Chapter 9

Abigail dialed the first number she could remember, held her broken phone in one hand, while her other hand clung hard to the telephone.

She listened expectantly, hoping to hear the familiar voice of her boyfriend, Dave Anderson, but to her disappointment it was the automatic voice of the service provider that sounded.

'This user's number has been disconnected,'

Abigail was quite shocked, she hung up and dialed again, but the response was the same. Dave's number was disconnected.

How could his line be disconnected?

Could she have remembered it incorrectly?

But the possibility of that was very unlikely. There was no way in the world she could have remembered incorrectly, this was Dave's number for pete's sake.

After dialing the third time, she still heard the same automatic response. Abigail felt a churn in her stomach. She had to give up for the time being, and dialed in her father's number.

It was the same automatic response as Dave's. Disconnected.

She decided to try the house telephone, surely someone would answer. She received the same response. Disconnected.

Abigail's eyes went round, fear prickling her chest. How could the house line be disconnected as well?

She felt frustration building in. Something was wrong. A faint voice in her head kept saying to her.

She stared at her broken phone. If she hadn't fell it, she could have retrieved some relatives or friends numbers she could also contact. Unfortunately she couldn't remember any other number, except her family's, Dave's and…. and…

Abigail's eyes widened in realization.
And Mia. Of course, Mia. She released an elated laughter as she instantly dialed in Mia's number.

She held her breath, listening, hoping, and praying deep down it goes through. And it did. Abigail heard the slothful ringing, and some air escaped her lungs out of relief.
After the second ringing, she heard a voice.

"Hello, this is reporter Mia speaking."
The voice was Mia's. Her friend.

"Oh thank goodness, Mia, this is Abigail,"

"Abi-" The voice on the other end paused. "Abigail? Abby, is that really you?"

Of course, who else would it be. Abigail was feeling a bit strange with Mia's tone. They were best friends from school, and had always kept in touch, why then did she seem so surprised?

"Yes, Mia Brooke. It's me, your best friend Abigail" Abigail stressed, quite dramatically, causing the voice on the other end to scream.

Abigail had to pull the telephone away from her ears to prevent the loud screams from deafening her.

"Thank you Mia, you almost succeeded in deafening me" Abigail was smiling, it felt really amazing to be talking to someone that she remembered. "Why are you so excited?"

"Why wouldn't I be Abby? We haven't spoken for almost a year now, since you've never answered my calls and never replied to any of my messages, I thought that was it for us."

"What?" Her words confused Abigail. "What do you mean we haven't spoken for almost a year? How is that even possible?" Abigail and Mia were inseparable, they've always been, that was why it was unbelievable to Abigail. "What about Dave? What happened to him?" She asked eagerly, but Mia's answer came in the form of a deep hiss.

"Are you out of your freaking mind, Abigail? Why the hell would I care about Dave?" Mia's sudden outburst didn't surprise Abigail. She never liked Dave. In fact, Mia hated Dave for her, she had always believed that Abigail deserved someone much better, even though she was deeply in love with Dave.
"Enough with everyone asking if I'm crazy. I'm not crazy, I only lost my memories!" Abigail grunted over the phone.

Mia went silent for a half second, sensing something was wrong. "Oh shit Abigail, are you alright?"

"It's –it's a long story" Too long that Abigail couldn't tell over the phone. "Please come over Mia, I really need to see you."

"Yes, alright. I'll come over."

Abigail hung up after hearing her say that, sinking deeper into the chair. She shut her eyes, before she could let her thoughts wander far, there was a knock on the door.
Her eyes jerked open and there was the housekeeper standing inside the office.

Has she always been there? Abigail couldn't tell how long the housekeeper had been standing there, and if she overheard her conversation with Mia.

"My lady, what would you like to eat for breakfast?" Miss Melissa asked.

True, she was hungry, but having breakfast was a bad idea, one she knew she would end up regretting. The goal simply was losing some weight and not gaining more.

She shook her head. "I'm not eating, and Miss Melissa, I would like you to get me a scale."

"Alright my lady." The housekeeper said respectfully, leaving the office. After some time she returned with a scale.

Abigail used it and the number she saw on it made her freeze. It was worse than she imagined. Abigail did the calculation in her head. Her blue eyes bulged, she wanted to cry when she realized how much fat she had to lose before she could return to her perfect figure.

Abigail began to make plans. She instructed the housekeeper to prepare some vegetables for lunch, and later she would do some exercise in the afternoon. At night she instructed the housekeeper to serve only fruits for dinner, and after she would also exercise, in no time she would be back to her slim figure. The plan sounded so perfect to her that a smile found her pink lips.

"My lady," Abigail whipped her head to the door where the housekeeper was standing. "Someone is looking for you. She calls herself Mia Brooke."

"Let her in," Abigail said to the housekeeper pouring some tea.

"Yes madam." The woman left and in a few seconds, a loud shrilling pierced into the main living room.

Mia rushed in, her hands wide in the air, but she stopped halfway when her eyes fell on Abigail.

"What the actual fuck, Abigail. No contact for half a year and you suddenly gained so much weight?"

Abigail folded her hands against her chest. "I will definitely go back to my perfect figure." She moved to Mia, embracing her tightly. "Now, tell me why we haven't contacted each other for half a year? Also, why can't I contact Dave? Did something happen?"

Mia brown eyes regarded her friend as they both sat on the white sofa. "Do you really have amnesia? Can't you even remember that Dave changed his contact a long time ago?"
Abigail nodded, "I don't remember anything that happened in the last two years, Mia. The last thing I remembered was that I was about to get engaged to Dave."

Mia stared at Abigail and was mute for a while before speaking slowly. "I don't have his contact as well. You know I never liked that bloody bastard. But—" she drawled, "why don't you search him up instead?"

"I would have. But unfortunately, my phone broke last night and I am yet to get a new one"

The corners of Mia's lips twitched lightly with a smile. "Well, you are in luck friend." She snatched her phone from her black bag.

Abigail shuffled closer to Mia, as her fingers danced purposefully on her smartphone. Abigail took a sharp breath when Dave's photo appeared on the screen. She couldn't explain why, but suddenly a bad feeling enveloped her chest.