taletober

oct 5

DAY 5: Your character has been handed a child that looks nothing like them, but everyone insists that it is their child. (salt-and-a-dash-of-pepper)

...

"PUSH!" Dr. Emilio cried. 

"NO DISRESPECT, SIR, BUT I'M PUSHING AS HARD AS I CAN!" I screamed back. The agony was unbearable. Why hadn't I just taken the epidurals like the nurse suggested? 

"ALMOST THERE!" He responded.

I screamed in pain. I knew childbirth would hurt, but this was something else entirely. I thought I was going to faint when the doctor finally exclaimed, "HE'S CROWNING! HE'S CROWNING!"

I wanted to follow the doctor's instructions, but my body refused to cooperate. The pain grew worse and I screamed again, unable to form coherent words. The harder I tried to push, the more my body refused, resulting in an excruciating pain that felt like I was being eaten from the inside out. My vision blackened and sounds dimmed. I was sure my body was about to shut down. Somewhere distant, I heard my name being called. "JENIVIEVE, YOU'RE ALMOST THERE! ONE MORE PUSH HONEY!" Determined but exhausted, I pushed the last of my strength to my son before my head lolled back and I lost consciousness entirely.

My eyes fluttered open to a room full of balloons and flowers. I pushed the button to call the nurse and stared down at my IV, wondering where I was. The nurse rushed into the room in green scrubs that matched her piercing emerald eyes. A row of bangles hung low on either of her wrists, and her accent was definitely southern when she asked me, "Hey, sweetie, how you feelin'?"

"I'm fine," I insisted as she checked my pulse from my neck and her cold bracelets brushed across my face.

"Well," she said, "your vitals seem to be holdin' up. You really had us scared there, for you and for your little one."

"My what now?" I asked. Memories flooded my head, none making any sense to me in my drugged haze. "I had a baby?"

The nurse omitted a stange gurgling sound that resembled a chuckle. "You're still a tad bit loopy, huh? Give it an hour or so and you'll be back to normal. In the meantime, care to see your son?" She cocked her head and smiled so widely it looked painful.

"Uhh... sure." I replied. How could I turn down my son? I might not remember the little guy, but I really didn't want to be a bad parent within the first few minutes of his birth. The nurse stalked out, heels clicking in perfect time like some sort of metronome. As she left, my mind wandered to her strange behavior. Her accent dripped honey, but her words were choppy. Her expressions seemed forced, like her eyes were constantly pleading for help. Even her walk was too perfect to be real. I became more wary when she walked back in, a bundle of blue cloth wrapped in her arms. She handed me my swaddled son and my excitement grew. I was going to be a mom.

I peeled back the soft blue blanket to reveal the face of the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen.

But it sure wasn't mine.

"There's been a mistake," I told the nurse.

"Oh, I insist, there's no mistake, miss," she insisted, "our hospital doesn't make mistakes." Her terrifying smile grew.

"No, you don't understand," I retorted, "this baby is dark-skinned. I've never even... you know, gone that far with someone other than my boyfriend and he's as white as I am. Not that I have any kind of problem with people who are dark-skinned or anything! This baby is just gorgeous but I would hate to-"

"No, miss," the nurse interrupted, her voice lowering in volume and her honey accent dropping away. Her eyes narrowed. "there's NO mistake. Just ask your boyfriend." 

Jared, my long-time boyfriend, walked in, his face sporting an identical overstretched smile. "Oh, Jenny," he waved his hand in dismissal, "what a silly one you are. This is our baby. How could it be anyone else's? I watched it come out of you!" He had somehow developed a southern accent in the time I'd been asleep.

"What's going on here?" I asked, heavily confused as to why everyone seemed to forget the laws of genetics. "And JJ, why are you talking like that?"

"Like what?" He responded, his voice so high on the last syllable it cracked. 

"Like you're a southern belle from Alabama. You're a New Yorker. And this baby is not ours. Look at  it!" I shoved the blue bundle in his face.

"Oh, sweetie, I've already seen the little guy! I'm so excited to take him home in a few weeks!"

"Weeks?"

"Well of course, sweetie, you gotta take your sweet time recoverin' from your brush with death durin' delivery! We're so lucky Dr. Malachai was able to save you and the baby!"

"Who's Dr. Malachai? What about Emilio?"

"You're still a lil bit loopy, aren't you? I don't know any man named Emilio! Dr. Malachai delivered your baby from start to end."

"What is going on right now?" I asked, rubbing my temples. "I need some time to think." So I'd had a baby, that was for sure. I'd had a baby with my boyfriend Jared. We'd asked my mother's good friend Dr. Emilio help us through our ultrasounds and appointments and we wanted him to deliver our baby. "Dr. Emilio was a friend of my mother's, Jared. I'm sure of it." I nodded my head, gaining confidence again. I wasn't crazy, these people were lying to me.

"Jenny, sweetie, you need to calm down-"

"No! Absolutely not! What is this, some kind of prank? I want to see my real son! And stop calling me sweetie! We both agreed that pet name is cheesy and cliche and that we'd never use it." Something clicked in my head as I looked up at Jared's sick smile. I knew that wasn't my boyfriend. The man in front of me was someone else. I didn't know who, but I would find out soon enough. 

"Are you ok, sweetie?" Jared and my demon-nurse asked in unison.

I ripped the IV out of my arm and made a run for it, sprinting through the unusually empty halls of the hospital and making it to the front door. It didn't budge. I jiggled the doorknob to no avail, and before long, my pursuers had caught up to me. Jared grabbed ahold of my wrist. "Oh, sweetie, you're not going anywhere." 

"What is this, Jared, some kind of freaky cult?" 

He smiled in return, plunging a needle into my arm.

I knew it was a tranquilizer before I felt my body drop to the floor and my vision go black, but I still caught Jared's words as I hit the ground.

"I guess you're about to find out."