Chapter 12

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Twenty Years Ago 

Claret stumbled into her tiny room that she shared with her only friend, Keara. She was disheveled, tears running down her face. She clutched her stomach like it was the only thing keeping her anchored to the ground.

"Clare? What's wrong?"

Claret only collapsed onto Keara's bed, sobbing hard into her shoulder. Keara patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.

After a few minutes, Claret managed to calm herself down enough to speak. She wiped her eyes with her hand, sniffling. "I-'' she started, looking away ashamed, the tears coming again. "I'm pregnant."

She dissolved into tears again, staring down at her stomach.

Keara froze, speechless. "Who..?" she finally managed to ask. Suddenly, her face hardened. "It was that bastard, Rex, wasn't it?"

Claret sobbed harder, nodding a little. "Y-Yes. He came- two months ago." She hiccupped loudly, burying her face in her hands. "I- I can't. I'll lose my job and the baby will never..."

Keara stroked her friend's hair soothingly. "Shhhhhhh." she whispered. "It'll be okay. We- we can report him and you won't lose your job."

"He's the head of the police!" Claret shrieked. "He'll never get in any trouble. He's done this to so many girls. To- to all of us." Her tears made way for anger. She was sick, sick of her terrible treatment, sick of the way that the queen and her staff just walked all over her. All over her, and Keara, and everyone else who worked for them.

She felt disgusted, disgusted of them, who thought they were better than her because they had more money. Disgusted at herself, for carrying one of their children, disgusted at the child because it was half of one of them.

She felt the anger start to dissolve into sadness again. It was all hopeless. She would be fired for being pregnant, end up on the streets. She and the baby would both die, and there was nothing she could possibly do about it.

She sobbed into Keara's shoulder some more.

Keara looked at her friend. She felt something tug at her heart. She would not let Claret be fired. Claret would keep her job, and raise her child, and Keara would help her if it was the last thing she did.

The months passed, and Claret slowly came to terms with what she was, what she had inside of her.

"I got you the laundry assignment for the next two months. As long as you stay behind the counter, no one will see."

Claret's stomach had swelled up to the point that it was impossible to hide, or to dismiss as an excess of belly fat. She rarely left her room, relying on Keara to bring her food and barter with the other maids for assignments that let her stay hidden and alone.

Her everything had begun to ache, and she was starting to fall behind on her tasks. She knew that at this point, she probably shouldn't be working, but she had no choice.

Claret nodded, setting her food down. It was making her queasy. Her back hurt. Her feet were huge lumps.

She exhaled, reminding herself that it would be over soon.

Then you'll have a baby to take care of. her brain reminded her. In secret. The wave of hopelessness crashed over her again, trying to tug her into the sea. She resisted the despair, looking up at Keara.

"Tell me the story." she implored.

Her friend straightened, setting down her own food. "Close your eyes." she told Claret.

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