There's a Ghost in This Room, I Think I'll Name It After All of You

When I got up the next day, everything was clean. I was still in the hospital and nothing seemed unusual. But when I saw Dallas with her head down on my bed and her hand in one of my own, I felt like something was off. I mean wasn't she angry at me for some reason. I looked under my gown once more and saw the same cut I saw the night before. Before anything else happened, I started to sob softly. I knew they took the baby away. I just knew by heart. I didn't realize how loud I actually was until I saw Dallas get up and get beside me on the bed. She had a very anxious look on her face but I didn't have to ask her what it meant since it was kinda clear already. She might've hated my guts and the baby and the whole idea of Alex and I being together but I knew that she cared. She was just that kind-hearted and I'm probably the luckiest girl in the world for having a friend like her in my life. I can't imagine waking up one day knowing she's gone. I just can't.

"Stop crying," she spoke softly. "It's gonna be okay."

"The baby's gone," I muttered to myself as I let the tears fall.

"There was no baby," she said. I looked at her with a face that said she was crazy or something but she didn't understand it quite well.

"What're you trying to say?" I asked, feeling really uneasy. How could she say such a vile statement? I mean I was still in a state of shock.

"We were in a coma for the past two weeks. Nothing that happened in our heads was real. It was all a dream," she said, trying to sound motherly but I was far from being soothed.

"What kind of friend are you?!" I exclaimed. My heart rate monitor was beeping loudly and I knew I wasn't supposed to work myself up but the whole thing wasn’t making any sense.

“Avery, calm down,” Dallas said, trying to hold me down.

I kept shrieking and shouting until the monitors went haywire and the nurses came into the room. They were trying to poke a needle into my veins since apparently the I.V. slipped out but I wasn’t letting them get me that easy. I didn’t want to black out. I wanted an explanation for everything that just happened but as I watched three nurses hold my limbs, my vision started to blur out and I was in a deep sleep yet again. This time though, my heart seemed to slow down a notch and my mind was racing with so many thoughts about the baby and what not. But the blackout wasn’t that long. After a few seconds, I sprung back to life but it wasn’t the same. The setting was more familiar. It felt nicer. I felt like I was back in the real world.

Alex came in with a cup of coffee in his hand. I looked at him anxiously thinking that maybe he and Dallas planned this all out so that everything will go back to normal between them. I can’t let that be though since I know that Alex and I were meant to be together. He loves me and I love him. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

“Hey, is something wrong?” he asked, sitting on the bed beside me.

“Is the baby really gone?” I replied as I stared intently into his eyes.

“What are you saying?” Alex seemed surprised by what I said. It was actually like he cared, unlike Dallas.

“Dallas told me that I wasn’t really pregnant and nothing happened between us at all,” I tried to explain but he still wore this perplexed look on his face.

“Why would she say that?” he asked, stroking my hair so that it wouldn’t cover my face.

“I don’t know…”

Alex told me to forget about whatever Dallas told me because he thought that she was just jealous. I didn’t know if I was supposed to defend her as my friend or not. I chose to keep silent for it felt like the best thing to do at this point. I mean I have Alex wrapped around my finger. Isn’t that what I’ve always wanted? I finally have the man of my dreams on this hospital bed, carrying his baby and yet it doesn’t feel right. Sometimes I wonder why people still talk to me. I feel insane for feeling this way but I guess sometimes you have to feel a little stupid to get things right. Or not.