I get up and walk slowly to my room, “Aria”. Sadie’s voice echoes gently in the tiny passageway leading to my bedroom and bath. “I think you should call the police”, she tells me.
“Sadie I don’t want more people thinking I’m a nutcase. I’m going to get to the bottom of this myself but right now I just need to rest and gather my strength. Please go home and make sure Lawrence and Travis are okay. I really appreciate you being here but I can’t expect you to disrupt your life for me”.
“Oh nonsense, you’re my sister. I’m not going anywhere”.
“Sadie, really it’s okay. I’m fine”, I say with hopes of reassuring her.
She studies me for a moment, “Okay but I’ll be back later with something for you to eat and I’m gonna call in to check on you. Answer your phone!”
I nod in agreement, “okay”.
“Let me make sure you’re okay before I go”, Sadie escorts me to my bedroom and pulls the covers over me like I am her five year old son Travis.
“I’m gonna fetch you some tea and refill this water glass”.
By the time Sadie is back I somehow manage to slip into a deep sleep but I could swear that I heard her or someone say, “It worked! The bitch is pregnant!” A chorus of laughter permeates the room but I am too weak to get up and investigate. Am I dreaming? Who said that? I struggle to open my eyelids which feel like a mini brick is holding them down so I give up and fall back into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER THREE
The scorching heat of the sun streaming into my window; wakes me up from my deep slumber. What is making me so tired? I say out loud. Sadie walks into the room just in time to answer, “Uh its called pregnancy. I used to be tired all the time when I was pregnant with Travis. Don’t worry you’ll get used to it”.
Sadie covers her mouth, “Oh my gosh are you even gonna keep the baby? I haven’t even considered this”.
“Sadie I don’t know”, I moan.
She leaves the chair next to my bedside to come over and embrace me. “It’s gonna be okay girl, we gonna get through this”.
Since my nap I feel a little better and my head feels much clearer. “Is it too late to have an abortion?” I ask.
“I dunno. I’m not an expert in that field. We should ask Monique”.
Both Sadie and I collapse with laughter. Monique is our ghetto fabulous friend who has a wealth of knowledge on topics like this.
“I don’t think I want an abortion though. It’s against what I believe in”, I say with very little conviction.
“You right. Abortion is basically murder and besides you can always give the baby up for adoption”.
I nod in agreement. “Did you go home?” I ask.
Yeah just for a bit, “I brought you some Mac and Cheese and baked chicken. You need to eat something”.
Sadie I say as I turn to look into her eyes, “Please tell no one about this”.
“Of course Aria; that goes without saying”.
“I need to figure out what’s happened to me. How I wound up pregnant.” A frightening thought occurs to me, “what if I have a mental disorder or some type of temporary amnesia?” I ask out loud.
Sadie considers it for a moment, “well that would explain a lot but these things are usually triggered by violent crimes or severe emotional distress. As far as I know you’re fine in that department.”
I sigh, “I need to retrace my steps 3 months ago”.
“When did you have that cold? That was about 3 months ago wasn’t it? And Mischka and I made you chicken soup, we were supposed to have wine and pizza that night.”
“Oh right but I wasn’t passed out or nothing at any time. I was fully conscious. I knew I got the cold from Mischka’s party though. Somebody had that nasty virus and came to a house party to spread their germs.” Mischka is our co-worker who Sadie and I sometimes hang out with. We often joke that Mischka wishes that she was black. She hangs on to our every word and tries to talk like us and dress like us. Mischka is also an advocate for the Black Lives Matter Movement and goes to a predominantly black church. “It’s a wonder she married a white man”, Sadie would say.
“I mean I haven’t been raped, I would remember something?” I said changing the subject.
“Unless you were drugged but I don’t think any date rape drug is that good”, Sadie replied.
“Look, there’s got to be a logical reason for this. I think we need to bring Monique into this”.
I look at her in disbelief, “absolutely not!”
“Ari, she’s the most street smart of all us. She’s from the hood and she will know how to go about this better than anyone else”, Sadie pleaded.
“Yes and she’s also a loud mouth without any confidentiality or sensitivity”. I was not about to tell Monique my business, I might as well put out a press release.
“Ari, you’re missing the point. I know Monique is horrible at keeping secrets but I’ll talk to her. I think we need her, I don’t know how to go about this. You don’t want to go to the police and we don’t have a clue about how you got pregnant. Monique will have a fresh perspective and she just knows stuff. Please Aria! Just trust me on this,” Sadie begged.
I roll my eyes, “I don’t know why I’m even entertaining this”.
Sadie looks at me; her eyes filled with excitement, “Because you know I’m right”.
I close my eyes for a few seconds before I speak, “Okay but if she tells anyone about this I’ll strangle her with my two hands”.
“Damn dem pregnancy hormones are working overtime girl”, Sadie says through laughter. “I’ll talk to Monique tomorrow after work. By the way, are you going to work tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to have some semblance of normalcy”, I say.
Sadie and I make eye contact and I swear I can see her soul. Not like I haven’t seen it before, it’s just that I can tell that she is a true and genuine friend. And despite my unbelievable, ridiculous story; she believes me. Many friends would have doubted me and called me a liar but Sadie believes in me and this is all I need to get me through the tough months that I know are ahead.
“Are you gonna be okay tonight? Lawrence and I can drop by to check on you if you like”.
“Thanks but I’ll be okay. You guys have done more than enough; I can’t ask any more of you”.
“Of course you can, you’re my sister. Come here,” and with that I am enveloped in a large hug.
CHAPTER FOUR
“How the fuck you wind up pregnant when you supposed to be celibate and sober”, Monique asked for the sixth time.
“Oh sweet Jesus Monique, you promised”, Sadie said.
“Yeah but this some weird shit”, Monique shook her head as if there was no hope for me.
“I wish I knew what happened and how I ended up like this”, I say calmly.
Monique was up in my face snapping her fingers, “Bitch is you lying? Cuz lemme tell you; it’s okay to be a whore. Ain’t nothing wrong with getting your freak on and accidentally getting pregnant. Shit, it happened to me when I was 21. I was so happy when I lost that baby, whew child”.
“I have’nt had sex with anybody since Christian and I broke up. I haven’t had a drink since that incident two Halloween’s ago”. I knew Monique would not believe me and I could not blame her.
“Then bitch you got raped by an alien. I saw this documentary about people who get abducted by aliens in their sleep and when they wake up they don’t remember anything. The aliens do all kinds of tests and experiments on them and then they just drop them back on earth like nothing happened”.