Ink Portals

Abigail Winters

7

Abby Winters had little after-school education. She took a course in first aid once, that was pretty much all she had to her name in the qualifications department. After that she decided to pursue a career in acting. And like most young, naïve women headed to Hollywood she was planning on using her charm and good looks to secure an acting job; she was going to be famous in no time. Only it didn't turn out like that - big surprise. She was so overly optimistic about it all back then that it almost hurt just to think about it now. Most movie execs and producers she came across where more interested in seeing her naked than seeing her resume.

Abby clearly remembered that day on the Hollywood walk of fame. She was wandering around aimlessly, with no money and nowhere to go after her landlord evicted her the day before. She thought about calling her dad back home to come and rescue her, but he was probably too busy shooting a needle up his arm to be bothered. And even if he did give a shit, he didn't have any money to come out to California, anyway.

That day Abby decided she was going to raise the money for a bus ticket on her own, then she would go back home and... then what?

She had no fucking clue.

Maybe crash at a friend's place until she found a job at some fast food place or something? Eventually she'd meet a nice-enough guy, he would knock her up and leave her to raise a kid by herself. In her fragile state every thought coming into her head seemed to be more morbid than the next.

She felt like crying.

"Dammit, Abby, pull yourself together," she hissed under her breath. "Just do it already."

Abby approached the first guy she saw walking in her general direction; a smartly dressed, middle aged man, walking by himself with a leather briefcase. He looked like he had a few bucks to spare. Abby wasn't into older men, but the sheer desperation of her situation forced her to walk up to him.

"Hey mister... you looking for some company?" she said with a shaky voice that betrayed her words.

"Go try your luck with some other dipshit," the man shot back without hesitation.

Abby burst into tears, embarrassed at what had just come out of her mouth. Her mother, had she been there, would have slapped her face hard enough to make her jaw rattle. Abby had become so used to sexual requests from agents and talent scouts (not that she had ever acted on them) that she assumed that was what most men wanted by default. She wished she could breathe the words back in and keep walking as if nothing had happened.

The man stopped and looked at her.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he said, softened by her tears. "You don't look like the regular skanks that patrol this area, what's a girl like you doing turning tricks out here?"

The man instantly saw that this young woman was not a typical undercover prostitute. She was dressed in a wrinkled hoodie and faded jeans. She looked much too soft and fragile to be a hooker. Abby couldn't stop crying, she couldn't believe she had come onto a complete stranger like that.

The man in question was none other than Jack Remington. Abby almost panicked when he came up to her and gave her a hug, the way a father would hug his daughter, and she sobbed uncontrollably in his arms. She remembered the smell of his aftershave, he smelled so nice, dressed in a smart suit and tie with his hair slicked back.

"Listen," he said. "I can't leave you here like this, let me buy you something to eat, or get you a ticket to where you need to go."

Abby shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I can't go back."

"Back where?"

"Home."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

Abby stood in the cabin of the jet, watching Jack sleep with an endearing smile on her face. He really was like a father to her. She unfolded a blanket from one of the seats and draped it over his legs.

She recalled how she had ended up at the Remington's house. She started as a temp and ended up staying permanently, after she took it upon herself to do the grocery shopping and re-organize Jack's entire closet; which was in a state of chaos. Jack was so impressed he offered her a full-time PA job if she wanted it.

And now there she was, two years later, in a jet on its way to Japan with a rag-tag team of freelance criminals; and she wouldn't have it any other way.