The Single Mother

Talla Knight Chapter 1- How It All Began

Three Years Ago- Talla's P.O.V

Going to that party was the first mistake. I knew Mum and Dad wouldn't want me there but that made me want to go even more. They should know that an 18 year old lives to party and be wild, I mean they were 18 once too. Instead of throwing down and living life to the fullest at that age they were planning their business together and figuring out how to tell their parents that they were together and there was no way of separating them.

By 21, they were both on the front page of the wealthiest and youngest business entrepreneurs magazines and later partnered with King Lawyers. The partnership was to help benefit both companies but in the end King Lawyers ended up become the mother company of my parents business.

My story is the complete opposite of that. Theirs was all rainbows and unicorns whereas mine became all shit emojis and depressed crying faces. Literally.

The party that I was attending, to my parents dismay, was Catherine Smith's. The schools 'Queen Bee' if you please. The whole school was invited and it was freaking insane. There was a bar with a proper mixologist, a DJ, fully catered buffet tables, a disco ball hanging from the ceiling that cast multicoloured lights on the ground and the local pop-star made an appearance. In other words it was every teenagers dream party.

I was supposed to be staying over at a friends place that night. But I caught her and my boyfriend making out in the back corner. As you can probably guess I went home early, crying, looking like an absolute mess and alone with no more 'best' friend and single.

You know the stupid statistics you hear at school whenever a special guest comes in and talks about rape and sexual education? That every one in three people get sexually harassed, abused or assaulted? To my unfortunate luck or just my shitty timing of leaving that stupid ass party, when I was passing the bar that was open almost 24/7, a man who was as high as a kite or as drunk as skunk, decided to exit the bar and set his eyes on me.

No matter how loud I screamed or how hard I kicked the man wouldn't let me go and continued to assault and harass me. After he was finished I received a slap across the face that temporarily caused my vision to blur, a punch to the gut that knocked the wind out of my lungs and a kick to the face that broke my nose as well as busted my lip and rendered me, unconscious, to the pavement.

I don't know how long I was out for. Hours? A day? Maybe two? The only thing I know is when I came to my parents were surrounding me, talking in hushed tones and glancing to a door that I have never recognized.

A man in nurses scrubs entered the room, smiled at me then introduced himself as Doctor Kelly. He later pulled out a chair sat down then asked me what I remembered and if he knew where I was. I didn't remember much and I told him I honestly didn't have a clue as to where I was, which he just chuckled at and told me he wasn't surprised especially with the amount of injuries I had received and from the footage the police had given him when they found me on the ground, passed out and terribly beaten up in front of a bar.

I was later informed that they had done some CT scans, an echo-cardiac, MIR scans and were waiting to get me into an ultrasound to check for any stomach, lung and liver damage. All the tests that were done though, came back as nothing major had been done to me although I did have a major concussion and a broken nose which could be fixed after my ultrasound was completed.

Doctor Kelly then left to leave me and my parents to process all the information. Mum began crying to which Dad just looked at her and directed her outside the room before demanding that she get some coffee, fresh air and buy a book and some flowers for me and to help calm her down. As soon as Mum had left Dad took a seat in the chair the doctor was just in, took my hand and asked how much of the incident I remembered.

Tears filled my eyes when I realized that I remembered only my boyfriend cheating on me and the backstabber my best friend was. Trying explain this to my father, he sighed when I was positive that was where I could remember up to.

Taking my hand and giving it a tight squeeze he retold the story of what the police showed him, Mum, the doctors and the ambulance. When the police questioned the owners of the bar their response to why they didn't stop the man assaulting and abusing me was that they didn't realize it was happening but are helping look for the man.

Everyone who was inside the bar also didn't help because they either were too drunk or high to notice, didn't 'give a shit' as one of the men who was there said or didn't hear the commotion that was happening right outside, which was a load of bullshit according to both me and the police.

When Mum came back in she had two large coffees in a carrier, a large book under her arm and had gone for a quick walk to the closest clothing and body shop and had bought me a change of clothes and soap because the ones I was in now were covered in blood from my nose and my busted lip and my face still had blood caked to it.

Doctor Kelly came back into the room, saw the bag of clothes my Mum had gotten me and the bag of soaps next to it and suggested that I take a speedy shower, only to wash away the blood and bad odor that was following me like a plague and by then my ultrasound should be ready.

Although it was thoughtful of Mum to take a 20 minute walk down the road to buy me a fresh set of clothes, a packet of underwear and some cheap bras, the outfit altogether wasn't really hospital material. The bras she got me were all black and were going underneath a white cropped shirt, the underwear she had gotten me was a size too big so the felt like they were going to be around my ankles if I walked and the pant she had gotten me were a little too short even for my liking.

By the time I tamed my crazy ass hair, brushed my teeth and managed to get rid of the foul odor, the woman who was escorting me to wherever I was getting the ultrasound was waiting with her wheelchair.

The small talk she tried to make wasn't helping with the nerves that were building up inside me. She told me story after story of teens who came in here feeling sick in the morning and finding out they're pregnant only to abort the baby or be left, in the world, alone to defend for themselves.

I remembered when introducing Scott, my now ex-boyfriend, to my parents for the first time and as soon as he left my father turned to me and threatened that if I ever got pregnant and was keeping the baby that I was to move out as soon as possible, get my own job, pay my own rent and I wasn't allowed any money from them, not even if it was to help pay off debt.

The scan overall wasn't that bad and I was told I had to wait about half an hour before I hear the results and that I would be staying in hospital for a few days so my parents would have to bring me some spare clothes, a pair of pajamas, a comfier pillow, a warmer blanket and other activities like a colourig book and a phone charger so I wouldn't die of boredom.

The next time Doctor Kelly came it was just after dinner and my parents had left to go home for the night. The news he had brought me about any internal damage was good until he got to the 'good news' if I wanted to be a mother or the 'bad news' if I still wasn't ready for that yet.

I was pregnant.