How did this all start?
It began with her parents, Quinn and Ashley—a young couple who were selfish, immature, and irresponsible. Youth and foolishness are a terrible combination. Thankfully, there were no siblings to endure the hellish life she had to endure as a child.

Her parents had been high school sweethearts. Barely two years after graduation, they got married. They were twenty years old, with barely any footing in their chosen careers. He was a welder for a small engineering company, and she was a trainee accountant at a small real estate agency. Their marriage went against all the advice from family elders and friends, but they ignored it all.

From conversations with her aunts and uncles, Abbey was able to piece together where it all started to go wrong. Her birth, two years into the marriage, brought about the first crack. The costs of living skyrocketed. Their combined salaries were insufficient for the new, added responsibility of a child. Necessities for a newborn, a landlord’s rental increase, and the high prices of food all ballooned. They even had to hire a full-time nanny so they could both keep working.

Arguments and constant bickering became their new normal. Frayed nerves led to accusations and insults, gaining momentum with each encounter. Her father began drinking heavily, coming home in the early hours of the morning, in the twilight. This just compounded an already shaky relationship. Her mother responded with brutal taunts, pushing him to the brink. Neighbours complained to the local police about the disturbances, and on one occasion, her father was arrested and locked up for the night to sober up.

Abbey had vague memories of this time, the toll it took on her young psyche. The “scars” were now distant memories, soothed by the wonderful life she now led, but they were not gone. They were the foundation of the resilience that had made her the woman she was today. This was just the beginning of her sorrows. As if that was not enough, what happened next was the height of rejection.