Ghost Town chapter 1 part 1

* This is a Horror/Romance story I've been working on that the lovely Scout has encouraged me to post. I hope it's not too cliched and I hope you enjoy reading it. Please leave a comment on your way out, constructive critisim is always appreciated. At this point I'm not sure if it will be more Mills and Boon or Steven King, but I guess we'll all find out as we go.*


'Mummy can't we stop? I'm hungry.' Abigail wailed piteously from the passenger seat of the large four wheel drive.
'Not yet Abigail, we've only just left. Why didn't you say something half an hour ago before we started out?'
'I wasn't hungry then.' the little girl mumbled her little chin dropping down onto her chest.
'Why do we have to go away mummy?' she asked her lower lip now set firmly in a pout.
'We've been through this Abby,' her mother said with a deep sigh, trying very hard to stay patient, 'We're going to live in a lovely house in the country, with plenty of room to run around and we're going to get a puppy! Remember we talked about getting a puppy?' Rachael said injecting a little forced cheerfulness into her words.

It had been six months since the divorce and three since she'd seen the add in the paper for the gorgeous little corner store up for sale in Milawara. She'd always dreamed of living in the country and being her own boss and now with no hot shot lawyer husband to tie her to the city she was going to do it. She'd talked it all through with Abby of course before making any decisions, but she had to admit that most of the little girl’s enthusiasm had been directed at the bribes of puppies and ponies that Rachael had made.

Unfortunately this time the reminder of the promised puppy didn't seem to be having the cheering effect Rachael had been hoping for as Abby remained stubbornly slumped in her seat an air of gloom surrounding her little frame.
'Come on Abby don't be like this we've been over this. I thought we agreed it'd be fun to live in the country?'
The little shoulders of the still slumped figure beside her shrugged.
'Why isn't daddy coming?' She asked now, her voice barely more than a sad little whisper.
'You know why Daddy's not coming sweety. Daddy and I have both explained it to you.' Rachael replied, her heart breaking for her precious little girl who just didn't understand.

It was so difficult, to see her little girl so heartbroken. They were so much alike mother and daughter, they shared the same shiny dark brown hair, though Abby wore hers in pigtails and Rachael’s was softly layered framing her face, they had the same bright hazel eyes and the same clear porcelain skin. People would often look at childhood photos of Rachael and think that they were looking at pictures of Abby. That's why it hurt so much that Abby was now going through the same thing she'd experienced as a child. Rachael had tried so hard to hold together her marriage with Daniel, she'd been ready to leave him when she'd found out she was pregnant but hadn't been able to do it knowing there was now a child involved. She'd stayed in that loveless marriage for eight years pretending to the best of her ability that there was nothing wrong for her daughter’s sake. When Daniel had come home one night and told her that he was leaving her for another woman, it had hurt even more, because she should have been the one to leave him and yet she'd stayed, because she had done everything she could to be what he wanted and he'd still left her.

Seeing her daughter now, her broken heart clearly displayed in her clear hazel eyes, broke her heart all over again and brought back all the pain and sadness she had felt as a little girl when her daddy had left.

**Sorry it's so short but as I said it's only the first part of chapter one and I just wanted to get something posted to try and get the ball rolling. I'll post more soon. Please let me know your thoughts positive and negative.**

Cheers Lady L

http://the-writings-of-lady-laughalot.blogspot.com/2006/07/ghost-town-chapter-1-part-2.html