Screaming.

It was all Rachel could hear.

Relentless, heart-wrenching, blood-curdling screaming.

The school corridor was pitch black. She couldn't see a thing as she ran blindly along the corridor, following the noise. Her heart was hammering against her chest as she darted in and out of the classrooms.

"MAXINE?!" she called

The screaming ceased as her voice echoed down the corridor before vanishing into nothing. An unsettling silence replaced it.

"MAXINE?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

A scream floated up the corridor, strong enough to chill Rachel to the bone. She dashed along the maze of shadowy hallways, her heart filling with dread as the screaming continued, each one louder than the last.

As she approached the classroom at the end of the corridor, she paused. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. Maxine was in there, sat at her desk doing her work. She was completely unharmed and safe. She looked up at Rachel, waving and smiling. Rachel smiled back. She could still save Maxine.

This was her chance.

Rachel placed her hand on the door handle. She frowned when the door didn't budge.

"It's too late" a voice whispered from behind her

Rachel spun around. Her blood ran cold when she saw the man standing in front of her.

Stuart Hordley.

She wanted to run. His devilish grin made her feel sick. She was angry and terrified at the same time.

"You can't save her now, Rachel. You failed her" he taunted, walking towards her

His hands gripped her shoulders tightly, his nails digging into her skin. She whimpered as he turned her around to face the classroom door. She watched through the glass as Earl Kelly approached Maxine menacingly, a gun resting in his hand.

It was happening again.

"NO! STOP!" she cried

Maxine had backed herself into the furthest corner of the classroom. She turned her head over to the door. Her eyes locked with Rachel's, pleading with her for help. Rachel thrashed against Stuart, desperate to get to the door handle. But Stuart had an iron-grip on her. She was powerless.

Earl was now stood in front of Maxine. The gun in his hand was pointing directly at the young girl. He grinned as Maxine trembled, his eyes dark and filled with rage.

"Look at the monster you have created, Rachel" Stuart whispered

"HELP ME!" Maxine screamed

BANG!

It was already too late. Rachel watched in horror as Maxine fell to the floor, her blood seeping out onto the carpet.

It had happened again.

"NO!" she cried

Stuart was laughing. Rachel could feel his hot breath tickling the back of her neck.

"You caused this, Rachel. That girl is dead because of you"

...

Rachel shot up in bed, her heart thumping against the wall of her chest. She fought hard to control her shallow and erratic breathing.

It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust, for her mind to realise that what had just happened had been a nightmare. Well, some of it anyway. Most of it was her reality. Although Stuart was a figment of her subconscious, Maxine was dead, and Earl had been the one to kill her. And it was all her fault. She angrily wiped away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. She had no right to cry.

She turned to look at the clock on her bedside table. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw it was 10AM. It felt odd, still being in bed at this time on a weekday. She didn't even sleep in this late on a weekend. She was always up by 7:30AM!

It had been just under four hours since Eddie had left for work. The guilt of leaving him to sort everything, lingered in the air like a bad smell. Eddie needed her today, and she wasn't there. The students and staff needed her too. What kind of leader was she? It didn't matter that she was ill. This was her mess and she should be there to clean it up. And here she was, hiding away at home like a coward.

She did still feel unwell, there was no denying that. She felt terrible. Her head was pounding, her stomach was churning and the room was spinning just a little. And she was tired. So tired. She'd never felt so weak either. There was no way she could have made it into work this morning without being sent home. But, in Rachel's mind, hiding away wasn't going to solve anything. Why hadn't she just ignored Eddie's concerns and gone in with him?

As she lay there, staring at the ceiling, her breathing slowly calming to a steady pace, she thought about Steph. How was she coping? It didn't take a genius to work out that Steph probably wasn't coping well. Losing a child, even if they're not biologically your own, is a pain no one should have to endure.

Steph was on compassionate leave. Rachel wasn't sure she'd ever come back to Waterloo Road to teach, not after this. And Rachel didn't blame her one bit. She hated herself too. Her ignorance and stubbornness towards Earl had caused Maxine's death.

Unable to stay in bed any longer, Rachel threw the covers off herself and made her way to the ensuite. Just the small walk from her bed to the bathroom was enough to drain the little energy her body had. She sat on the edge of the bath, taking deep breaths to calm the nausea and dizziness that were raging inside her. The breathing didn't stop the bile from rising in her throat. With a groan, she ran over to the toilet, once again only just making it as she threw up.

Thankfully, it ended just as quickly as it had started, leaving Rachel sat on the floor, resting her head on the cool tiles of the bathroom wall. In a way, she was glad Eddie had gone ahead and made her an appointment at the Doctors for this afternoon. She wanted to stop feeling like this all the time.

Once she was feeling less faint, she got herself to her feet and headed back into the bedroom. She thought a shower would help her to feel a little better. That and getting out of her pyjamas. She grabbed her favourite blue, long-sleeved top and a pair of leggings before heading back into the ensuite.

To her disappointment, the shower didn't do much for her at all. If anything it made her feel worse. Standing up, even just for 15 minutes, had caused her to feel lightheaded again. So much so that, when she'd finished in the shower, she went back into the bedroom and sat on the bed with a towel wrapped around her.

She didn't understand it. Why did she feel so weak? Why did she feel so unwell? She had been ill in the past of course, but it was rare and never as bad as this. She couldn't help but worry that something was wrong.

Maybe this was her karma, her punishment for causing Maxine's death. If it was, she was prepared to embrace it with open arms. She deserved it. Eddie would tell her otherwise of course. It seemed that, in his eyes, she could do no wrong. But she knew the truth. Maxine was dead because of her. That made Rachel a monster.

Now she was feeling a little less lightheaded, she grabbed her clothes and began to get dressed.

As she put on her top, she paused. It felt tighter than usual around her middle and chest. Usually, it was moderately oversized and baggy. The material was stretching uncomfortably and clinging to her. Rachel frowned, sighing in frustration as she removed the top. She figured it must have shrunk in the wash. It was the only explanation she could come up with. She hadn't put on weight, if anything she'd lost a lot because of the nausea. The shirt should have been extra baggy and loose fitting really.

She folded the top carefully before putting it back in the drawer, swapping it for a similar one. The only difference was it was a deep purple. This top didn't stretch or pull, but it was still a little less baggy than usual. She shrugged it off. She'd probably put the washing machine on the wrong setting. Another thing to add to her list of recent mistakes.

As she finished getting dressed, it started again. The bile was rising in her throat, and the room started to spin. Rachel groaned, dashing into the ensuite without a second thought.

As she vomited into the toilet for the fourth time in a few minutes, she knew something was definitely wrong. She had contemplated not going to the Doctors this afternoon and just staying at home. But she wasn't so sure that was a good idea anymore. Running from whatever illness she had wouldn't fix anything. And besides, if she didn't go, Eddie would just make her another appointment and would most likely take her there himself. She could be infuriatingly stubborn, but so could he. If she didn't go today, she would have to go another day. It was better to just get it out the way.

Once the nausea had passed, she stood up. She winced. Her breasts were sore. That was odd.

She checked her bra to make sure the straps weren't twisted. They weren't. She frowned. She wore this bra all the time. Why was it causing her discomfort now? Why did none of her clothes seem to not fit or have issues all of a sudden?

The only time her breasts were sore was when she was on her period. But even then, they were never this tender. And she wasn't on her period. In fact, she wasn't exactly sure when her last period was, or when her next one was due.

She grabbed her phone off the bedside table. She always used the calendar on there to track her periods.

When the calendar finally loaded on her phone, she sighed in irritation. She hadn't documented last month's cycle.

She scrolled up the calendar to realise that the month prior to that hadn't been documented either. It wasn't because she'd forgotten, she realised. It was because she hadn't had a period at all in the last two months.

That only meant one thing.

Suddenly, it all made sense. The nausea, the dizzy spells. Her clothes not fitting properly. Her breasts being sore. The absence of her period.

It couldn't be, could it?

She couldn't be pregnant, not now.

As she sat on the bed, her hand wandered to rest on her stomach. Her stomach was relatively flat, but there was a firmness and a slight curve to her abdomen. It was unmistakable.

She stood up again, heading back into the ensuite. She knew what she needed to do. A blood test would confirm it, but she'd be waiting a few days for the results. A pregnancy test would be quicker.

She rifled through the drawers, eventually pulling out the unopened box of pregnancy tests. She couldn't remember when she'd bought them. Maybe just over a year ago now. They were still in date, which was the important thing. The symptoms she had were enough to confirm her suspicions. But she needed real, official confirmation. The symptoms she had all pointed to pregnancy, yes. But they were also symptoms of other illnesses and health conditions. She needed to be sure.

She took one of the tests out of the box, un-wrapping it. She read and followed the instructions carefully. Once it was done, she set a three minute timer on her phone and she waited, pacing up and down the bathroom nervously.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

The sound of the timer on her phone broke the tense silence. Rachel froze, staring at the pregnancy test, which was lying face down on the windowsill. She wanted to go and pick it up, but her feet were rooted to the spot. A part of her was desperate to know, another part of her wanted to run and never look back.

What if she wasn't pregnant?

Rachel couldn't lie, she'd rather be pregnant than have a sinister illness or health condition. Sure, all her symptoms screamed pregnancy. But that didn't mean she was pregnant. Lots of illnesses and health conditions caused nausea, dizziness, fatigue, vomiting and irregular periods. If she wasn't pregnant, then what was it? The thought of the endless tests and scans, the thought of having to wait weeks or months for the results made her feel sick.

What if the Doctors couldn't find the cause of whatever this was? What if she continued to get worse and they couldn't do anything? What if she was just left, not knowing?

And what if she was pregnant? What then?

Yes, it would be simpler. But that didn't necessarily make it better, easier or more of a relief. Rachel wanted a baby; she wanted a child of her own. She and Eddie had discussed it many times in the last few months. It was what they wanted.

It was for that exact reason that she couldn't rule out pregnancy, or say with absolute certainty that she wasn't pregnant. She and Eddie hadn't been 'actively trying' for a baby. Whilst it was what they both wanted, they had both agreed to take things slowly and to see where it led them. That meant having unprotected sex. Maybe she had believed it would happen eventually, but she hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

But, if she was pregnant now, Rachel couldn't help but feel that it was coming at the worst time. She hated that she thought that, but it was true. Maxine had just died. Steph had just lost a child, and here she was, Rachel Mason, potentially pregnant when she had been the one to cause Maxine's death. It was wrong. She didn't deserve to be happy.

She didn't want to find out, but at the same time, not knowing was eating her alive. The only way to stop her racing thoughts was to find out.

Slowly, she made her way over to the windowsill. The fact that a small, plastic stick had the potential to change her life forever completely baffled her. Such a small object had such power over her.

She paused as her fingers brushed over the plastic. Should she wait for Eddie? They should be sharing this moment together, shouldn't they? It felt wrong doing this without him.

No.

She needed to know for sure before she involved him. Right now, she only felt 90% sure that she was pregnant. Until she found out for definite, there was no moment to share.

She picked up the pregnancy test, taking a deep breath. Her stomach was doing back flips, and her heart was beating at a million miles an hour. She closed her eyes, turning the test over in her hand. She didn't want to look, but she did at the same time.

She finally opened her eyes, looking at the test.

Two lines stared back at her. A mixture of emotions flooded through her as her hand rested on her stomach.

Good and bad.

Negative and positive.

Guilt and happiness.

There was no denying it.

She was pregnant.