Trust No Bitch: Part 2

Lilly Philipps

"God, I want her to die."

The aftermath of the Sasha encounter was led by a fuming Clara, repeating that very sentiment in a slightly different way each time. It didn't matter how she said it; her feelings were lucid. As Lilly drove to the hospital for one of the last pregnancy check ups she would receive, she couldn't help but ponder over the conversation they'd had in her head.

"Eurgh, she is such a scorpio." Had been her contribution. "Did you see the way she was looking at us? Like she was going to sneak into our flats and kill us all in our sleep!"

"Don't be so dramatic, Lilly." Alice had said quietly, sitting down on one of the cafe's more cosier sofas with the coffee she'd just ordered, Gemma shoving the notes she'd taken down at the lecture into her bag and taking the chair opposite. A blood-free Sasha had waltzed into the hall 15 minutes after them, telling the professor she'd had a doctors appointment and then taking a seat near the front, as serene and self-satisfied as somebody who'd just arrived back from an expensive spa weekend.

"Well, I wouldn't mind killing her in her sleep." Clara had reiterated through gritted teeth.

"Right now? I'm not saying I want her to fall off a cliff and die, I'm just saying that if she did, in this moment, I wouldn't necessarily care." Alice said with an unusually placid smile and a sip of her drink. "I mean, she's the kind of person that, every now and then, makes me wish I was born with multiple middle fingers." Clara, on the other hand, didn't appear the least bit amused, combing through her bag agitatedly and eventually producing a flask, holding it up to her ear and shaking it.

"No, I'm being serious." She muttered. "Why don't we just get rid of her? I'll do the honours."

"I don't think so. This uni doesn't need it's 4th murder in the space of a year." Gemma had said, exchanging a incredulous glance with Alice and subtly prising the flask out of Clara's hand, who was so immersed in her own anger that she barely even noticed it.

"You think I'm joking!" She snapped. "She obviously had something to do with what happened to Cleo! I mean, maybe she's even the one who killed her, the one who's now making our lives even more of a fucking misery than they would have been anyway. And give me my drink back."

Clara wouldn't actually kill anyone, Lilly had to reassure herself as she parked up and made her way into the hospital. Besides, wasn't she too...well, small? She was like, 5 foot, right?

Right.

It was all Lilly could think because the look in Clara's eyes as she'd said it had frightened her. What if Clara found out that Lilly had started the fire that may have led to Cleo's murder? Would she want to kill her too? It wasn't worth thinking about. But because the brain always did prey on those worthless, noxious kind of thoughts to nurture and to transform into something even worse, it was exactly that she stewed over even as she lay down on the obstetrician's chair and silently watched them tinker about with the transducer.

"I want to do an ultrasound today, if that's okay with you?" The obstetrician, a rangy, kindly-faced woman, asked her, Lilly silently acquiescing as she pulled up her billowing skirt to reveal the protruding stomach she tried so desperately to hide underneath. "Because last time she was still smaller than she should be and I'd just like to check if everything's okay. Then, I just want to do a quick blood pressure test and take another urine sample. How've you been feeling?" She asked, slathering Lilly's stomach with the lubricating gel, unpleasantly gelid on her warm skin; she'd had many ultrasounds before but it always felt as if someone had unleashed a whole zoo enclosure full of snakes onto her body.

"Very achey." Lilly said, doing her best to smile despite her discomfort. "Some cramps as well, but that's it really. I just can't wait to get her out."

"And how're your stress levels?" The obstetrician asked off-handedly, moving the transducer around Lilly's stomach and peering up at the monitor.

"Oh, they're fine!" Lilly lied, trying her very best to keep her tone light and airy. "I try not to stress! Bad for the skin, you know."

"You have a name, by now, I suppose?"

"Sienna. I'm sure." Lilly responded, her voice dropping almost to a whisper as she stared up at the monitor and saw that white blur amongst the blackness, the curve of the forehead and Lilliputian hands, outstretched, just waiting to clasp around one of her fingers. You will never be without me, she silently promised it.

I will never let that happen.