UNJUSTIFIED HATRED {completed} (wattys 2015)

CHAPTER 9- YEA THAT JUST HAPPENED.

The ride from the hospital to the house was long and tense. Emily could feel Mrs. Hurley’s stare bore holes on the side of her face but she didn't care. All she was worried about was what she was going to do now, Mr. Hurley’s reaction, and, of course, her baby daddy's. She wondered if he would want to be with her now, maybe start a family with her. He did say he wanted only her, right? That meant he was having some sort of feelings, right? Sure, she liked him, but was the feeling mutual or one-sided? She had to mean something more to him since they have been intimate for five long months. That had to mean something, right?

Her heart skipped a beat at the other possibility. What if it still was just sex to him or worse...? What if he asked her to get rid of the baby? Well, if the latter was the case, he had another thing coming because there was no way she was getting rid of their child. She had always been pro-life regardless of the circumstances; going against her beliefs now was out of the question. The innocent child didn’t deserve that.  Besides, she was already too far along.

Emily got out of the car as soon as they got to the house; she needed to cry in the privacy of her bedroom. Walking to her room once she passed the foyer, she was stopped by Mrs. Hurley’s voice. "Not so fast Emily".

What now? Emily wondered. She turned to look at the older woman who had a look that made Emily feel like a piece of gum on the bottom of her expensive Gucci shoes. Emily had grown immune to that look since it was permanently etched on her face every time Emily was in her presence.

"Yes, Mrs. Hurley?" she asked hoarsely, trying to suppress the cry that was about to bust out of her lips.

"I need for you to pack up your things and leave this house," Mrs. Hurley replied with no trace of humor.

Emily blinked several times trying to wrap her head around the words. Surely she didn't hear her right. "Um… what? Why?"

"You are fired," the lady clarified, "and as for why, I can't keep paying you for the job you won't be able to do due to…" she pointed at Emily's stomach, "your condition." She said condition like it was dirty word.

Despite her horrible childhood, Emily had never hated anybody before; she was that girl that let things slide; the one that was too focused on herself to worry about nobody else. She was the goody-two-shoes, but at that moment, Emily’s dislike for Mrs. Hurley grew to a whole new height. She suddenly had a crushing need to slap the pride off of the overbearing hag. But she knew she was better than that. Much better.

She swallowed, trying to suppress her anger, then tugged on her tee shirt. "With all due respect, Mrs. Hurley, you can't fire me just because I am pregnant. I am not disabled, just with child. Not only is it wrong, it's also illegal." It’s called discrimination and I can sue your pompous ass, she added silently.

"Oh shut up, you whore! I am not firing you just because you are pregnant. Your incompetence is getting to be too much." Emily knew she was full of shit.  The real reason she wanted her to leave was because of her own insecurities. Emily couldn’t understand how someone so beautiful could be so insecure and feel to need to make others feel less of themselves.

"My incompetence? What incompetence are you referring to? I have done my job judiciously since the day I started working here." That was true. Emily wasn't one to slack on jobs. She had always been a hard worker. The kind of life she was dealt did not allow her the luxury to slack on jobs.