Her fingers stroked the beautiful necklace that Tyler gave her that night. She never took it off, not even when she wanted to shower. She had this crazed thinking that she might misplace it if she did and invariably lose Tyler’s heart.
Her love for him had grown in leaps and bounds even though her parents didn’t care much for him. Her dad had called him a degenerate after finding out he lived in a group home because his mom was an alcoholic. She loved Tyler, though; she was almost bursting at the seams with it, and that was all that mattered.
“OMG, it’s positive!”
Her friend’s outburst cut into her musings. She turned to look at her wide-eyed friend who was positioned on the toilet seat, holding a pregnancy test strip firmly.
Kaiya shook her head. Her friend had been freaking out all morning, repeatedly saying she believed she was pregnant because her period was a few days late. Distraught, Jalissa had brought home some, maybe ten, pregnancy test kits to allay or confirm her fears.
Being the supportive friend that she was, Kaiya had decided to use one of the tests. Trepidation gripped her when she registered the fear and worry in her friend’s eyes.
Pushing herself away from the mirror, she hurried to her friend’s side.
“Are you sure?” she questioned softly, gazing at the stick in her friend’s quivering hand.
The breath caught in her throat when she saw the two pinks lines. Dear God, Jalissa was pregnant! Oh, no, what was she going to do? Her arm instinctively went around her friend’s shoulder.
“Everything’s going to be fine, Jalissa. We’ll get through this together,” she offered, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.
“Kaiya,” Jalissa called in a small voice, darting her tongue across her lips, “the test isn’t mine. It’s yours.”
The words exploded in Kaiya’s eyes. Her heart stopped beating for a second.
“What?” Her arm fell from her friend’s shoulders, and she took a step back fidgeting.
“Mine are those three over there. They’re all negative. I was about to throw all of them away when I saw yours,” Jalissa explained and quickly rose to her feet.
Kaiya’s lips quivered in unison with her hand as she reached for the test strip,
It can’t be!It was too soon to tell.
She and Tyler had sex every day for the past two weeks. Granted, they hadn’t used protection the first time, carried away in the heat of passion, but they did use protection after that. How possible was it that she would get pregnant just that one time?
Twenty minutes later and two more positive test strips later, Kaiya paced Jalissa’s room, clutching the pendant on the necklace Tyler had given her between her fingers.
She was indeed pregnant! She was only sixteen for crying out loud! A baby wasn’t a part of her plans. How was she ever going to be a professional ballet dancer if she was saddled with a baby? Her parents would surely kill her. They had blackmailed her older sister into marriage, what would they do to her?
“OMG, my parents will kill me!” Her hand shook as she stared at her phone. “Why the hell isn’t Tyler picking up his phone or responding to my text messages?”
Her first instinct had been to call him to inform him that their lives were about to change. But she couldn’t get him on the phone, even now!
“What are we going to do?” Jalissa queried from her bed. Her eyes were also red-rimmed like her friend’s and her face was wet with tears, too.
Her face ashen with fear, Kaiya shook her head. “I don’t know. All I know is that my life is about to change and I doubt very much it’s for the better.”
Chapter 1
The pain began as a little twinge below her protruding stomach. Gradually, it increased, sending sharp pangs all over her body. She tried opening her eyes, but it appeared as if they were glued shut.
A scream passed from her throat as intense pain racked her body again. Forcing her eyes open, her heart slammed painfully in her chest when she discovered she was in a dark room. She could view nothing except pitch darkness.
Another bout of pain shot through her body. She gasped and tried to rise from the surface she was on to get help. It was all in futility because she couldn’t move her body. It seemed like she was chained to the bed.
Hysteria hit her as the bed began to spin.
“Help! Somebody, help me!” she screamed to no avail.
The bed suddenly stopped spinning, and then she found herself in a brightly lit, empty room trying to push out her baby amidst extreme pain. Everywhere was painted in white, and there wasn’t an iota of furniture in the place save the bed. Glancing down, she noticed she was in a delivery position. Her knees were upturned; her hands tightly gripped her heels, her face was doused with sweat, yet there was a chill in the large room that sent shivers up to her spine.
