Pain

• Emily Dickinson, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2011

A heavy sky bore down over the mountain ridges while a setting summer sun shone golden rays across the warm humid air. Slowly being strangled by the clouds bearing down on it, the final ray of light was obscured by a brilliant flash of lightning that danced across the sky. The storm was starting.
Mark came up behind Elise, slipping his arm round her waist and brushing her hair back so he could see her face. Stroking her stomach, he said “I’ve always wanted it to be you.”
“What?” She asked, turning around to face her boyfriend.
“I’ve always wanted you to have my children.”
“Well, it’s not much longer to wait,” she said - touching the bump that kept her from hugging him. Looking back up she could see his eyes - glazed over like a scared deer standing in the head lights of an oncoming car. He was different lately - less lively.
“Let’s have some tea,” he said while slowly making his way towards the kitchen. Elise sat down on the chair, resting her feet while watching him buzz around the kitchen. He seemed tense - and with the baby being due in a couple of days, Elise didn’t want him to be like this around it. She used to be scared, but for some reason now she wasn’t. It was like Mark had this drug effect on her. Looking up, she smiled as he came over with the mug of hot tea.
As the sky rocketed down around the cottage in mere droplets of water, Elise screamed out in pain. She felt something move inside her - like the baby was clawing at the insides of her, desperately trying to break through her skin.
“Mark!” she yelled down the hall - her head tilting back as an excruciating wave of pain licked up her spine like fire and out of her mouth, making her sound like a wild lion.
“He has to get out!” Mark screamed as he kneeled beside her - tearing at her clothes, trying to take them off. Running into the kitchen, he grabbed something that Elise couldn’t see.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he returned, touching her abdomen.
“You’re killing him,” was all he said. But it wasn’t the words that continued to ring through her ears that scared her, it was his eyes - bright yellow, like a wolves’. Sending waves of doubt through her mind, something wasn’t right - this wasn’t Mark. Looking down at her hips, all she could see was blood. She had been so bewildered by his eyes that she hadn’t noticed the searing pain that consumed her body - he had cut the baby out. Hearing the scared cry of her child, she tried to reach it. But - overwhelmed by the situation, she couldn’t move any part of her body, leaving her to face her worst nightmare. Lying on the floor, Elise watched her baby be taken from her by the one she loved. Screaming out desperate pleas, Mark didn’t turn around as nothing but gurgles surfaced from her throat. Left to smell the metallic blood-stained air, she fainted. Death was her only friend now.