All The Odds

Thirty-eight

Bella stared at the two nurses like they just told her the apocalypse was going on outside the hospital, they both stared back at her like she was the crazy one.

She noticed nurse Nazifa's lips moving but only the erratic beating of her heart filled her ears. She felt hot, she felt cold, she felt energized, she felt drained. She wanted to run from this place, from these people and their scandalous news but she didn't know how to make her legs work. First they told her Daniel was dead and now they said she's pregnant.

Dizziness washed over her and she shook her head once, then twice trying to get rid of it. She barely registered nurse Nazifa guiding her back to her bed until she sunk down on the soft mattress.

"I.." Bella started to say, words deserted her because she actually felt it: the heaviness of her breasts despite being bra less under the flimsy hospital gown, a warmth in her stomach that wasn't there before, a tiny presence in her system she hadn't noticed until now.

"But I..." She tried again and trailed off, placing her palms on her flat stomach where another life now reside. "But I'm still in school." How that was the first of her concern was lost on Bella, but that goes to show she had nothing to offer this growing life.

Still nurse Nazifa gave her an understanding look and the bubbly nurse came to stand at the foot of her bed.

"Too bad they didn't teach you anything about precautions, maybe you should drop out?" She said so sweetly that the insult in the words didn't register with Bella.

But she was on precautions, until Daniel abducted her she could have sworn she took the tablet once everyday so how could she be pregnant? Nine weeks gone?! How could she have missed two periods without realizing it. What day of the calendar was it anyway.

"No." The word came out of her lips cracked as a whimper. How could the universe be so cruel? How was she supposed to deal with this now? She didn't no the first thing about being a mother, she just discovered that she didn't have a great role model in that department herself.

Nazifa's comforting touches and words got lost as the horror deepened in Bella's mind, she stood on shaky legs and was forced to sit back down in bed. She needed to do something, but had no idea what.

"I know this is probably a lot to take in right now.." Nazifa was saying. That might just be the biggest understatement Bella had ever heard. Maybe if she wasn't in shock she would laugh at the funny, funny joke. 

But the only words that seemed to be able to escape the wreck going on in her mind was, "How, how did this happen?"

The bubbly nurse made a tsking sound, reminding Bella of her annoying presence. "These things happen 98% of the time when a fertile woman have unprotected sex with a fertile man...or men. It's not exactly rock science, didn't they teach you in school?"

Nurse Nazifa shot a glare at her colleague. "Nurse Amy, please."

"What am I going to do now?" Bella asked, staring into space her palms still pressed to her stomach. On the outside she was a perfect picture of calm as she had ever been, on the inside however, there was indeed an apocalypse going on in there.

She felt like her world had come crashing down and everything was in shambles. Daniel was dead and her life was about to be altered forever.

Nurse Nazifa opened her mouth to speak but again the bubbly nurse beat her to it. "How about you give it up for adoption? Think about making some gay couple really happy."

"Nurse Amy!" Nazifa chided again.

"What? Would you rather I encourage abortion when there are thousands of families out there that would appreciate this baby?" Bubbly nurse asked defensive.