A N G E L (Roger Daltrey)

Thirty Two

Nancy's POV

My eyes flew open and I protectively wrapped my arms around my stomach. I had just had a wicked dream.

"Janice." I whispered into the dark. "Janice?"

I heard her take a big, deep breath, just like she always does when she's just woke up.

"Mm?" She asked.

"I had a nightmare." I said.

"Mm, what about?" She croaked, rolling over onto her side to look at me.

"I dreamed I was going into labor and that when we were going to the hospital, a tornado came and sucked up the car and we all died and went to heaven. I, like, fully dreamed that we died and saw angels and shit. You know about dreams, what do you think it means?" I asked. "Am I gonna die?"

"No," said Janice, stretching, "I don't think anyone's gonna die. It's weird that you'd dream that, though. Usually you don't ever die in your dreams, you just get really close. Maybe it means you're gonna have a difficult birth. Which, honestly, we should probably prepare for considering how much of a living hell the pregnancy has been."

"I don't wanna have a difficult birth!" I whined. "Jan, I'm so scared. And I feel like it could be any day now. I know it's early, it's only January, but I don't know how much longer Horseshoe is gonna stay in here."

"We'll get through it, calm down. It'll all turn out the way it's supposed to. Besides, the dream may not even mean anything at all. Didn't you say your dreams have been really vivid ever since you got pregnant? Maybe it's just that." She suggested.

"Yeah, maybe."

We lay in silence for a while.

"You know what's gonna be really funny?" I asked.

"Mm?"

"Explaining to this baby why its nickname is Horseshoe when its old enough to ask." I giggled.

"You think we should keep calling it that?" Janice asked.

"Sure, it's hilarious. And it's a reminder of the time we're spending here. In the future, once we're out of this place, it'll be nice to look back to now and see how far we came." I patted my belly.

"Ya know, Nancy, sometimes you say that Spock type of shit and I think you're secretly way smarter than you let on." She said.

"Maybe I am." I shrugged. "Maybe I'm not even human, maybe I'm an alien."

"I'd believe it. Let me know if you have any other dreams. I'm going back to sleep." She yawned and rolled over.

I felt the fluttering and kicking in my stomach and it was reassuring. Sometimes I wouldn't feel any movement for a while, and it always scared me. The relief of my little guppy moving around, especially after a bit of stillness, was a high like no other. Once I was convinced it was all alright, I fell back to sleep too.

When I woke up again, it was about 9 in the morning. To my surprise, Janice was still sleeping in her bed. I frowned, concerned. It was Wednesday, shouldn't she be at work?

"Janice?" I said sort of loudly.

"Fuck!" she startled awake.

"Sorry. It's 9, aren't you supposed to be at work?" I asked.

"Oh, no, it snowed. They cancelled school. I got the call around 5 this morning, Mrs. Barnes said it was really bad out there and they weren't going to be able to get the buses out safely. I'm glad the phone ringing didn't wake you up, though." she explained, ending with a yawn.