The Missing Patriot

Chapter One

"... bodies were recovered and three more are still missing-" I gasped as I reached down and quickly placed my hand over the side of my stomach, feeling a soft jab in that spot once more. "Shhh, it's okay." I whispered.

I sat the newspaper on the counter while practicing slow, deep breaths to keep myself from going over the deep end, I was terrified from what a news-reporter had put in the paper and it was probably the best nickel I ever spent. There was a bombing at one of Mali's army barracks, I was disgusted with all the gory details but there had been five bodies recovered so far, none of them were very recognizable and I was scared. 

What if Asa was hurt? 

I leaned against the counter and went back to focusing on calming myself down, I didn't want to get myself in a sticky situation. It was going on the seventh month of my pregnancy, the pregnancy Dr. Ryan had suggested but I didn't want to believe it. All these years I thought I couldn't have children, but instead, my ovaries were immature and an egg had be released right on time. I was pregnant. I was truly pregnant and it was by the man that had raped and beaten me. 

Why did that feel okay? Nothing Asa Greene did to me that day was okay and my mind and heart fought about it endlessly, no one would understand and that's why I shielded myself inside at all times. I had a doubled voucher from the government, enough for my child and for myself whenever I went to get food but I rarely found myself eating. I was lonely. Asa could be missing, he could be alive but just lost. There was always a chance. 

He had told me that when we spoke about me possibly being pregnant, he said that there was a chance I could be pregnant. I had denied it, of course, as anyone would had if they were in their right mind, Asa was never in his right mind. He would be okay, he had to be okay. For the sake of our child. A faint kick caught my attention and I put my hand there with a tiny smile before walking slowly at a pacing motion, never removing my hand from the spot as I looked down at my giant belly, this wasn't real. It couldn't be. 

I had only been able to pace for a slow amount of time before my legs started to feel like jello and I took a seat at my kitchen table to rest them, my ankles were nearly twice their original size and I probably looked very sick. I didn't get out much now that I was seven months, I was too afraid to venture into the world without someone to protect me and my child while my child's father was away. 

It had been nearly five months since I last saw Mr. or Mrs. Davis, and it was probably for the best because at first two months, I could do well with hiding my new discovery but as the months went on, it got harder to hide a growing stomach. A soft kick once more caught my attention and I couldn't help but smile as I rose to my feet and decided to make something to eat, I settled for a bowl of porridge and sliced up a few strawberries to eat with it. I sprinkled some cottage cheese into the bowl for my own personal preference before sitting back in my seat and snacking on the meal to make the baby content, it must of been hungry. 

I scraped the bowl clean as I did every time before putting it in the sink to clean later, I was too tired and in much need for a nap right now, and that's what I did. It's boring without someone to talk to, or a pet to play with. As pets were still prohibited, I decided to take the hobby of art a step further and worked on sewing whenever I was tired of drawing. When I wasn't drawing, I was eating or sleeping. When I wasn't eating or sleeping, I was drawing. A boring time, indeed.

When I had woke once more, I took up time by dusting the house slowly, taking time to get every spec of dust that I could find because I was tired of eating, sleeping, and drawing all together and this was the one time I missed being in town the most. I swept the floor thoroughly before mopping it, the spell to clean had hit me suddenly but I didn't think much of it as I wiped my kitchen table for the fourth time just in case. Something was just telling me that I needed to clean my home because home didn't feel much like a comfort, clean zone for me.