Serendipity

chapter 10

TW: Talk of abortion. And general triggering situations.

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1pm came around way quicker than they had hoped. Isabella was sitting in their SUV just around the corner from the civic centre with JJ. JJ had requested for them to be paired up, she knew exactly why. They had kitted Emily with a mini camera and microphone, neither any larger than a button, Isabella loved the little gadgets sometimes. They would be able to hear everything said inside the building, and Isabella knew JJ wanted to make sure she would be okay. They watched Emily enter the room, there was a ring of chairs placed in the middle, Isabella counted 7 women of varying ages standing in the field of view. Before long, the women took their seats in the ring. The leader greeted Emily as a new member, and asked her if she wanted to share her story. “Hi, my name’s Emily.” they listened to the voice on the speaker, “I um, I don’t know where to start. I got pregnant when I was 15, I was a stupid kid. Worst thing that could have happened to me at that point.” Isabella tried to keep in mind that it was supposed to be an act, but the bits of truth were getting to her. Emily continued, “I didn’t want the kid then, don’t want the kid now.” Isabella reached over to grab JJ’s hand. She was going to need comfort, and she decided she was glad JJ was there. The microphone picked up a second voice, “What do you mean, ‘don’t want the kid now’?” They could hear Emily take a shuddering breath, “Well, this was 30 years ago, I’d all but forgotten about the whole nightmare.” Isabella closed her eyes tightly at Emily referring to it as a nightmare. “Then, the other day, some woman showed up at my work saying she’s my daughter. I have no idea how she found me.” Emily moved her body in such a way that they could get shots off all the women in the room. Each shot was relayed to Garcia, so she could run a background check. So far, no luck.

“So what happened?” Asked the woman, “I told her I had given her away for a reason. She had no right to come ruin my life a second time.” Isabella caught a look from one of the women in the left corner of the screen. “That one,” she tapped the screen, “she looks especially unhappy with what Emily’s saying. Garcia, what have you got on her?” “Nothing yet, hold on.” They turned their attention back to what Emily was saying, “I wanted an abortion. It wasn’t legal where I was, so I went to this sketchy clinic, guess they didn’t know what they were doing.” Isabella felt like she had been punched in the gut. “Jesus.” she heard JJ whisper. Her blood felt like lead in her veins, her eyes clouded over. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. JJ was saying something, but she could only hear Emily’s words over and over. She was vaguely aware of Garcia saying something, but she couldn’t handle it anymore. She plucked her hand from JJ’s, threw open the car door, and started running. I wanted an abortion. She only knew she was crying when she felt the air cool the warm tear streaks on her cheeks. They didn’t know what they were doing. She kept running. …ruin my life a second time. She needed to get away, she didn’t care where, so long as it was not there, in that moment. A second time. Her mind was going too fast for her to keep up, her lungs were burning, her heart pounding against her sternum like it wanted out. She wanted it out, too.

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Emily walked into the meeting hall slowly. She was good at undercover work, she would be fine. She scanned the room, turning in such a way that the camera pinned to her shirt would pick up all the women around her. She hadn’t wanted to start sharing, but then again, it wouldn’t ever be a ‘good’ time. She tried to stay as close to the truth as possible, and it pained her to add the little quips against her baby. Especially knowing said baby was listening to her every word. She tried not to think about Isabella, what she must be going through. She felt an immense amount of guilt, and it took everything in her to keep it down. They had opted out of giving her an earpiece, she objected at first, not wanting to go in blind, but now she was glad. She wouldn’t be able to say the things she needed with Isabella in her ear. As she spoke, she jumped her sight from person to person, trying to catch some adverse reaction. When she mentioned that her daughter had ruined her life twice, a short haired woman to her left seemed to take offence. She decided to keep an eye on her. The woman’s face turned red at her mention of wanting an abortion, and, had it been a cartoon, Emily was sure she would have steam coming out of her ears. Her instincts told her that was the person they had been looking for.