Chains

Chapter 36

I cringed a bit as an angry Shakira eyed the latino beside me. I was forever grateful that her gaze wasn't directed towards me this time as it had the intent to kill. She sized him up with her eyes which proved to be more powerful than words. Maluma stood there awkwardly,obviously uncomfortable under Shakira's gaze. Despite my attempts to hide the whole Maluma situation from Shakira, she could see right through them causing me to reluctantly spill the beans to her. 

"Um,can we go now?" I asked as minutes had passed with neither of them uttering a word. My question was greeted with silence as neither of them payed me any attention. Instead Shakira crossed her arms as her gaze intensified,making Maluma flinch a bit at her sudden movement. After a few more minutes of silence,Shakira thought it was time give him a piece of her mind.

"You asshole" she said finally,causing my eyes to widen a bit. Shakira wasn't the one to curse,regardless of whatever situation she was in so for her to do so was a rare occasion. I winced as she began her expletive-filled rant about how disgraceful he was for cheating and that she sorry for ever thinking he was a decent guy. To make me even more surprised the sound of her hand making contact with his face filled the air,leaving behind a red mark on his cheek. My mouth dropped instantly as I eyed the mark left behind then the rage filled blonde.

"Ok,its time to go now" I said,grabbing Shakira's hand to drag her outside but she didn't budge.

"No Lou,just because he's the father of your child doesn't mean you have to stay with him and take his bullshit. There are other men out there who are better than this asshole."

As much as  I wanted respond,I knew that what she was saying was true. I refrained from looking at Maluma who's gaze was currently in my direction. A cloud of awkward silence overshadowed us as I looked everywhere but at the two people beside me. The tension between Shakira and Maluma were beyond thick and I couldn't manage to be in this situation any longer.

Before I could attempt to get Shakira and I to leave again, I felt a light flow of liquid trickling down my legs.I tried to look down at my legs but my huge stomach was in the way. My face morphed into one of horror as the flow slowly became heavier making me finally realize what was actually happening to me. At just three weeks shy of my due date my water had broke.

"Um,Shak" I said, interrupting her glare towards Maluma. Its as if she could sense the worry in voice as the utter hatred on her face was now replaced with a look of concern. 

"I,uh,I think my water just broke" I said,placing my hand on my stomach.I watched as her eyes drifted towards my legs to see the liquid that was now flowing down them. Instead of responding with words,Shakira let out a high pitched squeal as she began to jump.

"Its happening!"she exclaimed before looked towards Maluma who was in a state of shock."Don't just stand there!Get her some towels!" He looked at me once more before running off to find some clean towels for me.

"Now we gotta get you to the hospital" Shakira said after calming down a bit. Maluma returned with a some towels in his hand as well as a carry on bag.

He noticed that I was staring at the bag so he quickly mentioned that he had already packed me a hospital bag in advance to which I was utterly surprised.

"Wow,so you're not a total screw up after all" Shakira said,taking the towels from him. I wanted to scold Shakira for what she had said,but frankly I had the same views as her. 

We quickly made our way to Maluma's car where Shakira had secured me with the towels to prevent me from leaking onto the seat.As the minutes flew by I began to feel the full effects of the contractions. It was nothing like the discomfort I had been feeling since last night.They were now more intense and excruciating and they had no plans to get better.

I thought I would find some sort of relief at the hospital from all the medication they had given me but nothing seemed to work.I was in complete and utter pain which stayed with me throughout the rest of the day. To make matters worse,the doctors had noticed that there was a change in the baby's heart rate; it was becoming weaker which placed my baby in fetal distress. I was rushed into an emergency c-section,one that I was by no means emotionally prepared for but I was grateful that they had placed me under anesthesia so that my nerves and the pain wouldn't consume me any longer. But then again I wish they hadn't.

If by chance they had done the unethical and kept me awake during the procedure,maybe I would've had a few more seconds with my child. Maybe I would've seen her move and cry before she took her last breath. Maybe I could've told her that I loved her with a chance that she actually heard me. But I didn't. Instead ,after waking up, I was greeted with the news of her passing due to a prolapse of the umbilical cord down the entrance of my womb causing fluctuations in her blood pressure and ultimately her demise.

Inconsolable. Nothing they said was good  enough  to make me feel better. I felt like a part of me had died with her,I was incomplete. They all pitied me. They all cried, but they weren't the same tears I cried. The pain wasn't the same pain I felt. The loss wasn't the same loss that I felt.And nothing they could say or do was good enough.