I couldn't hear. The words flowing easily from this woman standing before me were incomprehensible, slow, distant. Everything I had was screaming in protest, it couldn't be true.
"...the body's way of terminating a pregnancy" echoing around my suddenly silent head.
"doesn't mean we can't try the process again..."
What was she talking about?
Where was Tina?
I crashed out of the office, leaving the doctor mid-sentence and alone, and drove home. My home, my heart, was sitting on the floor of the bedroom. Legs sprawled out in front of her. Hands clasped on her stomach, flecks of blood surrounding her.
"Tina..."
Only then did I realise that the awful shrieking hadn't been inside my own mind, but coming from her. Only then, because it paused for the smallest of seconds as its creator stared up at me, face contorted with grief. My very reason for existing was in front of me, clawing at her skin as though desperate to find a way inside herself to fix whatever had gone wrong. To find the heartbeat that no doctor could.
"Bette... you... you have to fix it. Make it go away." She moaned at me, clutching at my hands desperately.
"Bette!"
A screech. Mine.
I was on the floor next to her, both of us clinging to the shred of life we had left.