Romantic Short Stories

my baby

*Trigger warning*

The day was seemingly perfect before my world erupted. I was in art class, sitting at a table with my girlfriend, Grace, drawing an ugly version of an elephant that I was probably going to get an F on. At our table was some of Grace's friends, since I only took the class to talk to Grace.

She was to my left, carefully brushing her paintbrush on the canvas of colorful rain. She was always a natural at art and everything she made looked like it was painted by Vincent Van Gogh himself. She would get lost it her artwork and it was the most beautiful thing I'd seen.

"So, Grace," Harper, one of Grace's friends, said, "there's only a few weeks left. Are you excited?"

Grace was pregnant. We were high school seniors and although I expected more people to be rude about it, most of Grace's friends were happy for her and couldn't wait to meet the new baby. Thankfully, it was May and the baby would arrive in the summer. We both had been scared and shocked at first but we eventually accepted parenthood and were ready for our baby.

Grace looked over at me, a smile creeping on the edge of her mouth. "Very excited." She looked down at her swollen belly and just by looking at her eyes, I could see the love that she already had for our unborn child.

"Wait, so you're not finding out the gender at all?" Eve, another one of Grace's friends said.

"Yeah," I answered. "We thought it would be more fun that way."

"I hope it's a girl," Harper said. "I want to buy her little dolls and cute dresses."

"I hope it's a boy," Eve said, giving Harper a side glance. "Just because Harper wants a girl."

Grace chuckled to herself. "Well, I don't want any specific gender. I'll love the baby no matter what it is."

Eve laughed. "That's bull. Everyone always wants a certain gender. What's your real answer?"

"Alright," Grace started, "I'm kind of hoping for a girl."

"So you can have a little Ruth?" I said knowing it would push her buttons.

She gave me the side eye. "No. I hate that name." I laughed to myself.

"Aw, what's wrong with a little Ruthie?" Harper teased.

That was when everything took a turn for the worst. Over the loudspeaker we heard the baritone voice of our principal repeating, "Lockdown. Lockdown. This is not a drill. Get to safety. Lockdown. Lockdown."

The entire class erupted in chaos. We were all stunned in place and didn't know where to go or what to do. People pulled out their phones to call their parents. It was absolute mayhem.

"Alright!" our teacher, Mrs. Butler yelled. "Everyone calm down! Get to our usual location in the corner of the room! Go! Move!" Everyone huddled in the corner, confused and scared for their lives. Something like this had never happened at Kanona High School. Nobody knew what to think.

I turned to Grace and when she looked at me, I saw fear was pouring into her eyes. "Ethan," she said, grabbing my arm for reassurance.

Just then, Mrs. Butler came over to us. "Ethan, Grace, you guys come with me." She guided us over to the door to the supply closet. "It would be much safer for you in here. Don't make any noise and stay away from the door."

She shut the door and suddenly, we were in almost pitch black darkness. The only light was the tiny amount of light that shone through the window on the door that was covered up with light blue construction paper.

Grace and I got as far back as we could, but the room wasn't that big. We both stood there, just holding each other. "Ethan?" Grace whispered to me. I almost couldn't understand what she was saying.