~Chapter 7~

~Maron's POV~

A month and a half had passed. Chiaki hadn't pressured me to talk much about my no-longer-secret secret. He hadn't asked me who had done it, where it had happened, or even if I felt better since I told him. The only real question he'd asked was if I was okay. Well I would think it was obvious that I wasn't, but I knew he was just trying to be kind.

He hadn't asked me, or didn't notice, the swelling. The lump had almost doubled in size. No matter how many ice packs I put on it, the lump wouldn't go away. The bruise itself had nearly disappeared from sight. All that remained was a stubborn blotch of light brown on my belly. No matter how out of shape I'd gotten, there was no way this was fat. This lump was hard to the touch. Whenever I pressed on it, it felt weird. The bruise hurt a little, but the large bump on my stomach felt strange. I couldn't wear my normal pants or dresses or shirts anymore. Everything had to be stretchy. The lump just kept growing. It wouldn't go away like I thought it would.

And some bizarre things were starting to worry me. I had passed out numerous times, for no real reason. Chiaki told me it might be stress or lack of sleep, but I hadn't been having the nightmares nearly as much since I had confessed to him, and I hadn't gone back to school since that time. Then I felt nauseous, sometimes even throwing up, a lot. And the scariest part was the odd cravings I kept having. Raw pickles, celery, enchiladas, rice cakes, onigiri, curry, strawberry milk, and mustard mixed with lemon juice. Yeah, the first and last ones were flat-out gross, I know. Oh, and then there was also the unnatural laziness I felt all the time. Every time I tried to lift something heavy, like my mattress when I was putting clean sheets on, I almost instantly felt exhausted. Chiaki had to help lift anything else, like the couch when I was vacuuming under it. And I tired too quickly to completely erase hard water stains from my shower. I always ended up flopping on my bed and falling asleep.

The only logical thing I could think of was...I had a disease.


A couple of days later I scheduled an appointment with a gynecologist. And a week after that, I went to see her. Chiaki hated the idea that I didn't want him to go with me, especially since I might have a sexually transmitted disease. But in the end, I didn't have a choice. I was forced to bring him along.

He walked me to the office, where I was told to take a urine test. I felt kind of embarrassed that Chiaki was there at the time, but it wasn't like I could change what needed to be done.

After that, I was led into a different room to have my blood taken for a blood test. Chiaki was told to stay in the waiting area, just in case I was uncomfortable with him being in the same room while I had my blood taken. They filled at least five viles and gave me some orange juice to drink afterward.

I was busy sipping on it when Chiaki was allowed in.

"How'd it go?" he asked, taking a chair and pulling himself closer to me.

I sighed. "I don't know. They're sending the samples to a lab."

He looked at my arm, which had five band-aids on it. I caught on and added, "Yeah, these people are vampires."

He chuckled.

After I had finished my orange juice, the both of us were led to yet another room. This one was much different from the other rooms I'd been to. The technology and monitor gave it away. This was an ultrasound room. This must be part of the test. Maybe they wanted to know what exactly the swelling was, just in case. This place looked intimidating, like I was being tested for cancer or something. The very thought sent shivers down my spine. I was sure Chiaki felt the same way.

"Okay, I'm Dr. Perot," a woman said as she walked in the room. She turned to me and smiled gently. "We're going to need you to lay down on this bed." She gestured over to the bed sitting in the corner of the room.

I obeyed and tried to get myself comfortable.

"Alright, you all settled?" she asked. What a polite doctor...

I nodded and opened my mouth to say something, but Chiaki intercepted.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" he asked.

Dr. Perot laughed and answered, "We're just going to take a little look-see inside her uterus. It won't take too long."

I felt my cheeks burning at the word, that one word that I didn't want to hear in front of Chiaki. It was embarrassing, but... I stayed still, wanting to get this over with. I couldn't help but dreading whatever they were checking for. It was probably just inflammation, but what if it really was cancer? Or AIDS? Or herpes?

Dr. Perot pulled my shirt up just enough to expose my swollen belly. She whistled. "Oh, wow. Yeah, that's some serious stuff we're looking at."

Nice...

She squirted some cold gel onto my stomach and started smearing it around with some kind of device that was hooked up to a large-ish machine. The TV up in the opposite side of the wall showed a bunch of blurry nothings. It was weird for me, to say the least.

"Okay, we're just going to move it over some. Kind of hard to find anything..." Her voice trailed off, as if she was in some kind of deep trance. She was most likely focused on finding whatever she was looking for.

Finally, after what seemed like millenniums, something very small appeared on the screen. It looked like a little blob, and it was uncertain whether it was cancer or not. Hopefully it was just some kind of infection that would go away with time. When I first saw the doctor's face, lighting up with joy, I was afraid of what she might say next, even though it was bound to be good news.

"Congratulations!" she exclaimed in some kind of delightfully ominous voice.

I felt the color drain from my entire body. I knew Chiaki had to be thinking the same thing as I was. I feared that something even worse than cancer was inside me. At first I thought it was a fetus, but I was wrong. When I looked at the screen, the little blob wasn't moving. It just stayed there, motionless...lifeless. Thank goodness for that.

I sighed in relief, and it quickly spread to Chiaki. His tightened muscles relaxed and he took a deep breath.

But it was when I examined the screen again that I saw what I knew Chiaki wouldn't catch. There was a miniscule throb within the figure. The blob wasn't lifeless. It was moving. I prayed that it wasn't what I thought it was. I prayed that it wasn't a baby.

Even though I was dreading the "diagnosis", I refused to let on. Chiaki couldn't know about this, not yet anyway.

I grabbed a towel on the railing of the bed and climbed off of it. I smiled sweetly. "I think I know what it is now. Besides, I have to go. Got things to do, places to go, people to see."

I pulled my shirt back down and waved a goodbye as I made my way not just out of the room, but out of the building itself.

Chiaki ran to catch up to me, pestering me about why I left before I was told what it was.

I sidestepped each question.

A/N

So thanks for reading this, all who have taken their time to read it, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's short, but hopefully the next chapter will be much longer. I have a reason for cutting this short, though. You'll see why in the next chapter.