Kim Tarthin
I turn on my V7 and see the icon waiting for me. A Week with Katie. I click it and the main screen pops up. A Ferris Wheel with the options riding in the cars. I started a new game and was controlling a woman on her way to a clinic in the car with her husband.
"Whatever the result we will ride it out together." He said reassuring her.
She rubbed her belly with her free hand. I wonder if she is wondering if she can have a kid. I am glad her husband is supportive. I thought. The doctor came back in with a grave facial expression.
"I am very sorry, but you will not be able to have children." She told her.
She looked devastated and hugged her husband who thanked the doctor before they both left. The ride home was silent. I want to comfort her somehow, I thought. But there weren't any options to do so. She sits staring at the floor as tears roll down her cheeks. She's just been told that she can't have children. She and her husband have been trying to conceive for years, but nothing has worked. They've gone through countless rounds of fertility treatments, but they've all failed. And now, she has been given the crushing news that she'll never be able to have a biological child. As she rides in the car, Jenny feels like her world is crumbling around her. She's always wanted to be a mother, to hold her own child in her arms, to watch them grow and thrive. But now, that dream is gone.
She spends the next few days in a daze. She can't focus on anything, can't think about anything other than the part of herself she has lost, like a vital piece of her identity has been ripped away.
Everywhere she goes, she sees pregnant women and happy families, reminding her of what she can never have. She feels like an outsider, like she doesn't belong in a world where motherhood is celebrated and cherished.
Her husband tries to comfort her, but he doesn't understand the depth of her pain. He wants to adopt, to find other ways to become parents, but she can't even think about it. She's too consumed by her grief, too overwhelmed by the knowledge that she'll never be able to carry a child of her own.
As time goes on, she begins to find ways to cope with her infertility. She starts talking to other women who have gone through similar experiences.
The screen went black when she went to sleep. I took a sip of water. The screen went white and now the game is seemingly in some sort of heavenly place. What the heck? I thought. Now I am controlling a girl in her 20's. I see what looks like a small pond, but the water is crystal clear. The house where the couple came from before appears in the water. The camera pans around to show her face. A tear fell from her eyes and into the pool. She must be their daughter who can't be part of the family. Aww. I thought. The deity in this heavenly place told her she could go down there and spend a week with them to ease their loneliness. She agreed happily and dove into the pool.
I am now controlling Katie. I could almost feel her joy as she sprinted towards her parents. They embraced in a three-way hug.
"I would like to see my room." Katie said.
Her parents nodded happily, and we were in the car in moments. Katie said,
"Show me around this world of yours." I like the multiple playable characters. I can really get everyone's perspective. I thought.
I hope the family and her can get some quality time together while she is with them. That's the least that they deserve. Especially the wife who so desperately wanted to bring her into the world properly. Katie pauses and looks at the façade of the house before entering.
