Over and Over Again | ONC 2023

Chapter 15

"God, being pregnant sucks," Aurelia groaned as Max helped her into the car. She was quite literally sick and tired of all these parenting and pregnancy classes.

Max quickly entered the driver's side, already soaked from the rain. The forecast called for a storm, but bad weather never stopped the two of them.

"Look at the bright side! Only two more months to go before we get to meet our daughter!" Max tried reassuring her. The death glare he was given in response immediately shut him up.

She couldn't help how moody she was these days. It was all of the stupid hormones that wouldn't give her a damn break. She had wished that being immortal would somehow make her immune to all of the pregnancy symptoms, but that was clearly not how things worked.

"I'm just looking forward to going home and relaxing," she sighed as she struggled to buckle her seatbelt.

After moving back with Max, Elaine was more than happy to give Aurelia her job back. Fortunately for her, Elaine was very generous with the terms of her maternity leave, and she had little to worry about during her time off.

Aurelia felt like she was home for once, a feeling that had been long lost on her centuries ago. Life felt a lot less meaningless than it once did.

She didn't know what the future would bring, but for once, she knew she was finally happy.

"Me too," Max chuckled. "I say we order takeout tonight."

They debated what to order. Aurelia insisted she wanted pizza, but they had just gotten pizza, Max whined.

The rain grew heavier and heavier as they continued on their route home. The window wipers were on at their highest speed, but Max still squinted to try and make out what was in front of them.

An uneasy feeling filled Aurelia's chest. "Maybe we should pull over and wait out the storm," she suggested.

"No, we're almost home," Max said. "It'll be much more comfortable for you to rest there."

They suddenly heard loud honking and a light that grew unbearably bright.

"Watch out!"

-

Even with her eyes shut, Aurelia could tell how painfully bright the room was. It was quiet, besides some soft beeping and muffled footsteps. She felt exhausted and everything was sore, a dull ache radiated through her body, but her lower abdomen felt numb.

It took all of her willpower to slowly peel one eye open, and she found herself staring at a plain white ceiling.

What the hell happened?

She looked around, and saw two nurses quietly speaking with a doctor. "H-hello?" she croaked, her throat felt dry and rough as sandpaper. She gripped tightly onto the railing along the bed to pull herself up. "What happened?"

"Hello Ms. Taylor, I'm Doctor Evans," he spoke gently, the same way one would before breaking bad news. "You were in an accident... we had to perform an emergency C-section."

The room spun, but she fought through the lightheadedness to stay alert. "Is she alright? Where is she? What about my husband?" she demanded.

The doctor sighed and sat down next to the bed.

He didn't need to say anything. 

Aurelia's blood went cold and she felt her soul leave her body.

Excruciating grief took over as uncontrollable tears began to pour down her cheeks and breathless sobs squeezed at her chest. She tucked her knees up against her torso and hugged her legs tightly, curling up into a trembling ball.