Upon A Star

Chapter 23

Her heart was finally broken, shattered into millions of tiny pieces. The damaged fragments sharp at the edges cut her inside, she burned and she cried and she screamed for what was supposed to be.

The sun in her dreams was greeting her 'good morning', the tree trunks smiled at her, the birds sang to her and the sunflowers rooted their petals to reach her. But she was as oblivious to the cheerful nature, even in her dreams. In her mind, the sky was dark and eerie, the trees trunks haunted her like ghosts with their branches looming over her forming a cave, the birds transformed into creepy bats that squawked as they batted their wings above her head and the sunflowers were blood red roses with thorns that were so sharp that they could stab someone straight through the heart.

She was a hopeless romantic. Roses were red, they symbolised love. Love wasn't supposed to be transient, it was supposed to live on, it was supposed to be immortal. But the truth was if she carved the word love on the sand, it would eventually be washed away by the truthful waves.

Days passed and she barely left Luke's room. She spent her time sleeping or reading or being forced to at least eat something. Luke offered his room to her, and this time, she was pregnant so there were no opposition of her sleeping on the couch.

But she was depressed and she didn't have the strength to get out of bed, let alone have a shower or eat food. However, at the end of the day she was pregnant, and she was supposed to nurture her unborn child, protect it from unknown diseases. Yet she was failing, she was rapidly rolling downhill.

Luke was lucky if he got her to eat at least one slice of toast that was barely covered with strawberry jam. The only thing that slid down her throat to her stomach was tea, lots and lots of tea.

"You can't just drink tea," he explained as he placed the teacup on the nightstand. "It's not good for the baby, or you."

She knew the obvious but she chose to ignore it. So she dismissively waved her arm and took one simple sip, allowing the warm liquid to ooze down her throat, calming and soothing her.

"Look, I know you love Nick and he's a prick for reacting the way he has. He shares this responsibility and he should man up to help you through this."

A tear choked in her throat, her eyes stung as if lemon juice was squeezed straight into them but she remained still, her eyes attentive to Luke. But all her mind could see was Nick, the love of her life, yet the same person who tore out her heart and crashed it with his very own fingers.

"Let me help you at least shower?" And his voice brought her back to her senses. This was Luke she was conversing with, not Nick.

He steadied his hand behind her back and helped her adjust her position sideways so that her toes were pressed against the wooden floor. Slightly pressing against her spine while holding her hand tightly for support, she got up when a piercing scream withdrew from her lungs.

The bed was flooded with gooey, thick, crimson liquid. Blood dripped off the blankets and splashed onto the floor as she moved, her jaw fell open and her eyes enlarged in panic.

Instantly, Luke rushed to the kitchen counter, grabbed his car keys. He then went back to Celeste and held her hand, guiding her as fast as he could towards the car. Meanwhile, droplets of blood trailed their path, from the bedroom, to the kitchen, to the front door, onto the porch and onto the car seat.

Twisting his keys and bringing the engine humming to life satisfied them both. He quickly pulled the handbrake and pushed his foot hard onto the gas. Before they knew it, they were rushing through the roads; other cars beeped and cursed them for breaking most traffic laws. But this was an emergency.