Region: Unknown
Alice Holt
Instead of Drowning
(One Shot)
I looked
around the room and took in my surroundings during a moment of calm. My labor had
started so quickly that I hadn’t taken the time to really look over the
makeshift delivery room. As it turned
out it was really nothing to look at. Green paint flaked off the walls and the
plaster in places was crumbling. Large damp patches grew in the corners of the
room and stretched across the celling. The windows were dirty and defused the
light that came through in a strange yellow haze. The pipes that ran along the
top of the room were rusty and leaked in places leaving a ruddy trail of brown
as the water slowly marched toward the ground. The room had a strange smell. It was a kind of combination of damp and
disinfectant that worked itself easily into your nose. The bed I lay upon was
not much better. An old white metal
frame with rusty springs creaked with my every movement. The sheets were clean
but could not disguise the disarray beneath them. Where one of the corners had come undone I
saw that the mattress was stained and my nose crinkled at the obvious smell of
stale blood and urine. But I couldn’t
complain, at least I would have some help to deliver my baby.
“Ok Alice this
is it” I heard the soft timid voice of the midwife, who up till then, had been
at my side and helping me through it all, without pain relief I might add. This was just one of the many major drawbacks
to having a child unlawfully; at least unlawfully in the eyes of the
community. A community I never really
wanted to be a part of. I pushed down with all my might grabbing the side rails
of the bed and planted my feet just as I was told. Then, somewhere in the
distance, I heard a faint voice say stop and so I did. “Just pant, it’s time to
birth the head” came the voice again. I stopped; quick short purposeful breaths
leaving my mouth. I felt myself stretch and burn but I took every ounce of pain,
as every mother should for their child. “Relax
Alice” the strange voice said yet again, but this time from a little further
away.
