Use Somebody

Thunder Bay Ontario was a small, quiet town mostly consisting of farms, woods, and lakes. It was a hockey town, a town where if you weren't given a hockey stick at the age of two, you were the odd one out. It's winters were cold and lasted most of the year, but it's summers were warm and beautiful. Thunder Bay was the town Marc Staal lived in until he turned 14 and went off with the OHL.

Thunder Bay was also where he was bringing Abigail for the rest of the summer.

He booked them a flight when Abigail finally fell into a restless sleep at around six o'clock in the morning. Because Marc couldn't fall back asleep himself he booked them a flight for the next day and then began to pack. He frequently stopped what he was doing to go check on Abigail. He was so worried about her it gave him a headache. When she finally woke up at around noon, Marc was making sandwiches. They ate in silence and as they finished up, Marc decided to tell her what was going on.

"I'm taking you to Thunder Bay," he blurted out. Despite being all puffy eyed and looking like a complete and utter wreck, Abigail looked genuinely confused by his statement.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I grew up there," he told her.

"I know that," she said slowly.

"I want you to get out of here. You need out of New York for a while," Marc shrugged. Abigail's eyes bore into Marc as he sat across the table from her; he was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"I don't know," she mumbled, playing with her fingers.

"Abby," Marc started. "Thunder Bay is a small town, it's just gonna be us and my parents. And maybe my brothers, who knows what they're up to this summer.." he trailed off. "Just- I think it'd be a good thing if you had a change of scenery after.."

"I don't think it's a good idea," Abigail told him, her eyes filling with tears again. "I trust you..but that's about it."

"Please, my family’s nice, you can just have a vacation for the next two and a half months."

"Marc.."

"I already bought the tickets." he told her finally.

After that, Abigail walked over to her apartment (which was only on the next floor up) and began to pack. She packed most of her things, mostly because she didn't have a lot, and it only took her about an hour. She walked back down to Marc's apartment with two medium sized bags to go under the plane, and one carry on. Her and Marc watched movies for the rest of the night, and Abigail slept in his bed while he slept on the couch. Though she trusted Marc more than anyone else at that point and time, she couldn't imagine being anywhere that close to a man for a long while. She just needed time to feel normal again, and by the look of things she felt that time wouldn't be coming very soon at all.

The next day, they were at the airport by twelve, on the plane by two, and back in Thunder Bay sometime around dinner. Abigail had slept most of the plane ride so everything seemed to be going by on fast forward. Her stomach was in knots as they waited for one of Marc's brothers to pick them up at the airport. Her breathing was shallow and although the cool summer air was blowing all around them, she couldn't stop her palms from sweating.

Marc was worried about her. He never had to deal with something of this magnitude before and he wasn't sure if he was doing a good job or not. All he wanted was the old Abigail back, he wanted her to laugh and smile- it made him sick to his stomach to see her so completely and utterly devastated. He just hoped that bringing her to Thunder Bay would only do her good, and no more harm.

A pickup truck pulled in front of the sidewalk of where they were standing and a boy who Abigail recognized as Eric stepped out of the car. She knew he was the oldest brother and he smiled and hugged Marc when he was close enough. He then set his sights on Abigail, studying her features and making her skin absolutely crawl.

"I'm Eric," he said, offering her a hand. Abigail took it uneasily and did her best to smile, though she knew it probably looked more pained and forced than anything.

"Abigail," she said in a small voice. "You can call me whatever though."

"Well it's good to meet you. Marc's said a lot about you," he smiled and retracting his hand from hers. Abigail felt relief as he let go of her hand and she let out a breath as he did so. Marc and Eric threw all of their bags in the bed of the truck and then Marc helped Abigail climb in the back seat.

The ride back to the Staal's house mostly involved the two brothers talking and catching up. Abby spent the majority of her time taking in her surroundings and listening on occasion to the brothers chat. As they got into a small town, Abby suddenly felt sick. She wanted to turn back around. She wanted to go back to New York and just crawl in her bed and die. She didn't want to be there, she didn't want to deal with this.

Upon arriving to the Staal house, Abigail set her gaze to the vast amount of land the house was set on. It put her at some sort of weird ease that it was almost in the middle of nowhere. Maybe she wouldn't have to deal with too many people after all. Marc opened the door and helped her out, brining her inside and introducing to his parents. They both took to Abigail well, even though she didn't put much enthusiasm into her introduction. Both parents sensed something was wrong and Linda brought her up to what would be her room for the next two and a half months.

"You'll be right next to Marc and Jordan," Linda told her as they walked up the stairs. Abigail nodded slowly and forced a smile. Linda pushed the door open to reveal a small bedroom. There was a full bed in the middle of the room, a Tv in the corner and a small dresser next to the closet. The one perk of the room was that she got her own bathroom. Other than that it was nothing special, but Abigail was used to it.

"Mom, who're you talking to?" A male voice came from the door way. Abigail placed her bag on her new bed and looked over to where a tall blonde boy was standing; Jordan.

"Jordan, this is Abigail, she's gonna be staying with us for the summer," Linda explained shortly. "She's Marc's friend."

"Friend?" Jordan asked, his eyebrow raised. "I didn't know Marc had friends of the opposite sex," he joked.

"Jordan," Linda said in a warning tone. Jordan set his eyes to Abigail and let them scan over her body a few times. She was a small brunette girl, much shorter than he was. She had a pair of green eyes that were surrounded by huge bags and red blotches, a button nose, and sprinkle of freckles across her nose. She had a rounded face and a curvy body, she was definitely attractive but she looked like crap; and that was putting it lightly.

"Are you Marc's girlfriend?" Jordan asked her.

"No," Abigail responded quickly. The tall blonde boy grinned wickedly at her and gave her the up and the down once again.

"Nice," he smiled before turning around and walking down the stairs.