Complete Strangers

Never Got the Chance

"Whose baby is that?" It was so small that I barely heard. Wasn't it his? It had to be, right? Mom wasn't the type to sleep around... Was she?

"W-what are you talking about? O-f course it's your baby."

"Stop Samantha, I know it's not." My dad always used a pet name, even when he was mad. How angry was he? I looked between them, mom sent me concerned looks. She never liked for me to see them argue. I was okay with not seeing that part of their relationship, that part was scary and unstable.

My mother could only sigh. She looked away from me and appeared every bit as tiny as she really was, "Johnny, I don't know." How could she not know? My mind had yet to tell me what the twisted feelings inside me were.

"YOU DONT KNOW!? HE GOT YOU PREGNANT AND YOU DIDNT EVEN LEARN HIS NAME!? Why wouldn't you have-" he stopped. Mom flinched every time he yelled. "Sammy-" he whispered,"you weren't, raped, were you?" I could tell that dad couldn't stand those words. Even from the back, his silent anger might have been enough to scald you.

Mom said nothing; her silence was the answer we dreaded... Dad couldn't keep the promise he'd made when they got married. The promise to never let anyone hurt her. I only knew because dad liked to remind me of how they met every chance he got. Their whole love story, start to finish.

My dad got out of the car and left. I wasn't sure if he planed to come back; I couldn't drive, and mom wasn't exactly able to walk to the emergency room. It had been hours, and mom was now heavily underway with the whole bringing life into the world thing. I checked again for a phone, neither of us had grabbed one on the way out. We were stranded; for the first time, I knew what true fear was. Mom already told me not to leave her, the one time I had thought to get help from a passing car. I looked from my place beside her, yet no car passed.

"Hael, the baby is coming. I know, I know this is really scary for you, but I need you to be brave for me. You're going to have to deliver you sister, alright? Can you do that for me? For her? She's gonna need a strong big brother like you." Mom starred into me with her gray eyes. Even now, she was calm, and that calmed me.

"How? I don't know how to deliver another person! What do I do?"
"I'll walk you through it, okay?" I nodded. Taking a deep breath and looking to her for more instruction.
"First, you have to watch. You need to know when to catch the baby- URAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!" It's strange to hear someone you care about screaming and knowing it's for a perfectly good reason. Watching, just like she told me to, something started to move. I looked back to mom again, she smiled at me through her pain. I held out my hands, doing my best to stay calm.

Just like that, it was over, and I was holding my tiny sister. Wait, what now? I'm shirtless and holding a dirty baby wrapped in said shirt. Isn't this a great story, huh? Mom had delivered the after birth and fainted from exhaustion. It was just me and this little smidget of a person.

It was almost morning before dad came back. I gave his concern a blank look. "I can't drive yet, neither of us had a phone." And said nothing else all the way to the hospital. I planned to be upset for a while, no 14 year old should have to deliver a child.

The hospital brought doctors and worried, but efficient nurses. When someone came to take my sister from me, I found that I wasn't willing to let go. I had to make my hands let go, and keep my feet from chasing after. The doctor took a look at mom and sent her into immediate care. Not that I could say that I knew what was wrong, but a phased doctor was never a good sign.

Next I saw the doctor, he told me my mother had died. She had a complicated birth, they said. Not that it mattered, the first person I had ever loved just left me. I never should have let go of Amber...

--- 1 year later

Amber could walk now, she's just like mom was; same smile, same nose, same eyes. Dad left me to most of the child care, he couldn't bare the guilt that Amber made him feel. I had to have dad hire a nanny for when I was at school. I didn't trust my father to care for a child that technically wasn't related to him. After all, he couldn't look at the girl whose black hair twisted and twirled the same way her mother's had.

--- present

Yeah, bad grades suck, huh? Yeah, that's it, that's the only thing that hurts. I decided to go home, Amber would be missing her big brother soon anyway...

--- 2 months later

Today was a perfect day at the park. I leaned against the tree behind the swings, then, this girl walks up. She looks right past me. Figures that not even being the only other person would get me noticed by a girl.

"If only I could be here forever. Then I'd never have to feel lonely again." She whispers. Oh, a downer huh? Though, it isn't like I didn't sit in that exact spot and think the same things. No one was there to make me feel better; she's lucky I'm here.