At that precise moment, the muscle in my chest gives out a loud thud as if saying hello.
“You’ve tried to wake a few times, but your body still needed the rest because you’d fall right back to sleep. Until today,” Dr. Knight adds as the nurses check my vitals.
“Wh-what happened?” There is a beat of silence after my question.
“Do you remember anything?” Stella’s eyes lock on mine, assessing. “You were in an accident…”
That one word sends a ripple of memories over me.
The pregnancy test. The black and white picture. The park. Storm…Joey’s house…the whispers…the bright light…the crash…I remember.
I remember the force with which the car crunched against the tree, with me in between. The crunch of bones. The sounds…I think they were coming from me. And then…blood. I remember blood. The metallic stench intensified by rain and wind.
God, there was so much blood, and it almost feels like it all came back to me, pounding against my temples now as the air in my lungs dries out.
Thunder. Lightning. Heavy pounding of the rain. The vicious swoosh of the searing winds. I feel them all slam into me as one at his recollection of my injuries.
My baby…
The monitor on my left starts going off.
“Aurora, I need you to calm down. You are alive and everything will be okay, but you need to calm down.”
I understand what they’re saying. I do, but I can’t calm down. I can’t think past anything other than what’s happened to my baby.
My fingers drag over to my belly despite the crippling pain it causes, and just before I can reach it, Dr. Knight caught my hand gently, stopping me.
“You know, I’ve never seen such will to live from adults, let alone a thirteen-week-old fetus.”
I suck in a sharp breath that stings my lungs and halts my thrashing.
“What do you mean?”
The doctor smiles gently. “You got into an accident. It was raining heavily that night as you might recall, and the oncoming car lost control of the vehicle. Unfortunately, it came right over you, causing a multitude of injuries from broken limbs to more serious tears on the inside. When you were brought in, your blood test immediately showed us you were pregnant, and we had gynecology on standby in the OR to help when things would inevitably turn into a direction which we all knew they would. It’s just simply not realistic for the fetus to survive such accident, and then have the mother undergo a heart transplant surgery and survive, but…”
“But?” I rasp out, the monitor slowly slowing down and a bewildered smile overtakes his face.
“But…here we are. Your boy is alive and safe in your uterus without any plans to vacate the premises before he has to.”
I blink. “H-he…he’s still there? He survived?”
“Yes. Would you like to see him?”
“Yes.” I start nodding and regret it instantly when a sharp pain explodes over my whole body.”
“Shh.” The doctor rushes toward me, but Stella beats him to it, pinning me with her stern gaze.
“Ray of my sunshine, do not move a muscle,” she grits through her teeth.
“Okay, I won’t.” My voice quivers. “It’s a boy?”
“Yes.”
“Can I…can I see him? Please?” I feel a tear slide down my cheek.
He’s alive. He made it. The storm didn’t take him.
Cold jelly splashes across my stomach and then…
