Chapter-6
1164 Words
A month later.
was how long Liana had carried the secret inside her body, and how long the world had been sharpening its knives
The pregnancy symptoms had initially come silently. Subtle. Easy to dismiss. There is something unnatural in the mornings. A persistent nausea, which would not go away. Her breasts were tender, her body slower as though it were picking up a new rhythm that none but herself could be aware of.
Today, it hit harder.
Liana had gotten halfway through her lecture when the pressure in her bladder got too much to bear. It was sudden, pressing, sharp, as though her body had made up its mind that the time was at hand.
She leaned in her chair, thighs against each other, heart pumping. At least his voice would not be heard, the professor was boring on about economic models. Sweat had been piled on the back of her neck.
Please. Just ten minutes more.
Another wave hit. Stronger. She got a little gasp, and her hand unconsciously went to her lower abdomen.
I can't.
She raised her hand.
"Yes?" the professor was impatiently sighing.
"Sir, please--I need to step out."
He averted his eyes for the time and waved her away. "Be quick."
Twice Liana waited not to be asked. She took her bag and started away at top speed, at first slowly, then more and more, her heels beating sharply on the tiled floor. Students stared. She didn't care.
By the time she got to the female restroom towards the humanities wing, her breathing was uneven.
She made a rush out of the door and rushed into a stall, barely shutting the door before relief was obtained. Leaning forward she put one hand against a cold wall, and the other hand against her stomach, protecting it.
Easy, girl, I said to myself. "Easy, baby."
Her heart was racing.
She sat quietly a minute after completing this, settling herself. The only sound in the bathroom was the hum of the lights and the faint sound of footsteps outside.
Then…
Laughter.
Female voices.
Her spine stiffened.
She knew them without a doubt.
Clara.
Danielle.
And two others she did not know at all, but had observed going round her like vultures in recent weeks.
The door swung open.
In here, she said, Danielle said in a sharp voice of satisfaction.
Liana's stomach dropped.
Please. Not now.
She made no reply in the hope, that they would go.
Heels clicked closer.
One of the shadows paused before her booth.
Come out, Liana, come out, Clara sang in a low voice. "We just want to talk."
Liana gulped, her fingers gripping tighter onto her bag strap.
I am busy, she said, and had to make her voice steady. "Leave me alone."
Danielle laughed. "Busy doing what? Hiding?"
The lock rattled.
The beating of her heart was like a hammer against her ribs.
Stop, said Liana, and I feel a panic coming on. "Go away."
The door burst open.
Just time to gasp and hands seized her arm and lifted her. Her back banged against the sink, and the force of the collision took the breath out of her lungs.
"Don't touch me!" she cried.
"Oh relax," Clara said coolly. "We just want answers."
Danielle looked at the stomach of Liana.
"Funny," she said slowly. You have been running to the bathroom a lot.
Liana instinctively drew a covering over herself.
"Move," she whispered. "Please."
The entrance was blocked by one of the girls.
Clara came nearer, and her voice dropped lower. "You think you're special now? Just bragging and strutting like you cannot be touched because some billionaire is covering your bills?
Never said so, Liana, said, with tears in her eyes. "This is none of your business."
Danielle smiled…-and it was meanness.
"But it is."
She had reached over and struck Liana.
Liana stepped over the stall door and pushed against it. Pain shot through her side.
"Stop!" she screamed. "You're hurting me!"
Clara threw her head back, with a pretence of care. "Hurting you? Or killing what you are carrying?
The words hit like a slap.
Liana froze.
Danielle's eyes lit up.
"Oh," she said softly. "So it's true."
Panic burst in the breast of Liana.
"Don't," she begged. "Please, I'm begging you."
Danielle put a hand into her bag.
Liana caught a glimpse of the metal glittering in advance of her brain.
"No…” her voice broke. "No, please!"
You think that you can walk around pregnant like that? Danielle hissed. "Like you're better than us?"
She stepped forward.
Liana screamed.
"HELP! SOMEBODY…”
The slap came fast and brutal.
Her head had turned to the side and pained her cheek. She tasted blood.
Another shove.
Her back struck the sink, still more.
There was a thing twisted within her.
Her lower abdomen shot with a sudden tearing pain.
Liana screamed and fell to the ground.
No... no, no, no, no... "Please... please..."
Danielle froze.
"Guys..." one of the girls murmured. "She's bleeding."
Liana looked down.
Red.
Too much red.
She was fed on terror as never before.
"My baby," she sobbed. "Oh God, my baby"
Clara's face drained of color.
"This wasn't supposed to..”
"LET ME GO!" Liana screamed and crawled on all fours to the door leaving streaks on the tiles.
Her body was aching as though it were inside out.
Pain.
Cold.
Fear.
Everything blurred.
The door burst open.
A male voice shouted.
"What the hell is going on?!"
There were crowds of students in the doorway. Someone screamed. Another person took out a cell phone.
Liana's vision darkened.
The only thing which she experienced before all that was lost was the intolerable emptiness within her--and the knowledge that she was being robbed of something of value forever.
LATER
The hospital lamps were excessive.
She felt sick of the smell of antiseptic.
Liana started up with a strangled scream.
Her hand flew to her stomach.
Flat.
Empty.
She was immediately attended by a nurse.
"Miss Brooks…easy. You're safe."
Liana was shaking her head. "My baby. Where's my baby?"
The face of the nurse became gentle.
"I'm so sorry."
The words shattered her.
She cried…Piccadilly, cracking sounds tearing her breast.
The door opened.
Justin Cartier walked in.
A glance at her..and his world was on hold.
Her face was bruised.
Her wrist was bandaged.
Her eyes are hollow.
"What happened?" his voice was dangerously low, he asked.
Liana broke.
"They... they hurt me," she cried. "I tried to protect it. I tried.."
Justin was across the room in two steps and fell to his knees by her bedside, with his hands clinging to the rails to the point of whiteness.
His eyes were dark.
Deadly.
I swear to you, no one, who touched you, will walk away from this, I said, my voice trembling under repressed anger.
Liana cried over the pillow, and her body ached.
And somewhere inside Justin Cartier something cold and merciless was awakening.
- Writer
