Don't Forget About Me (Lovely Sequel)

Chapter Thirty Two - Alena's P.O.V

I got home to a still empty house, though there were only a few hours until Derrick would be home. As I opened the door to go upstairs, carrying the bags of groceries up to the kitchen, I was met by Bentley. He had already grown so much, and much of his puppy-like energy had started to disappear. Still, he ran circles around my ankles as I stood at the counter and moved everything from the bags to the right place.

Once everything was back to ground-zero, it occurred to me that everything I could've done today has been done. Just like that, I was stuck alone in the house with nothing to do. As I wandered around the house, it occurred to me how bored I had truly been. Everything had already been cleaned and organized. Nothing new was on Netflix to be watched. It was far too early for dinner prep. I had nothing at all to do.

Until I remembered that Christmas was in a couple of weeks, and absolutely nothing had been taken down to decorate! Suddenly inspired, I walked up to the attic and began sorting through boxes to find everything: the tree, ornaments, lights, and all of the other miscellaneous holiday things that would be scattered throughout the house. To finally have a task was exciting; I moved eagerly and stacked the boxes I would need to bring down with me. Once everything was set aside, I grabbed my first box and began carrying it downstairs to the living room. So, back and forth I went, up and down stairs with box after box. Finally, I had gotten to the last box, which was filled with the Santa statues that my mother had given Derrick and I when we moved into the house; the same two that sat at the front door of my childhood home. Certainly I had saved my biggest weight for last, but I was feeling fine with it once I got a good grip on it.

Only a few steps down from the attic, though, I had lost that grip. In an effort to catch the box before it went tumbling down, I myself had starting sliding down the stairs, flat on my ass. Unable to help the situation, the box fell on my lap and my stomach. I tried my best to think fast and grab hold of the box before it could slide out of my reach, which was a success. However, I could not do much to help myself from the echoing "thud" I made once reaching the flat floor.

Truthfully, it hurt quite a bit. While I had gained a few pounds already from my pregnancy, it was not enough to brace that fall in any capacity. I carefully placed the box onto the floor and attempted to push myself up, pushing my right hand down against the bottom step and slowing bringing myself to stand. After stretching for a second and fixing my clothes, I did my best to brush it off, picking the box up once again to bring it down to where the others sat in the living room. This time, more gracefully.

I started with the most important thing: the tree. Derrick and I had bought a fake one for our first Christmas together in the house, assuming that once our family started we would switch to having real trees for Christmases. For now, the fake one got the job done. Branch by branch I assembled it in the corner by the fire place, separating the ends to make it look full and life-like. Before I could begin stringing the lights, I had an unavoidable urge to pee.

No big deal. I grabbed my phone and walked through the kitchen and into the bathroom, closing the door behind me despite being the only one in the house aside from Bentley. As I pulled my jeans down, I noticed a sort of sticky feeling and looked down to find blood all over me. Panicking, I striped my clothes and looked for the source of the blood. Until I had realized it was coming from inside of me.

My hands began shaking, I couldn't even see straight. There was just so much blood. My vision became increasingly blurry as I started crying, on top of everything else. I was alone, and completely lost as to what was happening to me. Trying to collect myself and maybe fix this, I reached for my phone with my left blood-soaked hand. The time showed that there was only about another hour before Derrick would be home, and I could not have him come home to find me like this.