Bronze

Chapter 18

Leah

A large green snake coiled itself around my belly, squeezing until I could no longer feel anything below. Only pain. Tighter and tighter, the snake moved its flexible, legless body around mine, its tongue darting out to smell me when I started wheezing. 

I woke up, kicking the covers off of me and inspected the bright red ring around my waist. The snake was still there, constricting further, gluing me to the bed. I flopped down in agony, crying without a sound. My head bounced off the headboard, the shock of it momentarily distracting me from the pain around my ribs. 

A greyish haze covered my eyes, and I found I couldn't remember the last couple of weeks. What happened? Where was I?

Sweat covered every inch of my body, my mind only focusing on the direct sharp jolts and strained contraction in my stomach and lower abdomen. I clenched my teeth and groaned. 

An invisible string, just like the snake, hooked to my naval and pulled upward to the ceiling. Not being able to stop, my lower body arched slightly off the bed as the pain got worse. A rippling of what felt like bubbles underneath my skin cascaded down my sides and hips. My insides knotted. 

The sensation was similar to human menstrual cramping, or from what I learned from the health class I had to take in high school. It was a lot like giving birth. I could feel my body clamping down on itself, pushing and relaxing in a span of a few seconds only to repeat it again. If this was what labor felt like, I was not about to have kids. 

I bit my lip to stop from screaming. The last thing I wanted was to wake up the entire house and bring a rush of unwanted attention towards me. 

I caught myself wishing for my mother then. Wishing for a mother that didn't exist. The type of mother who would nurse you back to health when you were sick, or would play with you out in the yard on warm summer days. 

I rolled to the side, the bubbles going around to my front as I faced the door. They rippled up my belly to my lungs back down the path of my ribs. 

The pain stopped an hour later. I had finally calmed down enough to think rationally again; all thoughts of my mother banished from my mind completely. Laying there in bed, I thought of ways to get help. Would I tell someone? And if I did, what would happen to me? I couldn't go to a hospital, and I sure as heck didn't want to go back to the nurse's ward. The lady was nice, however, I didn't put it past her to have some sort of hidden hatred for me. 

Feeling only the memory of the horrible pain, and finding the strength to get up, I made my way over to the window. Looking out, I saw many people enjoying the sunshine and slight breeze of early autumn. Among those basking in the warm weather was Wendy. She was swinging a woven basket filled with clothes in her hands, every couple of steps skipping. 

I rapped the windowpane with my knuckles. I was high up, but not enough so that she couldn't hear me. She stopped, turned around, and stared behind her at a group of laughing maids, talking as they folded sheets. Shaking her head, she continued. 

I did it again, this time making sure she heard me before stopping. Wendy looked up, jumped when she saw me and dropped the basket. She ran for the kitchen door knowing I needed her help. 

**********

"What happened?" she asked when she barged through the door. I smiled at her and almost started crying. She embraced me, whispering kind words into my ear designed to comfort rather than be dwelled upon. 

A sudden cough shook my body. Wendy reached past me and grabbed a cloth from the bedside drawer. She handed it to me, and I thanked her. One look at the eggshell-colored cloth confirmed what I had already suspected.