Chapter 2: Something Was Terribly Wrong

Scarlett

After mom chased me out of the house I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go apart from Zara’s so I made my way there as fast as my legs could carry me.

I knocked weakly on Zara’s apartment door, hugging myself tightly as cold night air brushed against my skin. The moment the door swung open, relief crashed into me so hard my knees almost gave out.

“Scarlett?” Zara gasped. “What the hell happened to you?”

The concern in her voice only made the tears burn harder behind my eyes.

“Zara…” My voice cracked.

Before she could say another word, I threw myself into her arms and broke down completely.

“Oh my God,” she muttered, quickly pulling me inside. “Come in first.”

A few minutes later, I sat curled up on her couch with a blanket wrapped around me while she handed me a glass of water.

“Drink slowly,” she said softly.

My trembling fingers tightened around the glass as I swallowed the cold water.

The silence in the room felt heavy but I couldn’t even bring myself to say something. I looked pathetic and I was in a very awful situation.

How the hell am I supposed to talk about the mess that I was currently in?

Zara sat beside me carefully.

“So, why are you here?” she asked hesitantly and I sighed. I knew it was going to come to this but was I really prepared to share the details of how horrible my day has been??

But she was my best friend and she might understand right?

Oh scrap… there’s really no easy way out of this so I guess I’ll just get it over with.

“I’ve had a really really shitty day and I’m currently going through something very disturbing as you can see I look a mess and I never do okay…”

I pressed a hand against my forehead trying to take a deep breath so I wouldn’t freak her out but I was trying not to freak out myself so this was really really hard for me too.

“I have something to tell you but try not to be judgmental about it or give any weird remarks because I’m still trying to understand myself and I actually need someone to be supportive because I’m slowly losing my mind, please,” I begged and she nodded.

I took a deep breath and told her all about the visit to the doctors, the test result, my mom's reaction, my confusion, and how I ended up thrown out of the house.

By the time I was done, Zara’s mouth was open in bewilderment.

“Wow, Scarlett… this is really a lot.”

“So your mom really kicked you out because the doctor said you’re pregnant?” She asked and I turned and looked at her instantly.

Did she not hear all I’ve just said?? I’m not fucking pregnant?? Why did no one understand?

“But I’m not pregnant!” I snapped before lowering my voice again. “At least… I shouldn’t be.”

Her brows furrowed.

“What does that even mean?”

“It means I’ve never slept with anyone, Zara!” I cried out in frustration. “I’m still a virgin! I don’t understand what’s happening to me.”

She stared at me quietly for a few seconds.

“But you’ve been sick for weeks,” she pointed out carefully. “The vomiting, dizziness, cravings…”

“That doesn’t mean I’m pregnant!” I cut in almost at the verge of tears again. Why does no one believe me?? As crazy as it sounds I’m really not pregnant.

“You literally fainted at rehearsal last week.” She argued and I buried my face in my hands.

“I know,” I whispered miserably.

“But this makes no sense, I’ve never even slept with a man before because I was waiting to actually do it with a man I was in love with.”

“For all I know, I imagined my first time to be with Lucas,” I revealed and she gasped.

Yeah… tea, I know.

“You shut up!!!” Zara slapped my arm in surprise and I winced a little. “Don’t tell me you’ve been crushing on our boss all this time?” She asked and I nodded shyly.

“It’s not a mere crush, Zara, there are feelings there and I thought maybe if I gave him some green light, he’d make a move someday and we’d live happily ever after.”

“But now I’m in this…” I gave up explaining and palmed my face with my hands.

We sat like that in silence for a while, then suddenly, Zara sat up straighter.

“Okay, if you’re really sure you’re still a virgin, let’s prove the doctor and your mom wrong.” She suggested and I slowly looked at her.

“How?? I told my mom I wanted to go to another hospital to do another blood test but she didn’t want to hear anything about it.” I said and she shrugged.

“We’ll go somewhere else tomorrow and do another test,” she said. “A scan this time. Ultrasounds don’t lie.”

A scan???

That fake doctor had made mention of something like the pregnancy was seven weeks. Wasn’t that too early for a scan???

“I know what you’re thinking but you can still do a scan.” She said and I nodded.

Maybe this was what I needed to do. I mean I knew that seeing it would make everything real, but maybe that was exactly what I needed.

Proof.

Either proof that the hospital made a mistake… or proof that I was somehow losing my mind.

………

The next morning, anxiety sat heavily in my chest as Zara and I walked into a private diagnostic clinic across town. The smell of antiseptic somehow made my nausea worse.

“Relax, everything’s gonna be fine,” Zara whispered beside me and I wished I believed her.

A few minutes later, a female radiologist led us into a dimly lit scan room.

“Lie back for me,” she instructed politely and I nodded.

My heartbeat thundered loudly in my ears as I climbed onto the examination bed. The radiologist lifted my shirt slightly before squeezing cold gel onto my stomach and I flinched.

“Sorry,” she murmured before placing the ultrasound probe against my abdomen.

The machine beside us flickered to life and the screen was static for a brief moment before blurry images started forming.

I turned my head away immediately because I didn’t have the heart to look yet. But there was no way there was really a baby in my womb right??

The room became eerily quiet.

Then suddenly… the monitor glitched violently. The image distorted into strange waves before flashing black for half a second.

The radiologist froze and her hand tightened around the probe.

“What happened?” Zara asked nervously.

“I…” The woman frowned at the screen. “Probably just interference.”

But the uncertainty in her voice made my stomach knot.

She adjusted a few settings and continued the scan. For a moment, everything seemed normal again, then the screen distorted a second time but this time it was worse.

The image stretched unnaturally before flickering rapidly like a broken television.

The woman suddenly stepped back like she was scared of something.

“Excuse me for a moment,” she muttered quickly before hurrying out of the room.

Zara and I exchanged confused looks as the door shut behind her.

“What the hell was that?” Zara whispered.

“I don’t know,” I replied quietly, my pulse racing.

More than ten minutes passed before the door opened again but instead of the female radiologist, a different doctor walked in.

An older man.

Something felt off about him immediately because tell me why he was sweating this much despite the freezing air conditioner running inside the room.

“I’ll… continue the examination,” he said stiffly and a strange chill crawled down my spine.

Why was he avoiding meeting my eyes?? Shouldn’t doctors try to make their patients comfortable?? So far he was doing a great job of heightening my anxiety.

“O-okay,” I replied uncertainly.

He picked up the probe with visibly shaky hands and resumed the scan. This time, the monitor stayed stable and then…

I saw it.

A tiny figure curled inside my womb. My breath caught painfully in my throat as I stared at the image.

“No…” I whispered in shock and the doctor cleared his throat.

“The pregnancy is viable and approximately seven weeks.” The doctor announced and Zara gasped softly beside me.

But I couldn’t speak.

I just stared at the screen in horror. How was it possible that a baby was growing inside of me???

The doctor quickly printed out the scan photos and handed them over without another word.

But as I reached for them, I noticed that his hands were trembling, and when our eyes finally met… I could swear I saw fear flash across his face.

My chest tightened instantly.

Something was terribly wrong, because doctors didn’t react this way to ordinary pregnancies. And somehow, deep down…

I knew this pregnancy was anything but ordinary.