On My Own

Safe

I woke up in a hospital gown, connected to more than one machine that I didn't know the name for. But those weren't the first things I noticed. My hand was resting on my empty stomache, where my baby should have been still growing, in its safe cocoon.

I swallowed hard, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"My baby."

My voice was scratchy and barely there.

"Don't try to talk, sweetie. You lost your voice screaming so much.." I recognized the voice instantly, and forced my eyes to open and meet the older ones of Doctor Roberts.

"Where's my baby?" I demanded, ignoring his pleas for me to not speak.

He smiled, and shook his head while setting down a clipboard. His whole attitude both relaxed and made me angry. It meant that my baby was safe, but that he wouldn't let me see the angel before he got me to agree to whatever he had to say.

"Sang I need you to promise you won't talk while I try to explain-"

"Doc you don't have to, I remember everything.. From the MRI machine where I met you, to being kidnapped the first time around. I want my baby, and I want to see my boys, and I want to know how Clementine is, and I want apple juice, and I want to know what the hell is being done about my crazy ass sister."

Doctor Roberts leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for me to finish before speaking.

"Am I allowed to talk now?" I didn't reply, and so he continued. "As I was saying, you went through a tramatic experience, but it seems that you are retaining your sparkling personality quite well, so I'll just move on to the more important things. Your sister and Kota's cousin have both been arrested. Kota's cousin killed himself by taking himself off of the machine he needed in order to breath, and your sister was placed in solitary confinement until she is cleared by an Academy psychologist to be released into the general prison population.

"You, my dear, nearly died during childbirth. Had Clementine not been trained by the Academy, she might have lost you and the baby." At this point I tried to interrupt, but he shot me a stern look. "Clementine was tortured with some kind of mixture so that she lost ability to speak for a short while-" lemon juice and vinegar, my mind supplied for me, "and the boys are all standing guard either outside your door, or the nursery where the little one is currently charming every doctor she comes in contact with."

"My baby is a girl?"

He smiled, like he approved that the only thing I cared about was the gender of my child.

"Would you like to see her?"

I nodded in response, my throat not allowing me to voice the request.