broken // branded sequel // heathers au

seventeen

Elody's POV

"You gotta get up." Auden told me.

"Why?" I asked despite already knowing the reason I needed to leave bed. I had an ultrasound today. My parents felt like it would help me grow attachment to actually see the demon child inside me. I kept my eyes closed the whole time at my last appointment, which was with Ezra. We went before we broke up.

"You have a doctor's appointment." Auden reminded me gently, as if I had forgotten.

"I don't care." I told her but she was already pulling me out of bed and leading me to the bathroom to get ready.

The car ride to my doctor's appointment was dead silent. My parents tried to spark conversation with me but I had no desire to speak.

"Are you excited to see your baby, Elody?" The obstetrician asked me.

"Do I look excited?" I asked in my best deadpanned tone.

"Don't let her bother you, she's not in a good mood today." My mother told the OB, whose name was Gayle according to her name tag. My lip curled up at the name, it would definitely not be the name I picked for my own child.

"I'm excited." Auden told Gayle. "I'll be an aunt." She added, as if it wasn't entirely obvious.

"How fun." Gayle remarked as she started to spread the cold jelly onto my stomach. She pressed down hard and moved the wand around. "So you were born premature, correct?" She asked me.

"Yes." My mother answered for me.

"How early?" Gayle asked.

"Roughly a month and a half early." My mother replied. This made Gayle pause her movements.

"Didn't your doctor tell you?" She asked in an accusatory tone. This made my mother freeze up as well. She opened her mouth to speak but my father took over.

"Elody and Auden weren't born at a hospital." My father said, wrapping his arm around my mother's waist and calming her down.

"I see." Gayle mumbled, and while I could tell she wanted to say something, she didn't. "Have you ever been pregnant before, Elody?" She asked me.

"No." I told her.

"Ah!" Gayle exclaimed, she must have finally found the baby. "There they are."

"They?" I asked nervously.

"Is there more than one baby?" My mother asked, far more calmly than me.

"Heavens no, I just wanted to keep it ambiguous before asking if Elody wants to know the sex of the baby." Gayle explained. She gave me a questioning look to see if I wanted to know.

"Sure, I guess." I said. I had spent every day hoping and praying I wouldn't have a son. I couldn't raise a boy, they would just turn out like Ezra. I knew I couldn't spend the next few months doing that, it was already exhausting.

"You're having a little girl." She told me. I gave a sigh of relief and wondered if girls were more common in this family. It sure as hell seemed that way.

"I'm gonna have niece!" Auden laughed excitedly. She had also wanted the baby to be a girl, but that was mainly so she could dress them up like a babydoll.

Everyone was excited as we started to go home. But it changed when my father turned on the radio, right in the middle of a news broadcast between the songs playing.

"Over seventeen years ago, Sherwood was rocked by the murder of one of their own." The news lady said and my mother reached to change the station. My father caught her hand. She grabbed it back and sat it onto her lap, begging to fidget uncomfortably.