Empathy [Ben Hargreeves]

Preface

☆ October 1, 1989 ☆

The university clock on the wall struck twelve noon on the first day of the eleventh month in the year 1989.

Céline Leblanc was concentrating on her midterm in her junior seminar class at the School of Visual Arts in New York City when sharp pains had her doubling over so fast that she nearly hit her face against the desk top. "Mon Dieu!" she hissed as she clutched her lower stomach.

"Miss Leblanc?" Professor Ray inquired as he noticed that his student started to cry over her exam at the back of the classroom. He moved down the aisle between desks to kneel by Céline, the exchange student from France.

Professor Ray glanced at her paper; she was almost finished but had only one line of the essay completed. "We reviewed the essay question before the test began," he reminded her gently. He met her watery blue eyes and sighed. "Go take a moment," the middle-aged professor suggested as he rose to his feet and gestured towards the hallway. 

Céline nodded silently and tried to stand. She inhaled sharply in sudden pain and fright as she watched as her stomach physically expanded at exponential speeds. The skin of her lower stomach stretched and pulled like she was growing a watermelon in her belly.

With a shocked gasp, the feeling of wetting herself spread down her legs. First, her face turned bright red in embarrassment as several pairs of eyes started to look up from their tests at the commotion. Then, the clear liquid running down her leg turned into blood.

What was happening?!

"Céline!" Maya Gabriel, wide-eyed in horror, nearly tripped over the metal arm of her desk chair to catch her girlfriend before she hit the ground. 

The professor whirled back around and looked woozy at the sight of so much blood. He ordered the closest student to call 911 and promptly passed out on the floor. 

"Professor?" a student said worriedly as she kneeled beside his limp body. A guy in a jersey leaned over his desk and muttered, "Damn, he's out for the count."

Someone handed a purple hoodie to Maya to place under Céline's head as she was lowered to a lying position on the tiled floor. Her dress was stained red; her cheeks were tearstained. 

There was another bout of pressure down between Céline's legs. Her breaths came out in short spurts of air. "Breathe, my love. Breathe," Maya encouraged as Cece held her hand tightly.

"Maybe it's her appendix?" someone suggested.

"Dude, there shouldn't be that much blood," another voice retorted.

"I didn't know she was pregnant," a female voice whispered. "She was barely showing."

"But she's, you know..." Her friend shrugged.

The comments from her college classmates didn't help Céline's nausea. It rolled up her body to her throat in waves. "I'm gonna--" She puked out her morning hot cocoa on the floor. Maya quickly held her girlfriend's hair back from the line of fire.

Settled back with her head on the rolled hoodie a moment later, Céline looked at Maya with tearful blue eyes. Maya gently brushed her girlfriend's blonde bangs away from her sweaty face. "Help is coming. You're going to be okay. It's okay." Her voice shook.

Céline felt her insides burst and rip before she was pushing out the head of a baby in the middle of class. Chaoes ensued as students who had long abandoned their tests freaked out as a fellow student gave birth right then and there.

The paramedics made it to the classroom in time to finish delivering a healthy baby girl. 

As soon as the immediate danger had ceased, Maya released their connected hands with heartbroken eyes. "I-I can't believe you didn't tell me. It's obviously not mine, so..." She didn't follow the medics carrying Céline and the infant away on a stretcher.

Cece's brain could hardly process what just happened. It was like her body had betrayed her.

The scariest part of it all? Cécile LeBlanc hadn't been pregnant when the day began.

☆☆☆

"Maman? I don't know what happened. I swear that I'm lesbienne, as you know, but..." Céline explained to her mother in her native tongue what happened on campus yesterday with the only details that she knew. She still couldn't comprehend how her body was able to produce a child asexually.

"I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me. Who is the father?"

"Non, vous ne comprendez pas. I know it sounds crazy, but--"

"You don't know who the father is?" Céline's mother assumed. "No matter. Men are headache."

"Non, maman, that's not--" Cece tried to interject.

Her mother plowed along, giving Céline two options, neither of which appealed to the young mother and student: "You can come home and lose this opportunity to have a good life in America or you can give the baby to someone who will have the means to take care of it."

"Why can't I keep her and stay in school?"

"Céline, you're twenty years old. Don't make the same mistakes as me." Cece's mother began to cough, which drowned out the sounds of the young woman's sobs.

The infant sensed her mother's distress and began to wail to the high heavens. "Sh, sh," Céline soothed through her own tears. "We're gonna be okay. We'll... we'll figure it out, mon petit bébé."

☆ November 3, 1990 ☆

A wailing baby's echoing cries filled the air of the half full Greyhound bus. Céline felt like crying too. She had given up so much in the last year to keep the child, but it was never enough.

With another mouth to feed, Céline had been focused more on working than her studies, and her grades were reflecting that. To continue as an exchange student in the performance arts major, she was required to keep a certain GPA. She was well below the threshold and had six weeks to improve her average, or she wouldn't be graduating in the spring.

Cece sang softly while rocking slightly to calm the infant. The decision hadn't been easy to give up her firstborn. She was given the name of a stranger who had a home with seven adopted children -- all of whom were born on October 1st.

Céline knew that her daughter was special. She hoped that she would fit in well.

Smoothing out the fuzzy blanket that was bundled around the baby girl, Cece let a stray tear slip out. It broke the young woman's heart that she couldn't give the baby what she needed to survive and flourish. After all, she couldn't raise a baby on love.

Pressing a kiss on the infant's soft cheek, Céline placed a small piece of paper against the side of the basket with the name that she had chosen for her daughter. "Au revoir, mon bébé extraordinaire, Eloise..." she whispered and stood. She rapped her knuckles on the solid front door and quickly disappeared into the night.