I opened my eyes to see my uncle standing in the shadows of the room, arms crossed over his chest, legs shoulder width apart and his mouth set in a deep frown. He said nothing as he stared down at me; my eyes were wide as I looked up at him in fear, not wanting to exist yet again. Then he spoke, his voice actually holding a bit of warmth although his words were slurred and made no sense.
"Allie, your gonn-be a mommy again. Aren'tchu excited?" He paused for a minute before continuing on, becoming more excited and less understandable. "I'm gon-be a daddy, and we're gon-be the best family in the fucking world! We're gonn-have a girl and she's gon-be the most bootiful baby in the world and we're gonn-name-er Allie after-er momma!"
He walked towards the bed I was lying on and laid down next to me, putting his hand on my stomach. I tried to pull away but his hand gripped my hip too tightly and I whimpered.
"It's okay Allie, we're gonn-be the happiest family anyone's ever seen."
His eyes were glazed but his actions were determined as he climbed on top of me, holding a knife over my stomach, murmuring that it was time for baby Allie to come out. He plunged the knife into my bulging stomach, grunting as I thrashed and screamed.
"Mercy! Mercy, wake up!"
Jimmy was shaking me awake, sleep making his eyes blurry. His voice was rough as he continued to talk to me, his hair tousled.
"Don't let him- Don't let him hurt the baby! Save the baby!" My sobs were loud as I clutched at my flat stomach.
"Mercy, your fine, the baby is fine." He quickly gathered me in his arms and held me to him tightly.
I slowly quieted as he sat on the bed and held me, comforting me as he quietly talked me back into reality. Without realizing that I did it, I found myself with my arms around his torso and my cheek pressed over his heart, letting that lull me back into a calmer state.
After a while of listening to the silence and his heart I mumbled out, "Thank you.." and tightened my arms slightly.
"What was your dream about Mercy?" His voice was still soft and soothing, something I began to crave for unintentionally.
"I don't want to talk about it..." tears pooled in my eyes as the dream blasted through my minds eye once again. "I-I don't ever-"
He stopped me halfway through my sentence, covering my mouth lightly and looking down into my eyes. "You don't have to. You don't have to ever do anything that you don't want to. Not anymore."
I closed my eyes and buried my face against his chest, happy to have a source of warmth in the cold night. His hands rubbed my back lightly, still holding me to him tightly. We sat there for a while, not saying anything.
I felt him shift as a knock on the door echoed through the quiet room, making me jump and my head snap towards the door. Jimmy shifted me from off of his lap and set me down on the bed carefully before slowly walking over to the door and opening it.
He quietly talked with the other person and shut the door after a few minutes, walking back towards me but not sitting down again.
"You should try and go back to sleep, you still need it to start to build yourself back up for a strong recovery." He smiled softly, looking down at me as I stared silently up at him. "Goodnight Mercy," he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly, "if you need me, I'll be here." He turned and quickly strode towards the door that adjoined our rooms and opened it.
