Gifted

Prologue: He's Cursed

Mr. and Mrs. Jones sat in a patient room in the OB unit at South Central Hospital in New York City. They had been sitting in their living room watching the television when Clair's water broke. Now she and her husband Josh were waiting for the doctor and a slew of nurses to come in. Josh was dutifully holding his wife's honey colored hair back out of her face and patting her forehead to keep beads of sweat from crawling down her pale ivory face. Clair's eyes darted up to him with a deep set rage "STOP touching me! Get the doctor NOW."

Damn woman. If only she'd taken the epidural... Josh thought to himself. "Yes," he responded, "I will, right away." Josh started for the open patient door just as Doctor Phillips came in with the nurses in full hazardous material suits. "I'm right here Mrs. Jones," the doctor reassured.

"The baby is coming! I NEED to push," Clair exclaimed looking at the dark skinned doctor through his mask and bulky protective suit. Dr. Phillips moved over to a rolling stool and got into position.

"Okay Clair, it looks like the baby is trying to crown. Now before we start pushing, we need to know what you want to name your son," Dr. Phillips explained, looking not only at a frantic Clair, but also her husband Josh. At this moment Josh's chocolate brown eyes widened, knowing why they wanted the baby's name now. He swept his short, dark hair over unnecessarily, but just due to nervousness.

"Aiden," she replied not even looking up at Josh for confirmation. As soon as they saw the first ultrasound that had confirmed the baby's sex, they knew the name.

"Get that on the record Nurse," the doctor said. "Alright," he soothed now focusing back on Clair Jones, "give me a good push."

"AHH!" Clair screamed, tightening as much as possible to push her son out of her. Quite a while later baby Aiden was born in South Central hospital in a room with powder yellow walls and faded grey tiles. He cried and cried as the Nurses cleaned amniotic fluid off of him.

Much as he screamed and kicked, his eyes remained clenched shut as if he knew already the secret he must attempt to hide. As soon as Dr. Phillips came over with exaggerated steps working around the bulk of his hazmat suit, he took the baby from one of the nurse's arms into his own and peeled back Aiden's eyelid. He immediately gasped, "Isolate it. It has the curse." The nurse hesitantly took the baby into her arms and hurried out of the room and down the hall, looking down at the baby's striking and unmistakably blue eyes.

"NO! That's impossible," Clair cried out in desperation. She had just submitted herself to a lengthy labor only to lose her infant in an instant. "There is no family history! None, there must be a mistake," Josh explained insistently. Both Josh and Clair began to cry. They had been trying to get pregnant for five years, and had endured three miscarriages at various points in the pregnancies. Aiden had been their dream come true. He had made it all the way. Josh and Clair could finally start a family.

All this time and effort and love were gone. They had nothing to show for their work and no baby to show their love. Clair catatonically looked up at the ceiling tiles, all love for life lost in her deep green eyes. She laid limp as the doctor cleaned out the birth canal and uterus to ensure the curse was gone from her. She did not get up when he finished, or speak to anyone as she was discharged from the hospital and Josh picked her up and set her in a wheelchair to take her back to their modest home outside the city.