It all happened so fast. The sunless sky was black as pitch, full on angered clouds. A void with barely a shimmer of light. It was freezing cold as the winds were howling.
I lay on the dirty ground moving the only part of my body that could move: my hands. I flail my arms trying to touch anything to see if I could get a clue, any clue, as to where I was. My left hand landed on something hard. When I felt what it was, I realized that I was touching pieces of broken wood. After examining the wood, I realized that my right hand was wet. I raised my hand above my face and was horrified. It was red and it was sticky.
Where was I? What had happened to the calm morning I'd woken up to?
My memory was a puzzle that I could not solve. I was in a nightmare that I could not wake up from. Through all the panic and chaos, I heard a voice, "We're going to make it out of this alive."
I was startled.
Where was that voice coming from?
I called out, "Wh-." but the moment I opened my mouth, my eyes started to close but before I knew it, I had lost consciousness.
"Twins! A boy and girl! Oh, they're so beautiful!" said Dr. Adaline as she held the babies in her arms. She handed the baby boy to a nurse on the left of her and kept the baby girl in her hands. She then said, "Clamps."
A nurse wearing bright blue scrubs standing next to the surgical tray grabbed a pair of clamps and handed them to Dr. Adaline saying, "Clamps."
Dr. Adaline attached both clamps to the umbilical cords of one of the children. She then said, "Scissors."
The nurse looked at the surgical tray and grabbed the black scissors near the edge of the table and handed it to Dr. Adaline saying,"Scissors."
Dr. Adaline said, "Thank you." She grabbed the scissors from the nurse's hands and positioned the scissors in the middle of the clamps. She took a deep breath and she cut the umbilical cord. She handed the baby girl to the nurse and said, "You know the drill."
The nurse took the baby in her arms and moved it to a nearby table already covered by a towel and started to clean the baby.
"On to the next one..." said Dr. Adaline as she took the second baby from one of the nurse's hands and then repeated what she had just done with the baby girl. When she was done, she gave the baby boy back to the nurse who had just held him. The nurse went to the table and started to clean the boy.
Dr. Adaline looked in front of her and said, "Good job. Take some rest now."
In front of her was a woman who was laying in a hospital bed breathing heavily. The woman was young and had long black hair and bright blue eyes gleaming with hope. One of her hands gripped the side of her bed, as if she was trying to stab her fingers into the soft material of the bed while the other was in the hand of the woman beside of her. She was another young woman with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. She was smiling at the woman on the bed.
"Did you hear that V? She said you did good." pointed out the woman.
"Y-yea I h-heard her, Ella." acknowledged the woman.
The two nurses handed the babies to Dr. Adaline. She smiled at the babies and looked back at the woman. The babies started to cry and scream.
The woman looked at the children in the doctor's arms with love and said, "give my babies to me."
"Gladly." said the doctor happily as she handed the babies to the woman.
The moment the woman's hands felt the soft skin of her newborn children, her eyes moistened and before she knew it, her pale cheeks were flooded with tears. The woman started to stroke the children's soft black hair.
"They look just like you." said Ella happily.
"T-thank you." The woman said as she held the two babies against her chest. Soon after, the screams and the tears of the two children stopped. The woman sat on her hospital bed staring at her children with the tears still flowing down her cheeks. She looked up and asked, "May I have today? Please, I beg you."
"Sure. Take as long as you need." Dr. Adaline responded smiling, "You heard her ladies, let's leave her alone for a bit. We will check back later, probably in the morning. Remember to use the pager on the side of your bed if you don't feel good. Goodbye and have a nice night!" She then ushered the rest of the nurses out of the room and into the narrow hallways of the large, quiet hospital. was the last to leave, whispering, "Make it count."
"Know I kinda wish that I had babies." joked Ella.
The woman giggled, "I b-bet you do."
"V, I'll let you have some time to yourself. Mainly cause I don't want to look at your nasty, sweaty face anymore." laughed Ella.
"Oh please, my face looks way better than yours ever has." giggled the woman.
"I'll let you win this one, only because you just gave birth but mark my words; I will make you pay for that," exclaimed Ella as she left the hospital room.
"Bye Ella!" yelled the woman.
The family was now alone in their small hospital room. The walls were beige and the floors were polished white tiles that glistened in the light. To the left of the woman's hospital bed, there was a worn out oak nightstand with a small lamp that dimly lit the room. On the walls were paintings of nature that seemed to brighten the room. On the table to the other side of the bed, was a vase of multicolored flowers. There was not a sound that could be heard for miles. It was as if the world stopped for this one minute. The woman started to stroke the tiny strands of black hair on each of the little children, soothing both the babies and herself until she finally passed out cradling her two sleeping children in her arms.
Several hours passed until the slumber of the woman was broken by the loud yelling of a man and a woman outside of her hospital room. The woman recognized one of them. Her eyes immediately shot open and she started to listen to the screams outside.
"You know why I am here! So where is she? I'm here to get what I deserve." yelled the man.
"No! Get away from here right now!" responded the woman outside.
"Doctor A? Who is she talking to?!" said the woman in confusion.
"Get out of my way! Right now!" howled the man.
"No. Leave right now. You are not welcome here." persisted Dr. Adaline.
"How am I not welcome here? This is a public space. I can be here anytime I want." he exclaimed.
"Would you like me to call security? No? Then get out right now!" Dr. Adaline threatened.
"I have the right to be here. I am here to see a patient and you can't stop me from seeing them. Besides, those kids are mine. That woman is not suited to take care of them."
"You are not the judge of that. No, you don't get the right to be the judge of that. So leave. Leave right this instant." justified Dr. Adaline.
"Who are you to tell me to leave? This is none of your business. Just do your damn job and tell where that damn room is!" Shouted the man.
There was a long silence after the man uttered those words to the doctor. The mother could only hear one thing, her heart beating louder and faster by the second followed by the sound of beeping on the monitors behind her. The silence was then broken by a quiet, shaky voice, "F-fine. I-it's room 307."
The woman was relieved and let out a breath. "Good, That isn't my room."
"See, wasn't that easy? Cause that took long enough. " said the angry man.
Doctor Adaline tried to say something, "S-sor-" however as sounds and letters started to flow out of her mouth, a large crash was heard on the wall. The woman squealed in shock.
"Get out of my way! You've wasted enough of my time already! If you ever get in my way again… you'll be sorry…" threatened the man. After the man said those words, the woman could hear footsteps go past the room. They grew softer until they finally faded away.
Dr. Adaline grunted and said, "That piece of shit."
The woman's heart slowed down and so did the beeping on the monitors behind her, however, she was still breathing excessively. The woman had so many questions pouring through her head. Who was that man? What were they talking about? Why is Dr. Adaline so scared? What is going on around here? The woman's deep thinking was interrupted by the sound of her door opening.
The woman squealed again, "W-w-who's t-there?"
The door opened and Dr. Adaline was standing in the middle, surrounded by light like a guardian angel with her shadow stretching out on the ground in front of her. In her hands was a blue hospital wheelchair with the logo of the hospital on the backrest. She looked at the woman with a worried face and said, "Get in the wheelchair. We need to leave right now."