Author's Notes: I want to thank all of those who have messaged me with their wishes for my continued writing. It means a lot when you want to write, but can't. I was able to squeeze a day of writing in, and this is what came out. Counter to what the name implies, this is not part of the Halloween writer's contest. Thanks again for all your support and enjoy.
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Abby was doing the dishes when the phone rang. "Hey, you sexy thing you." She smiled as she answered her lover.
"Hey yourself." Lindsey replied happily. "So, what are you cooking for our eighth anniversary?" She smiled at the happy tune she could hear her mate humming under her breath.
"Cooking...? Cooking, hell... you're supposed to take me out to wine and dine me, so you can get lucky." Abby teased back.
"Oh, I've already got lucky... I got you babe." Lindsey laughed. "Even my boss couldn't bring me down today sweetheart." She sighed. "I still say you need to cook, that way when I can't wait anymore I won't embarrass or bare your sweet ass in public."
"Oh, the horror... I don't know dear, it's been awhile since we've been arrested for indecent exposure. Who knows, they might like a floor show. Only three more days." She burbled, giddy at the thought.
"It's hard to believe it's been eight years already." Lindsey sighed. "I can still remember when you seduced me away from that jerk I was going out with."
"Oh, you mean... umm what was his name? That arrogant jock, super stud; who treated you like shit!" Abby smiled at the memory. "And Sweetie, it was you who seduced me." She added as she stirred the pot of homemade chicken soup and checked the loaf of sweet bread in the oven, for dinner.
"Let not argue about who seduced who." Lindsey said in a very bad British accent. "I'll be home soon babe. I better get going before I have a wreck." Lindsey sighed.
"Okay sweetheart, I'll be here waiting for you. Love you!" Abby spun around, making her dress flair out as she danced to the music in her head.
"Love you too....OH SHIT!" Lindsey screamed.
"Lin... Sweetie, what's wrong." Abby stopped spinning and tried to listen.
"No, no, NO...!" Lindsey screamed.
Abby was screaming. "Lin... Lindsey. What's wrong? Answer me baby, please answer me." She listened and heard the screech of breaks and the sickening sound of ripping metal right as the line went dead. "LINDSEY...!"
Abby fumbled with the phone as she tried to push the buttons. She hit the buttons for Lindsey's number. "The cellular customer you are trying to reach is not in the service area or has turned their phone off."
"Fuck!" She hit the end button three times until the thing shut up and tried again.
"The cellular customer...."
"Goddamnit...! Don't do this to me Lindsey. Answer the fucking phone. I have to know you are alright." Abby paced the kitchen of the home they had restored together.
Five hours later, the burned bread and dry soup were still where she left them when her friend came and got her and took her to the hospital. No one would tell her anything. Not the cops, the emergency room people, no one.
Abby was tired of hearing. "We can't divulge any information unless you are her family or spouse." She tried to tell them they were together, but since they were not married, all they would repeat was. "I'm sorry ma'am, but we cannot...." Before she would slam the phone down and scream. By the time she found Lindsey, it was too late. Abby shuttered and collapsed on the couch, ignoring the smell of the ruined dinner. She wanted to forget the last five hours.
"Are you going to be okay Abby?" Tracy, Lindsey's old roommate and friend asked, wiping her own eyes.
"I... I don't know." Abby said and buried her head into one of the fancy pillows Lin demanded for their off-white couch, to give it some color.
"I'm so sorry honey. I know how much you loved her. You were all she would talk about. It drove us mad most of the time." Tracy said as she tried to give comfort in her own grief.
Abby was numb. She couldn't feel anything but the huge hole in her middle. Her heart was gone. She wanted to lay down, close her eyes, and never wake up until she found her Lindsey again. It had to be a lie. Lin couldn't be dead. Her car was barely dented. From the side, you couldn't tell it was in an accident. Lindsey had to be playing some sick joke.
Five days later, Tracy tossed out the stinking pot and brick hard loaf of bread. She couldn't tolerate the smell as she and her sister forced Abby into a shower. Abby was almost catatonic. She had her sister give her a shower while she cleaned the house. They knew it was going to be bad, but never expected to find Abby right where she left her when she brought her home from the hospital.
It took both of them to get Abby dressed. All Abby would do is cry and wail as they had to tighten the small belt, trying to make the now too large dress fit. They tried to force some food and water into her. They had to get her through this day. She had to be at the funeral, even if Lindsey's parents didn't want her there.
They held her tight as Lindsey's mother spewed hurtful things. She said things like. "I dressed her in my wedding dress since she will never get married now. She will never know they joy of having children, the joy of finding true love and happiness. I hope I gave her some of the dignity she could never find in life." Her mother never accepted that Lindsey decided to live with her lesbian lover and mate. She always hoped she would find her way back to a normal relationship.
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Kari wondered if it would have been easier to just die, than sit there and watch them together. She wondered what the fuck she ever did to deserve this shit. She watched as the person she thought was always going to be with her, frolicked with her brother.
'Fuck them both anyway.' She thought bitterly. She was supposed to be my girl, not have that asshole seduce her and get her pregnant. 'What the fuck did I do to him to have him do that to me?'
"Come on Kari, this is fun." Trevor said, as he spun his pregnant wife in circles. "Come on, join the fun." She could hear the laughter in his voice.
"No thank you." Was all Kari said, as she tried to leave.
She didn't get ten feet before her mother stopped her. "What the hell is your problem?"
"My problem...?" She asked, shocked that her mother was so clueless. "Oh, I don't know mom. Maybe I'm pissed that my lover and my brother, bumped crotches behind my back and fucked me over. Maybe I just can't sit there and eat shit as they play the happy couple. I don't know. Maybe, just maybe I expected some member of my family to see just how fucked up this is." She spat at her mother. "But, what the hell. They're happy so I should just paint a smile on my face and act happy for them." She shook her mom's hand off her arm.
"What do you mean?" He mom asked confused. "You introduced them. She was your friend...." Her mother never accepted the facts.
"No mom, she wasn't my fucking friend." She pulled her hair back in frustration. "She was my lover. I'm Gay, remember! I love women. I loved her before she betrayed me. We were supposed to get married when they legalized it next year." She ranted at her obtuse mother.
"But... but... but." Her mother sputtered. "I thought that was just a phase."
"No mom... it wasn't a phase!" Kari was tired of the whole mess. "Fuck this, I'm out of here." She found her purse and grabbed it before her mother could stop her. "Tell them I hope they're happy." She seethed. "But, never invite me to anything they will be at. I won't come. I hate fucking cheaters, so that means I hate them!" Kari spun away before the building emotion could escape again.
"What's wrong with her?" She heard her brother ask, as she slammed the door behind her.
"I won't cry. I won't break down. I won't give them the fucking satisfaction!" She told herself as she got into the car and started it. Less than a mile out of the neighborhood she grew up in, Kari had to pull over because she couldn't see for the tears.
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One year later
Abby put the last of her stuff into the big moving truck. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? You've done so much to the house. You'll never get all your money back out of it." Tracy said sadly.
"Yeah, I just can't be here anymore. I'd rather see it go to someone I know will appreciate it, than some stranger. It will be a good place for you. It has room for a growing family. I just can't stay. The memories are killing me." Abby put her hand on Tracy's arm. "I can still smell her, feel her, and hear her. I just can't. It's been a year and I still can't." She sniffed back her tears.
"Are you going to be okay?" Tracy asked, tearing up also.
"Yeah, I've accepted that job out west. It will be the new start I need. I might even learn how to ski." Abby tried to smile. Everyone knew, besides her dancing, she was a major klutz. "You take the house. Have babies, send me pictures and be happy." She kissed Tracy's cheek and pressed the house key into her hand.
Tracy and her husband waved as she pulled away from the drive. He rubbed the growing bump. "We can never thank her enough." He said emotionally. "We couldn't have gotten into a house for years if it wasn't for her." He added as Tracy buried her head into his shoulder.
"I know..." She sniffed. "I hoped that... but she's right. All she did was mope around. Maybe she can find happiness out there." Tracy knew she was overly emotional. She knew the date and knew this couldn't have been easy for Abby. Tomorrow would have been their ninth anniversary.
In the cab of the rental truck, Abby had on her music so loud she couldn't hear her own sobs as she drove away. She missed Lindsey so much it still felt fresh and new. She had to leave or die; and her friends refused to let her die. She hoped over the next few days of driving, she could find some peace.
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