her mother pulled her from the chair and towards Cole. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll help you. Just relax a little bit.", Cole said with a gentle smile. He could tell how frightened by this, Abbi was and he wanted to make her feel safe. Margaret sat down and patted the spot next to her on the couch, coaxing Abbi to sit with her. Abbi was apprehensive and kept her guard up but slowly moved to the couch and sat down. Cole smiled and crouched down beside the couch, gently grabbing onto Abbi's wrist. Abbi resisted at first and tried to pull back but her mother told her to allow him to do his work. It wasn't until she saw the syringe with a blue liquid enter her arm that she truly realized that she was alone in her life. The two people she had only ever known, became untrustworthy and even this new man, Cole, became her enemy in mere seconds. Slowly, the world around Abbi began to fade out, and before she knew it she was unconscious and laid back into her bed. The next morning when she woke up, all memory of the previous day had left her mind, and a hopeful Abbie re-entered the kitchen to her mother sitting at the table with her newspaper that's headline read, ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL - The First Telephone Call!, it was a wonderful day. After all, yesterday her mother had promised her she could go outside for a whole five minutes! 

***

Thank you for taking the time to read the first part of my new story, The House Project!

I will continue the story from here, however, the next part will begin to introduce you to the real storyline, this chapter is to introduce you to the character and a bit into Abbi's life as a 12 year old, where I can show you what a day in her usual life would look like (minus the accidental exposure to the real world and brain-wiping). 

Again thank you, and enjoy the story!

**EDIT**

Some spelling and grammatical errors have been fixed and also I broke this up into smaller paragraphs to hopefully make reading it easier!