In Wretched Hearts

As the lights flicker over Eliss’s face a nurse rushes over to her, trying to conceal her fears.

“Ma’am you’ll be just alright okay? Just breathe. Your daughter is here.” The nurse says as she scurries around the room and grabs various items. Her scrubs hit the floor with soft ease. She writes R: 975 on the whiteboard, her cursive almost unreadable.

“It’s a girl..? Again?” Eliss sputters, sitting up in the hospital bed. She puts her head in her hands, her silver blonde hair falling into her hands. After a few minutes she looks up at the nurse with slight anger. “This is not what I needed, I already have three girls. I couldn’t get just one more boy? You would think in this day and age… Nevermind” Eliss said, cutting herself off as she drank her water, her hands gripping the glass tightly.

“She’s beautiful, I’m sure you’ll learn to love her.” The nurse whispers with a polite smile, not wanting to anger her any further. The silence in the room is deafening, Eliss continued to stare holes into the nurse’s skull while the nurse herself kept resurrecting the food on Eliss’s plate that wouldn’t be eaten much longer. The silence was soon broken by the doors creaking open, Eliss’s newborn child would soon be revealed to her. Eliss looked at the child with repugnance, her eyes full with hatred and disgust.

“Name her Lukyana.” Eliss said cutting off the nurse, she already knew what she was going to say; this was her fifth child after all.

“What a pretty name for such a pretty little girl.” A nurse said, trying to flatter her. She refused to hold the baby or even touch the baby. The baby sat crying in the nurse’s arms wanting it’s mother who thought it was just another nuisance.

The night flew away as Eliss sat in her hospital bed, looking towards the nursery through the glass windows. As she looks at the crying children she soon remembers hers, only after hours on end does she remember this underprivileged, has-been, failure of a child. She starts to wish she would’ve given up on trying for another boy, it’s just another mouth to feed. She’s almost hitting her fifties and she’s still trying? She should’ve broken up with Victor a long while ago and settled down and been a good mother, but did she? No. She let herself be ran over by his antics! Her thoughts were momentarily interrupted by a nurse coming in with the newborn Lukyana. The baby was soon pushed onto Eliss’s chest, its horrid cries filled the room.

“What’s wrong with her?” Eliss said quietly, not wanting to be bothered by a child yelling in her ear. The alarms sound before the nurse could even answer, leaving her alone with Lukyana. The child’s screams mixed with the cries from the babies in the nursery which were getting louder and louder by the minute.

Eliss was soon surprised by the screeching in her ears, the sound was so loud her ears rang like bells on a sunday morning. The sound gets louder and louder, she holds the baby close to her chest hoping to stop the noise but it sounds more angry. The baby whines and its mouth drags open and its teeth start to show. Eliss was horrified, a light flickered on and off until it went out. The hospital had gone out of power, she put the baby in her lap and covered her ears. The baby started moving unnaturally; she felt as if it was growing limbs. Eliss felt a sudden warm air covering her face, a small droplet dripped onto her nose. She looked up at the ceiling, a point hit her nose. It was wet and slimy. The lights flicker on just for a flash and a look of horror spreads over Eliss’s face. She tries to shove what once was her baby away but it stands over her with a piercing gaze embedded into its skull. A nurse walks down the hall, his footsteps quiet.

“Steven! Do you see the generator?!” Another nurse calls out from a few halls away.

“No! I’m still looking!” Steven yells back his voice cracking slightly, soon enough he hears a weak okay back. He continued to walk to the closest, his footsteps soon became heard on the tiled floor. He walked till he heard the splash of water, he clicked on his flashlight almost too big for his slender shoulders and looked down. He saw a pool of blood enclosing his pant leg, seeping from under the door. He looked up at the metal plate, it read: Room 975.