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  She wondered if anyone could see them together, but she didn’t care. For the first time since she’d discovered her pregnancy, she felt safe and cared for. Everyone seemed to be turning on her, even her best friend Melanie. But Matt had always been her real best friend – and he was certainly proving that at that moment.

  Bri pulled away and wiped tears she hadn’t even felt escape her eyes. “Thanks for always being there for me. I always wanted a big brother.”

  He ruffled her hair like he knew she hated. “And you’ve always had one. I’ll always be here for you. You and my niece or nephew.”

  She nodded. “I’ve gotta get out of here. I have some stuff that I need to do before my parents get home. They don’t go my games, but they’ll probably be pissed when they realize that I quit.”

  “Good luck,” Matt said, opening her door and helping her inside. He didn’t mention the jacket as she climbed in; deciding that she probably needed it more than he did. Once she was inside, he ran around to the passenger side and put her backpack in the seat so she didn’t have to strain to pick up the heavy books at an awkward angle. He waved his goodbyes and she pulled away.

  Bri spent the next few hours trying to keep her mind as occupied as possible. She’d gone driving around, went home to watch a movie – but fell asleep in the middle - cleaned, and prepared dinner. When her parents came home, they were shocked to see her there.

  “What’s going on?” her mother asked. Her dark brown hair was pulled tight into a professional bun, just a few wisps in the front hung loose to accentuate her face. “I thought you had a game tonight?”

  Bri stepped forward, coming to rest in front of the dining room table next to her parents. “I quit. I decided that I didn’t need those people and that kind of negativity in my life. That’s not the kind of person that I want to be.”

  Her mother scoffed. “What? Successful? Is that the kind of person that you don’t want to be? Because that’s certainly the road you’re heading down. I didn’t raise a quitter. If you just quit whatever and whenever you want, then you won’t have anything worth living for.”

  “But Mom…” Bri started.

  “Don’t argue with your mother,” John said. “You have been very different lately. I’m not sure what’s going on, but this is just the icing on the cake. What about that football star boyfriend of yours? Huh? What does he think about his girlfriend quitting the basketball team? Don’t you think you’ll be a little oddly matched now?”

  She was shocked. Mike was right. Her parents were defending him. She had no idea they liked him at all, let alone enough to defend him against her. “First of all – how can you guys care about those kinds of things? If I’m going to be with someone, I want it to be because I love them and they love me. I want it to be because we have things in common that draw us together. I want it to be because of the quality of people we are. Not because we are trying to be popular, or trying to date in our own group – in this case, the snooty jock group.”

  “You’re sixteen. Your popularity is all you have and it looks great on a college application,” her mother said.

  Bri ignored her comment, feeling anger rising in her chest. “Secondly, Mike and I broke up. He’s a jerk.”

  “A jerk?” Her mother seemed genuinely upset. “He was a fine boy! Confident, high school athlete, he has dreams and goals, college plans. He would be a fine boy for you. That was a terrible mistake.”

  Bri laughed outright. “He is terrible, mother. He pressures people to give him what he wants and if they don’t, he bullies them for it! You met him twice. You know nothing about him. Hell, you don’t even know anything about your own damn daughter.”

  Both of her parents went wide-eyed. “I think you need to leave for a little while and get some fresh air. Here’s my credit card,” her father said, pulling his wallet from his back pocket. “I was planning to get gas in the morning, but I think you should now. Calm down a little. I refuse to have any child of mine speak to us in this way and I haven’t exactly figured out what to do with you yet. Fill it up. You have thirty minutes. If you’re not back in that time your phone, computer, TV, car and any other means of entertainment are gone.”

  Bri couldn’t believe her parents. How could they be so closed minded? How could they not listen to her? What parent ever pushes their child to be with a person they don’t want to be with just to make them look good? Why didn’t they support her? Her mind was swimming with anger, betrayal, and confusion. She had no idea what to do in a month or so when she really started showing. What would they do to her then?

  She grabbed Matt’s trench coat that hung on the coat rack next to the front door, the scent reminding her of her safe and happy place from earlier when she was in his arms. She took her father’s card and stormed out, angry that she was once again off to do something for her parents that they were too lazy to do. She didn’t mind chores. She didn’t mind being asked for favors. She did mind being told to do anything and everything that they could think of and them never giving her so much as a thank you or job well done.

  As she pulled into the gas station, she wondered if telling them that he’d pressured her to have sex with him would have changed their opinion about him. She laughed sarcastically. They probably would have accused me of leading him on.

  Walking to the door of the gas station, she thought she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and studied the dimly-lit side of the building, but couldn’t see anything. The sun had long since gone down, the short days of winter a curse to her as she preferred the longer, sunnier days of spring and summer. She pulled the trench coat tight around her and went inside.

  The man at the counter was familiar to her. He was an older man, a little hard of hearing, but very sweet. “Hi there, Miss Grace. What can I get ya?” he asked as a large and genuine smile spread across his face.

  “Hi, Mr. Swanson. I’m going to be filling up out there. I just wanted to let you know. Here’s Dad’s card,” she said.

  The gas station was older, not equipped to take credit card payments outside. She handed him the credit card and made her way back outside. As she moved, the wind caught her off guard, forcing her to stop in her tracks and once again pull the trench coat closed. As she buttoned the last button, a sharp pain radiated through her head as something connected hard with her skull. Her vision went dark and she was brought to her knees.

  Chapter 4

  Bri struggled to breathe as the wind hissed from her lungs with the awkward landing. Her vision was blurry and her head throbbed. She wanted to scream, but was silenced with something being placed across her mouth – duct tape. She recognized the scent of it, which was overwhelming her pregnant super-olfactory senses. Her attacker grabbed her by the hair and dragged her backward, behind the store. She screamed from behind the tape and kicked her legs, struggling to get free.

  Tears streamed down her face as she immediately worried for the condition of her baby. She’d landed hard on her belly. She had no idea what it would take to end a pregnancy by blunt force. The attacker used her hair to pull her up to her feet before slamming her hard into a wall. As soon as her vision cleared, fear coursed through her, unused adrenaline combined with the head injury threatening to make her black out.

  Before, she’d worried that her attacker may hurt her baby, even by accident, not knowing she was with child, in the process of robbing her. Now, she knew the object of this attack was solely for the purpose of harming her baby. She stared into Mike’s cold, hard eyes. She heard the chuckles of his friends surrounding him. Looking around, she saw four of them ready to back him up.

  “Your mom called,” Mike said, gently running his fingertips down the side of her face. “She said that she was sorry her daughter was so confused. She begged me to take you back. Even told me where you’d be so I could come and talk to you. That was nice of her, wasn’t it?”

  Bri sobbed as she tried to push him away, knowing that even if she managed to fight him off, there
were four more to subdue her.

  “I know we had our little chat just today, but I got to thinking about it and it’s been quite a long time since you and I fooled around. You know what that means? Docs around here won’t do an abortion without parental consent because of the increased risks.”

  Bri felt disgusted that he stated that so casually. He was a stupid boy. He didn’t know a lot about anything that wasn’t sports related. She imagined that he’d learned it from other experiences like this, either his own or his friends.

  “But you won’t talk to your parents, will you, Bri?” he asked, pushing himself closer. She was terrified, too terrified to move. She wished that she could get to her phone. She wished that she could call for Matt’s help. “I didn’t think so.”

  She realized then that she’d been too scared to answer, too scared to lie her way out of it – even from behind tape. Bri was about to answer by way of nodding when the first blow to her face came. She was hit hard. She could feel several smaller bones in her face crushing under the blow. She landed hard on the ground, blackness seeping in as she felt the first painful kick to her abdomen. Please, God, was the last thing to enter her mind as she lost consciousness.

  “Her pulse is weak,” she heard a man say from above her. She looked up to see a young man hovering above her. “My name is Gerome, and I’m the EMT that responded to the call. You were attacked, ma’am. We are about halfway to the hospital. Do you have any allergies?”

  Bri began to shake her head, but remembered that she had one. “Ery… Ery…” As hard as she tried the name wouldn’t come.

  “Erythromycin?” he asked.

  She nodded. “That’s it.” Her eyes bolted open as she tried to sit up, but she was strapped down. “My baby!”

  “Your baby? Are you pregnant, ma’am?”

  “Yes! Almost four months. They were kicking me in the stomach! Is the baby still alive? Can you tell?” She was frantic as tears started rolling down her face. She could feel the scrapes on her face as the salty tears stung them on the way down her cheeks.

  “Jo!” He called to the front of the ambulance. “Is the fetal Doppler working yet?”

  A woman called back. “She’s pregnant? They took the doppler out. It was smashed after the rookie dropped it and stepped on it. They’re supposed to be replacing it tomorrow.”

  “What’s a fetal Doppler?” Bri asked.

  “It’s a wand that I could place against your lower abdomen and listen for the heartbeat. Unfortunately, we don’t have one.”

  “That’s the only way that you can check on her?”

  “I’m sorry. That’s the only way that I can tell in here. A stethoscope can’t really pick anything up through the uterine wall. Not in here for sure, though in a quiet room it’s probably possible. You’re having a little girl?” he asked, a sad smile breaking through as he worried for both of them.

  “It’s just a hunch,” she said. Her entire body was shaking from shock and fear. Her eyes were growing heavy again, but she wanted to stay awake. She needed to know everything that was going on. “Do you think she will be okay?”

  Gerome sighed and placed his hand over hers. “Bad things happen to good people every day. I know. I see a lot of it around here. But one thing I know for sure is that as bad as some of those things are, I have seen some of the most miraculous recoveries. People that never should have lived that were able to go home to their families and live their lives. People think that babies are fragile, and they are, but not nearly as fragile as we assume. That baby wasn’t outside exposed to the attack. She was cradled inside your body. You’re alive. So it’s okay to hold out hope that she is too. But…”

  “But it’s best to know that I’m young and this is still really early in the pregnancy,” she said, interrupting him.

  He nodded. “That’s right. Worrying and stressing puts you both in danger. Your vitals are slow, so you need to relax and let me worry about both of you. We will be at the hospital in about five minutes. Focus on staying calm.”

  His words hit her hard. She forced a nod and relaxed. Her ribs ached with every breath, but she forced herself to steady her breathing and try to will the pain away. When she was twelve, she’d fallen during a gymnastics practice and broke her ankle. She’d begged her mother for a week to take her to the hospital, but she wouldn’t, saying that Bri had only twisted her ankle and to stop worrying over nothing. It was finally her father that took her, learning that she’d broken it quite badly and would require surgery.

  For that incredibly painful week before seeking treatment, Bri had to learn how to will the pain away. She practiced breathing techniques and focused on something in whatever room she was in as she imagined “pushing” the pain away from herself. She later learned that was a legitimate meditation technique and even taught to some pregnant women to use during labor.

  Bri now called on her past experience to help her through the excruciating pain. Being unable to take deep breaths made her work difficult, but she was able to relax as she closed her eyes and focused on what it would be like to be a mother. She imagined herself holding her baby for the first time and being surrounded by the people that she loved. Soon, her mind completely overtook her as she disappeared into unconsciousness once again with only dreams of her baby to sooth her.

  Bri’s eyes slowly fluttered open… well, one of Bri’s eyes fluttered open. The other was swollen shut, and, as she realized this she began to panic. She tried to move, but discovered that her hands and feet were bound. She tried to scream for help, but her throat was too sore.

  The sound of frantic beeping entered her ears just before she heard footsteps stampeding into the room. A doctor came into view, a face that was familiar to her. He was her childhood doctor. Another familiar face stepped into view; she was Matt’s mother’s OB/GYN, Maree Metcalf. She’d met her once when she accompanied them to a well-mother prenatal appointment.

  “Briana,” Doctor Conway, her pediatrician spoke. “Try to calm down. You’re safe and in the hospital. You were brutally attacked. You can speak, but try to keep quiet. It appears that you were choked. There was some damage done to the trachea, but nothing permanent or needing surgery. It should heal on its own as long as you’re gentle with it.”

  She nodded.

  “Bri.” Another familiar voice. She looked off to the right to see her parents sitting there, taking hold of her hand.

  They weren’t there a moment ago, she thought. They must have come in with the doctors.

  “How are you feeling?” her father asked.

  Bri began to speak a couple of times, only managing a cough as she tried to clear her throat. “Like I was just beaten half to death by Michael Rhodes and his minions.”

  Her mother sighed, her eyes closing as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Briana Grace. He would never do such a thing. It was him that called us and called 911! Why would he do that if he was the one that hurt you? You owe him an apology.”

  Bri laughed again, painfully, just as she had before. That was the final straw. She realized then that her parents didn’t love her. If they did, they did a terrible job showing it. They only loved the idea of having the perfect offspring. The daughter that excelled at everything and she refused to be that anymore. She was a woman now. A woman that had just been attacked for the purpose of killing her unborn child.

  She turned to Doctor Metcalf, now understanding why she’d been there with her. “How am I?” she asked, hoping the doctor would get her meaning.

  “You will be just fine. You have a few broken bones in your face, a broken finger, two broken ribs, swollen but otherwise healthy ankle, damage to your trachea, and lots of bumps, bruises, and cuts. But you’ll be just fine.” She smiled softly, reaching out and placing her hand on Bri’s leg. “And the baby is just fine as well. We were fully prepared not to find a heartbeat. Most of the attack was directed at your abdomen. But we did. Your baby is just fine, for now. We will need to keep you for a few days to monitor you both.”


  “Wait a minute,” Bri’s father said. “Baby?”

  For a moment, Bri thought she saw something that momentarily looked like a very faint, almost too-terrified-to-come-out-of-hiding smile cross her father’s face, but that was over and gone as soon as her mother opened her mouth. She briefly wondered, before her mother started in, how he could have been so disgusted with a co-worker’s daughter being with child, but be momentarily happy with his own. Or had she only imagined the smile?

  “You’re pregnant? That’s why you’ve been acting so strangely?” She stood and began pacing back and forth from the head of the bed to the foot and back again. “This is terrible. How could you do such a stupid thing? Is it Mike’s? He just didn’t seem like that kind of boy!”

  Bri focused her rage, trying not to have an outburst, knowing that it will hurt her far more than it would her parents. “This stupid thing was because I had an abusive boyfriend that I was petrified of. No one believed me when I said that I was scared of him. Not even you! Everyone said that I was being foolish. That he was a great guy. That I was reading things wrong. Then one night he pressured me into having sex with him. Mom, the way he grabbed me, I knew that if I didn’t he’d hurt me. One time. That’s all I’ve done it, and I didn’t even want to then. This is not my fault. I was trying to find a way out of the relationship. Away from him to prevent that.”

  “Well it seems to me that you moved a little slow. This is just awful. What will everyone say? Oh dear, is that why you quit the team? This is awful. Just awful.”

  Her mother was a mess, just pacing and rambling.

  “Mom, it’s going to be fine. Why should we care what anyone else thinks? I’m finishing school. I’m excited to show this baby exactly what you can do – no matter how hard the circumstances are – and still succeed. I’m going to go to college. I’m still going to do everything that I wanted to before, minus trying for a sports scholarship. That was more your dream than mine. I just love the game.”