1. Not Alright

Amy continued to toss and turn in her bed. She had gotten past the issue of telling her parents that she was pregnant but now had been the second week in a row that she had trouble sleeping. Aside from everything going on in her life she felt she had sort of dealt with things well enough and so she didn't think there was anything to be stressed about anymore. Clearly that was not the case. After continuing to toss and turn, Amy finally had enough and just got out of bed; noticing that the clock read 2:45 a.m. This was the fourteenth day she had gotten up at this time.

Getting her robe, she went downstairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard and some milk from the fridge and then took a seat at the kitchen table. The life inside her kicked, clearly upset for having to be woken up, or so Amy liked to believe.

So many thoughts kept racing through her mind such as the reasoning behind why she continued to wake up to something Ashley had said several weeks ago. It had been the morning that Amy woke up early to tell her mother that she was pregnant. When Ashley came into the room Ashley tried to defend her by saying "you know it could've been an alien abduction, I hear there's a lot of that happening." Amy had simply smiled and scoffed it off but at the same time she feared that maybe Ashley hadn't been making a joke after all. It sounded ridiculous to be sure. People who made that claim were most likely crazy or there was some kind of normal and psychological explanation. So for now Amy decided to let that go. It was crazy and she shouldn't even be thinking like that; it wasn't like her. Ashley was the one who was into weird stuff like aliens.

Amy rubbed her ever growing stomach and silently said, "You're human. Ricky's the father. And I'm just sounding insane." Makes sense, Amy thought. I haven't been sleeping for weeks.

"Amy," said Anne, "What are you doing up?"

Amy was startled to see her mother standing at the doorway.

"I- I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Amy said. "I tried to be as quiet as I could."

"No honey, don't worry about that," Anne said taking a seat across from her daughter. "Everything okay," she asked.

"I just couldn't sleep."

Anne sighed, "Amy this is the third night in a row."

"Fourteenth," Amy corrected taking a drink of her milk.

"You've been getting up this early for two weeks," Anne asked in disbelief.

Amy moved her head up and down a little, "Yeah and I can't seem to figure out why."

"Well what are you stressed about?"

"Nothing anymore since I've been able to let everything go. All that stress I had was just bad for the baby anyways and I don't want to hurt it."

"Okay," Anne said tapping Amy's hand. "Well why don't you just go back to bed and we'll figure things out in the morning and plus you need to get ready for school in a few hours so just try to get some rest."

"I'll try but I doubt it will do any good."

"Why's that?"

Amy looked at the clock and it now read 3:00 a.m. "Because normally it takes me an hour to fall asleep and then I'm up by 5:30."

"Well maybe after school we can go see Dr. Hahn and ask for her advice."

"Sure," Amy replied not so sure herself, "Night, mom."

"Night, Amy, I love you."

Amy lay in bed for an hour until she finally went back to sleep only to have woken up an hour and a half later. During that hour of sleep Amy was once again tossing and turning only to have woken up with a start. The dream she had felt so real almost as if a suppressed memory was trying to reach the surface of her mind. Amy could not remember the details of the dream because like the previous times she woke up to a bright light and the dream faded; however she could still sense the feelings she had in the dream and those feelings terrified her. The one image that did seem to cross Amy's mind was the image of a guy. She did not know his name or if he was even real but she could sense he was about two years older with short blonde hair, his face a little lean almost as if he had worked his entire life but a kind face nonetheless. Before Amy could think much more about him, she felt the kicking within her.

"Alright, alright," Amy said groggily, "I'm up, I'm up."

After getting ready for school, she headed down to the kitchen. Her father was making coffee while her mother was packing the school lunches. Ashley was still upstairs getting ready. Both Anne and George noticed Amy had gained more weight but neither of them said anything and for that Amy was grateful since she all ready felt embarrassed around them enough as it was.

"Everything okay, Amz," her father asked. "You don't look so good."

"Yeah," Amy replied, "Everything's f-f-fine."

"You sure?"

This time Amy forced herself not to stutter, "Yeah, I just couldn't sleep it's no big deal."

"It is a big deal," replied George, "Your mother tells me this is the fourteenth night you haven't been able to sleep."

Amy looked at her mother feeling betrayed.

"I'm sorry sweetie but I had to tell him."

"Why didn't you tell me about this, Amy?" George asked.

"I just didn't want you guys to worry. There's all ready too much going on with me that I didn't want to add this on too."

"Amy," said her mom, "you're not sleeping does affect the pregnancy so you need to tell us these things."

"I'm sorry," Amy replied, "I just thought I could handle it."

"We're a family," said George, "We'll handle these situations together okay."

There was a knock on the front door.

"I'll get it," Amy said quickly; thankful for the distraction. "It's probably Ben, he and his dad were giving me a ride to school today."

Amy went to the front of the house just as Ashley was coming downstairs. Amy was totally shocked when she opened the door.

"Good morning, Amy," he said with a smile.

Amy continued to stare at the guy. It was the same young guy she had been seeing in her dreams each night these past two weeks. How was this possible Amy thought to herself? It could not be possible, there was just no way but it was possible the fact that he was standing right in front of her proved it to be possible.

"I'm Glen Marshall but I think you know that all ready. We have a lot to talk about."

"Amy," said George, "whose at the door?"

Amy quickly closed it as her father approached, "It was no-no one just some guy trying to sell stuff."

"You okay, you seem a little nervous."

"I'm not- I'm not- I'm not nervous."

"Really," Ashley asked coming into the living room, "because you're sweating and you're turning red."

There was another knock at the door and this time it was Ben when Amy answered it.

"Hey, you ready to go?"

"All set," Amy replied.

"Oh, Amy," said her mother coming into the living room. "I made an appointment for you at 4:15 so I'll be there after school to pick you up."

"Okay. I'll see you all later."

As Amy closed the door to her house she saw that Glen was standing near Mr. Boykewich's car. Glen saw her and started walking up to her.

"He's still here," Amy said to Ben.

"I guess, he says he knows you but oddly enough he won't tell me how."

"This will only take a couple of minutes," Glen said to Amy, "I promise. I just really need to talk to you."

"I'm gonna be late for school," Amy said to him.

"I can give you a ride plus a school note. Please Amy Beth, it's very important. This isn't just about us; it's about the baby too, your daughter. Please Amy."

Amy looked from Ben to Glen and back to Ben. She knew that she shouldn't make the next move but something inside compelled her to do so almost as if being led by the unseen dream she had been having for so long.

"I'm sorry Ben but Glen and I really have to talk."

"Great first Ricky and now him, I'm sorry that was uncalled for. I'll see you at school though right?"

"Yeah I'll see you there."

Ben and his father left leaving Amy and Glen standing in front of one another. The two of them walked silently to Glen's car which was a '09 silver mustang.

"Nice wheels," Amy said to him.

"Well it helps being superior in the universe," Glen said getting into the car, "Aside from God of course."

"Right."