Abby's Story

Her hands shook with the inability to stop.
Her wrist ached from wars she'd waged on herself.
With breathing shallow, and thoughts unclear she hoped to end it.
She hoped to end each word that they threw at her back
That ended up etched into her skin.
She could her the voices of her tormentors echo
And she never wanted to hear that again.
The cruel hiss of "Worthless"
The booming shout, "Just die!"
It beats the words into her head until it's all she hears.
She can't hear her father begging her to open the door,
Or her mom crying just down the hall.
She can't feel the vibrations as tiny fist pound against the door,
she doesn't mean to ignore the shaking of the knob.
"Abigail, don't" It's such a tiny voice that breaks through,
the only thing that makes since in the world.
So she sits there shaking, and puts down the blade,
and cries as she listens to that little girl.
"Mom says your sad," her sister says,
"She said you don't want to live.
She said that some people were just too mean,
and they push and they shove and they hit."
Abigail let out a shaky breathe,
One she didn't quite mean to hold in.
"Cara, honey, I am so sorry.
Sissy just can't go through that again."
So Cara was crying, and Abigail too, but the little girl didn't give up.
She closed her and clasped her hands,
and said "God help Sissy to be tough.
She battled monsters and she battled cancer,
and a real bad car wreck too. So I know, and you, and
everyone else knows there is nothing that Abby can't do.
She tucks me in and kisses my cheek and remembers my fairy night light.
I know most of her scars she gave to herself, but it's demons she's trying to fight.
They mock her and tease her and tell her to quit, so here's what I'm asking of you:
When I open my eyes, can she open the door and then we can both help her through.
With you by her side, there's no way she can lose, so God I'm counting on you.
Because I know I need you, and Daddy, and Mommy, but God, I need Abby too."
Abby couldn't believe, that'd never been said. She thought she had no reason to live,
But her sweet baby sister, just eight years old, reassured her she did.
So Abby got up and she opened the door and pulled the little girl into her arms.
She pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered "You saved my life."
Cara just shrugged and wiped her sisters tears and looked her right in the eye.
"You saved yourself, I only helped by saying what you couldn't see.
I knew that God would help me, he knew I needed you.
Because if you fight of you monsters and win, then I can learn to fight mine too."
That night while the house was silent, Abby crept out of her room,
and down to the trash with a little black box she no longer needed to use.
Her war wasn't over, and she wasn't without scars, but she couldn't let her demons win.
She walked back up the stairs, and looked in on her sister who smiled wide awake from her bed.
"Abby" she said "could you turn off my night light?" Abby raised an eyebrow instead.
Cara shut it off, "Abby if I learned one thing today, it's that the monsters are all in our heads."