E turns around.'
"Sorry I got so excited," She extends out her hand, "I'm Egypt."
I shake it, "Egypt. That's a unique name."
She chuckled, "Thanks, my parents thought it would be different to have a family named after African countries. I'm Egypt, my mother is Kenya, and my father's name is Nigeria. So what's you're name?"
"I'm Leah."
Our room was very spacious; in fact, it was more than enough for two people. On both sides of the room there was a small closet, a dresser, a study desk, and a full sized bed; in the middle were our bathroom door, a small fridge, and a small flat screen on a TV stand.
I looked at the empty side of the room where I would be sleeping. On my bed were some folded linen, a comforter, and… some cookies!
My stomach grumbled. I forgot how empty my stomach was.
There was a note on top of the box of cookies.
"Welcome to the neighborhood! From room 412"
"They made me cookies!"
Egypt smiled. "The women on our floor are very sweet. We all know how it feels to move to an unknown place. It feels so lonely because you don't know anyone, so we let all the new move ins know that we're all in your shoes and we're here if you need us. We're even having a little get together tonight so that everyone can introduce themselves."
"I'm touched by you guys' actions. Thank you." I can feel tears welling up in my eyes.
Damn hormones
"You're welcome hun," Egypt handed me a tissue, "So how far along are you?"
Jesus, am I showing already? How did she know?
Egypt saw the look of shock in my eyes and let out a laugh.
"You're in what we like to call labor and delivery, everyone inhere is either confirmed to be pregnant or has had a baby within the year."
Egypt stood up and pulled up the large black shirt that she was wearing, and showed me her pregnant belly.
"6 months today. My appointment to find out the gender is in a couple of weeks." She said with a proud smile. I can feel the excitement and joy radiating off of her.
"I'm not even sure how far a long I am, I never visited a doctor." I tell her.
"Don't worry," she goes towards her closet and starts taking out some clothes, "Our medical building is next door. That way if an emergency happens, they're able to run right over." She picks up her clothes and heads towards the bathroom. "We can go over and make an appointment right now, just let me get dressed."
Butterflies start to fill my stomach and my heart begins to pound.
The thought of me being a mother excites me, but terrifies the hell out of me at the same time.
What if I'm a terrible mother? What if it doesn't love me?
Questions begin to fill my head and I begin to feel panicky.
Egypt exits the bathroom and stares at me.
"What's wrong?" She asks
"Nothing." I lie quickly.
Her eyes narrow; I try to avoid her gaze.
I sit on my bed and put my head in my hands. Egypt sat next to me and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Before I came here, I lived in New York. My father got a promotion and it ended up paying him a lot of money. My freshman year of high school, we moved from Harlem to Rochester. I absolutely hated it there. I had no friends, no family, and no one took any interest in the "inner-city girl". To make it even worse, my parents changed. They used to be down to Earth people; we were all very close. But wave a little money in their faces and they'll forget where they came from. I was lonely; then one day I met him. His name was Charles. He had this sexy smile, golden hair, and emerald green eyes. I never understood what interest he took in me. My father disapproved of Charles and told me to stay away from him and his family. Charles and I dated for 3 years without either of our families knowing."
I looked up at her, waiting for her to finish her story.
Egypt looked as if she was in a trance, as if she was seeing the events right before her eyes.
"On the night of our graduation, I decided to give myself to Charles. His family was gone so we were at his house. We were having sex in his room when is whole family burst in."
Egypt's face quickly changed into fury.
"His family was vampires."
My jaw dropped.
Egypt's began to breathe heavily, so I wrapped my arms around her to calm her down.
She continued, "I was raised on those stories growing up. I started phasing when I was 8 years old and stopped when I moved. I couldn't smell them on him when we were together. I was so angry that he didn't tell me that I phased right there in his bedroom. They didn't attack though. They just stared at me in shock. We didn't talk and I didn't phase. Then, about a month later, I found out that I was pregnant. And then that night he knocked on my window."
The room was quiet.
I was still holding her, waiting for her to continue her story.
"I ignored him, so he just broke in. Leah, he was one of them! They changed him! He told me that I deceived him by not telling him that I was a wolf. I told him that he was disgusting for looking up to people who drank human blood! They wore contacts; they weren't even one of those "vegetarian" vampires. Apparently, he was going to tell me after they changed me! He wasn't even going to let me choose if I wanted my life or not. The night that they came home, they were going to grab me and change both of us, but he never even told them who I was! Then he tells me that if I stopped phasing completely, he can change me and we can be together! And we get into this big argument and I yell that I'm pregnant and do you know what he says? That he'll change me after I have the baby and when the baby grows up, we'll change it too!"
I'm in total disbelief.
How can someone be so insensitive? Even Edward wouldn't have gone that far.
"I told him to stay the fuck away from me."
The angry tears that she was holding in began to fall.
She lays her head on my shoulder and I rubbed her back urging her to go on.
"A few nights later, my family received a call from our family in Harlem. Charles and his family went and attacked them. They didn't know that they were the werewolf side of the family. They killed my favorite cousins Morris and Nathan. They were like older brothers to me. Charles's whole family was killed and Charles ran off."
She looked up at me. "My father was furious with me. He told me that I can't raise a demon's child. He made me choose between my parents and my baby. I chose my baby and he kicked me out. I have never been more scared in my life. I was out on the street, pregnant, with a homicidal vampire chasing after me. But I'll be damned if I'm not about to be the best mother I can be. I made a promise to make sure that this baby has everything that it needs and to have more than enough love, even if I am only one person. I'm never going to give up on my child. Yes, I will make mistakes, but I'll learn. And so will you! You can't let your past harm your future or this child's future. You are here because you obviously care about it already! It's okay to be scared Leah, but things will work out if you don't freak yourself out and keep reaching for the stars."
At first I was confused about why she was telling me her story but now I understood. She was telling me that she knows how I feel. She's making it through one step at a time and so will I.
