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“Help,” I whimper, despite knowing no one can hear me. “Help!” I call louder.
The neighbors won’t hear me. We’re completely surrounded by trees. The closest neighbor is about a ten-minute walk from this house. I’m alone. No one is going to help me.
Get up, Rachel, I tell myself. The only one who can help you, is yourself. You have to get up and find your phone. I wipe the tears from my eyes and begin pushing myself up. My head sways as I straighten myself. I’m still sitting on the floor, but it’s better than before.
“Rachel?” I hear Seth call worriedly.
I open my mouth, wanting to answer, but a contraction seizes me and my mouth snaps shut, clamping down on a scream threatening to tear through me. If I scream, it will freak him out. Instead I groan, hoping he can hear me.
I rock back and forth, breathing in and out. The pain is so much worse. I don’t know how women can do this multiple times. There is no way I will ever do this again. It feels like the baby is ripping through my insides. Suddenly, an image of an alien exploding through someone’s chest comes barreling through my mind and I clamp my eyes closed, willing that horrible thought away. I watch way too many horror movies with the bros.
“Rachel!” Seth shouts, and I hear him running up the stairs.
I groan and keep my mouth shut. I need to focus on breathing, on getting through this pain. My eyes open the moment I feel his arms wrapping around me. I meet his worried brown gaze, which keep flicking from me to the puddle on the floor.
“Rachel, are you okay?”
I shake my head. ‘No,” I croak while clinging to him.
“Okay,” Seth says with a curt nod, “let’s just get you up and into bed. I will clean…this up.”
I sob as he pulls me up gently. “No, we have no time,” I whimper. As soon as I’m on my feet, I start hobbling to the door, my legs quivering with each step. “It’s time.”
“Time?” Seth asks, his voice shrill with worry. “What do you mean it’s time?”
“My water just broke!” I cry without bothering to turn around. “We need to get to the hospital. I’m giving birth right now!”
“Shit,” Seth says as he follows me out of my bedroom. He runs around me and toward the stairs, still repeating the same word over and over again as if it’s a mantra. I allow him to help me down the stairs, all the while wondering how I could be so crazy as to send Lucas away. How could I have not known I was going into labor? Doesn’t every woman know what to do in a situation like this? I try not to think so negatively, but I can’t help wondering if maybe Mom is right—maybe I’m not ready to be a parent.
Well, it’s a bit too late to back out now.
