Who: Abby Maitland, ghost!Foster Father... Connor Temple and ghost!Cutter What: Habits are hard to break for abusive douchecanoes. When: Monday night Where: Connor's flat. Warnings: Violence. Verbal abuse. Status: Short, sweet and to the point and thus COMPLETE!
There were very few people Abby was afraid of, especially in this world. And there were certainly no living humans she was afraid of here. Then again, there was only one person Abby had ever truly feared. It wasn’t anger and fear and worry for the world. It was actual fear. And even though he wasn’t alive, even though he was a ghost, that person was now here in Lawrence. The man who had raised her for a few years from the age of ten. Joel. She didn’t know why that fear continued on years after the fact... she had heard he had died and for the first time in years, she had been able to sleep soundly.
The fact that the abuse she endured at his hand had helped formulate her into the person she was now, well, she knew she had issues. Especially with things like trust and opening up, admitting her feelings, especially love. Why Connor put up with her was something Abby would never understand and she worried that one day, he’d realize just how damaged she was. That one day it would be too much. And all of Joel’s taunts? They just made it worse. Knowing that she was even more on edge than she usually was. How much could one person take?
Even so, she struggled to maintain her composure. She didn’t falter beyond glare in annoyance in Joel’s direction if he said something. Focused on Stevie and Rex and Connor and randomly would say things to Cutter. Not that she could see him or anything, but like Connor, she missed their original team leader, despite having worked with both Danny and Matt. And the times when Joel decided to leave her alone, Abby still didn’t relax. Because she knew he’d be back. She was ten all over again and she hated it. The fear of not knowing was always the worst. Never knowing when, just knowing it would come again.
When Connor had said he was going to go help his friend Anna with something, Abby nodded. Presently, Joel was nowhere around so it was relatively safe. That and she had her rock salt line. That she wasn’t going to name, thank you very much. She’d be fine, after all, it shouldn’t take Connor that long to help Anna keep herself safe from her own ghost. It was something Abby understood, so she assured her boyfriend that she’d be fine, reinforced the salt line to prove her point, and curled up on the couch cushion she had claimed as her own and started to read over some files from the sanctuary.
It had been ten minutes when both Stevie and Rex started to act up again, Rex having been curled up beside her and Stevie at the door waiting for Connor to come back. It was as good a warning as any. “Okay, Cutter... if you have any ability to keep him away... now would be a good time to use it, yeah...?”
True, Abby didn’t even know if Cutter were even there at the moment, but it made her feel better to speak out loud and think Cutter was sticking around even though he was here for Connor and not for her.
It was then she noticed Stevie scrambling over to the couch. “No no no, Stevie, no!” And dammit, just as Joel materialized in the room, Stevie skidded across her salt line as he came over to try to protect her. She knew the diictodon meant well. She had seen him try to attack the area Joel was before, both him and Rex had made it a point to growl at the general area he was in if he were around.
Scrambling off the couch, Abby went to grab the rock salt to fix the line only to get kicked in the stomach. Crying out in pain, the tiny blond found herself flung into the entertainment center. Okay, glass in the arm, definitely not comfortable.
“What.... given up on hiding the bruises...”
The comment was growled in anger that was just to mask the pain, pushing herself up. Mental note. She’d need to replace and fix the things that just got broken.
“You’re nothing, you know. Just a little orphan girl who can’t trust.
” “I wonder why.” Dodging as one of the controllers for the XBox was thrown at her head, Abby dropped and rolled towards the fire place to get the iron poker. Only to feel her head grabbed by the back of her hair, coughing. Right. This was why she had kept her hair short for so long.
“Let go!”
Gasping as her head was bashed against the floor, Abby whimpered as the room spun. She didn’t even know why he hated her this time. It was always because she did something wrong. Because she needed something. She had to be self sufficient. He made her that way.
Knowing if she stayed down, he wouldn’t stop, Abby stumbled up, swaying, gripping the iron poker like a life line.
“You think you can fight back now, little girl?”
“I think you underestimate me....” Stumbling forward, Abby went to lunge the rod into the apparition of her foster father, though all it did was serve to make him even more angry. The rod dropped, Abby was kicked into the wall, a picture frame dropping to the ground and shattering beside her, hitting her head hard.
Coughing, Abby glared up weakly at the smirking face. She never really showed him she was afraid, it was always after.
“You’re a waste. No one could ever actually want you, stop deluding yourself.” And with that, he was gone, but Abby knew that it wasn’t forever. She knew that it was only a matter of time before he came back. For now, she just curled up around the shattered glass and closed her eyes. She had to focus her breathing. He couldn’t stay here forever. Lawrence was full of crazy, but things like this didn’t last. The physical wounds would heal but the mental wounds were always harder to combat. Because Joel knew to play on her insecurities. Knew to use Connor against her. Because this wasn’t the first time he had made a jab at her about her boyfriend since he had shown up on Friday.
She was vaguely aware of Rex landing beside her and nudging his way under her arm to cuddle against her, of Stevie whining at the door, but for now she just wanted to sleep. Which she knew she shouldn’t from the head wound but it really did sound appeasing right now.