In the Darkness

VIII: The Day

The nightmares continue to keep me up every night but I kept quiet about them. I remind myself to lock the door before I go to bed so no one else can come witness me having bad dreams. The moon was shining brightly across my room giving enough light to see everything.

A knock on my door startled me. I went over it to see who it could be at the middle of the night.

"Can I sleep here?" Rokuro asked rubbing his eyes.

"Why?" instead of answering, he walked sleepily towards my bed. He settled under the covers then extends an arm to me. "Let's sleep now." He says urging me in the bed. He's making it more difficult for me if he continues this kind of behavior. I lay down beside him, untouching, keeping a gap between us. I stared at the ceiling not knowing what to do with myself. He moved closer to me until his lips were touching my shoulder, he deeply inhales my scent.

"I had to know you were still here." He whispers with closed eyes.

"Huh?" Is he dreaming?

"I had a nightmare, you left. I had to know it wasn't real." He buried his face in the nook of my neck causing my heart to melt. My decision was made, I'll never leave him but I'll let him leave me. I'll just wait for whatever has to happen and refrain from making any rash decision because I know this can hurt him.

That was the first night in months that I slept fine. When I opened my eyes, Rokuro was still there, snoring into my hair.

"Rokuro wake up." I shook his shoulder lightly. His snoring stopped as he slowly opened his eyes adjusting to the light. "Huh? Why?" He went back to his sleeping position using my hair as cover from the light.

"Look at the calendar." I instructed.

"What's the big deal? I bet your calendar is just a normal calendar just like-"his eyes widen as it dawned on him. "Today's the day?" he asks unbelieving.

"Come now Benio! We have to get you ready." Subaru says barging inside my room fully ignoring Rokuro. Since last night I've been feeling some irregularities within my body. Light but rare flickers of pain inside my stomach were present but nothing I can't handle.

"Wait! Hey! What should I do?!" Rokuro says in full panic.

"Nothing. You're not the one giving birth so keep your cool and wait." I say hoping he would keep what I said in his mind. He ran to his room probably to fix himself while I go with Subaru.

"Are the contractions starting?" she says smiling, clearly excited. She's not in her usual Victorian dress but in a plain black jumpsuit instead. She directed me towards the medical room Arima had built months before. It was exclusive and state of the art, fully functioning medical lab fit for specialists.

"Change into this." She says offering a lab gown. Due to being examined time to time, I wasn't fazed by being nude in front of her anymore. She's like my mother and I am grateful for everything she did to me. The reason was simple why we cannot go into a regular hospital, the miko might need something else medical practitioners can give. Something only exorcists know how to perform, enchantments. A contraction made me wince a little grasping the side of the bed. My breathing became shallow and labored as every contraction come. Tatara, who I didn't notice lifted me gently into the bed. The contractions were gone for a while making me feel a little bit at ease.

"I can't tell you how it feels like because I haven't experienced it before. All I know is how to help you raise her into a proper woman like her mother." She held my hand firmly in hers.

"I am thankful for everything Mistress Subaru." She smiled wide and kindly to me, like what she's done always. Medical practitioners soon came in preparing for the delivery.

This is real, this is really happening. "Excuse us miss but all non-medical personnel has to leave for safety precautions." A nurse tells Subaru and Tatara forcing them to leave the room.

"I'll give you this to help with the pain."  a, nurse says handing over a dark cushy figure, like a deformed doll.

"What?" I don't understand how this would help.

"You can hold on to it as tight as you can when the contractions start." She explains as if she memorized it from a book. The disfigured doll clutched on to me like it's alive.

"Hey I can't let go of this thing." All of them doesn't seem to hear my panic. "Help!" I shouted for anyone to come to my aid but they're all too far to hear me. The dark figure elongated, stretching itself forming bonds around my limbs tying me down into place pulling me down.

"Stop! Please someone help me!" All the nurses and the doctor were unconscious on the floor as the room got darker and the air got heavier. Noises of whispers and evil laughter echoed all around me making everything a lot more painful physically and emotionally. The dark spirits whisper their despairs, hatred, anger, every negative emotion there is. The black figure then covered my eyes cutting off my sight but I can hear loud banging and some voices outside the room but it's all being drown out by the evil surrounding me.

"Arghhhhhh!" This is real. This is really happening.

NOTE: I don't have children so my pregnancy stuff going on might be a little inaccurate. Hold on for the next chapters coming, I promise I'll work on them as soon as I can. THANKSS FOR READING :D