PREGNANT?

The walls seemed to be closing in on me. The weight of my despair had pressed down on me until I thought it might crush me altogether. The thought echoed in my mind: "He's not coming back for you. He's forgotten about you," Noah's words repeated, over and over again, like some cruel, taunting melody. I wanted to scream, to tear my hair out, to get away from the relentless torture of these thoughts. That sense of desperation was so huge, so choking, that it almost took away my breath.

I just couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand the distance, the loneliness, that crushing weight of abandonment. I felt that all the pain and frustration I'd bottled up over the past weeks suddenly burst from me, and I lost every last piece of control. A red haze seemed to descend across my vision, and the next thing I knew, I was on my feet, hurling whatever I could get my hands on across the room.

The lamp crashed to the wall, its pieces scattering like fallen stars. I picked up the nearest chair and