***Chapter 39***

**Aria's POV**

Pregnant. The word resonated in my mind, not letting any other sound filter in. I was vaguely aware that Dr. Edmonds was directing me to change into a hospital gown, telling me she would be back in a minute. Mutely I followed her orders, slowly removing my clothing until I stood in nothing but the paper-thin hospital gown. Shivering. My arms were wrapped around my stomach, doing nothing to keep warmth to my frigid skin.

It had to be wrong. A false positive. That was a thing right? The crease in my elbow twinged with the pain of reminder that they had drawn blood. An icy tear slicked down my cheek. A blood test. You didn't get a false positive on those.

I flinched when the door opened, shrinking back in on myself, even though I knew it was only Dr. Edmonds. Annie slipped in after her, carrying a bundle of cloth in her arms. Annie came over to me, placing one of the cloths in her arms around my shoulders, a warmed blanket, before guiding me over to the exam table. Dr. Edmonds wheeled over a machine, though I wasn't sure what it was for, only that there was a screen at where her head level would be if she was sitting on the stool. Annie set the other two blankets against the bed, where they radiated heat into me even from the distance. Then she went to the edge of the table, adjusting something before slowly maneuvering my feet into what I now realized were stirrups.

A sob shattered through my chest, pulling a keening cry from my throat. Annie quickly wrapped the last two heated blankets around my legs in an effort to quell my shivering. She moved over to my side, taking my frigid hand between her warm ones. I leaned into her, needing the comfort at the moment.

"I got you." She promised me in a whisper while Dr. Edmonds fidgeted with her machine.

"This might feel a little strange, Aria. But I tried to heat the gel up, so it shouldn't be too shocking."

That was the only warning I got before I felt the sensation of warm gel being spread around my lower stomach. It took her a few broad strokes before she focused in on a specific area, I guess since there was no bump it was trickier for her to find. I felt a tear slip down my cheek as she continued moving the wand slowly over my stomach.

"It looks like you are just about five weeks, Aria. Maybe a little under." Dr. Edmonds told me, turning her attention from the monitor onto me. "Would you like to see?"

My eyes widened. Did I want to see? I looked sharply to Annie, hoping that she would make a decision for me. Did I want proof that there was something growing inside me? That he had tainted me like this? As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew that I needed to see it to believe that it was real. Annie's warm brown eyes offered me comfort, as she gave me a reassuring smile, promising that she would be here no matter what I decided.

"I need to see." The words were barely over a whisper and came out weakly.

Dr. Edmonds calmly turned the monitor to face me. For the most part the screen was black, with gray and white creating a large circle in the middle of the screen. Inside that circle was almost a heart-shaped void, formed from the black. But within that heart was a shape, it wasn't anything recognizable. Definitely looked nothing like a human, especially not a baby. It was more of a roundish blob.

It looked like a parasite.

A little bug that was forming in my stomach.

I jerked upright, hand flying to my mouth to hold down the vomit which was quickly rising up my throat. Annie moved like the wind. I never even saw her bring the tray into the room, but she had it under my chin by the time that the first heave ripped through my stomach. I coughed harshly as I emptied the contents of my stomach into the metal pan. Barely recognizing that the feel of the wand pressed against my stomach was gone, leaving only the sickly residue of the gel. Annie rubbed my back gently as my heaving slowly subsided. I spit into the pan one last time, desperately wanting to get the taste out of my mouth.

"Here, you can rinse with this." Dr. Edmonds had gone over to the sink and filled a small cup with water for me.

I took the cup from her, quickly rinsing my mouth out before spitting once more. Annie took the pan away from my face after that, and I drank the last little bit of water from the cup. I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, hating how shaky I felt even still sitting on the exam table. Dr. Edmonds was telling Annie something before the nurse left the room with the pan in her hands. Suddenly I felt incredibly exposed; my feet were still in the stirrups, spreading my legs apart. I pulled them out of the footholds, drawing my knees up closer to my chest. The blankets that were wrapped around my lower legs had cooled somewhat, but they still felt better than having my bare skin exposed to the cold air of the hospital.

"Are you alright, Aria? Do you need some more water?" Dr. Edmonds had turned her attention back to me, attempting to get me back to where I was comfortable enough that I could continue talking to her.

"I'm alright." I told her, ignoring the fact that my mouth was still coated in the rank odor of sick.

Just then Annie came back into the room, this time she was carrying a tray with a small bottle of water and a little dish that held a couple of pills. She handed me the bottle of water first before passing me the little cup. There were two small white pills inside and I looked up at Annie to try and understand what they were.

"Anti-nausea medication. It should help settle your stomach." Dr. Edmonds explained.

I tossed the pills back into my mouth before drinking from the bottle. With each pull from the bottle, my mouth felt a little cleaner and my stomach didn't twist as much. After a few steadying breaths, I turned my attention onto Dr. Edmonds once more. With a nod to indicate that I was ready to continue talking, she began.

"From what I can tell on the ultrasound, you should be about five weeks pregnant. If you want, I can get you some brochures about pregnancy, so that you can take them home with you and look them over. I want to get you set up on some more vitamin supplements, to make sure that your body isn't being too depleted. Have you been taking the pain pills I prescribed to you last week?"

"No, I've been trying to avoid taking them. My ribs haven't been feeling too bad." I told her, totally ignoring the offer of brochures.

I still couldn't believe that I was pregnant. I felt the nausea rise up inside me again, but I pushed it away. I wouldn't think about it right now. I couldn't. Right now, I needed to focus on what Dr. Edmonds was saying. What it would take to get me healthy right now. I would worry about the rest later.

"That's good. I'd like you to only take them if you really need them from now on. It could damage the fetus." Dr. Edmonds explained, and I nearly lost it at the sound of that word. It wasn't a fetus, it wasn't a baby. It was a monster. A parasite that he left inside of me. "I'd also like for you to have an appointment with an obgyn, you can continue meeting with me every few weeks, but I don't do the kind of specialization that you need."

Dr. Edmonds paused for a moment, clearly debating what she wanted to tell me next. This was probably not a usual situation for her. Dealing with someone like me. Telling them that they are pregnant with the spawn of a monster. My stomach clenched at the idea, almost as though it was mocking me from its place in my lower stomach.

"I'll also include some family planning center information. No matter what you choose though, Aria, your health is incredibly important and we'll need to treat you for any side effects on your body."

Dr. Edmonds left the exam room, going to get the information that she promised me. I turned to Annie who was looking at me with pity in her eyes. She tried to hide it, but I could see it there beneath the comfort that was shining through. She took my hand in hers once again, helping to warm the cold appendage.

"You doing okay, hon?" she asked, using the affectionate term for the first time.

"I… I don't know." The words were trembling as they left my mouth.

"It'll be okay. Somehow, it will be okay." She promised, though I knew it wasn't something that she could keep.

Dr. Edmonds came back into the room carrying a small stack of paperwork, but all I wanted to do was cry and curl up in a ball. I kept it together while Dr. Edmonds talked about the new medications that she was going to be putting me on. It was mainly the anti-nausea med that I had taken a few minutes ago, but also some new supplements and one she explained was a pre-natal vitamin. I pushed away all the fear and self-loathing that was pressing at my mind, focusing on the here and now so I could get through this.

It was like I was in a haze when I checked out with the receptionist, making two appointments, a follow-up with Dr. Edmonds and an appointment with an obgyn. Apparently I was lucky that the receptionist could get me scheduled next week with one of the two female obs at the hospital, it seemed most of the women preferred the female doctors over the male. I didn't feel lucky though, and I wished that peppy woman would stop using that word. Mechanically, I got my prescription from the pharmacy downstairs and didn't even look at any of the brochures before I shoved them and my bag of meds into my purse. I would deal with it all at home. Maybe over a tub of chunky monkey icecream.

The grocery store was on my way home so I dropped in to get all the necessary makings of a sundae, though really I was probably going to be eating out of the tub more than putting in the actual effort to make a sundae. I also picked up a couple bags of candy, along with a bag of chips and onion dip. The bags weren't too heavy when I pulled them out of the car, though they kept me from waving at the cop who was stationed outside my house. I wasn't even sure I would have if I wasn't loaded down with fatty comfort foods, seeing as I wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone.

I stopped at the doorway. There was a box sitting innocently on the front steps, my name scrawled across the top in a hand-writing that I had become all too familiar with over the last year. My heart nearly stopped in my chest. I knew that it had to have been delivered by a reputable service, otherwise the officer never would have let someone leave it there. At least I didn't think that they would. I opened the door and set my bags down on the entry table. I didn't want to deal with this right now. Couldn't I just have a few hours of self-pity to drown myself beneath a pile of junk food? I walked back out onto the porch, picking up the package and bringing it into the house. I dropped the package on the couch, knowing that I should go up to my room before I opened it.

"Mike? Dad? Anyone here?" I called, even though there wasn't any sign that anyone was home I still wanted to be sure before I fell into the rabbit hole that was a package from A.

I frowned at the fact that the package had actually made its way to me, since I was sure the police were screening my mail. And this was hand-written so they wouldn't assume that it was from an online vendor. I looked at the return address and shuddered when I saw that it was supposedly sent by Alison. The A was written slightly larger than the rest of her name, the only subtle clue that it was from A, aside from the hand-writing.

I went to the kitchen, grabbing a large spoon from the drawer and then taking the bags from the super market and the package up to my room. I would open the package now, since A gifts usually ended up being time sensitive. Then I would enjoy my pity food. I grabbed the pair of antique scissors that rested on my desk, using them to quickly slice through the tape that sealed the box. I took a deep breath before pulling the flaps back.

There was a thin layer of tissue paper covering the top of whatever was inside the package, protecting it from the tape. Beneath the paper there was a photo, taken of my mom when she was making dinner in her apartment, Mike was sitting at the table in the background, working on his homework. I shifted the photo to the side, seeing another beneath it. This one was a photo of my mom sleeping, her face relaxed as she dreamt, the window open behind her to let in the air. The next was no better, this one was Mike, in the middle of a run that he always took through the forest nearby, the clothes were the ones he wore yesterday. Another photo was beneath it, my dad working in his office at school at night and under that where he was getting into his car from his faculty spot on the edge of the campus lot.

Each photo simply made Charles' message more and more clear. He could get to my family. The one where my mom was sleeping was taken standing in her bedroom while she slept. That creep had snuck in and taken that photo without her knowing, bypassing the cops and her locks to get there.

I moved the last photo to the side, revealing a note underneath. It was written in the same hand-writing as the outside of the package, but I expected nothing less. What it said though made my blood run cold and I couldn't suppress the shiver that took over me.

Go to Jason, he'll bring you along. If you don't they'll suffer.

Wear the dress. I want my present perfectly wrapped.

You have until 4:30… Tick Tock.

-chArles

I didn't have to move the tissue paper to know what it was. Still though, I shifted the flimsy paper revealing a slim white clothing box. I pulled the box from the packaging, placing it on the bed before removing the limp lid. The slick filmy fabric taunting me from where it laid in the box. The same disgusting fabric that I had touched just this morning. The same dress that I swore I would never wear again. The anti-nausea meds helped to keep the bile from rising into my throat, but I still felt queasy just looking at it. I shoved the lid back onto the box. I would not wear it. Tears burned in my eyes. No pity food for me.

***End Chapter***