Under The Thuds

• Elinor Mackinnell, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2008

I could hear gun shots above my head; this wasn't the best location for the unfortunate situation I was currently in. The rain was pouring down now, it hopefully wouldn't flood, that would be chaotic. It was my fault really, I would take the blame for this.
“Just breathe, Clara. Breathe,” I tried to soothe her.
She just nodded and tried to do that but was having trouble. Breathing wasn't so easy when you were in pain.... or pushing a baby out of your stomach. She was pregnant and this whole situation was my stupid fault. We were at war and I had made a referendum come to court that women should be allowed to fight for their own rights. The motion had passed by the skin of my teeth but I had got it and was so proud of myself, an intelligent nurse and midwife.
“No longer shall we be in the dark. No longer shall we live for our husbands. We are free women and we are the equals of men,” I had said when we had won.
I tried to think of it more as women's victory not just mine, but I would take the blame. Clara was my bosom friend and had been behind me the whole time on this but when we got to the war, she fell infatuated with a young soldier and he got her pregnant. It sounds romantic but is tragic all the same. Clara could die with her child along with her.
Clara's face suddenly changed, her eyes opened wide and she withered in pain. Her contractions were closer and closer together, the child would soon be seen. I had done this a hundred times and knew the procedure.
What was the problem exactly? Nobody knew that Clara was pregnant, I had hidden her as soon as it was noticeable and was hoping no one would find her. Once the child was born I would send her home, it was too dangerous to send her home while she was pregnant.
“AH!” Clara shrieked in pain, but I could see the head and gently brought it out into the world.
“It's a boy, Clara.” I wrapped the child in the cleanest cloth I had and handed him to her.
“Frederick. That's his name. My little Fred.”
The thudding of feet had stopped above us now. What had happened? But that's where I heard the distinct sound of people just outside this hideaway. My pulse rain widely and Clara held her little Fred closely. We huddled into the corner but the door had burst open where the horrible future awaited us. Our lives were short for me, for Clara..... for Fred.