Page 11 of Senescence (Inferno World)

“I would like to go ahead and do a quick ultrasound to see if we can tell how far along you are. Would that be okay with you?”

“Sure.”

“Excellent. Here is a gown. Please remove your clothes and put this on for me. I’ll be back in a few minutes when you’re ready.”

As soon as he had left, I quickly stripped down and neatly folded my clothes before putting on the scratchy, worn gown. I wasn’t exactly sure why I was getting completely naked for an ultrasound, but I did what he asked me to anyway. A few minutes later, a knock sounded and both the doctor and the sweet woman nurse came back in.

“We’re going to be doing what’s known as a transvaginal ultrasound. We will insert this wand into your vagina, and it will give us a much more accurate idea of your conception date and how far along you are. Do you know the date of your last menstrual cycle?”

I shook my head. With so much happening in the last few months, I wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Was it right before my birthday? Had I had one after? I really couldn’t recall.

“That’s no problem,” the doctor reassured. “That’s why we’re going to do this. Please go ahead and lean back and place your heels in these straps.

I did what was asked and placed my hands over my belly. There was a child growing in there, but whose was it? I had no idea whether Bob had done anything while I was passed out, but I knew for sure that Luke had cum inside of me.

The wand felt weird and although I tried my hardest to take the nurses advice and relax, it wasn’t easy.

“Ah. There. There it is.”

I watched as the doctor pressed a bunch of buttons on a strange looking keyboard and looked at a monitor of black and white.

“Here is your amniotic sac, and this little bean right here, is your baby.”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at the little miracle on the screen. The doctor was right, it looked like a little pinto bean, but that didn’t matter. He was beautiful. In that moment, something inside of me changed. A loving lightness filled the empty void inside of me, and in the back of my mind, I knew everything was going to be okay.

“With these current measurements, your baby looks to be about eight weeks old. I’m guessing conception happened in the last few days of April.”

“My birthday,” I whispered, unable to take my eyes off the screen.

“Congratulations, Miss Atler. Would you like me to print out some pictures of the baby for you?”

I nodded as overwhelming tears filled my vision. I had never considered or thought about whether or not I wanted to be a mother, but it didn’t really matter because here I was, about to be one.

Luke.

He had to be the father. Something deep inside my gut told me that he was, and there was no talking myself out of it. This stranger had done exactly what I had thought he would do. He swept me off my feet and put a baby in me. The baby part was extra, but it didn’t matter to me. He was the father of my unborn child and there was no changing my mind.

How was I going to tell him? I didn’t know his last name, where he lived, or anything about him. I could ask Bob, but that was a can of worms I had no intention of ever opening. My only course of action was to wait until the next time he came into the store, and then corner him outside to tell him.

Clutching my new pictures to my chest, I took a left and started my walk home. It was a little less than a mile to the clinic, so I had twenty or so minutes to figure out my next steps and what I was going to do.

I could rob Bob and run off to find Luke, or I could wait around until I started to show and make my next move. I wasn’t sure, but for now, I was going to go home and spend some quality time with my new found excitement. In the morning I would work on a plan, today, I was going to celebrate what Luke and I had created.

End of July

Three Months Pregnant

Dear Baby Pater,

You are twelve weeks old today and according to what I read, you’re the size of a plum! I still haven’t seen your daddy at the store yet, but I know he’s gotta come in soon, right? At some point he’s going to need more food. I knew right after the doctor told me I was preggo with you that I couldn’t call you bean or nugget. You are my baby Pater, and that’s what you’re always going to be.

I keep waking up every day checking my stomach to see if I’m showing yet, but it still only looks like I had a big breakfast. Part of me can’t wait to be big and round with you, while the other part knows as soon as I am, Bob is going to have a fucking field day and probably throw us out.

I need to be prepared, my beautiful baby, for that eventuality. Where are we going to go if I don’t see Luke before then? Where are we going to live? I’ve already got about twelve hundred dollars resaved from what Bob the Bastard stole from me, but that isn’t going to get us more than a week or two at a hotel. I need a more solid plan.

When I’m not working, I sit outside in the shade and people watch, hoping your Daddy walks in. I can’t miss seeing him, and I cannot wait to tell him the good news about you. My only hope is that he’ll take me in and love us forever. We’re his family now. He has to love us, doesn’t he?

I promise to you my little Baby Pater, right here and now, that I will find your Daddy and we will create a life together that no one will be able to take away from us. You’ll be raised around so much love and devotion that you’ll never want to leave your Mommy and Daddy’s arms.

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