Raising a child in jail

Five months in this basement was enough to kill a person or make them go crazy.

The only way I was sure that everything was fine with me was the fact that my stomach had now grown twice in size. I wasn't even allowed to go to the hospital for regular checkups. The only way I would know if that baby in me were alive would be the occasional kicks the baby gave me.

'I wonder who your father is?!? You think he might be looking for you?!?' I asked more to myself than to the baby in my belly who couldn't even answer my question.

Why would he look for me anyway? It's not like he knows I'm pregnant. And even if he did, he wouldn't expect me to be hidden away from the world in my mother-in-law's basement, bound by chains in both hands and legs.

Ethan dropped me off here five months ago, saying his mother had something to talk about, and ever since then, she has locked me up in this basement. She blocked me off from having contact with the entire world, not even my husband, and now I've had enough of it.

I plan to escape to meet Ethan tonight, I'm sure his mother is keeping me here without his knowledge. If he knew about it he wouldn't allow it.

I don't know when my mother-in-law got rich enough to hire a maid, but she did. This maid was the one who brought me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so I made my move when she came to bring me dinner today.

"What if it's the baby that's about to come out" I lied while trying to persuade the maid to free me from these chains and let me go into the bathroom

"I don't think childbirth happens that way" she muttered under her breath. Maybe she was a shy person or just doesn't like me. I was probably adding more workload to whatever my mother-in-law employed her to do, so whenever she came and I didn't try to start a conversation, you weren't enjoying this, and neither was I.

"How would you know? Have you been pregnant before? I'm sorry to bother you, but this is my first time being pregnant, so whenever there's a small change, I take it into account." I kept lying through my teeth, as much as I hated lying, I hated this basement even more.

After much convincing and lying, she finally let the chains loose, and I sprinted into the bathroom, not minding the size of my stomach.

I had limited time. I had to think fast, the only solution was to escape through the bathroom window.

Thank God my mother-in-law's house was a one-story building; it would have been hard to jump down. It would have been easier if I weren't five months pregnant, but it was very hard to get my big belly out the window. After much bending and squeezing, I finally got out. I started sprinting with all my might.

Who knew running would be this hard? I stopped occasionally to catch my breath, but I didn't relent. I was out of the house, but until I saw Ethan, I couldn't get any rest at all.

I finally got to the main road, and oh, was it busy, but at this point, I didn't care, and lucky for me, traffic was very bad. I didn't even wait for the light to turn green and started running between cars.

Unknown to me was that a certain someone who has been looking for me for the past five months saw me.

"Oh my gosh it's her" Chris' eyes lit up from behind the steering wheel and Jimmie who had a bored expression asked.

"Who?" Then Chris pointed at a very untidy-looking pregnant woman who was running across the road without shoes on.

"The lady we've been looking for, the one who got pregnant with your child" he said while turning around to face Jimmie who now had a very curious and expectant look on his face, he didn't even get to see Sammie's face properly.

"Then what are you waiting for?!?" Jimmie asked while glaring at Chris

"Sir, do you want me to go after her?!? But if I leave the wheel and traffic moves we could get a ticket!" Chris explains that he already regrets why he didn't just get out the moment he saw Sam run in front of their car.

"You think I care about a fucking ticket?!? The car could get towed for all I care!!!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

Chris immediately removed his seatbelt and got out of the car but it was too late. Sam was nowhere to be found.

He searched everywhere nearby within a 5 km radius, but she was gone. Could a grown human disappear? Well, Sam did.

***

Well, what can I say, 'luck' was always on my side. Just a few seconds after I got on the main road, I ran into my mother-in-law's car, and she caught me by the hair, dragged me back to the basement, and chained me back down to where I was before.

She went and gave an earful to the maid and came back to meet me in the basement.

"How dare you...I try to help you hide your shame from the world and this is the thanks I get?!?" She said while sitting down across me with a disdainful look on her face.

"Just let me meet Ethan please..." Before I could complete my statement her hand went straight across my face and for a moment there all I could see was white light.

"Don't you dare say my son's name out of your filthy mouth, you disgusting little slut!! I was being considerate and wanted to give this to you after you gave birth, but I guess I have no choice but to give it to you now," she said while throwing what looked like a court notice at me. I picked it up with shivering hands and it was exactly what I thought it was. Divorce papers!!

"No, Ethan would never do this to..."

"Oh but he already did, as you can see his signature is boldly written on that piece of paper, now sign it!" She said while throwing a pen down which landed beside the paper that she threw earlier.

"No!!! I won't sign it." I tried to protest, but she did something I didn't expect. She brought out from her bag pictures of me on the errands she always sent me every Tuesday.

"Should I tell you, my dear obedient daughter-in-law, what was inside those packages I asked you to deliver for me...DRUGS!" No, she did not!!!.

She used me to traffic drugs?!?!?

"Now, if you don't want me to release those pictures online and make you have your child in jail, you better sign them now," she threatened, looking like the devil himself.

What came over me was a raw protectiveness that I never knew existed for the child in me. I think all the mothers out there would agree with me that they all wanted the life that was best for their child. No one would want to raise a child in jail, I didn't care if she made those pictures and any other evidence she had public but raising my child in jail was out of the question.

So with much heaviness in my heart I signed the divorce papers.