Wildflower (2 page)

Rising carefully from the chair Abby realized
just how depleted her body really was at this point. It was nearly
three p.m. and she had been on the go since dawn with nothing to
eat. To top it all off, she had lost a lot of blood that morning as
well. “Ok Abby,” she sighed, “we have to get our blood sugar back
up and we have to get something nourishing into you. What was it
that study said about keeping blood sugar levels steady over the
long haul? Pizza, that was it. Ok, we have some frozen pizza and we
have a juicer.”

She juiced several vegetables and microwaved
one of those special pizzas then took it and her pen and paper back
to the chair. Abby flicked on the TV and forced herself to watch a
comedy rerun while she ate. Once the food was gone she swallowed a
handful of vitamin and mineral supplements. Abby needed her body to
repair itself as quickly as possible.

Abby spent the rest of the day in front of
the television resting and making her plans for revenge. “Well
Grandma, it’s like you always told me, the best revenge is living
well,” she sighed as she made her list. She would start packing
first thing in the morning.

Anything that would fit in a box would be
mailed home to mother and anything that would not would be sold to
a second hand dealer. Thankfully she had not bought a car, saving
her money for that new convertible was turning out to be a
blessing. Added to Randy’s Father’s cheque, her savings would make
a tidy nest egg. It would be more than enough to get her started
again somewhere else. The new life would feature a smarter,
stronger Abigail MacKai.

The phone, electricity, and cable would have
to be cut and the next month’s rent would have to be paid. Oh hell,
let them take her damned security deposit and shove it somewhere
painful. Abby had been kicked around enough for one week.

At seven p.m. Abby forced herself to go to
bed and rest there. Sleep was a very long time coming, but she lay
still, thinking, planning out her future course of action, and
eventually sleep did come to Abigail MacKai.

Six a.m. found her already sorting out things
to be packed and things to be sold. Being very careful not to lift
anything heavy, Abby worked methodically through her whole
apartment. By the time the banks were open she was at the door. She
cashed the cheque as well as withdrew all her savings. She had
taken out several thousand in traveler’s cheques, several hundred
more in cash, paid out her small credit card balance, and the rest
as a bank draft.

Harry had been quite generous over the years
with a substantial bonus each time she secured him a new contract
and she had saved most of it. She had just over eighty thousand in
all. Abby sighed as she left the bank. It wasn’t much considering
where her career could have taken her, but it certainly was enough
to get her a fresh start.

From the bank she went to a courier’s office,
bought some boxes and arranged for pick up the next morning. She
even paid a young fellow from off the street to carry the boxes and
tape back to her apartment for her. The rest of the day was spent
in packing and just before four; the man came from the second hand
store. All her furniture plus her TV and stereo went for three
hundred dollars. “Looks like I’ve been screwed again,” she thought
bitterly as they carried her prized possessions through the door.
Once they were gone she took her over night bag, and locking her
two larger bags in the now nearly empty apartment, caught a cab to
a nearby hotel for the night.

It was early the next morning when the
courier arrived to pick up her boxes. He was barely out the door
when there was a firm knock. Abby opened the door to see the man
from the immigration standing there. “You again,” she said coldly.
“Afraid I might slip through the fingers of the law and jeopardize
the security of the nation?”

“I’m sorry Miss,” he said evenly, not a
flicker of emotion on his face, “I’m just doing my job.”

“Fine, then you can carry these heavy bags
for me,” she said as she took up her over night bag and stepped
through the door. He dutifully seized the other two and followed
her out. Abby left the door open and threw her keys through onto
the floor.

“Not going to lock it?”

“Why the hell should I?” she asked as she got
into his car. “Apparently I’m not coming back.” She didn’t speak
another word all the way to the airport.

“Yes ma’am,” said the pleasant young woman as
she checked in Abby’s baggage, “visiting Halifax?”

“Being sent home to mommy,” replied Abby
shortly. She was definitely feeling the pain in her body now. Her
escort waited until she was on the plane and in the air before
checking in with his boss that she was airborne. Completely
emotionless, he went on to his next assignment.

It had been a long and grueling day for Abby,
but she was home in Canada and safely in a hotel room in Halifax.
Bone weary, she dressed for bed and took another handful of
vitamins. She had not even called her mother and was determined not
to just yet. That would keep until she was feeling better. She
stayed in the hotel and rested for three days before taking a cab
back to the airport. “Give me a one way ticket on the first
available flight out of here,” she said as she reached the Air
Canada check in counter.

“Yes ma’am,” smiled the tiny brunette in the
snappy blue uniform. “Do you have your passport with you?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t, I guess we’d better
make that the first domestic flight.”

“Yes ma’am, a one way ticket to St. John’s
coming right up.”

“Newfoundland?”

“Yes ma’am, you did say the first
flight.”

“Yes I did, and that will be just fine.” It
was time to start trusting her luck a bit and to throw caution to
the winds.

Hazel

The tall slim teenager ran easily along the
woods road and then up the winding trail toward the cliffs. At
nearly five foot eleven, Hazel Fillmore was the tallest person,
male or female in the whole school.

“Why won’t you ever go to the dances?”
pestered her girlfriends at school.

“Because I don’t want to,” replied Hazel each
and every time.

“Why won’t you play on the school basketball
team?” she was badgered constantly by her classmates.

“Because I don’t want to,” Hazel would always
reply. “I just like to run for the fun of it.

She was running today and enjoying it to the
limit. Kilometer after kilometer had disappeared beneath her feet
and still she was not struggling. Up, up the trail she ran until
she came to a secluded spot near the cliffs. Hazel smiled broadly
as she coasted to a stop and sank to her knees on a grassy mound.
Gently, carefully, she cupped her hands around a small delicate
wildflower.

“Ah my little beauty,” smiled Hazel warmly as
she stretched out on her belly in the sun to admire the small yet
hardy flower, “when I find someone like you, someone as delicate
and beautiful, yet hardy and strong, growing and flourishing in
some long forgotten wind blown place, then I will take her dancing
for I will have found the one I want to love.”

“Will I do in the meantime?” asked a deep
male voice.

Startled, Hazel rolled quickly onto her back
and tried to crawl away. It was her uncle Avery again. Ever since
he’d walked in on her in the bath tub the year she’d turned twelve
he’d been trying to put his hands on her. “Stay away from me,”
warned Hazel.

“Oh no my girl,” he grinned toothlessly as he
advanced on her, “not this time. This time you have no where to go
and no where to hide. I’ll enjoy the sweetness of you this time,
now get those short off.” He started to unbuckle his belt as he
continued to advance toward her.

With tears in her eyes, Hazel had dug her
fingers into the soil as he spoke, gathering as much dirt into her
hand as she could. “Get ‘em off I said,” he snarled as he reached
for her.

Screaming her defiance, Hazel ripped the dirt
from the rock and hurled it toward his eyes. He managed to block
the dirt, but her long leg lashed out and her foot struck him on
the knee. He screamed in pain as his knee snapped and she rolled
away out of his reach. Without a single backward glance Hazel
Fillmore fled back down the trail toward the village far below.

As she ran, she tried to brush the remaining
dirt from her fingers. In doing so she noticed the small delicate
flower still caught in her school ring. Tears filled her eyes again
as she reached home and pressed it carefully between the pages of
her diary.

It was nearly ten o’clock that night when the
phone rang and her father answered. He spoke for a moment then
called Hazel down from her room. “Hazel, you were running up by the
cliffs again today weren’t you?”

“Yes,” she replied warily as she descended
the stairs. “Why?”

“They found Avery up near the top of Fox
Point,” he said looking directly into her eyes. “His leg was
broken; would you know anything about that?”

“Why should I?” she asked warily.

“Walton, what are you on about?” asked
Hazel’s mother Lilly as she entered the room from the kitchen.

“Speak the truth Hazel,” her father said
gently. “I promise I won’t punish you if you tell me the truth.”
Walton Fillmore was a hard man, but his one pride was the power of
his word. Hazel knew she was safe in the truth.

“I broke it,” she replied softly as she
dropped her gaze. “I was up near the top of the Point, resting in
the sun, when he came up behind me. He tried to rape me again.”

“Liar,” spat her mother, “I’ll get the truth
from you.” She tried to slap Hazel across the mouth, but Walton
caught his wife’s hand and restrained her.

“I gave Hazel my word, Lilly,” he said
coldly; the woman dropped her eyes and turned away.

“He’s been trying to put his hands on me ever
since I was twelve years old and today he caught me alone,” Hazel
went on meeting her father’s eyes squarely. “He told me to get my
shorts off and he came at me. I threw some dirt at his face and
when he tried to protect his eyes I kicked him. I was trying to hit
his balls, but I missed and broke his leg. I’ve told you over and
over what he was trying to do; why won’t you ever believe me?”

Walton looked deeply into his daughter’s eyes
for a long moment before speaking. “Go to bed now, Hazel,” he said
softly. “I’ll call you at first light. I want you to show me where
this happened.”

Hazel gulped and retreated swiftly to her
bedroom where she wrote down everything that had happened that day
in her diary. “Dad’s the best hunter and tracker in Cumberland
County,” she wrote. “By tomorrow he will know the truth and I will
be safe from Uncle Avery.”

Five a.m. found Hazel already awake and
dressed. At her father’s soft whistle she hurried silently down the
stairs and followed him out the door to the car. He drove to the
spot where the trail left the road then followed Hazel up into the
woods. Neither spoke a singe word until they arrived at the place
where she’d had the close call. “Right over there,” she said
pointing at the grassy spot at the edge of the cliff. “I was lying
there admiring a small wildflower when he sneaked up behind
me.”

“Stay right there,” said her father as he
dropped to a crouch and began to inspect the ground closely.
Several minutes of inspection later he rose and faced Hazel again.
“I’m deeply sorry, daughter. You’ve been looking to me for help and
protection for a long time and I have ignored you because I didn’t
want to believe what you were saying. The marks on the ground speak
the same words you have spoken; I cannot deny the truth of your
complaint any longer. Forgive me, Hazel, I’ve been a fool.”

“I’ve never done anything to make him do
this,” she whispered softly meeting his eyes.

“I know child,” he sighed deeply as he huge
shoulders sagged. “I know you prefer girls.”

“What????”

“You’re not as smart as you think you are,
Hazel. I’ve seen your head turn a hundred times when a likely lass
walks by, but never for a man. No girl, this was Avery’s doing.
Relax, Hazel, I have not spoken a word to anyone, nor will I. All I
ask is that you wait until you are away from home before you give
in to your desires.”

“I can do it,” replied Hazel fiercely as she
met his eyes squarely. “I have one more year of school to go then
I’m gone. Can you keep Uncle Avery off me ‘til then?”

“Avery Spicer will not lay a hand on you in
this lifetime,” replied Walton Fillmore heavily. “Just guard your
true feelings well.”

“Dad, why??”

“Why have I not spoken to you before? Why am
I not punishing you now for this? Because it is your nature, Hazel.
Should I punish the horse for being a horse? Should I beat the cow
for being a cow? No girl, this is your nature, as it was my own
when I was young. I will not speak of this again, nor will
you.”

“You Dad? Why tell me?”

“One dread secret for another, Hazel,” he
sighed deeply. “I’ll keep yours and you will keep mine. Fear not
for Avery Spicer, your mother’s brother will trouble you no more.
Hurry home now girl, you have to get to school. I’ll walk back; I
need time to think.” With a nod, she turned and fled toward the car
and home.

Avery Spicer sat glaring at the television
and nursing another beer when there was a loud knock on his door.
The huge cast on his leg and the crutches he had to use prevented
him from getting up. “Come on in,” he bawled, “I can’t open it for
you.”

“There’s no need Avery,” said a cold steely
voice behind him, “I am quite capable of opening a door myself.”
Walton Fillmore was a huge man possessing terrifying strength and a
temper to match. The one thing every man in the county tried to
avoid was incurring his wrath. Avery knew by the tone of that voice
that he was doomed.