Protected By Vampires

Chapter 3

    “We need to talk.” I said to him just before he closed the door. 

     He stopped and turned towards me, anger written all over his face. "I’ve had a long day, several long days. I’m taking a shower and going to bed, we can talk tomorrow.” 

     “I can wait until you’re done showering, but I don’t want to wait until tomorrow.”

     He didn’t say anything, just glared at me and closed the bathroom door. I heard the locked turn. He only locks the door when we argue, and when I heard the click of the lock, my anger surged. We didn’t fight very often and I couldn’t remember any time I had ever been this mad at him. I got comfortable on the bed and waited, trying to calm down.

     After about 20 minutes I heard the shower turn off and went over what I was going to say to him for the hundredth time about the baby. I was nervous, but not afraid. I just wanted this over with. I waited until I heard his electric razor turn off before I headed toward the bathroom. I was reaching out to knock when i heard him yell.

“Vivienne?!”

     He was mad. “Yes?” I answered, trying  to think of what could have made him so angry with me. I hadn't done anything to make him mad and he never took his anger for others out on me.

      The door opened, and he stood inches away from me. I'm tall, but he is a half foot taller and I had to look up to meet his eyes.

      “What the hell is this?!” he yelled, shaking a pink box in my face. Too late I remembered that I had left the pregnancy test on the bathroom counter this morning. 

     “Umm… it’s a pregnancy test.” I answered. This wasn’t how I had planned our conversation going.

   “Why is there a pregnancy test in our bathroom?!” He was still yelling.

    “Because I’m pregnant.” I whispered.

     He was quiet for a minute then asked, “Is it mine?” 

    “Why… what… Why would you ask that? Of course it’s yours. What the hell are you thinking?” I asked, nearly shouting myself. 

   “I thought you were on the pill.” he said, no longer shouting but his voice and face were cold with no emotion. He was starting to scare me.

    “I was, but apparently it failed. It’s not 100% you know.”

    He brushed past me and walked to the bed. He pulled the covers back, and as calmly as if we were talking about a piece of junk mail he said, “get rid of it.”

    “I’ve been thinking about our options for a few days, and that’s the only one I know I can’t do. If you really don’t want to raise it, we can always choose adoption.” I said, upset that he didn’t take more than a few seconds to think things through. I wasn't against abortion, it just wasn't for me.

    He shook his head. “No. I don’t want kids, and I don’t want any kid of mine having a childhood that I know nothing about. The only logical solution is to get rid of it. I’ll see if my assistant can arrange the appointment and a ride for you.”

     “I’m not getting rid of it, that is not an option. This isn’t an ideal situation, but you need to stop treating me like my feelings don’t matter.”

    “So then it’s my feelings that don’t matter, is that what you’re saying?” he started shouting again. 

    “I didn’t say that! Of course your feelings matter. That’s why I wanted to have a discussion with you, like adults, so we can talk about all our options and make a decision together instead of you telling me what to do, or me telling you what's going to happen without your input.” I said, fighting back tears.

   “If you love me, you’ll get rid of it.” He said, then got in bed, turning his back toward me.

    I couldn’t fight the tears anymore. “I can’t believe you would say something like that. You’re refusing to be an adult about this situation-”

     “The adult thing to do is take care of it! Neither of us want it, so get rid of it. Seems simple enough to me!” 

     “It is a LIFE we are talking about, it isn’t so simple for me to throw away a human life! Especially since it is our child. We might not want it now, but that might change. And if it doesn’t there are hundreds of families that would want it. I don’t see why it is so bad to explore our options.”

     “No, we have one option here. Only one that is the right option that will make both of us happy.”  

     “It would make you happy, but you don’t know me as well as you think you do if you think it would make me happy, or that I would even be okay with it.” An angry tear excaped down my cheeks and I wiped it away trying to keep from breaking down and sobbing.

     “If I don’t know you that well, then maybe we shouldn’t be getting married. I will not stand by you if you decide to keep it. I will not be a father, and I don’t want any kid of mine raised by complete strangers!”

     I gasped and couldn’t fight the tears anymore. “You don’t mean that.” I started ugly crying.

     He looked at me, anger still evident on his face. “Tears won’t work on me. I do mean it. I’m not talking about it anymore, I will not change my mind. If you insist on keeping it, then you should probably leave because I’m losing control of my temper.”

     I was too shocked to say anything, so I just watched as he turned off the light and got back in bed. Slowly I got up and gathered some things, not sure where I was going but I knew I had to get out of there. I felt every emotion but I also felt numb at the same time. I got in my car and sat to think about what I was going to do. 

     Ruth was the only person I knew well enough to impose on, but it was getting close to midnight and I didn’t want to wake up her kids on a school night. I drove to the closest hotel and got a room for the night. As I got into the strange bed I realized I had left my laptop on the table at home. I set my alarm for 30 minutes earlier than usual to give me enough time to stop and get it in the morning. I felt so small and alone in the big hotel bed, and it didn’t take long for more tears to come.

     Eventually I cried myself to sleep.