Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Embryo

Moana

Swallowing my anger over Edrick’s sudden choice to leave me at the hospital overnight and chalking itup to him simply wanting to protect his daughter, I took a deep breath and opened the car door beforestepping out.

I walked into the spacious lobby, where a secretary was sitting at a small desk. She shot me aconfused look as I entered.

“Ma’am, this is a werewolf hospital,” she said, her tone of voice sounding flat and annoyed.

This angered me even more than what Edrick had said in the car.

“I know,” I replied, walking up to her desk. “I have an appointment.”

The secretary stared at me for a moment, looking me up and down briefly, before she returned toslowly chewing her gum and clicking around on her computer. “Name?”

“Moana Fowler,” I replied.

She clicked around some more, muttering under her breath, before she seemed to replace myappointment. She then wrote my name down on a name tag sticker and handed it to me. “You’re on thesecond floor. The elevator is over there.” She pointed behind herself without even turning, thenpromptly returned to clicking at her computer. I swallowed as I walked past her and pressed the buttonon the elevator.

The elevator doors slid open. I stepped on, then pressed the button for the second floor. As I waited forthe doors to open again at my destination, I realized that I was touching my stomach nervously, and

quickly pulled my hand away as a tear came to my eye.

“You can still turn around,” Mina said. “You can go home. There’s no need to go through with this.”

I ignored her.

The elevator doors slid open on the second floor. I stepped out and followed the signs down the hall tothe gynecology department, then walked through a set of large glass double doors. The inside of thegynecology department, to no surprise, was extremely nice with large windows that looked out over acourtyard below and rows of plush chairs in the waiting area. Soft classical music played. Scatteredaround the room were various other patients waiting for their appointments; there were a few couplesand some single women. All of them, of course, looked up at me when I entered, immediately noticingfrom my lack of a scent that I was a human. One of the women turned and whispered something to herhusband as I passed. I overheard her say something about how I didn’t belong here, but I chose toignore her and instead calmly walked up to the reception desk.

“Hello,” I said to the young nurse working at the desk, who thankfully smiled warmly at me. “I have anappointment. Last name is Fowler.”

The nurse nodded and looked at her computer, then looked back up at me and smiled again. “You’re allset, Miss Fowler. You can take a seat and the nurse will be right out.”

I nodded and walked past the gossipy couple again before I found a seat by the window.

As I sat, I only began to grow more and more nervous. Each time the nurse came out, I would feel myheart leap, only for it to relax again as she would call another patient’s name.

Eventually, however, it was my turn.

The nurse led me to my private room. There was a comfortable bed and a couch inside with a nice, bigwindow and even a small kitchenette. The medical equipment, however, ruined the otherwise pleasantatmosphere.

“The doctor will be right in,” the nurse said, giving me a hospital gown before leaving me again.

Once I was alone, I put on the hospital gown. It made me feel even more exposed and I couldn’t bearmy racing heart anymore. I wished, even though we weren’t romantically involved, that Edrick hadcome here with me. It was terrifying to be doing this alone.

Soon enough, the doctor came in with a soft knock on the door. He was a short older man with a bit ofa hunch in his back as he walked, but his eyes were bright and youthful.

“Hello, Miss Fowler,” he said with a warm smile that helped me relax. “I hear you’re coming in for anabortion.”

I nodded.

“We will have to perform an ultrasound to check to see exactly how far along the pregnancy is,” he saidthen. “Go ahead and lay back.”

I nodded again. Lately, it felt as though nodding was the only thing I could do, as words didn’t seem tobe capable of coming out of my mouth because of the enormous lump in my throat. I laid back and putmy feet up in the stirrups as the doctor asked. My heart raced as he began the internal ultrasound, andI closed my eyes against the feeling of the probe moving around inside of me.

Thankfully, the ultrasound was over quickly; I had always hated those internal ultrasounds. The doctorhelped me sit up again, then reached out and patted my hands comfortingly as they sat clenchedtogether in my lap.

“There,” he said. “Now that that’s done, it is protocol for me to ask… Would you like to see theultrasound before you make your final decision?”

I gulped, freezing for a moment. Of course I wanted to see the ultrasound, but I also worried thatseeing the embryo would change my mind. I didn’t know what to do, but finally, my curiosity got thebest of me. “I’d like to see it,” I said.

The doctor nodded. He grabbed the side of the ultrasound monitor and turned it so I could see. Myheart practically jumped out of my chest as he pointed at the small embryo that had begun to forminside of me.

“There it is,” he said. “Just seven weeks along. If you decide to go through with it, you’ll be eligible forthe pill abortion — and, as I understand it, you’ll be spending the night here, so we can make sureyou’re comfortable. It’ll be just like a heavy period, with some cramping.”

I wanted to respond, but it felt as though my tongue had been cut out. I couldn’t tear my eyes awayfrom the screen. The thought of removing this little life from my body swirled around in my head… I hadno qualms with abortion, and always supported women who wanted to go through with it, but now Ididn’t know if it was something that I could personally go through with.

Needless to say, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The doctor must have noticed this, because he smiled again. “Seeing the ultrasound can bring up a lotof confusing feelings,” he said. “You can take a few minutes to decide, if you’d like. I can step out.”

“I-I think I’d like to take a few minutes, thank you,” I said, nodding vigorously.

“Of course.” The doctor patted my hand again and gave it a small squeeze. “I’ll be back in five minutesto check on you.”

I watched as he walked out of the room, biting my lip the entire time. Once he was gone, I slowly turnedback to look at the screen, and without thinking, I reached out to touch the spot on the image where thelittle embryo was. It hardly had a shape yet, but already I was beginning to imagine whether it would bea boy or a girl, whether the child would have my eyes or Edrick’s eyes, whether it would have redhair…

I couldn’t help but cry at that point.

It felt as if no time passed at all before the doctor came back. I hardly had any time to stop my crying,and he saw my red and puffy face as soon as he came in. A look of concern spread across his faceand he hobbled over to me, reaching out and squeezing my shoulder.

“Did you decide?” he asked.

His question only made me cry even harder. I felt utterly helpless.

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