Page 1 of Brood

Prologue

The hand slowly ticking its way around in a circle holds my attention as I sit in the waiting room. It seems I have been here a lifetime instead of just five minutes. The little man fusses next to me as he always does— has done for the past week since he was dropped off on my doorstep. Immediately in the first couple of days, I could tell something was off. My son has something wrong with him, something the woman who birthed him into this word caused— because calling her his mother isn’t a title she deserves. Something she did while he was supposed to be safely growing inside her has done damage to my son. I can only imagine the things that woman exposed him to before he was even brought screaming into this world. Not even hours old and he was doomed to suffer for her choices. Fuck, for my choices.

Lifting him into my arms to comfort his cries causes the constricting vice on my heart to grow evermore present as I think back to my last conversation with Cora. The one we had concerning the abortion she was supposed to have. I gave her the money, knowing that coming from a woman like her and a man like me, a child would be better off unborn. Now, with him here, I beat myself up for not taking a closer look, for not locking up the bitch so she couldn’t harm my boy. My son.

“Mr. Ah… um… Brood?” The nurse looks down at the clipboard in her hand then back up to the small cluster of people in the waiting room, her eyes landing on me when I stand.

“That would be me.” She gives a forced, half-smile and leads us through the door, bringing us to the patient rooms. We follow down one hall then to another where she stops to have me place my son on a scale to get his weight, which comes out to six point seven pounds. He isn’t gaining weight like I know he should be. He isn’t behaving like I know he should be. I’m no baby expert but having him and Sage’s baby girl side by side, a blind man can tell that there is something wrong in his development.

“Does he not have a name?” the nurse asks, pulling me back to the here and now as she instructs me to place him on the exam table to get a height. He fusses more than usual with the discomfort of being placed down on the hard surface.

“No. I had no knowledge of him until a week ago when he was dropped off at my doorstep,” I explain, catching the filch and grimace she tries to hide.

“And you are the father?”

“As far as I know, ma’am. Are you going to be able to tell me what is wrong with my son?” I catch myself snapping just a little then pull back. “Sorry. It has been a long week. I’m trying to do right by him, since the other person who was supposed to has failed spectacularly.”

“I understand, Sir. We will get the doctor in here and most likely run a few tests. This is going to be a long day for him,” she warns. I nod my response and pick my boy up once again, holding him close. He seems to like being held tight. Something having to do with the security of the embrace, Sage’s woman told me.

“Hang in there, little man. We will find out what is going on and get you the help you need. I promise.”

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