Legacy

Chapter 32: The Birth

I try to steady my breathing and I can feel the sweat on my skin as there's movement inside me.

I hadn't noticed the layer of paper spread out over the bed before it crinkled under me. My moans of pain seem so quiet as Michael leaves for a moment.

But then he rushes back in carrying a large bowl of water and a rag. "Just called Nancy. She's on her way." He sets the bowl down and soaks the rag before laying it over my brow. "Breathe... breathe..." Then I notice him suddenly on his knees beside me.

I hiss and then groan as my uterus contracts again. Michael checks his watch and makes a note on his pad before slipping it back in his pocket.

"I don't want Nancy here." I grit out as the feeling passes. Then I feel the sheets beneath me get soaked through.

"Morning-" Then Michael notices the wetness. "Oh, sweetheart, your water just broke," he says, his breath catching as he gently dabs my temple with a cool cloth.

Sweetheart...

That's the first time he's called me by that name since we first had sex...

"I don't want Nancy here any more than you do-"

"BULLSHIT!" I snap before biting my lip as the baby shifts again.

"...but I do need an extra set of hands to help me get the baby through this," he continues calmly, brushing some sweat-sticky hair out of my face and behind my ear. "To help me get you through this, September."

I shake my head and try to steady my breathing. "I'm scared," I grunt.

Michael sighs and ties my hair back out of my face. Then he lifts my chin so I'll look at him. "I know. But I know for a fact that I've scared you worse."

It's the truth. Every time there's a new victim taken down to the basement I'm terrified that I'll be next.

His hand rests on my thigh. I grit my teeth as it moves down, with all the care one would expect from an expecting father. All the way down to my ankle. Which he promptly shackles to the bed frame.

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. He's chaining me up again.

Just like that first night. Just like the time I tried to run away. Just like the time he used me as a human ashtray.

Even now he's chaining me up like I'm going to run! I thought we were past this!

Before he can reach for the other one, I try to kick him away, screaming both in pain and in fear.

"September," he says flatly as he grips my thigh so he can grab my free ankle and chain it up too. "We have to keep your legs apart. Just breathe and try to-"

"Don't you dare tell me to relax!" I scream, before whimpering at another contraction.

"Okay okay- uh... think of the baby. The sweet little baby. Don't you wanna meet him? Don't you wanna hold her?" His fingers lace through mine. "We're so close..."

No. You're so close.

I'm just about to say as much when the light from the hallway is obscured by the one person I am most afraid of. Nancy.

She's wearing an awful puke green outfit and a smile that makes her inner witch show.

When she opens her bag, I expect her to pull out a pair of scrubs. But no. She pulls out an apron. Even though it's floral, I feel as if she's going to chop me up like an animal raised for slaughter.

"NO NO NO!" I groan.

I flinch when she reaches into her bag again and removes some shiny metal tools. But my gaze is torn away when I scream again in pain.

My head is now dripping with sweat and the room spins around me like a drunk ride on a merry-go-round cranked up to full speed. Michael and Nancy's faces blur in and out of my vision. I feel like I'm going the pass out any moment from the pressure of everything.

I scream and squeeze Michael's hand until my knuckles are white. The man doesn't even flinch, even though my hand is practically crushing his bones and my nails are digging deep into his skin.

"Angel's head is crowning," Nancy says from where she's crouching at the foot of the bed.

My shoulders tense up as light glints off one of the large metal tools in her gloved hands. I'm about to lean forward to see what she's going to do with it, but I'm stopped short by Michael tipping my head back so I can't look.

I feel my skin stretch tightly as the baby is pushed out. Another round of screams come out of me, but Michael does not leave my side.

By the time the baby is pulled all the way out, my eyelids feel heavy and my head feels light.

Michael's voice calls to me, and it feels as though he's coaxing me out of a nap more than anything. All I want to do is close my eyes and fall asleep.

"September... you did it... it's alright... you're alright..." Then I feel the ghost of his lips on my forehead.

When I finally force my eyes open again I see Nancy wrapping my blood covered baby up in a blanket and turning to leave the room.

My eyes flash to Michael. "D-Don't let her t-take my baby!" I try to shout the words but they come out as barely more than a pathetic murmur. "Please!"

"Sweetheart," Michael mutters, trying to calm me down with a hand on my thigh. "You need to breathe. Just relax." Then he attempts to push me back down on the bed.

My body cringes at how sticky the mattress is from my sweat and blood, among other things.

He keeps pushing and I start to fight him more. The only words I manage to get out are just more pleas to get the baby away from that witch.

"Please! Please!"

Michael's strong arms slide around me for a short moment as he gently shushes me. That succeeds in calming me down just a bit.

But then I hear crying coming from downstairs.

I rally what little strength I have left in me to thrash against his hold a couple times.

Months ago I probably would have been able to fight my way out of his hold. Now all my fighting is good for is tiring me out even more until I can't even keep my eyes open.