A Slender Child

Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

My first ultrasound was today. I nervously sat in the doctors office, waiting - again.

I was a little concerned about what the picture would show. Suppose it wasn't human, like Slendy feared, what was I going to tell the nurse? I didn't expect she would take it very calmly.

I could hear myself saying, 'Oh well, its daddy's the Slender man. No big deal, it's supposed to have tentacles.' I grimaced at the thought.

I'd kept a brave face around my boyfriend, but if truth be told I was terrified. After our argument the day I told him I was pregnant, I'd thought long and hard. The more I looked at the situation, the more I started to realize that there was actually a very large chance of this ending badly for me. I might just actually die for this child.

And strangely, as scared as I was, I was okay with that. Well, maybe not 'okay' with it, but I wasn't going to abort the fetus. I was its mother. It deserved nothing but my unconditional love. This tiny, new life inside of me was totally dependent on me. It had a future. It could grow up to be a doctor or lawyer or the president...

'Or a killer,' my subconscious sneered. She thought I was nuts for following through with this pregnancy.

No. My baby wouldn't be a killer. I would make sure of that if it was the last thing I did.

'And if it kills YOU?' my subconscious asked, and I had no answer for that.

I decided to think about it later as the nurse spread a warm jelly over my stomach. It was strange feeling, but not totally unpleasant.

"How far along are you Miss Steele?" she asked as she fiddled with the machine.

"Five months," I responded automatically.

She smiled at me. "If you're lucky, we might just be able to determine the baby's gender," she said.

I smiled back meekly. 'If I'm lucky, it'll have eyes and a mouth. And no tentacles,' I thought to myself, mentally crossing my fingers.

I couldn't look at the monitor as the woman pushed the wand against my swollen belly. The speakers from the monitor blared a staticky, wish-washy sound. After a second of her moving the wand around for just the right spot, a small thumping noise joined it.

I froze, slowly turning to look at the screen, scared about what I might see. The screen was varying shades of black and gray. At the center was a roundish object that moved slightly with each thump.

"That sound is the baby's heart beat," the nurse informed me.

I continued to stare at the screen in awe. "And is that...?"

"Yes ma'am. That's the baby's head." She adjusted the wand so the screen showed a different angle. "Look there's the face."

My breath caught in my throat. I peered closely at the screen.

Oh thank God.

Two little eyelids fluttered in the baby's face on either side of its nose. Below that, it's mouth was turned down in a tiny frown.

Just seeing that it wasn't faceless was enough to bring tears to my eyes. The nurse didn't seem to find my display of emotions unusual, however. Maybe expecting parents usually got a little teary-eyed at seeing their unborn child. Me? Simply seeing that it had eyes was enough to make me cry.

I wished Slendy was here to see this. He'd been so stressed over the past three months about the possibility of me not surviving this adventure. We hadn't discussed it too much since the big argument, but I knew it was still eating him up. He was still sinking further and further into a dismal abyss every time he looked at my growing stomach. It made me sad to see him so depressed over our child. I wished that he was here so that he could see this little face - see that it wasn't a monster. Maybe then he'd stop worrying.

"Can you take pictures of the screen?" I asked the nurse shyly. Picture evidence might help win over my Tall One.

"Of course." She pressed a button on the keyboard. "Would you like me to look and see if I can determine the baby's sex?"

My eyes lit up. "Yes please," I gasped.

She moved the wand around looking for the right angle. After a while she shook her head at me. "I'm sorry Miss Steele, the baby's at the wrong angle. I can't tell."

I tried to keep the disappointment out of my eyes. "Oh, okay," I said trying to sound nonchalant.

The nurse rubbed the wand around some more and snapped a couple more pictures. I stared transfixed at the screen the whole time. I couldn't believe that the tiny being on screen was inside my body. It was alive. It was growing.

And it appeared human.

I knew that there was still the possibility it wasn't completely human though. The fact that it had a face didn't completely debunk the baby Slender theory. Tentacles would still be a problem... even if we hadn't seen evidence of them yet.