On the Altar

Chapter 17

POV-Crystal, age 16

After Jase and Jake were born, I spent so much time cooing over them that I would've forgot I was pregnant if not for the ridiculously huge bump that doesn't allow me to tie the laces on my Nikes. My babies are due any day, but I don't even feel the slightest hint of a contraction, just the occasional kicks the babies decide to grace me with. Misty is coming over to New York every weekend since we found out I was pregnant and she helps me with my chores and making myself comfortable. 

I know what she was thinking when she visited the boys, it was worded very clearly all over her face, but in a way only Jen and I can understand. It hurt her a lot, but she was forcing herself to be happy for Jen and Marty. Some people might think she's selfish, but they don't know who she is and how she is and what she went through in the past, and how difficult it is not to have recurring memories of it. 

Misty is becoming closer to the boys and genuinely happy for Jen and Marty every passing minute. She goes to the hospital from the airport when she visits, then she comes over to her grandparents' apartment, where I have been living for the past few months. 

I missed a year of high school, but I went to the second semester of the junior year, and the principal told me it was okay because I have exceptional grades for someone who hasn't seen a textbook in a year. Grandma Watson was a teacher, but she has retired now. She helped me study so I could ace a test which the principal told me I had to take if I wanted to skip sophomore year and go directly to junior year with the rest of my peers. 

I got that test because of Misty, too, she was the one who took full responsibility if I screwed up in school, and the principal believed her because of the awards with her name on it which sat in a gallery in the principal's cabin.

The other kids in high school were a mix- some made fun of me while some called me a s**t, a couple were supportive and shut down those jerks. But I didn't care, because the two people whose opinion I value the most, aren't in high school anymore. 

I check the time on the wall clock in my room, since Misty is coming over today. We're going to stream Grey's Anatomy while we eat fruit, because popcorn is making me queasy. We will do that all day, then tomorrow morning, we'll go to visit the boys and Jen, who hasn't been discharged yet. She will be discharged tomorrow afternoon, when we will take her back home and spend time with her, a girl's day complete with mani-pedis, facials and scrubs. The doorbell rings, indicating Misty's presence.

Since Grandma and Grandpa Watson love spending time with Jen's parents and Marty's parents, all of them have gone mini-golfing, after which they are going to the Callaghan's lake house for the night, so I have to get up to open the door. I hold the edge of my bed with one hand and push up with my other hand, and after a couple tries, I get up and waddle to the door, since I walk like a duck ever since my seventh month of pregnancy.

I open the door and find Misty's smiling face looking at me. She says happily, "So...how are my other two godbabies?" I guess she's actually warming up and being genuinely happy for me and for Jen and Marty. "They're fine. Just a few kicks here and there." I answer with a smile and she pushes past me and lays down her suitcase on the couch, switches on the Smart TV and connects it to her phone. She fiddles with her phone for a few seconds and the first episode of Grey's starts playing on the TV screen. 

I go to the kitchen to cut up some fruit, put it in a bowl and bring it back. By now, Misty has her shoes in the shoe rack and heaven knows when she went in to her room and put her suitcase there. We watch the first one in silence, and I don't even realize when one episode becomes two and two melts into three. I don't even realise that both Misty and I had fallen asleep on each other until she wakes me up saying, "Christy, wake up from my lap. I gotta pee." I groggily wake up and see that it is nearly eight in the night. We slept for the entire afternoon.

Pregnancy does make me tired.

I feel a slight twitch in my stomach, which means the babies are kicking again. "Misty, quickly wash your hands, they're kicking!" I call out to her and she comes running. Everybody loves feeling my stomach when they start to kick. Misty sits down beside me and puts her hands on my bump. "I don't feel anything." she says, frowning. "Huh, but I feel them kicking. Ow, that was a strong one, baby." I say the last part to my bump and coax Misty to bring me a glass of water. 

She looks at me weirdly and goes off to get my water. The babies kick a little more fiercely, and I put a hand on my bump. Misty comes out with a glass of water, studies my face and says, "You okay, Christy? You don't look okay. Do you want to go to the hospital?" She asks me these questions in quick succession, the worry in her voice increasing with each question.

"No, I'm fine. The babies are kicking a bit fiercely, that's all. Wanna feel?" I ask her and take the glass from her hands. I drink it as Misty places her hands on my bump once again and says, "Christy, I don't feel anything. We should go to the hospital, please, for me?" She pleads and I give in, knowing she's the one who's gonna be embarrassed when the doctor says it's nothing. 

I ask her to grab the baby bag from my room, while I try to lace up my Nikes. Misty helps me with them after she brings out the bag and the both of us leave for the hospital. We get in her car and she starts driving, and I get to pick out which station we listen to. While surfing through the stations, I find one on which they're playing Ed Sheeran's 'Galway Girl' and I let that play. By now, the babies have kicked at least five times. I wonder what they're up to.

After some time, we reach the hospital and I tell to Misty in the elevator, "You will be embarrassed when the doctor says it's nothing. Let's just go home." She shakes her head and says, "Let's get you checked anyway, for my peace of mind. Jen felt discomfort and turns out, her baby was choking." She says worriedly and I say to the receptionist, "Hi, I'm Crystal Mason, and I'm eight and a half months pregnant with my babieeeeeeesssss!!!!" I scream the last word because a sharp pain is tearing my guts apart. "Hate to say I told you so, kid, but I think you're in labor." Misty says flatly, with a smile playing on her lips.

I'm going to be a mom.