Her Sister's Soul

Once Struck

Abigail was very, very good at keeping a straight face. But at the sudden shift in attitude even her brow rose for a moment. She had expected more of a push back...in fact, she had counted on it.

“What do you want?” He said.

“You know what I want.”

The man shook his head. “It’s impossible to terminate a contract.”

“I want more time.” Abigail said. “No. I need more time.”

“Ah, so you want an extension?” He paused to fiddle with the buttons on his collar, undoing the first two and leaving the rest so that the cool night air could reach his bare skin. It was more an intimidation tactic than one of comfort, but even he could agree that standing for days on end was enough to bring a sheen of sweat to his body. “Fine. How about two years?”

At that, Abigail could have burst into tears. Two years was much, much more than she had hoped for. “It’s a deal.”

She extended her hand, and he took it.

She wanted to be brave, but it was hard not to wince at the contact. His long fingers encompassed her hand and held it tightly in place. In the distance the hazy glow of headlights cut through the trees and the two of them turned to see a small car making it’s way around the winding roads. By the time he turned back to face her, the second brilliantly horrid idea of the night was taking shape in the man’s mind.

“Yes, it’s a deal.” He said, his index finger making a point to press into the sensitive skin of her wrist.

She tried to pull away from him then as that sickening, desperate feeling of terror rose up inside of her. There was something off. Of course, there was...she should have sensed it from the start. Alarm bells pealed in her subconscious and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. But he gripped her tighter, his face so close to hers that she could feel the heat of his breath as he spoke. So hot that it was like the flames of hell themselves were housed inside his body. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you miss McAllister. And as the people say-See you on the flip side.”

All it took was a simple flick of his wrist to send her into the road, left reeling with confusion and anger.

But she did not have time to be angry, because mere seconds later her attention was drawn back to the same headlights from earlier as the car they belonged to turned the corner onto Bogart. There was a deep rumble as the driver accelerated and a terrible crunch as he lost control and ran up onto the sidewalk. Abigail was frozen, watching as it came closer and closer, the man’s last words spinning around and around behind her eyes.

She stood there, bathed in the light and the sound of crunching gravel, and all she could think to do was look back towards the crossroads, her eyes searching frantically for someone to curse. But he was no longer there. He had no intention of witnessing what would happen next, all that mattered to him was that he was the one who had caused it. Abigail would live. She had no choice in the matter. But the accident would set her back. It would solidify the fact that soon she would come crawling back to him.

The man’s lip twitched, and he brought a hand to it in surprise. He thought offhandedly that he couldn’t remember ever smiling so much in a single day. And he knew that he hadn’t seen the last of Abigail McAllister. But if he was being honest, and he very rarely was, he was quite looking forward to their next encounter.