Broken

*14*

An hour after what she had heard, Mo sat numbly on her couch still in shock. The TV was playing but she could not focus at all. Her brain was refusing to process anything until the doorbell rang furiously.
She stood up and went to answer the door only to be met by Rea's fist in her face. She fell on her butt, clutching her nose as she groaned in pain. She was bleeding and Rea closed the door behind him then turned back to her.

"You have no respect, you know?"

Mo couldn't speak or react in any other way except groan as blood smeared her hands.

Rea grabbed her by the collar of her T-shirt and dragged her on the floor to the living room. "So you just decided to drag me along for the ride and ditch me just like that? How dare you?" he slapped her and she started to cry.

"What have I done?" she sobbed as she wiped her nose on the hem of her shirt, standing up from the floor.

"You're getting married?! After you swore that nothing was going on between you and that bastard? How dare you, Amohelang Leballo!"

Mo stared with a puzzled expression at him. "What are you talking about? Rea, what's going on?"

Rea was so blinded by anger that his fists started raining down on her and all she could do was curl up on the floor and try to shield her belly. "Get up and fight me! Get up now and fight me!" He kicked her.

"Stop!" Mo cried without budging from her fetal position. There were not enough tears to show just in how much severe pain she was in. She couldn't breathe as something moved in her belly. Then something warm and liquid ran down her thighs. She put her arms protectively over her belly. "Stop!" she cried weakly.

Rea only stared in horror at her when he realised what he had done. She was covered in bruises and some dry blood. Then he realised that her blue leggings were getting stained with blood. He went down on his knees and felt for a pulse- she was still breathing. "What have I done!" he thought out loud.

"Call ambulance," Mo breathed with difficulty. "The baby...ambulance." She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"What baby? What are you talking about?" Rea's heart was racing in his chest. "Amo...look at me...baby...Amo..."

"My baby. Our baby..." Mo began to cry but Rea covered her mouth with his hand. She was screaming and wailing at the same time but her cries were muffled by his hands. She passed out a few seconds later.
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Somebody was calling her name from far away and Mo stirred. Her body ached all over and she was wet. What was going on? she thought as she tried to sit up but it hurt to just move even a little. Then she remembered Rea and she forced herself to look around for him but he was nowhere in sight and somehow she was in the bathtub in her bathroom.

Her house phone lay a few inches to her right where she reached for it. She had to call for help just in case he was still...Mo felt something wet trickling down her thigh and she started panicking when she saw the red sea underneath her. She shakily dialled the first number that came to her head but Thabile was not answering. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she dialled Tebatso's number. He answered on the fourth ring.

"It's 2 in the morning, Amohelang," he said in a hoarse whisper. "What is wrong?"

Mo shook so terribly the phone fell out of her hands into the bathtub with a loud clank! She started to hyperventilate. Her belly hurt so much.

"Mo? What's go-are you OK?"

"I'm bleeding!" she cried. "It hurts so bad...I don't know what to do..."

" You need to call the ambulance! I'm on my way right now! Call the hospital! I'm coming!"

"I don't have the hospital number."

"Stay put, ok? I'm on my way!"

That was the last thing Mo heard before she collapsed in the bathtub.

When she next woke up, she was being wheeled into the back of an ambulance and on the way to hospital, she kept drifting in and out of consciousness. It was only in the morning as the sun came up that she sat up in bed with her vision blurry in one eye. She was startled at where she was for a minute and the smell of strong disinfectant told her she was in hospital. She was alone in the room but on the bedside table was a note from Tebatso.

If you wake up, I just want you to know that I have gone home to freshen up and I'll be back before lunch.

Mo smiled a little. She put her hand to her belly and felt it and it was still round. She let out a sigh of relief and went back to sleep.

It was only when someone shook her that she woke up. It was a nurse and as Mo looked to her side, Tebatso was staring solemnly at her then as she stared into his eyes, he refused to meet her gaze.

"We've got to take you in now," the nurse was saying.

"Take me where?"

"Into surgery." The nurse looked at Tebatso who still stared at the floor. "You didn't tell her?"

"I couldn't bring myself to tell her. She was...I can't...excuse me." Tebatso left the room and Mo thought she heard him sob outside the door.

"What's going on?" She was beginning to panic because of this odd behavior. "What was he supposed to tell me?"

The nurse looked at her with pity which was something she didn't need right now. "You...you came in late last night badly beat up and covered in blood. Your husband informed us that you were pregnant-"

"My husband?" Mo was getting confused.

"Yeah," the nurse nodded. "The man who's outside right now. He told us that he found you in the bathtub, beat up and bleeding and as soon as we got you back around, we checked the baby..." the nurse trailed off.

Mo went weak and slumped in the bed. "The baby didn't make it?" she croaked. She didn't even have the energy to shed any tears. "My baby?"

"We have to take you in to have your womb cleaned. I'm so sorry."

Mo lay her head on her pillow, staring into empty space, feeling empty.