Burn The World

Epilogue

Five Years Later

Meerab had fucked up. Again.

This time she went and got pregnant. She knew she shouldn’t have listened to her stupid husband with his charming smile, telling her that now that he had his bunny, he wanted his baby-bunny as well. But she still did. She still listened to him. Despite all her research telling her pregnancy and giving birth was painful and equivalent to getting chopped up by a chainsaw, she still had to go be an idiot and fawn over the laughter of babies and then want one of her own.

Old habits were hard to break though. Didn’t she go and become extremely reckless and have a whole illicit affair just because Murtasim asked her to?

Now she was expecting her first child and it definitely wasn’t sunshine and roses. It was a swollen stomach. Constant fatigue. Constant nausea. Living unhygienic. Rashes. Swollen legs. Then the additional insecurity about body changes. The crying. The depression.

Then there was also the fact that she was always on edge. A single wrong look from Murtasim could send her off into a screaming fit and Murtasim would have to deal with her viciousness. Additionally, she would become painfully horny at the most inconvenient of times, especially whenever Murtasim was preoccupied with work. Meerab even copped being in the unlucky percentile that was still vomiting in her last trimester. Damn those stupid Pinterest photos of the husband cradling the wife’s swollen belly! We should’ve just stayed a child free couple. I should’ve just listened to The Girl With The List.

Meerab was clutching the bathroom sink with both hands. Her cheek was resting on the cool tile of the wall beside her which she leaned on. She’d just finished cleaning herself up after another puking session and was feeling completely devoid of energy, when she heard Murtasim open the door behind her.

“You,” she said, lifting a shaky, accusatory finger towards him. “This is your fault.”

“Mine?” Murtasim asked. “How is this my fault?”

“You got me pregnant. Therefore this,” she explained, pointing towards the toilet that still contained her unflushed vomit, “is your fault.”

Murtasim stepped up behind Meerab where she stood at the sink. “It takes two to tango bunny,” he said, rubbing her back soothingly. “But I am sorry.”

Murtasim gently pulled Meerab off of her resting place on the cold wall and pulled her towards himself instead. Meerab snuggled into his chest as he helped her make her way out of the bathroom. Very slowly, he helped her into their bed, then he draped the quilt over her legs.

“Can I get you anything? Water maybe?” asked Murtasim, as he gently brushed away a tendril from her face.

“Could you stay until I fall asleep?” asked Meerab, feeling beyond exhausted.

It was the middle of the day. Murtasim wasn’t one to take a nap in the middle of day, but one look at Meerab’s tired face and the dark purple bags under her eyes and he decided to stay. Slipping off his shoes, Murtasim snuggled into bed right next to her. He wrapped an arm around her abdomen, resting his fingers across the swell of her stomach.

“Did you know sometimes a woman’s pregnancy can cause changes to bones?” asked Meerab quietly. Her anxiety was playing up again. “What if my teeth fall out?”

Murtasim, who was used to her mini-panic attacks, rubbed his fingers gently across her stomach. “You’ll be fine. I’m praying everyday for you and the baby-bunny to come out of this safe and healthy. You’re almost at the end.”

“And hair can fall out in chunks after delivery too.”

“It’ll be okay Meerab,” said Murtasim soothingly.