The Girl With The Tattoo

36. hospital

Sophie

As I open my eyes, I notice that my room is in complete darkness. I slowly sit upright, immediately realising that my books are still scattered across my bed from when I was writing my history exam earlier on. I rub my eyes before having a quick yawn. I must've fallen asleep whilst studying.

The clock to my left reads 3:45 am. Shit, I've been asleep for so long! I then notice that my window had been left open, a light coming in from there. And as I walk over there, I notice mom's car parked in the driveway. She must've gotten home at some point.

And then I'm instantly curious when I hear noises coming from the hallway, a light peeking in from the crack in my door. I immediately find this strange as mom always seems to fall asleep as soon as she comes home from work. It's unlike my parents to be awake so late.

So I walk over there, opening the door so that I can see what's going on.

"Mom?" I say.

I'm then able to hear her voice coming from the bathroom "What do you think we should do? I don't want to get to the hospital and they tell us to go home or that they don't have enough beds. You know how little space they have up there!"

"Em, I really don't care." I then hear my mum's voice in there too "I need to go."

I walk directly over to the bathroom, now standing in the doorway as I try to understand what's going on. Mum looks panicked, she's holding onto the bathtub and I can't help but notice that she seems to be in a lot of pain.

"Mom, what's going on?" I ask, and she jumps a little, clearly startled.

"Sophie?! Shit, we must've woken her up!" She tells my mum.

"I heard talking and I came to check it out." I tell the both of them "What's happening?"

Mom finally lets me know what's going on right now "Look, I think your mom might be in labour. But there's no need to panic-."

"What?! The baby is coming?! What, now?!" I panic, stepping back a little as I try to process everything.

Mom shakes her head "No, not right now! But I think we're gonna have to go to the hospital. But I totally get if you don't want to come, I can call your Aunt Riley and you can stay over at her place tonight."

"No, I want to come. I don't want to miss anything." I tell mom, and I notice that she seems quite surprised by that.

I hate the thought of staying at my Aunt Riley's house tonight. And the thought of missing my sister's birth isn't something that I like and I also want to be there for my mum. Plus, Uncle James snores and I know that I definitely won't be getting any sleep if I stay there tonight.

"Are you sure? It might get too much for you." Mom warns me.

"No, I'll be fine. I can handle this." I assure her.

Mum then groans in pain, clearly not liking the conversation whilst she's in the middle of contractions "Can we just get going already?! I don't want to give birth on the bathroom floor!"

Mom turns to me, practically shoving me out the door "Okay, go and get your things from your room. Be as quick as you can!"

After I'd rushed to grab as many things that I might need, I run outside to get myself strapped into the back of the car. I then hold onto a pink blanket tightly, covering my body with it as I uncontrollably shiver. It's so cold right now as I'm not used to being outside whilst it's dark.

Mom opens the door for my mum, before getting into her own side to start up the car.

"How long is the drive to the hospital?" I ask mom.

"About twenty minutes depending on the traffic." She tells me, before examining the road "And it looks quite clear tonight so I think we're good."

"What if mum has the baby in the car?" I ask her, clearly worrying too much.

Mom shakes her head "Mum isn't having the baby in the car! Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off at Aunt Riley's? I seriously can't listen to your questions all night."

"I don't want to go to Aunt Riley's." I mutter.

"So be quiet." Mom warns me.

Mom starts up the car, driving down the freeway at quite a high speed. Thankfully, there are not a lot of cars on the road tonight as most people are tucked up in their beds asleep. But even though there's nothing stopping us from getting to the hospital quickly, mom still insists on speeding.

"How long?!" Mum asks, continuing to groan in pain.

"I don't know, Michelle, I'm going as fast as I can!" Mom raises her voice.

Mum continues to express just how much pain she's in right now. She's very vocal during her contractions and I find myself slowly hiding behind my blanket to try and comfort myself.

Mom clearly senses that the noise is frightening me "Michelle, keep it down! You're scaring her."

"No, I'm okay." I convince her, trying to put on a brave face.

"It's not like I can help it, Emily!" Mum raises her voice "Don't tell me to keep it down!"

"Can we not argue right now?" I ask them.

"You're right." Mom agrees, nodding slowly "We don't need any more stress."

And because mum seems to be in a lot of pain, I decide to check up on her "Mum, are you okay?"

She turns her head to look at me, giving me a quick smile "Yeah, I'm fine, sweetie."

"She'll be fine when we get to the hospital." Mom says "Just look out of the window, Soph, we won't be much longer."

I nod "Oh, okay."

I take her advice, now staring out at the night sky as we drive closer towards the hospital. I drown out mum's groans as I begin to think about Lexi and how I still haven't heard from her. I mean, I think it's weird that she hasn't texted me but class starts next week so I'll probably see her then.

And after another few minutes pass, we finally arrive at the hospital. Mom quickly gets out of the car, rushing the rest of us out so that we can get inside.

"Come on, grab your things." Mom tells me.

We walk over to the reception, mom explaining our situation and signing in.

But the woman behind the front desk says "You might have to wait for a little while whilst we get a room ready for you."

Mom looks so angry by that "We can't wait! My wife's in labour. I'm not having her sit out here when she's in this much pain!"

"How far apart are your contractions?" The lady asks mum, finally speaking to her.

"Roughly three minutes apart." Mum admits, trying her best to stay calm "I don't know if I can wait any longer."

Mom steps in, raising her voice as she demands for a room to be ready for us. And because I'm extremely frightened, I hold onto my blanket even tighter, using breathing techniques to try and keep calm. It's just that I hate when mom shouts as it brings back bad memories.

But after a few minutes of negotiating for a room, the lady at the front desk says "Okay, we now have a room ready. You can follow me."

"Finally!" Mom rolls her eyes, grabbing mum's hospital bag off of the floor.