For Abigail

Abigail Jackson shouldn’t be here, as she looks at the scars on her arms, pretending to be looking at her new book.

But there she was anyway, in the Wisconsin woods, on the outskirts of their little town, Hemlock Haven. Sitting on a bench in an all too familiar campsite, with her brother and all the people she perceived to be her friends. Her brother, Joshua Jackson, a slender seventeen year old boy with mid length brown hair and deep brown eyes. His face was covered in acne and acne scars but behind it all seemed to still be a handsome young man. Abigail watches as Joshua argues with another boy, with shorter brown hair and a larger build, the football wide receiver, Allen Thompson. Allen seems to be more…harsh, quick to anger. He quickly snaps at Joshua, as they have different pieces of a large tent.

“How the FUCK can you have been going camping since you were a kid and not know how to put up a tent?”

“I don’t know, it’s not the easiest thing in the world alright?” responds Joshua, timidly.

“Well, its also not fucking rocket science. 3.7 gpa my ass.”

“Allen, calm down please”

Abigail turns to her left to see who spoke up, and then looks back down at her phone. It was Becky Lewis, a very short girl about 5’2, with blonde hair that’s cut as a bob. She has a clean face, large round glasses and a large smirk on her face. She’s wearing a black and yellow letterman jacket that’s 2-3 sizes too big for her that says “Thompson” on the left side. On the back was a twisting giant hornet with an angry grin on its face, its stinger piercing a football. She came from the path going deep in the woods, carrying more bags and supplies for the night. Allen speaks up;

“It’s not my fault he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Abigail, do you think Joshy-boy should put up a tent?”

Abigail, for the first time in the 30 minute car ride, speaks. Her voice is soft coming from her freckled face. She doesn’t even look up from her useless phone that has no connection.

“You should know, Joshua.”

Josh groans; “Thanks a lot, sis”

For the first time since arriving at the campsite, Abigail looks up to her brother. Her long brown hair waved away from her face, and she smiled a small innocent grin.

“Hey you dicks thanks for the help!”

Suddenly everyone turns towards the path again where they see a scrawny boy carrying multiple bags, and an exhausted look on his face. He seems younger than the rest, long black hair covering his eyes. He wears a leather jacket with a purple shirt, ripped skinny jeans and biker boots, an outfit not built for the woods. He drops the bags and moves the hair out of his eyes to show a pale complexion, a little red in his cheeks as he takes deep breaths. Allen then raises his hand and waves;

“No problem Edward!”

Edward Kramer groans, and gives Allen two middle fingers.

“I wouldn’t even be mad if the tent was up.”

“That’s his fault” remarks Allen, nodding his head towards Josh.

“How do you not know what you’re doing?” Edward asks

Joshua waves his hands in the air, giving up the fight. Abigail chuckles, and everyone looks at her real quick. Edward nods to her like a gentle hello and a sudden feeling of warm and pure comfort sets in. The comfort of friends who have nowhere else to be but together.

“Where the hell is Derek anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to ride with you?” Josh quickly askes.

Edward shrugs; “I think he went to have a cancer stick up in the cliffs. Fucking kid smokes more then a volcano, its gonna be his death one day”

“I’ll get him”

Joshua starts to walk towards the path, stops and bumps Abigail. She looks up from her phone, groans and silently agrees to walk with him. Edward turns his head as they walk past him, Abigail giving a slight smile and Josh nodding. When the coast is clear, he walks up to Allen.

“What the fuck are we doing, man? You really think this is a good idea? Fucking Abigail does not seem okay..”

Allen groans; “She’s fine. Ed…Edward! Eddy my pal! She’s fine! Look, we all love Abby. We all want what’s best for her. Think of it this way. Nick and Abs have been through so much. Nick is okay, right? He’s stable…”

Edward cuts him off; “HE..didn’t see it”

“I get that. But they wouldn’t let her out of the hospital if she wasn’t a hundred percent, ya know?” Allen puts his hand on Edwards shoulder. “She is. Fine. C’mon we should party, we did graduate ya know?!”

Edward gives him a questioning look, so does Becky looking up as she’s taken over getting the tents together.

“You and Josh gradated this year. Most of us have a whole year left”

Allen shrugs and moves his hand quickly to grab Edwards head, edging him to fight, putting him in a side headlock. It seems violent at first but they laugh and wrestle around as Edward tries his best to get out of the death hold of the football star.

The scenes from the cliffs are both beautiful and haunting. The shallow lake below, riddled with insects, lily pads and disgusting litter from the human world. The lake itself was big enough, some more scattered camps around it. If you focused hard enough through the tree line, you could see the camp the group of friends are attempting to make. Standing on the edge of the cliff, smoking a cigarette, is Derek Norton. he seems older than the rest. Reeking of oil and smoke, Long curly brown hair and a full beard, denim jacket with patches of an automotive shop and his clothes are covered in dirt. He proceeds to sigh and flick the remainder of his cigarette off the cliff and put a baseball hat back on. The peaceful silence is cut by the yelling of Josh as he comes up the hill;

“Derek! C’mon man we help unpacking!”

“Ughhh’ Derek groans ’Fuck that sounds awful man. Can’t we just…I don’t know. Build a fire and just sleep on the ground next to it. Maybe dance around it a little bit? One with the earth and all that bullshit.”

“Absolutely not, you weird fuck” Josh replies.

“I don’t know, it could be fun. Dancing around the fire I mean.” Abigail says, clearly filled with sarcasm. Derek peaks up and turns excitedly to see Abigail.

“Well fuck me, Abigail Jackson. I..Well…How are you doing, short stuff? Oh, we missed you. You should have seen Josh while you were…away. You could have sworn World War 3 popped off right in his backyard.”

Abigail giggles; “I’m alright. For the circumstances.”

Joshua then coughs, and motions down the cliff. Derek clearly gets the signal and nods.

“Alright well, I’ll uh- leave you to it then. I’ll try my best to convince the others to join me in the fire dance.”

Derek then walks past, somewhat awkwardly. The siblings have finally been left alone, they look at each other like shy strangers and both give sly smiles. They walk forward and sit on the edge of the cliff. After moments of silence, Josh finally speaks up after popping his lips.

“Abby, we got to talk. Listen I… You know for a fact that Dad didn’t teach me shit about putting up a tent.”

Abigail finally breaks, and laughs out loud. Her guard seems down finally. She looks up and smiles towards her brother.

“Uhhh, He definitely fucking did. I remember he would yell at you because you couldn’t hammer the pins into the ground.”

“Well, it was a big hammer and a very small pin.”

“Then how can you miss?”

“Haha, yeah. Yeah, that’s what he said.”

That feeling left as soon as it was there. The feeling of comfortable, happy siblings. Finally, the silence is broken once again. This time by Abigail.

“I’m sorry josh. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for their funerals.”

“It’s okay, you are getting better. And all the guys made sure to be there for me. It was just….confusing”

“Josh. Do you ever remember a time when Dad was healthy? Was he ever…happy? While I was in the hospital, I tried to think of a time. I just couldn’t.”

“I. I don’t know sis. I just don’t know. After his tour, he just didn’t come back the same.”

Abigail thought about her father. Jonathan Jackson. A large man, easily six foot two. His military cut hair and stern face. He always wore straight jeans and tank tops, his wallet chain always dangling on his side. He had an eagle tattoo clenching the American flag in its talons on his arm representing his time in the marines while Josh and Abigail were children.

“What about Mom?’ Abigail asked. ’Was….was what dad always said true?”

“Dad was drunk when he said those things. There’s no….curse”

Abigail then thought of her mother. Heather Jackson. She always knew her to be sweet and gentle. Short brown hair just like Abigail. Some nights though, her mother would get upset or sad and lock herself away from everyone for days at a time. When her father got drunk he would say she was “Cursed.” Heather saw and heard things during the worst of times, people and growls in the closets. She tried her best to hide it from her children, but as they got older, it became harder and harder to hide. Abigail held back tears thinking of them, she tried to think of happier times. Like the first times they went camping out here as a family, her father teaching her how to fish and her mother jokingly complaining about the weather and bugs. She soon realized thinking of those times made it harder to be here.

“What happened, Abigail?” Josh interrupts Abigail’s train of thought, kinda abruptly asking.

“You know what happened. I’m sure they had to tell you everything.”

“I need you to tell me. They told me but I just…. don’t believe it.

Abigail took a deep breath. She knew this conversation was going to happen, but she was dreading it nonetheless. Josh looked at his sister, concerned but also impatient. He needed to know, no matter how painful the truth is. He wanted to share in his sister’s anguish, hopefully taking some of the toll of her shoulders. The weight of the world was too much for only one to handle. After a long pause, Abigail wiped tears from her face that started to form, and finally started the dreadful story.

“Where do I even begin? I know you were staying at Eddy's. I was in my room painting. Last I checked, mom was having one of her nights. I hadn’t seen her all day. Dad was relaxing in the foyer, he had just made spaghetti. It was a normal night, I just don’t understand….anyway, I heard them starting to fight. I did what you said to do, I put my headphones in and I tried to ignore it. Then I heard a sudden, bang? I felt it shake the house. I took my headphones off as Dad came rushing in the door. His head was bleeding, and he seemed panicked. I had never seen him scared before. But he was terrified. He then told me to hide under the bed, and I did as soon as I could. He rushed and opened my bedroom window, and I heard him say ‘Look away little bird’”

Abigail finally broke thinking of the special nickname her father had for her. Tears came flowing and Josh hugged and held her sister as they sat on the cliff. In the distance you can hear the clamoring and laughter of their friends in the distance.

Abigail continued; ’Then Mom came in. Dad backed away slowly. He slowly backed away, as if he was backing away from a rabid dog or something. Mom looked…dazed. Completely out of it. She looked at him as if she didn’t recognize him. She was shaking in her day dress, and I realized she had Dad’s pistol in her hand. I… I heard Dad begging. Begging for his life. He said how he loved her, how he loved us and the family as a whole. Then he said ‘I’m not what you are seeing right now’ I don’t know what he…Then Mom. None of it affected her. She still looked completely soulless. It was almost as if she seemed scared too. Then, she just shot him. Without hesitation or thought, she just raised the gun and shot.”

Abigail thought carefully of that moment. She thought of telling her brother every detail, everything she remembers. How their father fell to the ground, how the bullet was instant, and the blood and brains from her fathers head plastered on her easel and painting behind him. He fell to the ground, his now dead eyes locking with Abigail's as she tried her best to keep quiet. The blood flowing from the hole right in the center of his head. The blood started to flow from his eyes and mouth as well, still looking at Abigail. She saw this. Not her brother. It was her burden to bear. The more Abigail talked, the more numb she felt to it all.

“And then. Mom turned and went downstairs. Almost like a robot. And I heard another bullet be fired. She did it in the kitchen.”

Josh was shocked. He knew, the cops and everyone told him, but he refused it. He was convinced there had to be a burglar or something. Anything other than a family massacre carried out by their own mother.

“The cops found me under the bed, I couldn’t speak. They sent me away…to that…damn hospital…I don't…please I don’t want to talk about that place.”

“Abigail, I’m sorry. I should have been there. Listen, we are gonna stick together now, ya hear? I’m never gonna leave your side. It’s you and me against the world, and I would do anything for you. We should get back to the group, they missed you too. None of us liked the idea of you locked up in that ward. Listen, I love you”

Abigail scoffed; “I’m sure they did. And I love you too”

Josh noticed the animosity in her voice concerning their friends, and decided it wasn’t best to maybe pry on it right now. Josh embraced her again, looked down and kissed the scars on her arms. He then sat up from the cliff, turned and started to walk back. Abigail sat there for a moment, thinking. She felt comforted by her brother, but there was still. Something. Something was eating at her, something she couldn’t explain to anyone. Even to her doctor. The doctor. She shuddered at the thought of him. Then she felt...comfort? Or was it fear? But there it was again. That something, only this time it was manifesting. As if there was something with a hand on her shoulder, but she could hear Josh walking away. She took deep breaths. And then that something...spoke. It was as if Death itself was speaking to her.

“Fly away little bird. Fly Away”

Josh stopped in his tracks. He felt it too. He turned quickly, but it was too late. There was nothing there. Abigail was gone. Where could she have…?

Then he heard the splash at the bottom of the cliff.

It was too late.