Chapter 10
“ A bigail! Abigail wake up!” I hear a faint shouting as I start to come back into the moment. “Abigail, are you okay? Please, I need you to wake up!” I feel my body shaking as I start to come back from my faintness. “Abby, please!”??
I know that voice. Ace. My eyes open wide and I begin panicking, remembering everything that was just happening. “How long was I out? Ace, what’s happening?” I ask.
Ace stops shaking me, grabs me, and pulls me in close. He’s hugging me with such force and need. I’m pressed so tightly into his chest that I am smacked with the devastation he’s feeling. He lets go, stares into my eyes, and from there I can see it. In those blue waves is the pain he’s feeling, that pain is because it’s my father. ??
Tears begin to fill my eyes. I’m overwhelmed by what he’s not saying, even if I already know. I hold his gaze though. I need him to verbalize it, to confirm this horrible thought. “Ace!” I need to hear it and he knows it.
He looks away, staring into the distance. He's about to say it. My gut is twisting as I see his chest take in the breath that will speak my fathers death to life. ??“Abby, It’s. It’s your father.” His voice is hoarse. Tears immediately run down my face, Flooding my sight. I don’t say anything or move a muscle. I just listen as every spoken word scrapes a piece of my heart and let it slam to the ground.
“Abby, there’s a lot you don’t know that he needed to tell you. Time caught up to us faster than we expected. The Order, they are bad people Abs. They recognized you from on the island. We-We thought we had been careful enough but we were wrong.” He continues “They came for you right as we were leaving. I’m not even sure how they got on the ship or where they came from but by the time we knew what was happening, it was too late. One of the men from The Order had shot.” He pauses, struggling to finish his sentence. “They shot your father.”
Ace looks back at me, tears are falling down his face. His hurt is as strong as mine. My breath is getting thicker as I am now emerging in my own tears. I don’t understand. Nothing he said makes any sense but before I can speak he pulls me back into his arms. The arms I had started my afternoon off admiring, I now can’t bear the thought of this being the reason I’m in them. “I’m so sorry, Abs.” He cries out. His breath is now louder and thicker sounding. I know his pain is matching mine, he was like his father too. Since he was just a boy, my dad took him in. ??I fully fall into his arms, resting all of my weight on his chest and losing all sense of anything else happening. ??
“Where is he?” I whimper, struggling to say anything. My throat is tight and my chest is full. I gasp for breath as I pour my heart through every teardrop. ??
“His body is on his bed. They are preparing him for his Captains funeral. Once they are done, you can go say goodbye, Abs.” Ace whispers, his voice gentle as his hand wraps in my hair, holding my head to his chest. ??
“And the man who killed him?!” A sudden spark runs through me as I force the words out. ??
“He’s dead, Abby. I tried to get to him first but he pulled the trigger before I did.” He pauses, his face looking blank. “I couldn’t save him, Abby. I am so sorry but you are safe now.”??
Time passes and we are exhausted. Ace moves to lay down on the bed and I follow laying on the other side facing him. We used to fall asleep talking like this when we had a hard day. But this time, we didn't say a word. I know there’s so much we must talk about tomorrow. There’s so many questions and things unsaid that had happened today. So many signs and flags that all seem to be adding up now. I play over every strange thing, every mysterious person that could have played a part in my fathers death. Everything from this moment will be completely different. But for now, we don’t need to say anything else.