3 Alone (part 2)

I woke up with a startled gasp. I was in my hospital bed again, and Lola Amor had fallen asleep on her chair, her hand still on top of mine.

I heard a phone vibrate in her bag, and I surreptitiously took it to check my phone. There was message from John.

"I'm outside. Your mother won't let me in."

I typed up a reply, "Tell her I want to see you," but I didn't send this. I deleted that one and typed up another reply. "Tell her I want to see her."

And I sent that one to him. He replied with the thumbs-up emoji, which annoyed me. It was funny how a single stupid doodle of a thumbs-up could downplay the mess we got each other into. If he had worn protection like I told him to, if I had been religious about my pills, then we wouldn't be in this mess.

Fucking thumbs-up.

The curtains were pulled open and there was my mother, looking all worried. "What is it, anak?"

"Nothing's wrong, mother. I just didn't want you to talk to him," I told her, putting my phone down on my side. Lola Amor woke up when her daughter sat next to her on the chair next to my bed.

"You know he's here then?" my mother asked.

"Who's here?" Lola Amor looked at her then at me. "The lazy bastard's here?"

Her daughter nodded.

"Did you send him away?" Lola Amor said.

"No, Eve asked me to return here," my mother answered, then she looked at me. "Do you want to see him?"

Eve looked at her. "I don't know."

They only looked at me with half-hearted smiles on their faces. Lola Amor reached for my hand. My mother held on to our joined hands, too.

"Even if you don't, know that you're not alone," Lola Amor said, her daughter nodding right next to her.

Searing pain shot through my body again, and I felt a gush of water flow between my thighs. Seeing the blood soak my sheets, my mother stood up immediately to call for help.

Lola Amor remained in this bright makeshift room with me, holding my hand, whispering, "You are strong. You are brave. You are loved, Eve," over and over again.

The curtains were pulled back and a flurry of nurses and doctors surrounded my bed, forcing my lola to let go of my hand.

Lola Amor and my mother stood at the foot of my bed, forcing themselves to put on brave faces as they watch me writhe in pain. A man stood next to them, a shocked look apparent on his face when he saw all the blood.

"The baby is coming," the doctor said after cursing. "Get this woman ready fo the LDR." The nurses obeyed, and began injecting more drugs into my system.

As they rolled my bed out of the small makeshift room, I looked up at the blinding white lights. I tried to fight back the fluttering of my eyes, afraid that the darkness would take me someplace in the past that was even more unpleasant than the last one.

When tears overwhelmed eyes, I was forced to close them and face the darkness that awaited in another time.