The Door at Midnight

I held back the pain in my chest and slowly got up.

The divorce was close. I just had to make it through tonight!

I had not been in the kitchen long when Shirley came in.

She did not know the first thing about cooking, but kept bossing me around.

I was so fed up. I told her the kitchen was too smoky and she did not need to stress herself about it.

However, Shirley just caressed her belly gently. "I'm not just teaching you to cook, I'm helping your baby learn too.”

"You take care of me now, and your child can take care of my son later."

I wanted to hold on until the divorce, but I could not bear her putting down my child like that.

When I threw the spatula onto the counter with a loud bang, Shirley yelped.

She told me to cool it with anger. "If you're a mom with that kind of temper, what if your kid ends up the same?"

Her words, like a curse upon my child, made me shake with rage.

My belly was hurting more and more, and the contractions were so strong I almost could not stand up.

However, Shirley just came over, laughing at me. "You're so pale. You'd make a great actress.”

"It's too bad Matthew doesn't care about you. With just one call from me, he'll leave you in a flash to be by my side."

She was telling the truth. Two years ago, when I had a fever of 104℉ and felt so weak, I asked Matthew to take me to the hospital.

However, when he heard Shirley had trouble at a bar, he rushed out, leaving me behind.

I had to get up on my own and take lots of medicine for my fever and cold.

I did not know then that I was two months pregnant.

On the day I lost the baby, feeling so sad and scared, I found out that Matthew was not the doctor who came in.

A nurse said with envy, "Mr. Smith is such a good boyfriend. He's always there for his girlfriend, even when she has cramps."

The other nurse added, "Mr. Smith and his girlfriend have been best friends since they were kids. He pursued her for eight years before she said yes. He really treasures her!"

After they talked, they looked at me with pity. "Your husband isn't here with you during your miscarriage? What a jerk! He’s so irresponsible!"

Thinking back on that hurt my heart and made my head pound.

Just then, Shirley grabbed a pot and pretended to drop it, but she threw it at me.

The heavy pot hit my pregnant belly hard and I fell to the floor.

The cutting board and knife from the counter had tumbled down, hitting me over and over.

The pain was so bad I could not even open my mouth.

However, Shirley was screaming at the top of her lungs. She had spilled chicken blood near her thigh after we had butchered a chicken today, and then she was on the ground, holding her belly.

All our relatives rushed over to see what was happening.

Matthew was right there, shielding her, and he turned on me, furious. "Cindy, I leave you alone for just a few minutes and you're already trying to hurt Shirley, aren't you?"

I was hurting too much to talk back, but that just made Matthew madder. He kicked me, not once, but twice.

"Stand up and quit faking!"

Blood dribbled from the corner of my mouth as I reached out, grabbing his sleeve.

"My belly... it really hurts. Please call an ambulance."

He pressed down on my stomach and laughed. "I'm a doctor, remember? I know you're fine.”

"You're six months along so that baby's not going anywhere. Don't think you can get my sympathy by pretending."

Just then, my mother-in-law gasped, "Blood! Shirley's bleeding!"

Matthew spun around, his face white as a sheet.

Shirley was sobbing, scared, asking if the baby was going to be okay.

Matthew whipped out his phone and dialed for help, telling her everything would be fine.

One of the relatives noticed something and spoke up, unsure.

"Cindy... Cindy's bleeding too."

Matthew glanced at me, frowning.

Shirley burst into tears, claiming I pushed her and then faked my own injury with chicken blood to look like I was in trouble.

Matthew lost it. He slapped me hard, twice.

"You better hope Shirley and the baby are okay. If not, I'm calling the cops on you for trying to kill them! Once the baby's born, you're going to jail!"

The hospital was just around the corner from our neighborhood, and they got there super fast when they found out the call was from their own maternity doctor.

I was hurting so bad that I kept seeing spots, but I had to be strong for my baby, so I pushed through the pain and made it downstairs.

Matthew was there, helping the paramedics get Shirley into the ambulance.

He was about to hop in too, but I grabbed his arm with the last bit of energy I had, begging him with all my heart.

"Matthew, please, I'm begging you, let me go with you. My baby's in trouble!"

An ambulance only had room for one patient and one family member.

If Matthew would just let me have his spot, I would squeeze into any tiny space just to make it to the hospital.

The ambulance crew was shocked and asked me what was wrong.

However, Matthew just marched into the ambulance and kicked me away.

"She's faking it, ignore her! She'll stop her act and go home once we're gone."

I watched the ambulance drive off, then collapsed in the snow, and everything went black.