"So uh, that guy wasn't weird or anything," Adam commented as they left the bank and started towards the bus stop. Abby shrugged, distracted by the ring. The ring her mother claimed to have sold. The ring her mother had been so desperate to keep secret from her. Why? Why lie? It made no sense.
"Earth to Abby," Adam poked her lightly in the arm.
"Yeah?" She replied, glancing towards him.
"What are you going to do now?"
That was a good question. What was she going to do now?
"Sell it," she replied at last, her eyes settling on the faded letters of an ambiguous pawnshop across the street. She quickly glanced left and then right before setting off across the street.
"Wait, Abby! What do you mean sell it?" Adam called, hurrying after her.
Abby wasn't waiting. She finally had her ticket out of this hell hole, the escape she'd been waiting for. Maybe this wasn't exactly what her grandpa wanted her to do with the ring, but he'd understand. Pulling the door to the shop open, Abby was about to step inside when Adam grabbed her arm.
"Abby, please, wait a minute," Adam exclaimed.
She turned and looked at him. "What?"
"Think about this a minute okay? Think about all we did to find that thing, all your grandfather did to make sure you found it and not your mother," Adam pressed. "This thing must've meant a lot of him to go through all that trouble."
"He'd want me to be happy, Adam," Abby snapped, feeling guilt well up in her chest. "I can sell it and get the hell out of this town."
"Then what? What about school? You wanted to go to college," Adam reminded her. "Running away won't fix your problems."
"That's easy for you to say, isn't it? You have everything, you have no idea what I have to go through," Abby knew she was being irrational but she couldn't stop the words from spilling out.
"That's not fair, Abby," Adam shot back, "I've never thrown your mom or your life in your face. I thought we were both better than that. I'm just trying to keep you from doing something you are going to regret."
Abby was torn between feelings of intense guilt and blinding frustration. In her mind Adam couldn't even begin to understand how trapped she was, how awful it was to go back to that place every night, and how desperate she was to get away.
"I need to do this, but I don't need you to understand," she said at last before pulling her arm from his grasp.
"Fine," Adam declared, clearly frustrated. "Do whatever you want." He buried both his hands in his pockets before turning away and heading back to the bus stop.
Abby nearly followed him but decided against it. Nothing she said would make him understand. She needed to do this, she needed to get out.
* * *
The interior of the pawnshop wasn't at all like she had expected. It was neat and tidy, the shelves were sorted by type and held a variety of different items. A woman sitting behind the counter smiled at her when she approached.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"I'd like to sell this ring," Abby explained.
"Well, put it here and let me have a look," she replied tapping the tip of her long pink nail against the glass counter top.
Abby did as she asked and set her grandpa's ring on the counter. For a moment Abby was taken aback by the way the ring sparkled in the light coming up through the glass. It really was quite extraordinary.
"Well now," the woman said as she picked it up. She seemed equally mesmerized by it. "This is beautiful, where did you say you got this?"
"I didn't," Abby replied, "but if it's important, I got it from my grandpa."
"Any chance your grandpa is single?" She chuckled.
"He's dead."
"Oh, well, I guess that's a no then," she replied. She examined the ring under a magnifying glass, turning it one way and then the other. "Are you sure you want to sell this? It looks very old, some sort of family heirloom maybe?"
"Yes ma'am, I'm sure," Abby declared. She was afraid that if she thought about it any longer she might change her mind.
"Well then, I can give you... four hundred," the woman offered, watching Abby carefully.
"Six," Abby countered. Mr. Matthews had seemed quite confident that the ring was worth a lot. Abby has a feeling that even at six the ring was a steal.
"Four-fifty."
"Nope," Abby replied, taking the ring from the woman. "Thank you for your time."
"Wait," the woman called, causing Abby to stop halfway to the door. "Five-fifty but not a penny more."
Abby sighed and took one last look at the ring nestled against the palm of her hand. She bit lightly on her lower lip before slapping the ring back onto the counter.
"Okay, deal."
***
Ten minutes later Abby left the shop with a pocket full of cash and a receipt in her hands. The bus stop was empty and instead of feeling excited about her future, she just felt empty and alone. She was tempted to go to the train station right then but there were a few things she needed from home. Abby had never had much to call her own and it didn't feel right to leave what little she had behind.
It was late when she finally pulled the trailer door open and let herself inside. As usual it was dimly lit and smelled of alcohol, stale cigarettes and old food.
"Where ya been?"
Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table a bottle in one hand, a lit cigarette dangling from the other.
"Answer me!" She shouted, her face red from a mixture of alcohol and anger.
"Out," Abby replied, making her way towards her room.
"Out where?"
"Does it really matter? Since when have you even cared?"
"I'm your mother, Abby—"
Abby turned on her heel and glared at the woman. "Only because a piece of paper says so!" She instantly regretted her words. Not because she hadn't meant them, or because they weren't true, but because she only now noticed the gleam in her mother's eye. All the woman ever needed was a reason – any reason would do.
"You disrespectful little bitch," she raged, flinging the half-filled bottle towards Abby. It exploded against the wall only a few inches from her head. Abby felt liquid and flecks of glass spray her cheek.
"Mom don't!"
Her mother flew towards her, overturning the table and sending the contents flying. Abby tried to move but she wasn't fast enough. The older woman grabbed the front of her shirt and shoved her backwards into the wall. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs.
"Mom don't," her mother mocked. She leaned in close and Abby could smell the whiskey on her breath. "Listen to me, little girl. Your life – each breath you breathe – is because I allow it," she slammed Abby into the wall again.
"Don't think for one minute that you mean more to me than the check I get in the mail each month," she continued, the words cutting deep. Abby had believed a long time ago that she had grown immune to her mother's hate, but she was wrong. "You were a mistake I should have taken care of years ago."
"Unfortunately I didn't, hindsight is twenty-twenty," she smirked, bringing the cigarette to her lips for a quick hit of nicotine. She blew the smoke directly into Abby's face before finally speaking again. "While you live under my roof, you will respect me."
"Not likely," Abby hissed now that she had managed to regain her breath. The back of her mother's hand made contact with her face. The force was enough to bring tears to Abby's eyes and she could taste blood in her mouth where her teeth had cut into the inside of her cheek.
"I could kill you," she growled, bringing the glowing tip of the cigarette close to Abby's face. "Or I could just make you wish I had."
"Then do it!" Abby screamed. "What's stopping you?!" She knew she was playing with fire – but she didn't care. One way or another she was leaving this place and she no longer cared how.
Before her mother could follow through with any further threats the door to the trailer burst open. Abby half expected to see Adam come barreling into the trailer. Instead three men and a woman filled the tiny space. Abby recognized two of them as the representatives who had come around asking about the ring.
"Release the girl," Jasper declared, his hand moved on his hip where his jacket was pushed open to reveal the weapon he appeared ready and willing to draw.
Abby felt her mother's grip loosen only to promptly tighten again.
"You have no power here," she half-shouted, half-laughed. It made her sound as crazy as she was acting just then. Abby knew part of it had to do with the alcohol, but a lot of it also had to do with a great deal of self-loathing.
"No, you're right, we don't," Vanessa replied even as she pulled a cellphone from her pocket. "But your country's child protective services would be very interested in what we have to tell them."
Abby saw the color drain from her mother's face and her hands quickly fell away. Vanessa motioned for Abby to come to her and the young woman wasted no time obliging her.
"Are you alright?" She asked quietly.
Abby nodded, her trembling hands no doubt giving her away. Vanessa squeezed them gently and offered a soft smile. "Give me just a moment, alright?"
The woman turned her gazed towards Abby's mother and her expression went from concerned to stone cold in an instant.
"Mrs. Montgomery," Vanessa began, brandishing a folder. "This is how this is going to work. You are going to sign these documents. Don't bother reading them, I'll tell you what they say. They say that you give up guardianship of Abigail, and give up any claim you have over her. Guardianship will be granted to her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess Cordelia Delafontaine of Savarria."
"Y-you can't make me!"
"But that is where you are wrong, Mrs. Montgomery," Vanessa replied coolly. "You see, you will sign these papers, or we will report you. When we do, they will remove Abby from your care and place her into the foster system. You will face lengthy court trials, fines, and lawyer fees, definite jail time, and we will petition for guardianship. We will succeed and you will lose everything. Either way, Mrs. Montgomery, Abby will be leaving this house. So what will it be? Easy, or hard?"
Visibly shaking under the weight of defeat – or perhaps unbridled rage – her mother took the pen and folder containing the documents.
"Where do I sign?"
Abby felt a wave of relief rush over her. She was getting out! She was finally getting out! While she should have felt elated, Abby felt anxious instead. What was going to happen to her now?