Page 2 of Unhinged
I sit on the exam table, staring at my tattered Converse, and sigh before looking at the paperwork on the clipboard. Okay, not bad, just my general information and medical background; I can do this. Filling out the papers as thoroughly as I can, I freeze when I get to the question I refuse to answer.If you might be pregnant, who is the baby’s father? What is his designation?
No. I can’t. I refuse to put his name down. I can’t link this baby—if there even is one—to him. I leave that line blank and quickly fill out the rest.
There’s a knock on the door just as I finish. The doctor enters, followed by a nurse. “Hello, I’m Dr. Birch, and this is Nurse Sally,” he says, taking the clipboard from the nurse. He glances over it and frowns. “I see you left the father’s name blank. If this is the result of an assault, we need to know. We can contact law enforcement?—”
“No!” I cut him off. The pounding in my chest is so loud it’s hard to concentrate on what he’s even saying; like my body’s trying to drown everything out with pure panic. “I’m not putting his name down. Just give me the damn test so I know if I’mknocked up and I can get out of here,” I snap, my scent going all sharp and sour without me meaning to.
“That’s not how it works, Ms. Holland,” he replies coldly. “We need to know who hurt you, so they can be charged and if found not guilty, they have rights to the child,” he informs me like this is routine and I’m boring him. No! No, no, no, no, no. This can’t happen. If it’s true and I am pregnant, this baby is mine. NOT his!
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m out of here!” I leap off the exam table, shoving past the nurse. Dr. Birch reaches for me as I pass, but I dodge him, my shoulder slamming into him as I run out of the room, down the hall, and out of the clinic.
Back to square fucking one. I need to know if a baby is growing inside of me. But I’m fresh out of cash, and I can’t afford a pregnancy test from the store. As an omega, I can’t even buy one without the clerk logging my name and contact info, which is just one more thing I can’t risk right now. So, I head to the sketchy part of town to see if I can find Franko.
I’ve only known Franko for about four months, but we’ve gotten close in the kind of way that happens when survival puts people in each other’s paths. It started when I scared off some guy trying to break into his warehouse. I wasn’t doing it for him; I just didn’t want my shit stolen while I was staying nearby in a park trying to sleep. Franko saw it, though. The way I handled myself. The fact that I didn’t ask for anything. He offered me a spot inside instead of leaving me to sleep in the park. I said yes, and that was that.
Since then, I’ve done whatever small jobs he tossed my way; counting cash, making drops, running errands. Nothing dirty enough to make me feel like I sold my soul, just enough to keep my head above water. I made it clear I wouldn’t deal drugs, and he respected that. Franko’s rough around the edges, but he doesn’t break his word. We’re not family, but he’s the closestthing I’ve got right now to someone looking out for me. Let’s hope he knows someone who can give me a pregnancy test without involving the law.
An hour later, I’m lying on a dirty table in Franko’s warehouse while some girl named Candy, who claims she used to be a nurse, checks the results of the blood she drew. My arm aches from where she jabbed the needle repeatedly until she finally hits a vein, but I keep my mouth shut. Beggars can’t be choosers.
“Well, you’re for sure pregnant,” she rasps as she types on a laptop.
“You’re sure? That was awfully fast,” I question as my heart beats wildly in my chest.
“Yup,” she says, popping the p. “Franko said to rush the results, so I sent them down the road to the lab. Freddie there is sweet on me, so he rushed your shit. He just messaged and the HCG is indicating pregnancy. Let me get Franko’s okay and I'll get the ultrasound machine in here so we can see how far along you are.”
Pregnant. The word echoes in my mind like a death sentence. Pregnant. A baby. This can’t be happening. Not after that night. The night I’ve tried so hard to forget, the night that changed everything. I don’t need an ultrasound to confirm it. I know exactly when this happened, and the thought makes my stomach churn.
“No need.”
I can’t let her do this. I can’t see the image of a baby,hisbaby, on a screen.
“I know when this happened. I’m four months, give or take. That makes me having a baby, when? June?” I ask, but I already know the answer. In five months, I’m going to have a baby, a baby conceived on the worst night of my life. A baby I neverasked for, never wanted. I need to leave town, so Earl and Tina have no way of finding out.
I slide off the table and leave the room.
“Thanks, Candy,” I mutter as I push through the door, not bothering to look back.
I need to get away from here, away from this town, away from everything that reminds me of Earl and Tina. They can’t find out. They can’t ever know.
As soon as my feet hit the sidewalk, I’m on autopilot. The bus station. I need to get to the bus station. I need to get as far away from here as possible. My mind races as I walk.
Where will I go? What will I do? Can I even do this alone?
I don’t have the answers, but I know I can’t stay here.
When I reach the bus station, I march straight to the counter, my hands shaking as I pull out two crumpled fifties. “I want on the next bus scheduled to depart and headed far, far the fuck away from here.” I slam the two fifties on the counter as I snap at the guy behind the glass. I don’t have much money, just what I’ve made doing odd and end jobs for Franko, so a ticket better not be more than that.
He barely looks up from his screen, raising an eyebrow at my tone. “Try using some manners. The next departure is Virginia, and the bus leaves in ten minutes. Round trip or one way?” He stares at me like I’m wasting his time.
“One way,” I grind out through clenched teeth, my patience hanging by a thread.
“Sixty even. Terminal G. Enjoy,” he drawls as he slides my change and ticket underneath the glass partition.
“Thank you,” I tell him, grabbing my shit and shoving it in my pocket.
In just a few minutes, I’ll be on a bus leaving Illinois and heading for Virginia. A new life. A new start. But as I walk, the reality of what I’m facing starts to sink in. In fifteen hours, I’llhave to make a decision. A decision that will change my life forever. Will this new life include a baby?Hisbaby? The thought makes my chest tighten, and I struggle to breathe.
I have fifteen hours to figure it out. Fifteen hours to decide if I can live with what’s growing inside me, if I can bring this child into the world. I don’t know what I’ll do, but I know one thing for certain: I can’t go back. Not to Earl, not to Tina, not to the life I knew before. This is my only way out. And I have to take it.
