New Blood

Morning

BLUE

I was lying on something cold and hard.

There was a machine in the room, beeping steadily.

Memories came flooding back.

I was losing the baby.

I LOST THE BABY

“ALEX!” I screamed, sitting up. I looked around. Alex wasn’t here. He was in Russia. I put my head in my hands and cried. Jake came in the room.

“Blue?” He asked. I looked up at him through tear stained eyes.

“Is the baby okay?” I asked. He gave me a blank look, as if he was emotionally not there.

“We don’t know. The ultrasounds are all coming up fuzzy.”

I stared at him, waiting for the words to sink in. When they did, I curled in on myself and cried.

Jake came to sit beside me.

“I need Alex.” I stated. Jake stared at me.

“What?”

“I said, I need Alex. It’s his baby. He needs to know. I need him.”

Jake blinked. He got up and left the room.

I cried. I cried until my tears dried. Then, I cried some more, but no tears came. I cried until I was gasping for air, my arms protectively over my stomach. I can’t lose my baby.

I felt a weak kick.

I gasped and moved my hand over the spot.

Another, weaker kick.

“Please, whatever gods exist, don’t let me lose this baby.”

                I didn’t feel another kick.

                Jake came back in the room a while later. I was staring blankly at the wall.

                “I wrote a letter to Alex telling him what happened. It should arrive quickly. I already put it in the mail. Do you remember him?”

                I nodded and choked back tears. Alex. He was my everything. I had told him I didn’t know him. He was hurt. He was dying. Polonium. Russia, the cure, I remembered everything.

                “Where’s Rex?” I asked, my voice cracking.

                Jake left without a word. Or, maybe he said something but I didn’t hear it.

                Rex came in the room, carrying a letter. I stared at it. My name was written in perfect manuscript on the front.

                He handed me the letter. I took it and stared at it.

                “It’s from Alex. He wanted me to have it and give it to you when you got your memories back.”

                Not a second later I had it opened and started to read.

                Blue,

                If you got your memories back, you know that I am in Russia. I haven’t even left yet and I already miss you. I know you well enough to know that you will have figured things out. Yes, you are pregnant. I couldn’t be happier. I love you, Blue, more than you could ever know. Leaving you now is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The only thing that gives me hope is knowing that it can’t be permanent.

Yours in eternity,

Alex

A single tear slipped down my cheek. I carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope, then placed it on the nightstand beside me.

What will he say when he learns that our baby could be dead?

ALEX

My head pounded. The sunlight was too much, too bright. I stood. Too sudden. Dizzy, I fell back to my hands and knees. The room spun. My stomach flipped.

“Shit,” I groaned. If I had eaten anything, I knew I would be throwing up. As it was, there was an unpleasant feeling in my stomach and chest. I closed my eyes and tried to get up.

No use.

I managed to look around, get my bearings. I was in my room, in the house I was born in over two centuries ago.

It didn’t feel right, being without Blue.

Something was wrong. Even hung over, I knew that. Then it dawned on me.

This was the first time I had ever gotten drunk.