You're Not Like the Others

I woke up to my alarm going off. I opened my eyes and shut it off

"Abby, What do you want for breakfast?" I asked turning over and found her gone

"Abby?"

"Abigail Renee Summers" I said sitting up

Still no answer. I then got up and went to the living room and I found her singing and dancing to the Imagination Movers

"There's no bad ideas when you're brainstorming..." she sang

I just crossed my arms and leaned up against the doorway watching her

"Reach high, think big, work hard, have fun" she said doing the motions for it and then sat down on the floor

I then stood upright and walked in

"Morning sweetie"

"Mommy" she said smiling and jumping up to hug me

"How'd you sleep?" I asked hugging her

"Fine" she said burying her face into my lower stomach

"What do you want to eat?"

"Can I have Lucky Charms?" shae asked looking up at me

"Are you going to eat hte cereal or just the marshmellows?" I asked raising an eyebrow

"All of it"

"Ok, lets fix you some Lucky Charms"

she then let go of me and ran to the kitchen, I followed her. I got a bowl down and the cereal and Abby got her a spoon

"Do you want the milk in a cup or in your cereal?" I asked pouring the cereal into one of her Disney princess bowls

"Do I need milk?"

"Yes, you're a growing girl and growing girls need milk to grow big and strong"

"Fine, bowl"

I got the milk out and poured it into the bowl and then handed it to her. I then got a piece of bread to toast it for myself

"Do you want to go to Jenny's today?"

"No, I want to go with you" she mumbled

I looked at her confused

"Alright sweetie, well when you get done go get ready so we can go ok?"

"Ok"

I then buttered my toast and ate it. About 5 minutes later Abby got off the chair to go get ready. I went to rinse her bowl only to find all the marshmellows were gone and some of the cereal

Guess I've gotta stop and get her a sausage biscuit I thought

I finished up my toast and went to my room to get ready. When I was done getting ready I went into the living room to find Abby sitting on the couch waiting for me

"Ready?"

she smiled and nodded

"Well lets go" I said smiling

I strapped her in and we took off to McDonald's to get a sausage biscuit. About 15 minutes later we arrived at the McDonald's drive-thru

"Thank you for coming to McDonald's what can I get you?"

"Could I have 2 sausage biscuits and a chocolate milk"

"Anything else?"

"No, I think that's it"

"Ok, $5.65, first window"

I then started driving and pulled out the money. I stopped at the first window nad handed the man the money and then went to the second window to pick up the food. When I got the food I handed the bag to Abby and opened the chocolate milk for her and gave it to her. I then drove off to work. I parked in my normal parking spot when I got there and I got Abby out of her carseat and we went inside

"Well if it isn't Miss Abby" George said with a southern twang smiling

"George" she said smiling and hugging my early 50s year old, graying, and a little overweight boss

"Hey Kayla, how are you today?"

"I'm good, how 'bout you George?"

"I'm good"

"George?" Abby asked

"Yes?"

"Can I have a strawberry sucker?"

"I'll go see if I have one, but I think you ate em' all"

"George you got a weird sound" Abby said

"Well, I'm from a Alabama, that's why I sound like this"

"Oh"

"Alright, I'll see if I have a sucker for you"

"Ok"

he then walked off and me and Abby went to the weather center so I could prepare the information and the slides. Abby sat in her normal spot and started coloring. George came back and gave her a strawberry sucker and I went to the greenscreen.

"Good afternoon I'm Kayla Summers and I hope everybody's having a good day today. Let's take a look back at what happened last night...As you can see this was a fairly strong storm, some people sent us some photos of some of their tree limbs being knocked down... and this one from Thomas P. from Las Vegas shows you how big the hail was...So you can see that it was a pretty nasty storm...Today looks like it's going to be a nice bright and mild day with temperatures around 72, not bad for October weather, tonight is suppose to be in the lower 60s...And some of you are probably wondering why? Well if you look at this, we've got a 30% chance of some snow in the next few days, and tomorrow's highwill be around 74 and then we see the tempuratures fall into the lower 60s to the mid 50s...so if it snows, it will NOT accumulate, so don't panic if you see a few flakes...Back to you Scott"

As soon as I got the clear I went back to my desk

"What does atumalate mean?" Abby asked

"Accumulate mean that the snow falls on the ground and doesn't go away"

"So the snow's not going to stay?"

"Not right now"

She then made a pouty face
"Why not?"

"Because the snow doesn't want to stay yet"

"Why? It doesn't like it here?"

"Sweetie, you'll understand it when you get older, I can't explain it right now"

"I hope I'm not inturrupting anything"

I looked up and at the front weather desk

"Oh, hi Zak, how are you?"

"I'm good, what about you?"

"I'm doing good"

"That's good, I was wondering if you would come by my office later so you can see what we
captured"

"Um sure, I'll be done here in 30 minutes, you can right down the address and I'll be therer as soon as I can"

"Can I go?" Abby asked

I looked at her and then to Zak

"I don't have a problem if she comes" Zak replied

I then looked back at Abby and she was doing that puppy dog face

Where in the world did she get that from? Oh right me duh I thought

"Abby that puppy dog face doesn't work on me, but yes you are going"

"Yay" she then spun around in the chair

I just shook my head and looked back at Zak to see him smiling

"What?" I asked confused

"Who's side does she take to more?"

"Everybody says she takes after me, but I don't see it" I said smiling innocently

He looked at Abby and then back to me

"I see it"

"How?"

He just shrugged

"I just have this feeling, anyway I'll see you at my office soon"

"Alright, bye"

"Bye"

he then walked away from the weather desk. I turned around to find Abby smiling

"Why are you smiling?" I asked sweetly

"Are we going to see him again?"

"Yeah, at his office"

"After that?"

"I don't know, why?"

she just shrugged still smiling. I revised my presentations and went on the air and before I knew it my shift was up

"Sweetie are you ready to go?"

"Yep" she said popping the P

"Ok" I said chuckling alittle

we then headed to the car and I done my usual routine and we then took off to Zak's office. We arrived their about 45 minutes later. Me and Abby walked into the tall building and we were greeted by the receptionist

"How may I help you today?"

"I'm here to see Zak, he needed me to come here"

she then picked up the phone and started talking into it and a few seconds later she hung up
"He's in room 156, take a right, go to the 5th floor and it's two doors to your left"

"Thank you"

Me and Abby went to the elevator, when we got on Abby pushed the 5th floor button and we were on our way. When it stopped we got off and headed to the room

Let's see... I thought

"156" Abby said stopping at the door

"Thank you Abby"

I knocked a couple of times and then the door opened

"Hey Kayla and Abby"

"Hi Nick" Abby said happily

"Come on in" Nick said letting me and Abby in

"Abby go sit over on the couch and watch TV ok?"

"Ok" she then went to one of the black leather couches

"Hi Kayla" Aaron said coming through the door

"Hi Aaron?" I said alittle unsure

he smiled and nodded

"You ready to see what happend?" Aaron asked

"I'm not going to freak out am I?"

"No, it's nothing bad"

"Alright, Kayla could you come over here and sit down" Zak said motioning me to the chair that was
infront of a computer screen

I walked over and sat down

"When you were at the display case asking questions, well you got a response to one of them" Zak said

Nick then gave me some headphones and I put them on and he pressed play 'Do you remember me? I was here with a friend 3 years ago' then I heard something responding. I tilted my head and squinted my eyes

"Can you play it again?"

"Sure" Nick said and played it again

'Do you remember me? I was here with a friend 3 years ago' I then focused on what it was saying.

When I figured it out my mouth hung open alittle

"It sounds like the little boy said 'yes, Kayla'" I said looking at the guys

Aaron nodded, Nick smiled and nodded and Zak said

"That's exactly what we heard when we reviewed it, are you ready for the next one?"

I just nodded. Nick pressed play 'Clarence, Victor told me that you said good girl, were you reffering to me?' I then heard 'yes'

"It sounded like an old man saying yes"

the guys just nodded

"Ready for the last one, this one blew us away?"

I looked at Zak questionably and Nick started playing the clip 'Clarence, Kayla's about to go, is there anything you want to tell her or ask her?' I then heard something that stopped my breathing 'Where'd Victor go?'

"What did you hear?" Aaron asked

Zak gave him a glare

"He said Where'd Victor go?" I said shocked still looking at the screen

But how? I thought

"That's called an intelligent spirit, they know what we're saying and doing, and they interact with you" Zak said

I just stared at the screen

"So, what happens if I want to tell him what happend?" I asked finally taking my eyes off the screen and looking at Zak

"Well you could go back and tell him" Nick suggested

"Yeah but if I start talking randomly people are going to think I'm nuts, and I don't need people thinking that" I said looking at Nick

"Well, we could do another 'investigation' there so you can tell him" Aaron said

"Aaron, that's a good idea...for once" Zak said and muttered the last part

I just sat there thinking

"We could do another investigation there tomorrow night, if you'd like" Zak said

"I'd like that, I feel like he should know, even though I can't see him" I said softly

"Ok, then tomorrow night it is" Zak said

I took off the headphones and Abby came to me

"Well baby girl..." I started

"Abby, what happend to your arm?" I asked taking her arm gently and looked at it

She had some scrathes and a pretty good size bruise. Abby shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes

"Abby honey, you've got to tell me what happend?"

she just shook her head again and pulled back her arm

What the...No! I thought

"Abby, I need you to tell me the truth, did grandma Jenny do this?"

And that's all it took tears came out of her eyes and she buried her face into my stomach. I looked at the guys and found them in shock except for Zak he was in shock and he looked like he was also ticked off. I pulled my attention back to Abby

"Abby what else happend? You have to tell mommy"

"Gampa hurt me"

"Where?"

"Down there"

Oh God I thought

I was shocked, sick to my stomach, beyond ticked off, and other emotions

"Abby, we've got to go somewhere ok"

"Not to Gama's" she loked up at me pleadingly

"No sweetie we're not going there, I promise"

I looked at the guys with an apoligetic look

"We understand, I would be doing the same thing" Nick said

"So would I if I had a kid, but Zak on the other hand..." Aaron said and we looked at Zak

Zak had his arms crossed and his jaw clenched and he was trying to keep himself under control

"He would do the same thing too but he probably would do more" Aaron finished his sentence

"Da..." Zak started but stopped and cleared his throat

Good save I thought

"I mean yeah I would"

"Well, you'll have to excuse me"

I said getting up

"I'll see you guys later I hope" I then walked out the door with Abby

We drove home and I went inside to get her clothes she had on yesterday and then we heade to the hospital. Once we arrived we went straight into the ER nad we quickly got into a room

"Sweetie, everything's going to be ok" I said sitting by her

"What they gonna do?"

"There going to see how bad grandma bad grandpa hurt you"
then a female doctor came in

"I'm Dr. Richardson, and you must be Abby?"

Abby just nodded

"Alright, Abby I'm going to need you to lay back and relax, I won't hurt you, I just need to check ok?"

she just nodded and I took her hand

My baby I thought
A few minutes later the doctor was done and I saw detectives outside the door

"Sweetie, you've got to tell them everything, there here to help" I said and then one came in and the other one motioned for me

"I'll be right over there ok?"

she nodded and I walked out of the room

"I'm Tom Sellers, I'm going to ask you a few questions ok?"

I nodded

"When did this happen?"

"I dropped her off at her grandma's yesterday because I had an interview to do, so I'm guessing it was when I dropped her off"

"When did you first notice something was wrong?"

"Actually yesterday when I picked her up, she was timid and didn't want to talk much, I confronted Jenny about it but she said nothing happend, then today I saw the scratches and the bruise"

"I'm going to need the name and address of the crime scene"

"It's 1547 Foyer Rd. there you'll find my mom Jenny Jenkins and my stepdad Selvester Jenkins"

"Thank you"

then his partner came out and they left. A few minutes later the doctor came back and told me that Abby had to stay at the hospital for observation, so she got her own room and I was there with her sitting right by the bed as she slept

"Miss Summers, are you staying?" the nurse asked

Are you that STUPID?! I thought annoyed

"Yes"

"Alright" he then gave me the visitor sticker and left

I started to watch TV when I heard someone about to come in

"Sir, the patient's guardian has requested no visitors at this time"

I stood up and walked to the door. When I enetered the hallway I saw Zak

How'd he know which hospital? I thought

"He can come in, after all he's her father" I said giving Zak the play along look

"Alright" the male nurse glared and walked off

Zak and I walked into the room

"What was that about?"

"Obsessed Ex" I said

"I know how that is, I hope you don't mind but I bought this for her" Zak said handing me the little teddy bear with a hot pink bow around it's neck

"She'll love it, thank you" I said putting it on the bed

"So why father?" Zak asked sitting down

I looked at him confused for a second

"Oh, he said that he'd leave me alone if the dad actually showed up, and he said shat back when
she was a year old"

"Ok, so why me? I don't mind, I just want to know"

"Because... you're not like the other guys I've met, you act like you want to be in her life somewhat"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean earlier back at the office when Abby told me all of this, after she told her story you looked like you would've beat someone's ass if they even looked at you the wrong way, therefore you're somewhat protective of her"

"Yeah and I don't like seeing children or animals getting abused"

"I understand that completely" I said sitting down in the recliner

"So how is she?"

"Hmm...the doctor said that there was minor penetration and an investigation has started and they said that she'll be fine if she goes to therapy" I said with tears in my eyes

"Well it's good that an investigations going and that she'll go to therapy"

"I don't know..." I started with a tear running down my face

"You don't know what?" Zak asked

"I now she needs to go, it's just that I can't really afford it now due to the medical bill"

Zak then got up and walked to me

"I'll help you pay for it"

"Zak I can't let you do that, I'll figure out a way"

"Kayla, I want to help"

"Thank you Zak, but it's not you're place"

"I know, but I want to help"

"Fine, but only on one condition..."

"What's that?"

"I pay half and you pay half and if you say no then I can do it myself"

"I can work with that"

"Thank you Zak"

"Not a problem... Well I better be going..." he started

then he looked at me straight in the eyes

"And Kayla, if you need anything, call me... you still have our numbers right?"

"Yeah"

"Ok, so I'll see you later"

"Alright, bye Zak"

he waved and then walked out the door

I reclined the chair and tried to get as comfortable as I could in the uncomfortable recliner

He sure isn't like the others is he? Other guys would just shrug at the situation and move on I thought

I then fell into a dreamless sleep.