Hugs & Blows

Oh Blood

When Ethan was five, his mother had a miscarriage. He had had a terrible nightmare that night and woke up covered in sweat and breathing hard in horror. He toddled down the wide hallway towards his parents room, the way he always did when he was scared. He was right at the door when he heard his mother cry out. He pushed the heavy door, that had been partially opened further and that's when he saw his mother covered in blood and crying so hard she was shaking.

His brother came running and his dad called an ambulance. Ethan remembers crying and begging his mom not to go with the paramedics, he hadn't understood that they were helping and he was afraid his mommy wouldn't return. Christine had told them she was pregnant a few weeks before, she hadn't expected to lose it three months in.

Ethan couldn't really comprehend why there was once going to be a baby by now wasn't. Now that Ethan was an adult he understood. He had been remembering his mothers' miscarriage a lot lately, he was worried that she was going to die and that stress had dragged it up. He knew he couldn't handle it if he lost both parents at once.

He woke up early that morning to prepare for the flight to his Michigan hometown, he hadn't been expecting to wake up with blood smeared on his leg, staining the sheets and leaking from between Odette's thighs. He felt like he couldn't breathe, he shook her awake and his tears pelted her face.

"Baby what's wrong?" She said sitting up worried that his parents had died.

"Baby. Blood. Were you pregnant?" He stutters, that's when Odette looked down and turned bright red.

"Oh. Ew. Fuck. I started my period. I'm sorry. It's on you." She mumbles embarrassedly.

"Not a miscarriage?"

"No. Why would you assume that?" She questions.

Ethan tells her the story from when he was five, she kisses him and comforts him. And it's all she thinks about while she showers and cleans herself off, as Ethan throws the sheets in washer with his bloodied boxers.