Mate revealed

Rain begun to dapple the window pane. The first rumblings of thunder shuddered above the clouds as a single streak of lightening cracked through the sky, threatening to break opened their little world.   Sweat sodden hair scribbled across her forehead, and with one last inhuman howl, she collapsed backwards. Heart thrumming against her ribs, she waited, but the only sound was the song of thunder and lightning outside.  “Please”  Her counterpart looked up from the end of the mattress, worry and anxiety woven into this second woman’s kindly, doughy features. In her arms, a bundle. “Please Tabitha, let me…” the first murmurs.  Just like the sky, Tabitha’s hair was veined with silver.  The wall behind her an intricate patchwork of paintwork. The rashes of flacking paint shivered in the slight breeze. After looking at the door Tabitha quickly shuffles to her bedside, shaking hands delicately passing the bundle to it’s mother.  The door convulses: bang, bang, bang. “Is it over? Is she finished?” is shouted through from the otherside side. A diminutive, atomic mouth twists and turns, tasting it’s first few breaths. Tabitha watches, mother and baby will only ever have this moment together. Mothers eyes filled, wonder and sorrow slipping quietly down her cheeks, splashing onto her baby’s forehead.  “Is it finished?” Angry words leap from the otherside again, the door groans under their weight: it’s guard of them is almost over. “Right we’re going in” The man mutters to a companion. The hearts of both women begin to flutter against their ribs again. Tabitha holds out her hands. Men burst from the door, bundle ripped from mother and bequeathed to Tabitha. In the commotion, screaming and tears, the torch holders are smashed. The light die. The room is strangled in darkness.