Torn: A B5 Story

'Tis Time To Come Clean

Two months later.

I stared at the glowing Christmas tree lit up by green, red, and white lights. December always made my spirit feel lighter and my soul more generous. The reason for the season was Jesus and He could have that impact on anyone who sought hard enough. Florida was partly a distant memory as Atlanta was slowly becoming my home. My job at the hospital made me appreciate the many years of education I had to endure to receive this opportunity. I was eternally grateful and blessed to be in such a great career surrounded by other beautiful people.

"Ugh shit." Katie said as she stepped on the ladder fighting to place the star on the top of the tree.

She was only two and a half months pregnant but her belly was starting to show more as the days went on.

I went over and grabbed the star from her.

"Get down before you hurt yourself." I said helping her down.

After I put the star up and cleaned up the floor we began to take pictures of our first tree together. It was our first Christmas apart from our families but being together made it doable. I would enjoy having a baby inside of the house. It would bring in some of the youth that was escaping us as we aged.

"Oh I forgot to show you." Katie said she she rushed to her purse to pull out a piece of thick paper.

She handed it me and on it was a sonogram of her baby.

"Oh my gosh Katie!" I screamed.

I could feel tears forming in my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me you went for your sonogram. I would've went with you." I said staring at the picture.

"I don't know. I know you've been busy with work and Patrick's obviously been on your mind. I didn't want to add anything else on top of it." She said smiling.

I couldn't tell if she was smiling at my excitement or her clear ability to read me.

"Ha-ha very funny but I'm never too busy for you two." I said touching her belly.

Her faced dropped.

"I sent a copy to my mom already but I'm not sure how I'm going to tell Kelly. He has a right to know. I've been so cold to him." She said.

"When was the last time you spoke to him?" I asked out of curiosity.

She sat down on the couch in front of the tree and unlocked her phone.

"I haven't heard from him in 3 weeks. He deleted me off of his Facebook and blocked me from his Instagram. He said he couldn't handle the game I was playing. Here look at the message." She said as she handed me her phone.

It read:

Honestly Kate. I've been fighting this for months. I've been with other girls but none of them caught my attention the way you did. You're genuine but you're stubborn. I've been banging my head against this brick wall trying to get to you and you won't let me in. I don't know what I did but I can't do this anymore. It hurts too much.

"He sounds hurt Kate." I said not knowing how to approach the situation.

"I honestly think you should at least talk to me. Maybe when you do that you'll find the words or discover the right time to tell him." I said.

She sighed.

"Alright, I'll go over there tomorrow. If it's not too much to ask, can you come with me? Just need some support." She asked.

"Of course." I said and a huge knot formed in my throat.

I hadn't seen Patrick since that night being to afraid to confront whatever occurred. We've been messaging a lot over Kik. He confides a lot in me about Ambrya as well as his aspirations in terms of music. I enjoyed our friendship for the most part. I could handle it as long as I didn't have to stare into his eyes. On numerous occasions he has asked to hang out and I have successfully blown him off and made excuses to why I could not go out. After awhile he stopped fighting me and eventually stopped asking. I just prayed seeing him wouldn't start the cycle all over again.