A/N: Chapter three at your service! Oh and thanks for the reviews everyone! They make me smile.
She hadn't been able to get back to sleep, and was just plain exhausted. She looked at the clock and saw it was time to start getting ready.
Abigail had wanted to take her shopping today, get her some more clothes that fit her better. She already bought her clothes, but at the rate Sarah had been growing, it seemed like they needed more by the second.
After selecting the days outfit, Sarah walked stiffly to the bathroom adjoined to her room and undressed, laying her necklace down on a high shelf. She turned the water on, as hot as she could stand it and stepped into the shower.
The scalding water felt great on her sore, aching body. The calescent drops, beating onto her tired flesh.
She sighed and let all the horrible thoughts of last nights dream be washed down the drain. 'Dream... More like a nightmare if you ask me'.
She shut the water off and reached around the shower curtain, groping for a towel. She reached one and pulled it in with her, wrapping it around her body. She got out of the shower and was greeted by a room filled with sweltering steam. Waving her hand in front of her face, she wandered over to the window and opened it, hoping to clear out her humid bathroom.
After getting drssed, she settled infront of her mirror simply staring at her own reflexion. She wasn't really fat, she still had a small frame, just a rather big, round stomach. If someone saw her, there's no doubt she's pregnant. Not even the baggiest of her clothes could hide that fact.
She was ready to spend the day trudging around the large mall with her aunt. She was about to leave the room, but then noticed her necklace. She had forgotten to put it inside her shirt.
She wasn't really sure why, but ever since she got it, she never let anyone see it. She always kept it hidden inside her clothing. She felt... almost afraid to let someone see it. It was hers, and only hers. It was precious to her. Her most prized possesion.
She didn't want to have to 'share' it with anyone by letting them lay their eyes apon it. She hadn't even let Abby see it. Sighing, she tucked it into her shirt and went to meet her aunt.
She had a feeling this was going to be a very... very... very long day.
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She was right.
It had already been five hours, and seven different stores. Apparently, Abigail loved to shop. Sarah held two large bags filled with clothes, and one smaller one containing makeup and jewelry her aunt had insisted on buying her. Abigail herself, now that was a completely different story. Sarah had lost count of all the bags the older woman was currently carrying.
Thankfully though, they were about to enter the last store, ShiningStar. Well, Abigail claimed it's the last store. But then again, she had also said that about the last three they went into.
It wasn't that Sarah didn't like spending time with her aunt. She loved to. But for one, her feet hurt. Not just her feet, but her entire body ached. And for two, she couldn't keep her mind off the dream. It seemed to be chasing her, haunting her. It would give her some peace for a short time, but it would always come back. And the baby seemed to sense Sarah's distress. Everytime Sarah got particularly upset about it, the baby would start moving around at an incredible pace, and delivering painful kicks to her inner abdomen.
"Hi! My name's Ashley! Is there anything I could do to help you with here at Shining Star?", a young hyper girl seemes to pounce on them as soon as they entered the store.
The girl appeared to be around Sarah's age, maybe a year or two older. Before they could reply, the girl was talking again. "You guys picked a good day to come in! Every rack is 20% off, except for the specially marked racks and all bins. Those ones are 50% off! Oh I see you're expecting soon! How far along are you? do you know if it's a girl or a boy? Have you picked out names yet? We have a really great selection of baby and maternity clothes!".
It seemed like the girl never took a breath. She was talking so fast they could barely understand her. Sarah stared at her, while Abigail could do nothing more than stand there blinking.
"Um... uh, well, yes I'm expecting. I'm six months along", Sarah lied. Abigail shot her a curious look and Sarah continued.
"I'm not sure of the gender, I didn't want to be told. But I'm pretty sure it's a girl. And no, I haven't thought of names yet. But um, we'll be sure to check out the baby stuff. Bye now!"
They walked away from the girl at a brisk pace, eager to get away from her. Abigail shook her head. "Wow. I'm a pretty chipper woman most of the time, but yeesh. How does she talk so fast? And I'm pretty sure you're supposed to actually breathe when you talk."
Sarah laughed at her aunts statement.
"Sarah? Why did you tell her you're six months along?
"Well, I wanted to get away from her. She was making me kinda nervous. I was afraid she was gonna ask to rub my stomach like the woman at the other store did. I figured if I told her I was barely even two months, the talking would just get worse."
Abigail chuckled. "Smart girl! We should have thought of telling people that sooner!"
The two women wandered over to look at some clothes. They had talked about it and decided she could probably still wear regular clothes, they'd just have to up the size. But really, Sarah still felt more comfortable in sweat pants, pajama pants, and tank tops. She said jean's sort of itched against her stomach.
Sarah was looking through a rack of shirts, when she caught a glimpse of a man that chilled her to the bone. She had barely seen him though. He ducked behind another rack of clothing. She didn't see much, but from what she could see, he looked a lot like... him. Just much darker, more sinister. A leather trench coat, long, kind of spiky black hair pulled into a low pony tail.
Suddenly memories of the dream were back, stronger than ever. Sarah could feel tears well up in her eyes, and her heart beat quicken. The baby started moving around faster than usual.
Then... She felt calm. She couldn't explain why. The baby's movements became slower, and Sarah found them soothing. She felt safe, and protected. It felt like her stomach was radiating calm, relaxed feelings.
Once Abigail heard Sarah gasp, she rushed to find her.
When she got there, she found nothing was wrong. Sarah didn't seem to be hurt at all. But Sarah was staring strangely at... something. Abigail couldn't really figure out what.
"Abby! Do you see that? Please tell me you see that!", Sarah waved a hand out in front of her, excitement shining in her eyes. Abigail stared for a second. Looking around the area that Sarah had gestered to, she slowly smiled and nodded her head.
Sarah couldn't believe what she saw. A soft, sparkling kind of light was shining from her stomach. Her baby... her baby must have been doing that! Sarah couldn't figure out why Abigail was acting so calm about this. Pregnant girls don't usually go walking around with glowing bellies.
"Well, you seem to like it a lot. Lets get it for you shall we? What color would you like it in?", Abigail headed over to the rack of shirts in front of Sarah and started picking up several spaghetti strap tank tops, the same one, all in different colors.
"How bout one of each?", Abby dumped the arm load of shirts into the cart.
Then it all clicked. Sarah realized Abby couldn't see the faint light, that was already starting to fade. She thought she was getting that excited over a shirt. Sarah smiled to herself and reached into the cart, picking up one of the shirts. This one was black, with a picture of a purple and blue dragon done in glitter.
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Sarah and Abigail sat on plastic lounge chairs outside, sipping iced teas. Shopping was finally done. Abigail even bought baby clothes.
They told the doctor they didn't want to know the baby's gender, but Sarah just knew it was a girl. So they got lots of baby clothes in pink, bright blue, purple, white, and red.
Sarah felt bad Abigail was spending all that money on her, but she seemed to be almost insulted if she told her she didn't need to buy her anything.
"So... Do you like all the stuff we got?", Abigail swished her glass around before setting it down on the plastic table.
Sarah nodded her head. "Yeah I love it. Everything's great", Sarah smiled. She really did like everything she got. She was even wearing one of her new outfits. She had on the black, glittery dragon tank top and a pair of dark blue and purple striped pajama pants.
"So, how can you be so sure it's a girl?"
"Well I'm not really sure. I just know. I can tell".
"Ya know, your grandmother was good at things like that too. The doctors never told her, but she knew your mother and I were both girls. Same thing with your mom. No one told her, but she knew you would be a girl".
"Really? That's pretty neat. I guess it would have helped Karen out a lot of she could do that. She thought Toby was gonna be a girl. So she spent tons of money on little girl clothes and toys".
"Oh goodness. I never liked that woman very much. I don't know what your father sees in her. So what she do with all the clothes and toys? And what about his name?"
"I don't like her either, so at least you know you're not alone there. She still has the clothes and everything. She keeps them all boxed up in the attic. As for the name, well she didn't really do much. When she thought Toby was a girl, the name she had picked out was Taby."
"You're kidding! Good grief. Taby to Toby. Very original", Abigail wrinkled her nose. Sarah laughed and stood up. "We should probably get inside. It's getting kinda chilly out here."
Abigail agreed and picked up her glass. "Hey Abby?".
"Yeah hun?", she replied.
"I know I've already had them but, is it normal for me to be nervous about the doctors appointment tomorrow?".
Abigail looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah I think so. I mean yeah, you've had them before, but since the baby is so advanced, you'll get to hear the heartbeat tomorrow. Hell... I'd be nervous if I were you!".
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Sarah laid back in her seat, waiting for the ultrasound to be finished.
"So," doctor Clairborne started. "Are you excited to hear the baby's heartbeat?". Sarah nodded her head.
She never talked much during the appointments. they always seemed to make her nervous and uncomfortable. She wanted to hear the heartbeat, but more than anything she just wanted to get out of that place.
Abigail wanted to go out for pizza again. That pretty much became a ritual for them. After every appointment for the baby, they went to A Slice Of Italy, her and Abigail's favorite itaillian restaurant.
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It was finally time to hear the heartbeat. The nurse that was in the room got everything ready, while the doctor was getting more papers to be signed.
The doctor came back in and fiddled around on a computer, then looked at Sarah and winked.
"Well it's time!". Sarah nodded her head and waited patiently while doctor Clairborne started rubbing around her stomach with a fetal doppler(Sorry everyone, I forget what the name of the machine is, but a fetal doppler is what you can buy at the stores to hear it). The nurse stood off to the side, explaining to Sarah that they had to move it around some to find the heartbeat.
After a few more seconds, the room was filled with a sound similar to a quick paced washing machine. Sarah widened her eyes in wonder. So that's what it sounded like.
The doctors face wrinkled in confusion. "That's odd. It's not a bad thing I don't think, but the heartbeat is abnormally fast. As you know, your baby is extremely large. All we can figure is not only is your child advanced in size, but everything else too. There's nothing to worry about I suppose. If we do find anything wrong though, we'll give you a call".
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Sarah lay in bed, unable to sleep. It had been a few days ago, she had a dream, she had been standing there in front of the door in the attic. It began to glow, then the door swunk open.
The light was so blinding, she couldn't even see what was inside. Even though she didn't know what it was, she knew there was something very important in that room. She knew Abigail had made her promise to forget about it, and she had. Until the dream. She couldn't get it out of her mind now. It's like its a part of her. Like it's been tattood into her brain forever, until the very day she dies.
She knew she couldn't go into that room. She made a promise that she intended to keep. She'd just have to push it out of her mind. Sighing into the pillor, she rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes, hoping sleep would soon claim her.
A/N: Once again, please review. There's only two more chapters left, so how about we try for ten this time?