~I Did My Best; Hope You Enjoy~


The loud wailing cries of a young woman in labor filled the atmosphere within a home in Bulgaria. Attired in just a white gown with her legs parted widely, the beautiful Katerina Petrova continued to cry out in discomfort as the pains of labor grew more intense with each passing second, her left hand on her round abdomen whilst her right was tightly gripping the sheets of the bed she was positioned upon. Sweat was dripping down her forehead as she slowly grew exhausted from all of the pushing, her wealth curly brown hair lightly sticking to her damp cheeks. At her legs, her mother was trying to sooth her whilst encouraging the young woman to continue pushing out the child she had been carrying for some time.

"A little more, dearest… A little more," her mother instructed in their native tongue as the woman glanced between Katerina's face and what laid amongst her young daughter's legs. "Push, a little more… A little more…" Standing behind her, or rather towards the corner of the room, Katerina's younger sister was watching the event with fright; the girl was quite a bit younger than Katerina, which was likely why her witnessing of the birth was slightly scarring and she was likely thinking that she would never have children, not wishing this sort of pain to be experienced on her person. Standing by the open doorway was the father of Katerina, his arms crossed as he watched the birthing with displeasure and disinterest; he was not pleased with this outcome, not at all, and he'd be happy for this scenery to be done with.

There was one final family member in the room during this moment of life with Katerina and that family member was her twin sister, Amelia Beatrix Petrova. Amelia shared many similarities with Katerina, from their oval shaped face with fine bone structure to their shared almond-shaped, deep brown eyes and the only clear differences between them were that Amelia's hair was straighter and lighter while her eyes were slightly darker in color, not to mention that she was slightly paler and the two of them weren't entirely identical to one another. Amelia was barely sitting on the left side of the bed, her body turned towards Katerina and her right hand was resting gently on her twin's left shoulder. She whispered words of encouragement, ones that were better than what their mother was saying. "Dear sister, you are doing so well. You are nearly there, darling Katerina. You must push only a little more, a little further, and it shall be over, the pain shall be gone." She looked towards her mother, appearing confident but feeling concerned; she was aware of what their father was going to do once the newborn arrived and she was worried that Katerina would not be allowed to hold her child once he or she entered their world.

"A little more, a little more. Push!" their mother instructed Katerina further. Katerina did as instructed, her wailing having yet ceased and after one final push, the cries of the newly born infant were filling the room as Katerina's own wailing died down. Amelia let out a cry of her own, a happy little wail escaping her slightly parted lips as tears welled up in her eyes whilst she smiled at the fact that she was finally an aunt. She looked towards her panting twin and leaned forward, placing her lips upon Katerina's sweat-covered forehead. The tiniest of smiles appeared on Katerina's face because of this action and she placed her left hand on one of Amelia's arms, rubbing it slightly as she fought back tears of her own that she had somehow managed to not shed. The Petrova twins looked towards their mother at the same exact time, waiting for the gender of the newborn to be revealed to them. "It's a girl," their mother stated seconds later.

The sisters stared as their mother raised the female newborn high enough from them to see her, a smile on their mother's face. The newborn continued to cry, covered not only in a small white blanket but in red goo-like substance. Amelia's smile remained whilst Katerina's smile faded, disbelief appearing on her face. She just gave birth to a daughter, it was almost surreal. "A girl," Katerina panted out. Her mother nodded, confirming the baby's gender a second time. "Please, Mother…" She reached out her arms, holding them out for her child. "...Let me see her."

The Petrova mother made a move to hand Katerina the newborn female, but the booming voice of the Petrova father made both Katerina and Amelia jump. "Woman, don't!" The twins and their mother glanced towards the approaching Petrova father, and that was when Amelia's smile fell flat. "What are you doing?" he questioned. He had already told the woman once that the child was to be taken away immediately, with no hesitation or short goodbyes. The sooner the child was gone, the better. Their reputation was already at sake as it was.

The twins watched dishearteningly as their mother stood with the child, watching as she handed the baby to their father. Amelia shook her head in disbelief, not believing that their father would be so cruel as to not allow Katerina to hold her child. Katerina's lips quivered as she turned herself towards her father, remaining on the bed. "Let me, at least, hold her once… Just once… At least once," she begged her father. He would give her that, at least, right? He couldn't honestly be that cruel… Surely he could see pass her mistake and allow her this one request...

"Forget it! You have disgraced this family!" their father exclaimed. He made a move to turn, to walk towards the open doorway where the child would never be seen by them (the twins) again for many, many years when Amelia stood from the bed, stepping in front of her father in an attempt to stop him, in an attempt to plead with him to allow this one kind gesture to happen. "Get out of the way, girl!" he yelled at her, the cries of the infant still filling the air. He was already displeased by the entire situation, but he was equally as displeased by the fact that Amelia had been so supportive of Katerina, despite the cause of her pregnancy.

Amelia stood her ground, staring up at her father. Her hands were clenching her long green gamurra (with a gold overdress) tightly, her anger clear from not only her expression but from the words that released from her mouth. "How can you be so cruel and heartless? Allow her to hold the child for a moment. A moment is all she wants. Can you, at least, give her that?" Whilst she was visibly angry and her words had shown that well, her tone was purely calm and even because she did not wish to raise her voice. Even when angered, she wanted some sort of decent mannerism coming from herself. At least she could be more civilized than her horrid father.

Her father glared at her with all his might. If the child were not in his grasp, he would have striked her across the face with his palm. No daughter of his was allowed to speak to him in that way. "No! She has disgraced this family and so have you for your support of her! I want you gone with the likes of her by tomorrow evening or there will be hell to pay!" Her father stepped by her and he stepped out of the room, taking the child with him as he became out of sight of the family. He cared not of either of them anymore. They were a disgrace, failures. They were no daughters of his.

"Father, please!" Katerina exclaimed as she gripped the bedsheets tightly again, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks once more as she watched him leave with her only child. "No, Father, please! No!" This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be losing her child before having held her. She needed to hold her, just once. That's all she wanted. "Please, Father!" She wanted her child. Why did this have to happen?

Amelia and their mother rushed to Katerina's side, both trying to hush her cries but no amount of comfort could ever sooth Katerina's sorrow of losing her only child that was born out of wedlock. Amelia wrapped her arms around her sister's torso before their mother had, pulling Katerina close to her as she began to cry with her dearest sister. She listened to their mother's statements that it was better for the child to leave, but Amelia didn't wish for it to happen either way. Neither did Katerina. "I tried, dear sister. I tried. I'm sorry. I tried to stop him from leaving before you held her. He had no right to do this to you. I'm so sorry." Every fiber of her being was telling her to go after her father, to take the child from him and run before reuniting the child with Katerina somehow, but she felt that attempting such would only cause harm to the newborn and so, she sadly accepted this horrible reality.

"No! Sister, please, I must hold her! I must! Please!" Katerina was desperately trying to get herself out of Amelia's grasp, wishing to run after her father (just as Amelia had wished to do), but her twin was refusing to release her, Amelia knowing that no good could come out of that. "Please…" Katerina's struggles died down as she wrapped her arms around Amelia, crying into her twin's shoulder as she was forced to accept this harsh reality, too…


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