Chapter 11 – What part of forever
It had been a hard day at work. A car accident sent three people to the hospital: two died. His hands had been covered with blood all afternoon. Every time he changed gloves and washed his hands, another patient needed his help, and another patient bled out in his care. The worst wasn't even the 3 people from the car accident, nor the man that fell from the latter: Matthew Stevens saw that every single day. A young woman, in her early 20's, was pushed down the stairs by her husband, he was mad and taking antidepressants that often make people violent. He did not mean it, it was a random act, but still. The young woman was named Kathryn: she was 6 months pregnant. After the fall, she had one dislocated shoulder, a broken leg, a cracked head and was carrying a dead baby inside her.
When she woke up from her uncounscient state, she was all taken care off, but they still had to tell her that her baby boy, whom they where planning to name Ian, had died and it was advised to her to let the doctors remove the baby. She cried for hours until her husband, or what would be her ex-husband, pretty soon after that, Matthew was sure of it, convinced her to do such. She gave birth to a small dead baby boy, freeing herself from future infections (if she decided to carry the baby full-term) but condemning them to a hard reality: their baby would not cry, their baby would not search for it's mother breast, and touch her skin in order to feel safe, they would not see him grow up, go to school, get married, have his own children; their baby would go to a very small coffin and be burried under ground as a child who didn't even get the chance to see the world.
Matthew Stevens parked his car by the driveway, and walked fast to the door: he wanted to get in the house so badly. The sun was shining: it was pretty close to noon. He had worked for 24 hours in a row and just needed to get home. The neighbour's kids were still playing outside and the rays of sun made his suburb house look even more perfect. By the coffee table, in the porch, next to the swing: a cup with nothing more than a straw and a lemon slice; she must have drunk lemonade and forgot the cup outside, he tought, while he picked it up. He unlocked the door and went outside, leaving his keys and jacket at the hall.
"Darling, I'm home" He said, as he walked to the kitchen. In the oven, thin slices of chicken breast covered with cereal were roasting, bean rice was getting ready in the stove and some vegetables were already cooked and were just waiting to be taken out of the pot and put in a bowl. But she was not in the kitchen.
"Hello, honey, how was your day?" He heard her say, her sweet voice coming from the living room.
"It was fine." He lied, sitting in the couch next to her and taking her curly hair out of the way. She knew he was lying, and also knew he did not want to talk about it. He kissed her cheek. She then looked at him, with golden eyes and glasses. Marie Artemis Colt-Lazarus smiled at him. "Hello, most gorgeous wife in the whole world." He then took his hands to her stomach, that had the tiniest bump. "And hello most wanted baby in the world, hello baby in the belly."
After dinner, they sat on the couch again, with the tv on. She was watching The Walking Dead, he was reading "The Maias", written by Eça de Queiroz: his wife had convinced him to. She loved Portuguese classics, her grandmother was from Portugal, so it was natural of her to be a lot related to the Portuguese culture and feel interest by it's literature.
A woman screamed, the sound came from the tv. Matthew was caught by surprise, but Marie released a sound of content:
" Pff… Scaredy-cat."
"It's a show about a zombie apocalypse, my love. The woman earned her right to be a scaredy-cat."
"Please. All they have to do is chop off their heads. I could do that, while being 9 months pregnant. Find some zombies in 3 months, I'll prove it to you."
He closed the book for a second and looked at her.
"Thank you so much for creating that image in my head." Marie laughed. "Should you actually be watching that?"
"Yes. I am preparing our baby to the apocalypse. I read the revelations today, out loud, so the baby would hear it, preparing him to the biblical apocalypse. Now, the zombie apocalypse. Tomorrow, a natural one."
He rolled his eyes and laughed, but he didn't think it was hat funny, but still… she was the one carrying a small person inside her.
"Hey! I am eating super healthy and I only eat a very small bowl of ice cream a day. I've been listening to classical music and talking in english, portuguese, Greek and Italian, so our baby will be super smart. I did 5th degree equations today and spoke all the steps out loud so I give birth to a math genius. I planned to read the first chapter of some anatomy book during the morning. Plus, I have been married to you for 2 years and not once have I threatened you with divorce nor have I waked you in the head with a spoon." Matthew laughed. She tried to say serious. "Yeah, laugh all you want. I have earned my right to raise my kid to be an ass kicker."
"Off course, my love, off course." The episode ended and she got up, turning the tv off.
"Well, I'm going to bed. I don't even know how the hell you're still awake but I'm just exhausted."
"I'll be up in a minute."
When he got to his bedroom, Marie was already dressed in a white long cotton nightgown, she had already washed her teeth and was in he bed, covered by the egyptian silk sheets, reading a Stephen King book. No matter how tired she was, Marie always read at least 3 pages of one of her favorite writer's book. He traded his clothing for pajama pants with blue and white stripes and a white large t-shirt. He washed his teeth ans his face and then climbed inside the king size bed. His wife closed the book and lied down beside him, with a smile on her face. He kissed her on the lips and he too smiled:
"I love you, my darling."
"I love you too." She replied, right after turning off the lights and right before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
He fell asleep shortly after, right beside his gorgeous wife, the woman he swore to love forever. At 30 years old, Matthew Daniel Stevens was 30 years old and, married to the mos wonderful woman he had ever met, he was going to have a baby. If a girl, the baby would be named Genevieve; if a boy, Caleb. Their kid would grow in a loving family, live in a house in the suburbs and learn latin.
He felt confused, out of place. His eyes could barely open and look around, but he could see darkness. It was almost pitch dark. That place smelled like an old and closed building. He felt fear, a lot… He was so scared and couldn't make out why. He saw a silhouette of a woman, standing still, in a position which basically seemed to draw a woman sleeping standing up. You could hear a constant drip od water, drop by drop, falling on the floor. His sight was blurred. His eyes moved slowly but, at the same time, seemed to move so fast. The moonlight entered through the small window and allowed him to see a bag of blood, hanging from the ceiling.
Matthew woke up drenched in sweat, in an empty bed. Marie ran from the bathroom to the bedroom, when she heard her husband suddenly wake up.
"Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?" She said, holding his face while he tried to get back to reality. "Baby, it's okay, it was just a dream, my love. Shhhh…" She held him in her arms. "Did you have a nightmare?"
"I… I guess so."
"Do you want to tell me about it?"
"I do, but I can't. I don't even know what I dreamed about. But thank you, my love."
She kissed his forehead.
"Wha are you doing up, anyways?"
"I had to pee." She smiled. He laughed.
In the next morning, Matthew took his wife to the beach. They walked by the ocean, they had lunch in a restaurant near the beach and then went shopping, in a little street full of boutiques, in a small town. He spent a bunch of money buying clothing for Marie, the most spoiled woman in the world. They then sat on a bench, under a huge tree, in a very friendly and green park. Matthew felt his whole world shaking, but the ground was not moving. Marie moaned, in pain.
"What is it?"
"Probably nothing." She answered.
«Watch out!», Matthew heard a man scream. But it seemed to be so far away, from a whole other universe.
Another sound of pain came from his wife mouth and she felt something coming down her naked legs.
"Oh, God." She mumbled. "Oh God, Matthew! Please, no, no, no, no." Down her legs, a river of blood.
Matthew fell on the floor, has he had been pushed and pinned down. He wanted to help her but could not get up, he just couldn't move. He was lying in his wife's blood, his baby's death, his life's ending.
"Matthew, help me. No, please don't, oh god. Don't you die on me, baby. Please, please."She cried, helpless. "Help me, please, help me."
Her tears fell down her face and the blood created a red pool on the floor.
He felt like he was waking up from a very bad dream, unfortunately, to a worst one. suddenly, all was black and then, Samuel Winchester was by his side, calling an ambulance. He looked o his left. A few feet away, Marie took her family knife (an ebony scottish dagger, with a silver blade and a topaz in the handle) from a dead man's body, a man whose skin was filled with blue weird tattoos.
"Eww, Jynx's blood." She then cleaned the knife in the dead man's clothing and walked to Dean Winchester, still getting up after getting thrown all the way to the other side of the room. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry. Is Dr. Stevens alive?" Dean asked.
"Yes, and ambulance is on it's way. We should go, now."
Marie looked a Matthew. "Oh, what the hell where you doing over here…."
His barely opened eyes closed again and only reopened when he reached the hospital.