“There’s blood! She’s bleeding!” An ear-piercing scream sounded from a side while my head was pounding. My baby…
A man laughed. “How thrilling! I never thought I’ll get to toy with a pregnant woman. This is so exciting!”
The excruciating pain inflicted upon my body made me feel suffocated and I passed out, feeling weak.
Death would always come unannounced. In midst of my coma, I dreamt of a lot of things and met many people. The darkness was endless and I couldn’t find my path. All I could hear were people’s voices around me, but I couldn’t escape from the world I was trapped in.
Finally, I regained my consciousness. Opening my eyes, my vision was blurry as my surroundings were bright. I blinked my eyes and figured out I was in the hospital later on. I tried to glance around, but as soon as I moved, immense pain crept up my body and it felt like my body had fallen apart.
Hiss. I couldn’t hold back my squeals, as it was too painful.
Immediately after, I heard rushed footsteps approaching, while someone was shouting, “She’s awake! Quick! Call the doctor.” The voice was from a stranger.
After getting used to the surroundings, I snapped out of my daze and finally recognized the girl who walked into the room. She was Ann.
When the girl saw me, her eyes were red. “You’re finally awake… Finally.”
I opened my mouth to express my thoughts, but I only felt pain in my throat. Soon after, a group of people came in. They were Cameron, Zachary, and Joseph. I heaved a sigh of relief when I noticed Ashton wasn’t there. Hearing what Ann said, I initially thought I had been in a coma for long.
Cameron’s eyes were swollen from crying, and she wore a pain-etched expression looking at me. I reached out to tug on the hem of her shirt and shook my head, assuring her.
Realization dawned on me suddenly, and I thought of my baby. I touched my lower abdomen gently and felt pain spiraling from within. Unsure of what happened to my baby, I looked at the people standing beside me, and asked, “Is my baby… okay?”
Everyone had different reactions, but none of them looked at me in the eyes. Cameron started crying with muffled sobs. Zachary sighed. Ann lowered her head and stayed silent while guilt and sorry were written all over Joseph’s face. I was stunned for a moment, but I knew what they meant. My baby’s gone.
As the bitter truth sank in, pain washed over my heart like waves of a tsunami. My body started trembling as I felt suffocated. I pursed my lips and tried to hold back my screams, but it only made me look contorted.
Tears rolled down Cameron’s cheeks vigorously as she hurriedly took my hands in hers. “She heaved a sigh and pleaded, “My dear, don’t be like this, please. Your body hasn’t recovered yet, so don’t do this to yourself. You’ll get better. Please, I beg you. Don’t hurt yourself.”
My body reacted to the sorrow on its own, so I couldn’t control it. I clenched my fists tightly, and my head was throbbing in pain as if it was about to explode.
Overwhelmed by grief, I heard someone screaming, “She’s biting her tongue. Quick! Stop her!”
I didn’t even notice I was biting my tongue. I couldn’t even feel my body. It was just pain all over.
Joseph called the doctor immediately, and a few doctors rushed into the room. When they saw the situation, they panicked. “Hurry! Give her some tranquilizer.”
Right when the doctors were busy injecting the tranquilizer, a loud bang could be heard from the entrance and the door was swept open. A figure dashed to me, pushing Cameron and Zachary aside before taking me into his arms. His voice sounded hoarse and low. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I’m with you.”
It was Ashton. The pain in my head started dissipating as I gazed at him in a daze. It seemed he had a lot of work in Moranta, given how he seemed to have lost weight.
Perhaps it was because of the tranquilizer that I was getting tired. I wanted to look at the man I had longed for, so I tried to keep my eyes open, but I fell asleep.
The days I was consumed by grief felt like forever to me, but I made peace with it and days went by quickly. It was during this period of recovering from sorrow that I realized nothing lasted forever, and we would lose the things we held dear no matter what. There was an old saying that went, if we could bear losing everything, we wouldn’t have any regrets in this life.
The saying was true. After being discharged from the hospital, I looked at the bright sun in A City and started accepting everything calmly.
Ashton parked the car and looked at me. “What would you like to eat? Let’s eat something before going back.”
I nodded and thought for a while before answering, “Seafood!”
The man furrowed his brows slightly, but nodded soon after.
In the seafood restaurant, I went pale as I stared at the water tanks. Ashton looked at me in concern and asked, “Should we eat something else?”
I shook my head and insisted, “No need. It’s great here.” Staring at the sea creatures swimming and crawling in the tanks, I turned to Ashton and asked, “Do they serve live food?”
