✓ [18+] COMMITMENT

T W E N T Y - T H R E E : P H A N T O M

"Is everything okay?" I ask, choking on the last word.

"Oh I'm sure sweetie. Sometimes you can't pick up the heartbeat that well with this machine but I'm sure we'll find something on the ultrasound," she beams at me.

Doctor Matthews hands the handheld device to her assistant and walks over to a larger machine with a monitor attached. Wheeling it over to the bed, I begin to get anxious and a overwhelming feeling causes my heart to nearly beat out of my chest. I can tell by her and her assistants expressions, that something is wrong.

The monitor is turned away from me and I watch her expression as she moves the wand over my stomach. My suspensions are confirmed when she makes a humming noise like something isn't adding up. There's still no sound coming from the machine as she moves the wand further up my stomach and to the sides.

"Give me just another moment dear and I'll be able to explain everything," she smiles at me but it doesn't reach her eyes.

I have this feeling that I'm about to get bad news. My emotions are on high and I fight the urge to start bawling in front of my doctor and her tiny assistant who keeps giving me a sympathetic smile.

When Dr. Matthews finally finishes she puts the wand on its hook and I hear the sound of something being printed from the machine. Did she already take the pictures? If something was wrong she wouldn't have taken the pictures right? She moves the cart back to its place and whispers something to the assistant before giving me a sympathetic smile and walks out of the observation room.

"Dr. Matthews would like you to get dressed and meet her in her office," she kindly informs me.

"Is everything okay?" I ask nervously as I sit up.

"The doctor will explain everything in detail once you go to her office." She leaves the room and suddenly I'm alone. Right now I wish Dante was here so I wasn't experiencing this all by myself.

Hell, I wish I would've allowed Nadine to come but I didn't want to pull Joseph from the house and make him sit in a waiting room with screaming babies and emotional pregnant women.

I quickly get dressed and make my way out of the observation room. The tiny assistant is standing in the hallway and ushers me towards Dr. Matthews office. Dr. Matthews greets me and motions for me to sit down in the chair across from her. The assistant gives me one last sympathetic smile and closes the door.

"Katarina, I have some unfortunate news for you. It's nothing too bad. Your blood work came back fine. There's no abnormalities in your uterus or ovaries. Your vaginal wall had no signs of cancer or noticeable STDs. We will get the test results back soon and if you don't hear from us, that's good news," she smiles at me.

If I'm perfectly healthy then what's the problem?

"The issues is regarding your pregnancy. You see, right now you're experiencing something known as pseudocyesis or phantom pregnancy," when I look at her with confusion, not quite understanding what she's saying, she smiles and nods her head.

"A false pregnancy," she explains matter-of-factly.

"A false pregnancy?" I ask. I've heard of this happening in animals as a vet but I didn't know it was a thing in humans too.

"Yes. You see with a false pregnancy, a woman will experience the same symptoms as a pregnant woman would. The nausea, sensitivity to smells, even a missed period, just like yourself. Her uterus will even grow in size and she'll end up having a baby bump," she explains more, smiling.

How the hell can she be smiling right now?

Pulling out the pictures she took with the ultrasound machine, she hands them to me and I have no idea what I'm looking at. To me, it looks like nothing but black and white stripped lines. Like something you'd see on a television when there's nothing but static.