I enter my home, feeling heavy and just ready to crawl into my bed so I could sleep for an eternity.
But as soon as I lock the door behind me and glance at the little table where my parents keep their keys and stuff, I stop moving.
There, on the bureau, is a bouquet of flowers.
It’s a beautiful bouquet, filled with all kinds of colors, with perfectly round leaf sprigs and pink, purple, and blue flowers. It smells amazing, and there’s a tag on the ribbon that holds the stems together.
I turn the tag and feel my heart flutter.
There are only two words on the tag, in a cursive script is more than familiar.
“I’m sorry,” says the words written in David’s cursive writing.
Oh.
Oh, I did not expect this, especially after Jay’s warning. I thought that he would be mad. But telling me he’s sorry, that means he’d changed his mind about everything, right? He must be regretting what he told me to do, he might even be scared that I’d realized his offer to go to the witch to take my baby out was illegal and wanted to make sure that I didn’t go to report him to the Tribunal.
Or maybe he had finally gotten over his shame. Maybe Alpha Aspen telling him to take care of my problem meant to actually take care of me and the baby, as if, to be the father of my baby and stop running from his responsibilities.
I feel so happy, and suddenly it’s like the weight that had been on my shoulders had been lifted already. It would have meant a lot more if he’d told me himself, but maybe he was embarrassed for his actions. Maybe he had waited until I came home, and when I got late because I was held back by the principal, he had to leave because he was Alpha’s son after all. He had responsibilities.
The scent is really nice, and I feel so good. Suddenly, the fear, the embarrassment, and the hopelessness I’d felt before seemed so far away. Everything is going to be fine, |I think, he had apologized. Everything is going to be okay.
I still feel so tired though. Fighting with friends in the cafeteria while being pregnant takes a lot from the person.
I take the bouquet in my hands and take a sniff of the scents.
I think I need to sit down.
I cradle the bouquet in my hands and head to the living room to sit down. I wish I could see David. Despite him being an asshole, I didn’t stop loving him. The love was tarnished, yes, but it’s still there.
Man, I feel so sleepy, but I’m too lethargic to even go upstairs. The scents coming from the flowers are just so addicting, that I take another sniff. Maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a moment, it’s going to take my parents a while to come home anyway. I’ll have plenty of time to leave when I get up. The pregnancy hormones must be the reason for this. I have read somewhere that sleepiness and lethargy are common symptoms for pregnant women.
I feel happy that my baby is growing so much that they are affecting me like this. I wonder if it’s a girl or a boy. Whatever they are, I’m going to love them so much, and I hope David will do. I was already in love with my little tot.
“Your daddy’s coming back for us, he apologized,” I rub my stomach as I recline, my head spinning with drowsiness. I didn’t get enough sleep last night either. I should be glad I didn’t pass out in the school, or worse, in front of the principal.
“We’re going to be okay, baby. We’re going to be okay.”
My eyes close, and everything fades to black.
***
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
My brows twitch. What’s that noise? Something is beeping next to my ear. I don’t remember putting up an alarm. I don’t remember alarms being this consistent and slow too.
My visions start to return to me along with unconsciousness. I’m groggy, my whole body feels heavy. I don’t want to go to sleep again, but I’m having a hard time waking up.
There are bright lights right in front of my eyes, I can see them even through my eyelids. The temperature is also weird. It’s cool. At my home, we like things to be a little on the hot side.
And then I realize that the smells I’m getting are very antiseptic, surgical-like. Not too long ago, I felt these scents.
My eyes finally fly open, and I gasp.
“Oh, my Goddess!”
Why the hell am I in a hospital? What’s going on? The last thing I remember is going to sleep at home after finding a bouquet of water from David. At least. I thought it was from David. There was no name on the tag, but who else was there to apologize to me?
I remember smelling the flowers and then falling asleep.
What happened?
The beeping starts to increase around me, and the door to the room opens. That’s when I noticed that there was no one here in the room with me. My heart drops as a nurse makes her way towards me.
“You’re awake, that great.” The nurse smiles at me, “Easy now, don’t move, honey. You’ve been through a lot; you need to take it easy. Let me call the doctor.”
“W-what happened?” I asked, my voice a croak, and immediately started to cough from the dryness in my mouth.
“Here, please,” The nurse stops to place a cup of water at my lips. “Small sips, sweetie. Your stomach might hurt too.”
Wait, my stomach. My baby! I immediately clutch at my stomach and look fearfully at the nurse.
“What happened to me? Is the baby, okay?!”
“Calm down, calm down!” The nurse warned. “The fetus had not been harmed. You were brought here before anything could happen. You were poisoned, sweetie. And it was serious. We found a bouquet of flowers in your home, and that’s where the poison came from. Who sent you the flowers, Miss. Starr? They were trying to kill you!”