The Hospital

April walks in with a smile and a yogurt bowl.

“What do you need?” Tom asks her.

“I saw online that protein bowls are good of a growing fetus. I wanted to bring Chloe one. It might also help with morning sickness.” As she steps closer I feel a light stinging in my nose. Almost like it had gotten so cold it had gone numb, but I’m not cold.

The scent of the room covers the smell of whatever’s in the bowl, but whatever it is bothers my nose instantly.

Tom takes the bowl and lowers it to my eye view. The excited grin on April’s face is unavoidable. Why is she looking at me like that? I can’t trust whatever she did to the food.

I shy away from the bowl. As I do, I see the slightest brown smudge above the yogurt in the bowl.

Peanut butter, I realize instantly.

I look up at her in horror and she seems to notice. Her smile grows as Tom steps closer to me.

“I can’t eat that!” I wail.

He ignores me, taking a scoop of the dish and shoving it towards my face. I dodge it but he puts down the bowl and grabs my face with his now free hand. He props open my mouth ignoring my struggles.

“It’s peanut—Tom it has pea-“ but he doesn’t stop to listen to me. He shoves the spoon into my mouth and then holds my mouth closed to force me to swallow it.

“Here,” April steps forward to pick up the bowl and hold it, offering Tom aid as he begins to force feed me. Her voice is sweet as she says to me, “Chloe… Tommy cares so much about you. Why are you making this difficult? Just eat.”

It only takes 4 quickly fed scoops of the yogurt for my throat to get hot, my airway to plug, and for me to choke the food back out of my mouth.

Tom is angry because of this, but I don’t have to suffer his wrath. The world turns black instead.

~

I wake up in a cold, white room.

Oh no.

It’s a hospital. I try to sit up but I can’t. I blink my eyes repeatedly but the area doesn’t change.

They didn’t send me back did they?

No… the bed is different, and the door is on the other side of the room.

I can’t move because I’m strapped to the bed. Each effort to escape makes it easier on us.

My attempts to pull free from the ties wake up Tom. I hadn’t noticed him laying by my side but I notice him now.

He looks at me in confusion and anger.

“Chloe,” he stands and quickly checks every part of my body as if the doctors hadn’t already whenever they strapped me down.

“Where am I?”

My question isn’t answered. Instead, I’m met with a palm straight across the face. I’m startled and concerned. I look up at Tom for answers but he slaps me again before grabbing the front of my shirt.

He pulls me up as far as the ties will allow and yells, “what the hell were you thinking? Don’t you know you could’ve died? Don’t you know you’re pregnant?!”

I am too stunned to answer. Didn’t he feed me the peanut butter? Why’s he blaming me now?

The answer to that question walks in the door then. April sighs loudly, “Chloe! You’re awake.”

She rushes over to take my hand. My arm is tied to the bed so I don’t have a lot of control to stop this.

“I know you don’t like Tommy, but you shouldn’t do something so reckless!” She gasps dramatically, “we found the jar of peanut butter you hid in your closet. Think about the baby!”

“We just brought you home. Why would you do this?!” Tom demands.

If I wasn’t so startled, I would have asked him how I got peanut butter while locked in my room. But instead I stare at him, shocked and confused. My mouth hangs open slightly.

The frustration in Tom’s face mutates to disgust. He drops me back to the bed and takes a step back. Running a hand through his hair, he takes a deep breath and says, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do with you!”

I stare at him, still dumb founded. Then look at April.

She must realize I’m about to find my words because she quickly speaks.

“Chloe,” she says, “I know this all must be very scary for you. If you’d rather return to the hospital… we can take care of the baby while you get better,”

“No,” Tom snaps, surprising us, “that hospital clearly didn’t help you. Until the baby is born and I hold it in my arms, you will stay in the apartment.”

“But Tommy—” April protests in a whiney, desperate voice.

He dismisses her with a wave, “If you’re not better after the baby is born… we’ll send you for treatment overseas. Maybe doctor’s somewhere else can fix you.”

A smile creeps onto April’s face.

My head falls back and I stare at the ceiling in surrender. I need to escape this place. I just don’t know how.