Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Weight Of Two Lines

FREYA POV

Every other sound dulled out in my head, leaving only one word echoing endlessly: pregnant, pregnant, pregnant.

The echoes grew faster until the words melted into each other. My mind felt like it was spiralling out of control.

"Freya?" A mumbled voice called. "Darling, you alright? Freya!" 

Suddenly, the spiralling stopped and I blinked, seeing Dr. Patel's staring at me with worried eyes.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to get some..." 

"No, I'm fine, Doctor," I cut her off quickly with a small, forced smile. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes and the last thing I wanted was more pity and compassion. I already had Doctor Carver and Elena treating me that way.

"Are you sure?" She sounded unconvinced.

"Yes, the news was just... unexpected. I had to sit with it for a while," I fake laughed.

"Unexpected?" Concerned lines formed on her forehead. "Freya, I understand that you're a grown woman, but if you want to talk or..." 

"Trust me, Dr. Patel, I'm fine," I stood to my feet, politely indicating I was done with the conversation.

Dr. Patel nodded, even though I could see she was clearly still not convinced.

She handed me a file, patted my arm lovingly and I flashed another quick smile before making my way to the bathroom.

As soon as the door closed shut, I heaved out a heavy sigh and moved my hands under my shirt to feel my belly. 

I was pregnant. Another life was growing inside of me. I could feel faint, warm pulses against my palm and the panic returned.

My head spinned, making my eyes ache and I quickly held on to the sink to keep myself from crashing to the floor. 

The last thing I wanted was to be found unconscious on a cold hospital floor with my pregnancy results.

"Get yourself together," I said to my reflection in the mirror and exhaled slowly, determined to get back to work and finish my shift. 

And that was exactly what I did. 

I grabbed my file, hid it in my bag and went straight back to work.

"Feeling better now?" Elena asked when she saw me and I responded with a nod and a smile. 

I was more than thankful she was too busy preparing one of the patients for an examination to speak to me.

The rest of my shift went by smoothly. I checked the vitals of some patients, assisted with feeding and walking, repositioned some bedridden patients, listened to a few old ladies yap about how much they missed their children. 

Almost every minute, I caught Elena's gaze on me as I carried out my duty and had to assure her repeatedly that I was alright and it was just dizziness, nothing to worry about.

By the time my shift ended, I was exhausted, to say the least. It was definitely better to feel tired rather than sad and depressed after all, but I had no idea that working at the clinic was the only distraction I had to not think about my life.

When I returned home, the reality of my situation hit me with the force of a moving train. I was alone in this. Just me and my unborn child whose father I never knew and name I never found out.

What would the coming months feel like? What would Doctor Carver and Elena say? Will they ask questions? Will I be able to handle all the mental and physical stress? Was I ready for this? What signs and changes in my body was I supposed to look out for?

I pressed my eyes close to keep from spiralling again.

I never really had a mother figure in my life and my father never really acknowledged my existence so it made my whole situation feel even worse.

My sudden sniffle pierced through the silence of the small apartment and that was when I realized how wet with tears my cheeks were already.

Fortunately, Doctor Carver was still held up with work at the clinic so he could not leave early, but I could not risk him seeing me breakdown if he eventually walked through the door.

With the pregnancy test results in my hand, I moved to the bathroom and lowered myself to the floor, to go through the paper again.

I allowed the tears to fall freely as my eyes lingered on the second red line of the test strip, believing that I would feel lighter and better if I let out all the tears.

I was not sure how much time passed but my throat had become bone-dry, my head ached badly and sweat covered my whole body.

Pushing myself from the floor, I cleaned my face and walked to my room, fishing out a notepad and pen.

I scrawled the word survival on the first line and nodded my head with determination. That was what I was going to do. Survive this. Handle everything one step at a time. After all, I could have been dead by now but fate extended a hand to me.

Finally, I crawled into bed and almost immediately fell asleep because of how stressed and tired I was.

***

It was midnight when I heard a aoft knock on the door. 

Being a light sleeper, I immediately jerked awake and got out of bed.

I strolled across the living room while trying to rub sleep off my eyes with the back of my palm. 

I had no doubts it would be Doctor Carver who just returned from the clinic so I did not need to look through the peephole before pulling the door open for him.

"Welco..." the greeting suddenly stuck in my throat and the familiar scent that instantly filled my nostrils made my eyes grow wide.

The unmistakable scent of Willow Ridge pack!

I could not clearly see the face of my visitor but I knew without doubt that it was one of my own, 

and whoever it was, they had found me, alive.