Fault

Chapter 29

"WHY ARE YOU PSYCHO CALLING ME LIKE THIS?" I screamed into the receiver.

"Can you please just listen to me?" He pleaded. "I only have two questions to ask, then I'll let you go."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"Are you really pregnant, Shauna? Just be honest..."

"Okay, that was one question. Now, what's the second question?" I said dismissively.

"You don't love me anymore?"

"You're wasting my time, Jeremy. I have to put the baby back to sleep now since your round-the-clock calls keep waking him up."

"I'm sorry, okay! But, let's just be honest here. If you're really pregnant, then we need to handle things like mature adults."

"You're right."

"Okay. So... look, my goal in all of this is not to stress you out. S**t, I'm over the moon happy about it the idea of you having my baby!"

"That's the problem!" I said clapping after each word. "I don't want to have this baby."

"So it's true then, you're pregnant?"

"Yes," I stated flatly.

"Well, when were you gonna tell me?"

"Does it matter? I'm not keeping it."

"NO! PLEASE, SHI SHI!" He implored before calming himself down. "Before you make any rash or final decisions, can we please just speak in person?"

"I can't tonight, it's late. Plus, all of this is REALLY stressing me out right now." 

"Is tomorrow better?" 

"Yeah, but, if I agree to meet up with you tomorrow, don't waste your time preaching to me about abortion, alright. I will walk the f**k away, got it?" I said firmly.

"That's fine. I just don't want to lose you."

"I gotta go now, Jeremy. My head is killin' me."

"Wait! You never answered my second question...do you still love me?" He asked, hope saturating his words. I hesitated.

"Jeremy, love doesn't just go away like that."

"Yes or no?" He pushed.

"Yeah. Okay? Listen, I gotta go! No more calls, please!"

"Okay," he said with a smile. "I only called you like that because I was panicking. The thought of losing you pushed me over the edge. But, no more calls, I promise. Just hit my line in the morning when you get up and moving, k?"

"Fine."

"Alright," he said exhaling audibly. "I love you..."

I hung up the phone without a word.

It was a huge relief to finally be able to use my cell phone again. Jeremy's previous calls were coming so frequently, that I wasn't even physically able to block his number until now. That was my first order of business—free at last!

While later cuddling in bed with my sweet baby, the peacefulness of sleep itself began to take me under. Deeper and deeper I sank until found myself in a hellish nightmare that proved to be the worst yet. A masked monster of a man had me blindfolded, gagged and chained upright to an unknown object. The room was humid and the putrid stench of dead bodies suffused my nostrils. In my mind, there was no question about my fate.

Feeling the presence of my captor drawing near, I pleaded one last time for the chance to be spared. The deep trust of a blade slicing from one side of my unusually swollen abdomen to the next provided the unspoken response that I feared. Warm fluid poured down my lower half and pain circulated through my entire being. 

"God, what was happening to me?" I sobbed.

At that moment, the beautiful cries of a newborn echoed throughout the room. I wanted ever so badly just to see it's face. But, alas, that request would not be met. The next thing I felt was a hard smack across my face followed by a deafening high pitched sound knocking me senseless.

Released from the grip of sleep, I awoke to see that baby Jamal had knocked me in the face with his glass bottle.

"Goddamnit!" I cried in both confusion and pain. "All you had to say was you wanted more milk!"

He giggled as if I were telling a joke.

* * * * * *

The next morning I woke up in a slight fog. All was well, except that nausea was looming deep within the pit my stomach. This was an unpleasant reminder that yesterday's events were, in fact, real and there was no escaping that biting truth.

After checking my phone for missed calls, I laughed at the thought of having actually blocked Jeremy's number last night. I didn't feel like speaking to him at all, but he'd brought up a couple great points. One, the right thing to do was to handle all matters like mature adults, and two, this wasn't a decision that should be rushed.

I picked up the phone and gave him a call...