C H A P T E R T H R E E - A B E L

Alicia walks in a daze to her parked vehicle. Nicks words still replaying over and over again in her mind. As she slowly retrieves her car keys from her purse, a familiar face catches her eye. Halting her movements.

"Michael." She calls.

Michael walks towards Alicia and she gives him a small smile. She moves a few strings of her hair behind her ears and looks up at him. Her smile slowly fading when he stares at her with almost no emotion.

"I-I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."

Michael looks over Alicia's face and shakes his head. He sensed that she'd be here and was worried to see her coming out of the hospital.

"I'm okay. Physically anyways." Alicia awkwardly chuckles.

She pauses and thinks over wether or not she should air out her private thoughts to Michael. This is a man that she barely knew, yet here she was. Debating with herself on whether or not she should tell him about the troubling thoughts that clouded her mind.

She stares into Michael's icy blue eyes and sighs tiredly. Her eyes watering slightly. She leans her side against the car and rubs her sweaty palms down her jeans.

"I feel like I'm going insane." She sighs. "I could've sworn I was shot. I felt the bullet hit me. I know I wasn't shot but that's not how I remember it. My mother was insane you know. She'd see things that others couldn't and I always feared that I'd get that from her. Her illness." Tears start to roll down her face. "I'm afraid I might be just like her."

Her eyes meet Michael's face and she frowns slightly. She doesn't know this man and he doesn't know her. She didn't really know what kind of reaction she'd get from him, but she didn't expect him to seem so...nonchalant.

"There's nothing wrong with you Alicia. You're in shock. It's perfectly normal." He sighs frustratedly.

Michael reaches out and palms her cheek with his hand, rubbing his thumb over her tears. She stares up at him and squints.

"It's so crazy, but I really feel like I know you from somewhere. You just seem so familiar."

Michael quickly takes his hand off her face and steps back. He places his hands in his pockets and his face hardens.

"We don't know one another Alicia. I think you're just fucking insane like your mother." He snaps.

Alicia's eyes widen at his sudden outburst. Michael quickly turns and heads down the road as Alicia watches him in complete confusion. What was that all about?

His words cut like a knife. Alicia shakes her head and uses her car keys to open her car door.

"What an asshole." She mutters to herself.

Overwhelmed, Alicia finds herself pulling up into a parking garage of an all too familiar pub. She huffs and exits her car, already feeling intimidated as she sees a couple on the curb glance at her.

She timidly makes her way pass the couple and enters the pub. Heads fly into her direction and sighs. She hoped that the pub wouldn't be so full, especially since it was a Wednesday. That seems to be the norm in Roslyn. Weekly drinking.

She makes her way to the bar and sits down on the stool. She peers around at the staring faces and settles on one familiar face. The familiar face downs a shot with his eyes planted on hers. She feels the hatred from all the way across the room.

Alicia snaps her head away from the man and finally lays her eyes on the bartender. Her eyes widens.

"Chelsea?"

"Bitch." Chelsea sarcastically mutters.

Alicia grins slightly. "I guess I deserved that."

They stare at one another for a moment before leaning over the bar table and embracing one another in a hug. Both women hold back tears as they hold one another.

"You could've texted me you know." Chelsea speaks as Alicia sat back.

Alicia sighs. "I know. I don't really have an excuse. Besides my dad, I just wanted to forget everything about Roslyn. You know?"

Chelsea stares at Alicia for a moment before she sighs and gives her a small sympathetic smile. As much as she hated not being able to be in contact with her high school best friend, she understood why Alicia never kept in touch. She had witnessed too many times the countless attacks and ridicule not only she, but her father went through. She didn't blame her for leaving.

"Hey, as long as you're back now."

Chelsea turns around a grabs a bottle off of the liquor shelf. She grabs two shot glasses, turns around and raises both her hands paired with a devious smile.

"Oh God." Alicia groans out a giggle.

She watches as Chelsea fills up the shot glasses. Chelsea picks up the glass and holds it up. She raises her eyebrow and motions her head down to the glass.

"Girl don't play with me."

Alicia laughs and picks up the small glass. They bring the glasses together, making a clicking sound as the glasses touched, before downing the liquid. Chelsea takes it to the head with ease and slams the shot glass down on the counter. She brings the bottle up to pour herself another shot and she chuckles at Alicia's pained expression.

"God, I forgot how much I hated drinking." Alicia groans as she shoves the glass over to Chelsea.

"That's not exactly how I remember it."

The girls continue to laugh, drink and reminisce on the times they spent together in high school. The wild parties, sneaking out and the weekends away from home. They truly were a dangerous pair. The two were forever in trouble.

As Chelsea tends to the customers at the bar, Alicia turns her head and her eyes meet the same face as before. His eyes has never left hers and he continues to give her the same hateful glare.

Alicia looks around the bar and cringes when she sees the evil glares being sent her way. She turns, gulps down her last shot and quickly rummages through her purse. Feeling slightly intimidated.

"Ah ah." Chelsea walks over towards her. "It's on the house."

Alicia shakes her head while continuing to rummage through her purse. "I couldn't."

"Girl stop. Yes you can and you will."

Alicia sighs and zips up her purse. "I-I need to get going. I'll stop by another time okay? So we can catch up."

Chelsea and Alicia embrace one another in their final hug for the night and bid one another a goodbye. Alicia hops off of the chair and stumbles slightly.

"You alright? It won't be long before I close up. I'll drive you."

"You've had more drinks than I've had." Alicia chuckles. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Before Chelsea is able to speak, Alicia heads for the door. She walks in a hurry with her eyes on the ground. Before she is able to exit, she feels her body slam into another.

"Oh my God!" She screeches. "I'm so sorry."

She looks up to face the person and her eyes widen. Before any words are spoken between the two, Alicia bypasses him and exits the bar.

She spots her vehicle and before she is able to walk over to it, she hisses when she feels a large hand wrap around her upper arm.

Alicia stumbles behind the large man as he drags her away from wondering eyes, around the building and into a dark secluded alleyway.

"Ah!" Alicia cries out in pain as he harshly shoves her back into the concrete. He wraps his hand around her wrist with a tight grip. His fingernails digging into her skin.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Wet Tears flow down Alicia's cheeks as she flinches when his spit hits her face.

"A-Abel please. You're hurting me."

"Why'd you come back?"

Abel grabs ahold of Alicia's shoulders and slams her into the concrete wall. The back of her head hits the wall with a great force and her vision blurs.

"You killed her!" Abel's voice cracks. "I should kill you for what you did."

Abel's words slur slightly as he
wraps both his large hands around Alicia's neck. His long slender fingers snake around the back of her neck and he begins to dig his nails into her soft skin.

Alicia gasps and begins to panic and she wraps her hands around his wrists. She lets out a loud cry as she desperately tries to pry his hands off her neck.

"P-please." Alicia chokes out.

Abel's mind is clouded by sadness and anger as he starts to tighten the grip of his fingers. Alicia's face begins to turn blood red and she feels her legs begin to weaken.

"You're not only a whore, but a fucking murderer." Abel cries.

Her heart breaks at the sight of Abel's soulless eyes. Alicia takes her trembling hand off of Abel's wrist and slowly draws it closer to Abel's face. She places her hand on his cheek and Abel's darkened eyes begin to lighten up. The now chocolate brown fading into a light hazel that mimicked her own.

Abel loosens his grip and lets more salty tears escape his eyelids. Abel parts his lips to speak when suddenly, a punch is thrown to the side of Abel's head and he goes falling to the ground. Alicia lets out a large gasp and falls into a puddle on the ground. She sits slumped up against the wall and breaths deeply as tears flow down her cheeks.

She wraps her trembling arms around herself and cries continuously as she looks over at Abel's unconscious body. Painful memories of her past flooding in all at once causing her to cry out harder.

"Alicia, are you okay?"

Her eyes stays glued to Abel's face. He groans out in pain and she feels a hint of relief fill her anatomy. He's breathing. He's not dead. She thought.

"Alicia, are you hurt?"

She jumps when Michael leans down in front of her but calms down when her eyes meets his. He cups her face in his hands as his irises worryingly trace her face.

"Answer me baby. Are you okay?"

Nodding her head to let him know that she's okay, Michael brings Alicia into his arms and places his free hand under her knees. He stands and begins to walk over to Alicia's vehicle.

______________

Thoughts on this chapter? Please let me know!

Much love🩷