Captured By The Dragon
Episode 41

Patara

The sound of my steady heart rate was the first thing I heard when I finally came back to myself. The beeping picked up slightly as I regained consciousness. It felt like I was just waking up from a long nap when I finally opened my eyes that felt as if they were about to crust over.

Where was I? What happened to me?

It was so achingly bright, I couldn’t tell what time of day it was with the windows closed. I slowly tried to sit up, but my weak body wouldn’t let me get far. Was I in a hospital? What was I even doing here? I pushed the button on the remote near my hand and slowly it moved me up just a bit.

When I noticed I was completely alone, I felt a hole in my chest as if I had been shot. Where was my mom? Where was my—

Where was my baby? Everything came rushing back to me in a blink, I gasped when I remembered why I was here. I was hours or days away from giving birth before I blacked out. I patted my stomach but it was no longer big, it was flat as it always was. Oh my, I must have gone into a coma just as the nurse said I would.

I clicked the button that called for the nurse and tried to steady my breathing even though I felt like crying. How long had I been out?

“Oh good, you’re finally awake! I had to finally send your family home last night, they’ll be sorry they missed you waking.” A bright nurse entered the room. She checked the machine and made sure everything looked good before she got me water. My mouth had never felt so dry.

After I drank every last drop, I took a deep breath. “W-where is my baby?” I asked.

The nurse’s face dropped a little and a horrible feeling filled my gut. That wasn’t the type of expression I wanted to see at the moment.

“Let me get the doctor. I will be back soon, drink your water and rest.”

“Can you call my family?” I called after her. She nodded before shutting the door behind her.

Something felt off. I couldn’t explain it—it felt wrong. Perhaps I had been in a coma for a year and life had been passing me by—but no. That couldn’t be it, it was something else.

It felt like hours passed by the time the doctor came with my mother right on her heel. She came to my side and took my hand instantly and I tried to take comfort in that. The rest of my family waited by the doorway with strange looks on their faces.

I imagined they would have been happy to see me awake and alright—instead they all looked as if they were attending a funeral.

“Patara, we are so happy to see you awake.” The doctor said with a slight smile. She hugged the clipboard to her chest and glanced around at my family. Each of them put up their own versions of forced smiles.

“It doesn’t seem like it… what’s going on? Did something happen when I was out?” I asked nervously.

“Well…” The doctor cleared her throat and sat on the edge of the bed. Her face softened in a sad way and I felt my heart start to bang loudly in my chest. “This might be hard to hear, but please remember that your entire family is here for you to comfort you in any way you need—“

“Please just tell me.” I blurted out. My mother squeezed my hand but I ignored her.

“Patara… it was a risk for you to have the baby and we all warned you about it.” The doctor started. I felt the horrible sinking feeling in my chest at her next words. “We almost lost you during the delivery… we managed to save you but when the baby came out… it was already gone.”

“What?” I whispered. It felt like all of the breath had been stolen from me. Silent tears already formed on my face for the baby that I didn’t even get a chance to know. “What… how could this have happened? I don’t understand… I felt it move inside me before I went into the coma.”

“It may have been active before you fell into your coma, but when he came out he was already long gone. It’s common for shifter babies to be weak and not grow to full term when they’re carried by human girls. Your body just wasn’t strong enough to hold the creature.”

“It wasn’t a creature, it was my baby!” I snapped and angrily wiped the tears from my face. “How could you not have seen that it was in trouble? How could you not have saved it!”

“Patara, I really am sorry this has happened. You are not the first girl to have lost a shifter child. It just isn’t natural for your body to carry it the way it was meant to. He didn’t suffer.”

“He?” I said weakly. It was a boy…

The doctor nodded sadly and squeezed my other hand. I pulled away from her grasp. “We did everything we could and we only managed to save you. His heart wasn’t strong enough and he passed away.”

I glanced around the room to see other faces. My mom wore a look of indifference as she rubbed my shoulder. I expected that from her. My siblings each looked heartbroken and my father only looked worried. The other nurse kept looking anywhere but me and I don’t know why that made me narrow my eyes.

“I want to be alone.” I finally said.

“I understand.” The doctor stood and motioned for the nurse to leave with her. She quickly followed the doctor out without a single glance back at me.

“We’ll be right outside.” My father said as he guided my siblings out the door. My mom stayed where she was.

“Are you happy this happened?” I asked bitterly once the door closed.

My mother scoffed. “How could you say such a thing? I am only happy that they managed to save you.” She released my hand and crossed her arms over her chest.

“How could this have happened?” I whimpered. “It felt like he was healthy… all the doctors told me he had a good heartbeat!”

“Patara, the doctor told you that it’s heart hadn’t grown properly. Humans are not meant to have shifter babies because of this. It was cruel to even carry the thing only for it to die.”

“I didn’t want him to die! That… that baby was a part of me!” And Dylan… oh if only he knew. I imagine he would have torn this place to the ground for not saving his child. In this lonely moment, I only wished he was by my side. He would’ve felt what I did, he would’ve understood my pain and comforted me until it went away.

It was cruel that he didn’t even know of his child and now it was gone.

I knew I shouldn’t miss him, but I did. I really did.