The Man on the Moon (The Man Duology)

Chapter 9

"Why haven't you been answering anyone's calls, Eleanor?" Harvey smooth voice spoke on my answering machine. "It's been 4 whole days. Call me. I'm worried."

Sighing and deleting the message, a sudden surge of guilt raced through my body. Shaking, I pulled up Harvey's contact on my phone and stared for a while. Hesitantly, I decided to call Georgia instead. Since Julia and Dad weren't home, I could rant to her about my abortion and how they both utterly smashed my future. She would understand. Hopefully. I was going to be a teen mum, without having a say in it whatsoever.

My hands, which held my phone, shook uncontrollably. The lit screen darted with my trembling limbs, making small, white zig zags before my eyes. As the anticipation grew, I left my phone untouched. The iconic sound of a phone ringing haunted the air, like a ghost, and hung there, clouding the atmosphere. It was thick, like smoke. It slithered across my entire body and, even though I was fully clothed, touched me in places in which I didn't want to be touched. I felt naked; vulnerable, as Georgia left me hanging. I couldn't lose her too; not like this.
After a few  more tries, she finally picked up. The tension was washed away by her chirpy greeting, which relaxed my heart. It didn't beat as quickly anymore, but soon was erratic again when I began telling Georgia what was on my mind. I told her slowly, but surely, making sure she understood everything that was happening. The situation was delicate, like a China plate. You know the ones your grandma keeps in a cupboard, high above any little hands. Passing this plate on, without smashing it, was a hard task -- but I could do it.

"Wait, let me confirm," Georgia questioned, taking her time too. "You get shouted at-" beaten. "for getting pregnant initially, and then shouted at again for wanting to fix it? I mean, I'm not keen on the idea. But it's your body. Nobody can take that choice away from you."

A woman-beating alcoholic kinda had some persuasion.

She led on, after my silent response. "Any luck with tape number dos?"

Georgia was practicing her Spanish for college -- something I wouldn't experience unless I aborted. The college life would be far away from me -- living the life of a mother who didn't want her child. My friends would be studying hard for their A-Levels and me? I would be dealing with breast clamps, changing nappies and feeding times... I wanted to be balls deep in text books, not baby vomit.

"Nope," My feet swung back and forth from the edge of my bed. "Maybe my m-mother," It felt weird to say, like the word left a stinging sensation on my tongue. "Never made a second one."

"If that's the case, your mother is great at cliff-hangers," She tried to lighten the mood, but nothing could distract me from the fact I was bringing a baby into the world, with zero choice. "Listen, I have to be at Adam's in 10 minutes, but keep me posted on your cassette tape adventure. I hope you find it!"

With that, my best friend hung up and ditched me for her boyfriend. My empty house's silence suddenly weighed heavy on my shoulders, like I was extremely aware of how alone I was. As I walked into the kitchen, my bare feet scraped along the wooden hallway. My hands found themselves wrapped around a hot chocolate, whipped up in my favourite Disney mug. It was a purple Aladdin one -- with princess Jasmine and Aladdin on one side, venturing through the night's sky (aka my mug) on their famous flying carpet, and Aladdin and the Genie conversing on the other side.
Absorbing its warmth, I pressed the mug against my fingers and stayed there, staring out of the window. I clanged my fingernails against it, trying to create a tune to distract me. Stupid of me really, to think that a small tune would distract me from such a massive problem. That was getting bigger by the second. Literally.

"Hello!" Julia sang, practically falling through the front door.

Dropping my hot chocolate, I rushed to help her with the shopping bags.