In Over My Head

Abigail rocked herself to sleep shortly after her father left her. She felt violated like she always. And each time she begged for him to stop; he never did. He'd just hurt her more when she pleaded and sometimes would beat her in the process. As she cried herself to sleep, she'd pray to the God who continued to fail her. Though she didn't know, He had a plan for her. He had a much grander plan for Abigail and she'd soon find out.

Abigail got ready for school much like she use to. Her morning shower then chores and if she was lucky, breakfast. She was glad to make it to school, a temporary safe haven for her. Though she was made fun of at school it was still better than being beat and raped. She held her books tightly to her chest as she moved down the hallway, weaving through the other students. She hadn't been watching where she was going and a classmate tripped her, purposely. As she fell face first towards the marble white floor, her eyes squeezed shut, part of her wished she'd hit her head hard enough to kill her but part of her knew that was almost impossible.

As a reflex, she threw her hands forward, bracing for the fall. But she didn't feel the coldness of the tiled floor or the laughter from the classmate who tripped. The hallway was quiet, too quiet. She opened one of her eyes to see she had been caught. She didn't even notice the person had wrapped their arms around her waist to catch her. She just wanted to cry from the touch of another person. It only brought flashes of the only people who touched her; her parents.

The guy who had caught her smiled at her as if he caught people everyday and was superhuman about it. She stood herself up and straightened herself then bent over to pick up her books. She didn't understand why the hallway was so quiet and as she looked around she saw that all eyes were on her. Nobody cared before about her when she fell on her face or was tripped, so why did they now? Perhaps because of who caught her. She didn't even know who he was. His face didn't look familiar so she didn't see the big deal.

"Did you see that? Johnny caught her. I can't believe he'd touch that..." a blonde girl whispered to her friend. Abigail's eyes moved to the girl, almost glaring at her. Did people think she was trash or something? The glare turned to sadness as she hid her face from everyone, looking to the floor. Tears threatened to form in her eyes but she refused to cry. A hand on her shoulder made her look up.

"Are you okay?" He asked, the guy who she assumed was Johnny. His blue eyes looking deep into hers as a smile played upon his lips.

Abigail just nodded. She didn't want to speak in fear a hand would come across her face or she'd be slammed against a bed or wall. She hated living in fear but there was nothing she could do about it.

"I'm Johnny," he said, extending his hand towards her. She looked at it for a moment before slowly placing her own hand into his.

"A-Abigail," she answered, a slight stutter from being nervous and fearful. His hand was so warm but yet rough. She didn't seem to mind it though. She dropped her hand quickly from his. "I should get to class," she said, quickly turning on her heels and moving towards her intended classroom leaving Johnny behind, stunned that she walked away from him.

Abigail's hand began to shake as she took a seat and opened her text book. She prayed he didn't follow her. It was the last thing she needed. Her trembling hands turned page after page until she landed on the right one. She looked up at the board to make sure there wasn't any notes that she needed to take down then moved her eyes to outside the window. She'd let herself escape to her world before her class started.