Page 1 of Infinite
1
Ashton
There’s a low beeping sound behind me. I hear voices, but they’re so hushed that I can’t tell who is talking.
“I can’t be the one to tell her . . .”
Someone sniffles. “She’s going to be devastated.”
“Yes, but it should come from someone she loves.”
I hear a soft sob. “It’s not like it’s going to make it better.”
“And do we tell her about Quinn?” Catherine asks, and my confusion grows as I try to figure out why Catherine is here? What about Quinn? Where is he? Where the hell am I?
A deep sigh releases, and I imagine it’s Gretchen. She’s the worrier. “Maybe not right away.”
Yes, it’s her. Both of them are in New York, but I don’t remember . . .
I’m so tired, and it’s hard to follow their conversation. Everything is heavy, and there’s pain radiating through my body. I search my memory for some kind of recollection as to what brought me here. I was in the cab, and then I made it to the office. I remember the pain.
Oh, God.
The pain.
It was so intense, as though someone was ripping my insides out. Then the events come back in flashes.
Blood.
So much blood. It was . . . everywhere. I remember screaming as I fell to the ground and then . . . nothing.
I was drifting, trying to find the earth but unable to find anything to tether me.
“Let’s take it one step at a time and hope we have answers when she wakes up.”
Wake up.
I need to do that so I can figure out what’s wrong. My limbs are weighted down, heavy and unable to move. Nothing is working, and my heart starts to race as panic grips me. I need to open my eyes. I need to know what the hell is happening and where I am, but I can’t make it happen.
Quiet falls on the room as I hear the beeping accelerate, and then someone links their fingers through mine. My body is limp, and there’s this fog around me that I can’t seem to break through. Maybe this is a dream?
Yes. That could be it. I need to calm down because it isn’t real.
I’ll wake up now, right? It’s a nightmare.
Wake up, wake up, wake up!
“Ashton, Ashton, it’s okay,” Catherine says from beside me.
Only, nothing is okay, and if I’m right, the dream is a reality. I fight to find my way through the darkness that holds me down. As much as I don’t want to see the light, I have to know about the baby.
“Ash, we’re right here,” Gretchen says. “Just stay calm honey, you need to relax.”
Everything inside me feels like it’s being torn apart. All I remember is the chaos. People rushing toward me, the blood pooling around me, and the sheer agony as I was enduring a pain like I’d never known.
“Nurse!” My mother’s voice breaks through the panic that is overtaking me.
She’s here. My mother and my two best friends are all here, which means only one thing...I lost the baby.
