Rose bait.
1007 Words
~Amanda’s pov~
I barely made it to the bathroom before another wave of nausea hit me.
It was a little past 3:00 a.m., and my stomach churned so violently that I dropped to my knees in front of the toilet. My fingers clutched the edge of the water closet as I threw up everything I had eaten the night before.
My throat burned, my eyes watered, and by the time I was done, I felt completely drained.
This had become my routine over the past very few weeks, early in the morning.
The morning sickness refused to ease up. I was already past my first trimester, yet every dawn greeted me with the same misery.
I couldn't let anyone notice. Not William, not Aunt Paulina, not Rose, not even Seth. If they found out I was pregnant, I knew exactly what would happen. They would ask questions I couldn't answer, and sooner or later, someone would suggest getting rid of the baby.
I rested a shaky hand against my stomach.
"No," I whispered.
I couldn't do that.
Whatever happened between his father and me, this tiny life growing inside me had done nothing wrong. I wasn't about to punish an innocent child for my mistakes.
I flushed the toilet and splashed cold water over my face until the redness around my eyes faded. After drying my face, I carefully cracked the bathroom door open.
Only the soft sound of William's breathing filled the room.
I stepped out slowly, making sure the wooden floor didn't creak beneath my feet. Moonlight slipped through the curtains, casting pale shadows across the bedroom.
William was still asleep, lying on his back with one arm resting across his chest. His wheelchair stood beside the bed, exactly where it always was.
A quiet sigh escaped me.
Just as I was about to climb back into bed, my reflection caught my eye.
The dressing mirror.
Almost without thinking, I found myself walking toward it.
I stopped inches away.
For a long moment, I simply stared.
The loose nightdress William had insisted I wear still hid most of my body, but it wasn't enough anymore.
My hands slowly lifted the fabric.
My breath caught….
The curve was there.
Small...But impossible for me to ignore.
If someone looked carefully enough, they would notice it too.
"Gosh..." I whispered, my voice barely audible. "This is bad."
My fingers drifted over the slight swell.
A child belonging to a man whose face I couldn't even remember anymore.
No matter how hard I tried, his features slipped away from me like smoke, his voice was gone. All I had left was this child growing inside me.
Sometimes I wondered if that made me cruel.
Then there was William...My husband.
A man who had never once looked at me with love. He insisted I dress like a proper wife, yet he never touched me. I didn't want him to either. Every conversation between us felt like a battle neither of us wanted to lose.
"What are you staring at the mirror?"
His voice shattered the silence.
My heart lurched.I let go of my dress so quickly it slipped back into place.
When I turned around, he was awake.
Watching me.
"O... oh." I forced a nervous smile. "You're awake."
His brows drew together.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I..." My mouth suddenly felt dry.
His eyes remained fixed on me.
"Or are you some kind of witch?"
I blinked.
"A witch?" I let out a shaky laugh. "No... no, you're getting it all wrong. I was just... admiring the dress." Even to my own ears, it sounded ridiculous.
His expression didn't change.
I couldn't bear another second of him looking at me like that.
Without waiting for him to respond, I hurried back to bed and lay down, turning my back toward him. I shut my eyes tightly, pretending to be asleep while my heart pounded so loudly I was sure he could hear it.
Please don't ask anything else. Please…..
The room grew quiet again, i stayed completely still.
One minute passed, then another.
Finally, I dared to glance over my shoulder.
William's eyes were closed.A soft snore escaped him, he had fallen asleep.
The breath I didn't realize I'd been holding slipped out slowly.
My hand found my stomach beneath the blanket.
"I'll protect you," I whispered.
It wasn't a promise I knew how to keep.
But it was the only one I had.
Sleep eventually claimed me.
**********
"Hey, Amy."
Rose's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I looked up from the cream-colored scarf I had been knitting on the living room sofa.
She walked in with Aunt Priscilia close behind, wearing the same smile that always made me uneasy. It wasn't warm, It wasn't friendly, but the kind of smile that appeared whenever she thought she'd already won.
My stomach tightened.
This wasn't a social visit.
Seth came down the staircase just then, already dressed in a neatly pressed suit. He adjusted his watch as Aunt Priscilia greeted him warmly before following him toward the hallway. Their voices faded into quiet conversation as they stepped outside.
Rose stayed behind.
She walked toward me with slow, confident steps before stopping right in front of me.
I kept my attention on the scarf, pretending she wasn't there.
"Take this," she said, holding out a cream-colored card.
I looked at it briefly before returning to my knitting. "You can leave it on the table. Thanks."
She didn't move.Instead, she laughed softly.
"I think you'll want to take it yourself."
"I said you can leave it there."
The room fell silent.
Then she leaned closer.
"You'd better take it," she said quietly, her lips curling into a smug smile. "Or I'll let them know."
My hands froze.
The knitting needle faintly trembled from my fingers.
A chill crept down my spine.
My heartbeat quickened as I slowly lifted my eyes to meet hers.
"Let... them know what?"
Rose didn't answer, she only smiled.
And somehow, that terrified me even more.
- Writer
