My angel lay before me on a bed of hard, silver steel. Her skin was translucent porcelain, so fragile, so cold. Her veins were trapped beneath her skin, a purple map between flesh and bone.
She was limp, her legs contorted into unusual shapes, her arms dangled by her side. Her breathing was hoarse. Short, wretched gasps escaped her crimson lips; her eyes darted to each corner of the room, planning her escape.
My angel forced a meek smile as she gasped, her body slowly convulsing under the fluorescent lights above our heads.
"Keep. Him. Safe," she whispered as her lungs clawed for oxygen, her knuckles whitened, grasping onto the steel bed.
"I promise, love," I murmured, gently grabbing for her clammy hand. My fingers traced over the protruding veins in her hand, the small, gold band of her wedding ring, the black and purples bruises that ran from wrist to elbow.
It was hard to stay in this room, even beside the one that you loved more than anything in the world. It was hard to focus on keeping her alive when all you could was death. Death taunted her, calling her name, toying with her mind. She was willing to give up everything for the thing growing inside her. I was far too selfish for any such thing. All that mattered to me was that she lived. If my angel didn't survive, than neither would I, regardless of what happened to it.
The room, putrid from disinfectant and blood, fell silent. The only noise came from the dull buzz of the life-support machine. I weighed up the options of what to do next in my mind. Time was running out, and fast.
Scalpel in hand, I fell to my knees as she let out a final, blood-curdling scream. She writhed on the table, eyes wide with fear, teeth grinding shut. A loud crack echoed throughout the room. Her eyes went blank and her fists fell to her side.
"Her spine," I whispered, shaking with trepidation. My angel lay in a pool of deep red. It stained her pallid skin and dripped in small droplets onto the tile beneath us. She heaved and then the room went silent once again. I heard her heart slow down, the rhythmic thud shutting down.
My angel's life was ending; her life cut short by the monster living inside her.