AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sank into a nearby bench and buried my face in my hands. Tears sprang to my eyes. I was alone in the courtyard, and I couldn’t hold myself back from breaking down. This was all so much to take in. First, I found out I was pregnant, and before I could even process that, I was told I had to give the baby up?
What a cruel world we lived in.
I was wholly torn in so many directions. Before today, I hadn’t been sure I wanted to be a mother, but I wasn’t going to say no. The thought of getting an abortion churned my stomach. I wasn’t against abortion—I believed women should have a right to choose what to do with their own bodies.
But that was the thing. If I was given a choice, I’d keep the baby, hands down. But could I do that if it meant neither of us would survive?
Holy shit, I was already thinking about us, as if this baby was already mine. Slowly, I sat up straighter and placed my hand on my belly. I couldn’t believe there was a tiny little human growing inside of me. The thought of a baby felt more like an idea than anything. It didn’t feel real.
But it was, and that terrified me, because now that there was an us, I didn’t want to give it up. We had the chance to become a family… but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. I couldn’t bring a child into the world as it was today, not unless we fled the coven completely. Would that even help if this baby was destined to suffer its whole life?
It seemed no matter what I did, my family was destined to be torn apart. I’d lost my parents, and now Grammy, and it killed me to think they wouldn’t be around to see our baby grow up. My parents could’ve been grandparents, and Grammy could’ve been a great-grandmother, but that was never going to happen now because they weren’t here. Lucas’s parents were abusive, and we couldn’t rely on them for anything. This child wouldn’t have a family to lean on, and I feared if we started a family of our own, it wouldn’t last, and our baby would be taken from us, too. Maybe Lucas and I only needed each other.
This wasn’t just about me, either. If I refused the procedure and it killed us, I’d be leaving Lucas behind. All of my friends would have to fight the priestesses without me. The coven would be left without a Curse Breaker, and there would be no one to use the Curse Breaker Wand to end the Waning.
I didn’t have a choice.
Abortion was my only option. I had to go through with this, even if I didn’t want to.
Somehow, I had to find a way to tell Lucas. I just knew this news would break his heart.
Tears streamed down my face, and I clutched my stomach as a sickness rose inside my gut. The next thing I knew, I was curling over the side of the bench and heaving into the nearest flower bed.
I heard a door, then footsteps approached quickly. “Are you okay? Do you need me to find a nurse?” a female voice asked in concern.
“No,” I insisted. “It’s just morning sickness.”
I was almost certain it was a lie. The entire encounter with Doctor Malach had left me ill.
I groaned as I sat upright again. The girl who’d approached me was about my age, with long brown hair and deep brown eyes. She carried a baby on her hip. The baby couldn’t be more than a year old, if that, and had a black tuft of hair on her head. The baby was dressed in a bright pink outfit, with a huge bow on her head. She looked so cute, and it made me want to die inside thinking about my own child.
“How far along are you?” the woman asked.
I cleared my throat. “I just found out, so that must make me four weeks.”
“That’s exciting!” She smiled brightly. “Congratulations.”
I tried to force a smile, but all I could do was scoff.
“Oh, no.” Her voice came out so small and caring, and she rushed over to sit beside me on the bench. She dropped her diaper bag at her feet and set her baby on her lap. “I’m Sophia, and this is my daughter, Ava-Marie.”
I glanced down at the badge hanging off her diaper bag. “Do you work here?”
“I’m just a volunteer,” she said. “I help with ASL interpretation when the clinic is short-staffed. I’m working on getting my certification.”
She was talking like she was trying to distract me, which was nice.
“I’m not volunteering today, though,” she added. “I just got out of a prenatal appointment.”
I hadn’t noticed before, but now I saw she had a small baby bump. She couldn’t be more than four months along.
Ava-Marie squirmed, and Sophia tickled her belly. Ava-Marie giggled, and my heart broke all over again. According to my doctors, I’d never hear my baby giggle like that. I hadn’t known how much I wanted to hear that sound until now, and in an instant, it’d been taken away from me.
Tears rose to my eyes, and I tried to choke them back, but I could feel my face heating.
Sophia’s features fell. “Whatever’s wrong, I’m sure the doctors can help you figure it out. They’re very good at what they do.”
I grimaced. “That’s what the receptionist told me about Dr. Malach. World-renowned, she called him. That angel can go to hell.”
