The light of Life

The light of life: a brightness of hope.

Felicia opened her eyes to see she was in an ambulance truck. Her head was pounding, she was soaking wet, and she was in more pain than she ever could have imagined. In a panic she realized that she couldn't remember what had happened or who she was. The paramedic next to her stretcher was talking rapidly into an ear piece. Felicia cringed from pain and tried to focus on what the woman was saying.

"Yes, she is in the ambulance now. She is still breathing, but is currently unconscious. I think she's going into labor. We are on our way to the hospital right now. I'll alert you at once if her situation has changed. Yes sir. I will. Thank you sir." She stopped talking then.

Felicia had a hard time processing what she'd just heard. She was pregnant? Who was the father? Would they make it to the hospital on time? All of these questions she didn't want the answers to kept swirling around in her head. Suddenly the ambulance stopped and a minute later she felt herself being lifted up in her stretcher. Then when she couldn't fight the pain anymore, she closed her eyes and everything faded to black.

When she crashed back into reality her memories crashed back into her head along with her, making the migraine worse. Now that she did have her memories, she wished she could forget them. She didn't want to remember the hell these last nine months had been, or the real reason she was found in that lake. She wished she didn't remember the man who broke her heart. But she did remember. Every painful detail, every torturous moment she now remembered in perfect misery. Tears streamed down her face from the pain, and from the all the traumatic things she'd been through since she found out she was pregnant.

A nurse came into the room then, and when she saw that Felicia was awake she smiled. "You're alright." She said, her smile growing. "You had us all really worried. "

All Felicia could do was nod; she was in too much pain for words. She grabbed an ice chip from the bowl next to her and shoved it in her mouth to help with the pain. More tears filled her eyes when she wondered what her boyfriend was doing now. Did he know she was going into labor? Probably not, they broke up months ago. For all she knew he was getting other poor girls knocked up with his charm. She was so stupid to fall for his lies.

"I'll change." He always told her. "I won't let my family control my life." He'd said. But it was his family that broke them up, and as much as they made excuses, they both knew it to be true. Even after all this time though, she still wished she could change his reaction on that fateful day.

...

Why was she scared? Was it because she didn't know if she would make a good mother, or was she worried that the father would leave her to go through this alone? All her thoughts kept swirling in her head and slipping out of her grasp when she tried to pin them down. All she knew was that she felt as scared as hell, and even hell seemed slightly preferable. With mounting dread she knocked on her boyfriend's door, and then let both her hands come to rest on her stomach to comfort herself and her child.

The door opened and Ava, Koichi's aunt, stared out at her harshly. "Oh..look what the cat dragged in." she grinned cruelly.

"Please, I need to talk to Koichi. Can you please be nice for a few minutes?" Felicia pleaded as kindly as she could.

Ava sighed "That's better than you deserve." She said and suspiciously stared at the hand Felicia was still resting over her stomach. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she staggered backwards. "He..he's in his room...you should go talk to him there. It's more private anyway." She muttered before walking past Felicia and to her car. She turned to face Felicia before getting in. "Oh...and I'm telling you right now, that as long as you're stuck with this family, your life is going to be a living nightmare...good luck." She said this casually, before driving off.