Swapped For Love

Chapter 3.2

Vincent's POV

Upon seeing me, his soft smile melted into an angry scowl. I gulped nervously, knowing I could not make a dash for the room. I froze, avoiding his accusatory glare. He removed his shoes and placed his briefcase on the table, ignoring me and turning straight to his wife.

"Did she decide to get rid of it?" he asked Joy's mother. Rid of what? Her attitude? Ha! Tough luck. Maybe they wanted her to get rid of her wardrobe and buy new clothes? Her fashion sense was crazy bad.

"No," she bit out the single syllable, scrubbing the dishes more forcefully. But why was Joy's clothes making them so angry? Maybe they were sensitive about fashion? She never told me that...

"I see," he growled with undisguised fury, then turned to me. "Weren't you leaving?"

"Oh, yes. See you later," I mumbled, edging towards my room when someone grabbed my elbow.

"I think you should go out to eat. I put some money in the first drawer of the chest in the living room," Daniel whispered. I could have hugged him at that moment.

I nodded mutely, stoically, and made my way to the living room. Just like Daniel said, I found a few bills in the top drawer of the antique wooden chest that was in her family for years. I knew because I always ended up hurting my foot thanks to it and she refused to get rid of her. I shoved the bills in my pocket and changed into a pair of slippers and headed outside.

I didn't know what happened to Joy, but the awfulness of everything, it gave me more headache than I needed. Exasperated, I tilted my head to the sky and happened to catch a glimpse of the Pizza Hut sign on the other side of the road.

And I ran because I couldn't let Joy come between me and my food. My mouth watered, my legs shook, hunger was imminent and I needed a distraction. My eyes flickered to the green pedestrian light flashing ahead, my mind wandered, and my intense desire for pizza made me was tempting. What was next? Me switching bodies with a bear?

I laughed to myself. That was a funny one, I would tell the joke to Steven later.

The pulsating green lights were replaced by red just as I passed halfway. My body wasn't my own, the car reached me before I could command my muscles to move, and my heart leaped into my throat. It was too late to run, so I did what anyone would do; I braced myself for impact.

The car had stopped a few inches away, the driver hanging out of his window as he cursed at me loudly for crossing the road on a red light. Gasping I stared at him, my heart was still racing painfully in my chest. There was a sharp pain in my back, a gripping pain in my stomach, and I was gone. Lost in agony I didn't know. Collapsing onto the pavement, scraping my knees in the process, I leaned back against a lamppost, mad with pain.

"Hey, Joy. Are you alright?" an unfamiliar boy asked.

I nodded my head and attempted to get up, only to fall as the pain steadily worsened.

"Your brother called me and told me to give you a ride." he was saying, but I could barely hear him.

"You look so pale! We have to get you-"

A beat, three times. Thumping. My heart giving way, and then, I drifted. Blacking out. Slowly, slowly.

"Joyceleen!"

*****

When I opened my eyes, the strong smell of disinfectant filled my nose. Light from the window reflected off the white walls and as the IV machine dripped monotonously, I tried to move my head. I didn't notice the aching of my body until I attempted to move.

It was terrifying.

As a doctor stood in front of me, checking the papers on her clipboard, I winced, trying to regain some form of motor controls.

"How are you feeling, miss? Do you have any pain in your head or stomach? Do you feel nauseous?" she asked me.

I paused.

"No," I told her truthfully, shaking my head to clear the fog from my mind. An intense yet unknown fear was present in this room, one that had my heart palpitating and my stomach coiling in anticipation, and to that, I tried to calm down.

But I couldn't.

Why couldn't I calm down?

Sighing, she placed her pen into her shirt pocket and looked at me.

"Don't worry, you're all right now. But you should lay off any heavy lifting work for a while. You nearly had a miscarriage."

A- what? I stared at her blankly. Although I clearly heard what she had said.

Miscarriage.

My mind went blank, and minutes passed before I could force myself to speak again. My throat felt heavy and I could feel bile rising up. I was ready to puke any minute now.

"W-w-what do you mean by that?" I croaked.

A crease appeared between the doctor's eyebrows.

"I hope you're not suffering from short-term memory loss. According to these documents, you've visited a gynecologist clinic recently. The fetus is unharmed, so there is no need to worry."

Miscarriage. Fetus.

Pregnant.

Joyceleen was pregnant.

Wake up, Vincent.

I pinched myself. It had to be a dream. I'm dreaming.

Wake up!

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