The Broken Tale

Push

Her scream was glass breaking, curdling his blood in his own veins.
His mind was left blank as it struggled to grasp the cup falling from his hands, shattering on the floor or Layla's screams or the front door being slammed shut.
      But when he saw a figure bolting up the stairs, all logics fell away and he instinctively ran after them.
      He almost pulled Chanel off of the stairs. She swung around, rage and panic evident on her face.
"What is wrong with you?" She shouted.
"Where do you think you're going?" He bellowed, "Why are you alone? Where's the doctor?"
"I couldn't get one! Move away, Brian, you're wasting time!"
"Wasting time? Chanel, you maybe smart and successful but you're not a doctor! How can you deliver a baby?"
"B-"
"No! You can't go near her! I won't let you!" He pointed at the door, "You better get out there and come back with an actual Doctor!"
She stared at him indifferently. Not angry nor insulted.
"Brian, please tell me how I'm supposed to get a doctor when every single TV channel in the country is asking for her to be turned over and arrested as a fucking child murderer, hm? You tell me."
His walls began to crumble down. His lower lip began shaking faster than his clenched fists did as his eyes drowned in unshed tears.
"What do you want me to do? Wh...Wh-what if she d...something happens to her or the b-baby? What will I do then?"
She held him by both shoulders, leaning closer to him.
"Nothing will happen to them. Stay hopeful, Brian. I wish things weren't like this but it is so what can we do? Either we sit here and watch her and the baby die or we try our best to help her to the best of our capabilities."
He felt his warm tears running down his face, only adding to his embarrassment for breaking down like that in front of Chanel.
"Brian, you can watch her die but I won't. I want to at least try to help her. I understand that you're scared and it's okay to be but you can't get in my way. So please step away."
Too overwhelmed, too scared and too powerless, Brian had no choice but to step away.
      Chanel gave him a pat on the back before she bolted up the stairs. He ran after her but he didn't need to tell her where Layla was since all she had to do was follow her screams.
Unlike Brian, relief washed over Layla's face at the first sight of Chanel almost not noticing that she had no doctor with her or she just did not care at all.
"How long has it been since her water broke?" Chanel asked.
"Thirteen, fourteen hours." Brian answered breathlessly.
Chanel sighed and brushed her hair back.
"Alright. Layla, can I please undress you so I can take a look at what's happening?"
Layla was in too much pain to care about anything anymore so she just hummed a half hearted and barely audible yes. Chanel glanced at Brian under her eyelashes before she stepped back.
"Brian, can you please take Layla's undergarments off?" She asked calmly, "She may be more comfortable with you doing it."
Brian nodded obediently and carefully slipped Layla's soaked lacy panties off, spreading Layla's legs.
Chanel looked at her carefully with inspecting eyes for a moment. Brian was confused but she seemed to understand what was going on with the baby. She sighed and stood up.
"Do you have any freshly washed bedsheets?" She asked.
"Y-Yeah."
"Where is it?"
"In the laundry room."
"Alright. Bring Layla to the last room on the left."
Without another word, Chanel ran out of the room. Her footsteps ran all the way downstairs to the laundry room.
Layla was still grunting breathlessly with her legs spread wide open. Brian tried to ignore every single thought that came to his head and obey anything that Chanel said. He scooped Layla up in his arms. Step after step, he could not tell how his feet walked so simultaneously down the hallway but they did just like now Layla continued to scream and cry in pain.
"It'll be okay." He whispered to her.
Layla just clutched onto his shirt with her fingers tearing into the grey fabric, burying her face into his chest to drown out the volume of her screams.
Chanel rushed past them, running faster in her high heels than Brian could himself. She pushed the bedroom door open and switched on the lights. When Brian reached the door, Chanel clicked a button on the wall by the light switch. The bed was turned over automatically, a new mattress and two pillows appeared on the bed, Chanel tossed the scissors and empty bowl on the floor and laid the bedsheets on the bed. Two robotic hands spread it over the bed.
"Set her down on the bed." Chanel instructed, slipping her hands into gloves.
Brian obeyed mindlessly.
Chanel knelt down by her and spread her legs. She took one look and bit her lip with eyes wide in horror.
"I-Is something wrong?" Brian asked.
Chanel bit her lip.
"Layla, do you think you can try pushing?" She asked.
"H-How do I d-do that?" Layla asked in horror.
Chanel only gave her a smile and explained what to do expertly.
"Alright, Layla, can you start pushing at the count of three?" She asked.
Layla grunted, "I-I think so."
"Brian, can you hold her hand?"
Brian sat down by the bed and took Layla's hand in hers.
"Alright, Layla. On the count of three."
Layla gave her a quick nod.
"One..."
The air froze.
"Two..."
Her hand squeezed his.
"Three!"
Layla screamed at the top of her lungs. Brian saw her tears running down her cheeks from her wide eyes into her hanging mouth. She squeezed his hand so tightly that he heard something crack in his fingers.
Chanel jumped up with wide eyes.
"Alright, Layla, you're fully dilated. Let's do this, come on now is the time!" She shrieked excitedly.
Layla glanced at Brian for a single moment but quickly looked away.
"Again, Layla, come on. Push."
Layla obeyed to the best of her ability. The pain which Brian could only imagine seemed to have been excruciating. Layla bolted up, screaming curses breathlessly. She fell back into the pillows, crying and weeping out in pain.
"Good. Keep going, Layla, come on!" Chanel urged.
"I can't!"
"Yes, you can, Layla! Come on, this is the last step and your baby will be here with you."
"I can't..." Layla wept tiredly.
"This isn't the time to cry, Layla, you have to fight!"
With another awfully tight squeeze of Brian's hand, Layla bolted up again, pushing just as hard as she was screaming.
But Chanel's happy smile died out. The second Brian looked up from Layla's screams, he was met with Chanel's ghostly pale face and eyes bulging with...shock...fear.
"Is...Is something wrong, Chanel?" He asked.
She didn't reply for a moment. Even Layla started to grasp the panic between her own screams.
"What's wrong?" She asked, "Is something wrong with the baby? Is my baby okay?"
Chanel swallowed and nodded.
"Y-Yes. Brian, get a towel and some water. Layla, I need you to keep pushing."
Brian was reluctant to leave Layla. He looked down at her with hesitation.
"Brian, hurry." Chanel repeated calmly.
Running to the bathroom with a small bowl in hand, Brian felt his heart in his mouth. It felt like ages before the tub was finally full, as if it were filling in rain droplets. Grabbing a clean towel, he ran out and rushed back into the room. Only to be met with blood curdling cries from Layla and Chanel's pale face flushed red.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Set them down here." Chanel replied, ignoring him.
"Ch-"
But as he set the bowl of water and towel down, his eyes locked with what was terrifying Chanel so much and putting Layla in so much pain aside from the birth itself.
"The baby's bree-"
But Chanel cut him off with a punch to his arm.
"Shut up! We don't want Layla to hear it." She said to him in a firm whisper.
"Wh...b...what the fuck are you gonna do? The b-baby is b-breech!"
"I can handle it. But we need Layla to keep pushing as if everything is normal. If she knows, she'll be panicked and she won't be able to push normally."
"W-"
"Being by Layla's side will do more good than arguing with me!"
Without another moment to waste, Brian obeyed Chanel with little other choice. He sat back on the bed and took Layla's hand back in his, running his hand through her hair with the other for he knew it would calm her.
"How much longer?" Layla wept exhaustedly.
"Just a bit longer, Laili."