Depression's End, Young Love's Start

Chapter 9

There was nothing but silence on the other end.

When I still didn't hear a reply after a long beat, I lowered the phone to check.

It had run out of battery and shut off by itself.

An overwhelming wave of exhaustion washed over me. My mind went totally fuzzy. I couldn't think straight anymore.

I forced myself to take my meds, climbed into bed, and closed my eyes.

It felt like I was shutting the whole world out entirely.

The next time I opened my eyes, it was to the blare of the doorbell.

I dragged myself up to answer it.

The second I pulled the door open, Isaac burst inside. "Where have you been? Why's your phone dead? Something's wrong. I've been going out of my mind trying to find you."

"My phone died," I said slowly.

Isaac finally noticed how off I looked.

He caught sight of the cuts on my hand and frowned. "You had another episode?"

I changed the subject. "What happened?"

Isaac pulled up a video on his phone. "Someone took an old clip from when you first debuted and edited it to make you look bad."

The video showed 20-year-old me, young and fresh-faced, shoving a group of guys into a mud pit.

Then the cut jumped to me, spotless and grinning wide, saying, "This is how you make money."

The comments were all tearing me apart.

A: [Abigail's actually like this. She's so mean and bitter.]

B: [I thought I'd found such a great singer. Turns out she'll do anything for money.]

C: [No wonder she's come back out of nowhere. She blew all her old cash, her wealthy marriage plan fell through, so now she's back to grab cash, right?]

Worse and worse comments kept pouring in nonstop.

I thought back to what actually happened.

At the start of that episode, the host had asked me, "You're a singer, so why do you keep doing these variety shows?"

I'd answered, "Making it in music is hard. You need money to keep chasing that dream. And this is how you make money."

Variety shows back then were brutal. Nothing was off-limits.

I played by the rules and gave it my all. I'd been in way more embarrassing situations than falling in mud. I'd left sets covered in bruises and never complained once.

But edited like this, it looked like I was just bullying people for fun.

I sighed. "Just post the full, uncut clip. That'll clear it up."

Isaac sighed, too. "We already did. But..."

He pulled up a second video. A woman was talking to reporters. "Abigail? She's always been like this. If it weren't for her, I never would've broken my contract and switched to acting. I just don't have her tricks. I can't cozy up to rich, powerful people as she can."

Every word she said implied I had a sugar daddy and had sabotaged other artists from my era.

Isaac's face darkened. "She's the one who hit on Brandon and got rejected. Then she got tangled up in a love triangle with a new rookie at the company. That's why they dropped her. What a load of lies."

I'd been in the industry for ten years. I'd seen all kinds of ugly, messed-up stuff. But hearing this from someone who used to be my friend still sent a cold chill through me.

"PR's already on it," Isaac said. "Let's head to the office and talk through next steps. If this keeps blowing up, we'll have to do a press conference."

I nodded silently. My already foggy head started throbbing.

We pulled up to the office building a short while later. I'd barely stepped out of the car when someone lunged at me out of nowhere.

Isaac moved fast and blocked her.

The next second, the woman dropped to the ground and wailed at the top of her lungs.

I recognized her and frowned. "Mom?"

Reporters who'd been waiting there swarmed us instantly.

Fiona's cries were deafening. "Abigail, I raised you all by myself! You won't even take care of me now that I'm old, and now you're having people attack me? What's the point of living? I might as well get hit by a car and die."

Camera flashes blared so bright they made my eyes burn. The click of shutters rang out louder and louder, until it felt like it was filling my whole head.

Then everything went black. I passed out.