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Outer Banks, Figure-Eight February 17th, 2027 8:02 am
I woke up before my alarm rang, queasiness disturbing me, making me feel awful. Groans escaped my throat as I opened my eyes and patted on the mattress where Rafe was sleeping, only to find out he was already at work. I sighed and got up, feeling both cold and warm, my stomach churning and my head pounding, so many mixed feelings that would have been eased by Rafe's presence.
I made my way to the bathroom where I threw up without even having enough time to reach the toilets. I whined and kept throwing up for a little while before getting inside the bathtub and cleaning my whole body. I wondered what was wrong with me, I wasn't usually sick and had not eaten anything I was intolerant to.
I opened the drawer and looked at the small box in which was the pregnancy test I had bought a little while ago, making sure it wasn't expired. I shook my head and rolled eyes, annoyed by my own behaviour. I couldn't be pregnant, Rafe and I were extra careful and I was probably just overthinking it. I placed the test back in the drawer but as I walked away from it, I began to doubt again.
"Just do it Janel," I whispered at myself.
I closed the bathroom's door, grabbed the test and took it, my heart beating so fast I could hear it through my eardrums. I knew it would be negative, but taking this test would reassure me and I would probably laugh about this with Rafe when I'd get back home from work. I waited for the results to show and as I noticed the two lines, it took me a while to understand.
I read what was written on the box at least a hundred times before realising I was pregnant. I panicked so I threw the test in the trash can and washed my hands, before grabbing my purse and escaping my house, as if it meant I escaped reality. I got in my car and drove to the hospital, where I worked as a surgeon. Tears poured down my cheeks and I shook my head, trying to focus on the road as it felt like my whole world was falling apart.
I couldn't be pregnant, not now. I wanted this embryo to leave my body and my mind because in this moment I only saw it as something negative, something which would ruin my professional life, my relationship, everything. I reached the hospital and worked all day, trying to get my mind off things, pretending I was fine when people noticed my tearful eyes.
Rafe was working as a real estate agent in a brand new version of Cameron Development which he had renamed Cameron Corporation, and he loved his job so much that he worked way too much. I, for one, had become the youngest female surgeon on the island, and the very first Pogue to become a surgeon. We had bought a house on Figure-Eight right after I had came back to the Outer Banks because I had studied in Massachusetts for many years, which had been tough for the two of us.
I worked for such a long time and around 6 at night, I got back home. I knew facing Rafe would be complicated because I had no idea how he would react but what I knew was how aging had not made him less impulsive. He was still as jealous, reckless and violent as he was years earlier when we had started dating, which was hard to manage sometimes.
