New Chapters

• Raiyen Ledesma Vallejos, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2014

Walking through the cold and hushed hallways that smelt strongly of disinfectant. It was all so familiar, my mind was straining to project several memories. Walking down the last hallway, I can see the nurse turning into a dark, quiet room. My dad walks in, my sister walks in, I stop. For the first time in months, I allowed myself to feel but now my heart is racing and my mind is chaotic and I don’t like it at all. I take a deep breath, “I’ve got one chance to get this right.” I take another deep breath, “Everything will be ok.” By this stage, my eyes have become blurred with curtains of tears that threaten to form little rivers down my face. I take a deep breath.

6 months earlier, mum turned to me in the car and said, “Jen, I feel sick.”

“With what mum?”

“There may be a cyst in my stomach...”

My heart jolted and sent a short thrill through my chest. I knew there was no cyst. Sure enough, she came home one afternoon and with a single look she confirmed it. ‘A little miracle’ had been growing inside her womb for three months. “You’re pregnant,” I voiced aloud, for the rest of ‘The Clan’ to hear but also for my own ears.
A slap in the face? I think not - we were all thrown into a raging sea of joy and distress.

For the next six months, ‘The Clan‘ managed to stay afloat on a vessel of salvation forged from Mum’s resilience, Dad’s adrenaline, Grandma’s family dedication, and the excitement of four children. The storm seemed to relent, however, in the last month, the words of a harsh wind broke the spirits of Mum and Dad - “Your child may not even survive.”

The due date was nigh but Mum couldn’t wait. We (the four children) waited with Grandma in anticipation as Mum, her spirits rebuilt and strong again, was taken in a week early. In the still-dark early morning of January 30th, we received a phone call.

The nurse makes her final turn into a dark, quiet room. Taking my last deep breath, I enter the room and I see Mum. My angel looks exhausted, but she still gives me her best smile. I walk straight into her arms and my tears almost spill....almost. “Go look at your brother,” she says in a voice barely audible.

Sure enough, there he was sleeping - a tiny ‘Piggy in a Blanket.’ A new chapter was being written in the cosmos.