Gravity Don't Mean Too Much to Me

Bandit awoke that night to hear strange noises coming from downstairs. It sounded almost like a cry, or even a sob, and she could hear rustling noises. She yawned and reached over to turn on the lamp beside her bed. Who would be making so much noise at; she looked at the alarm clock that rested in front of the lamp, four thirty in the morning?

Her eyes began to water and she looked away from the bright lamp. It was still dark outside, only a little light shone through her dark pink curtains. She slid on her fluffy slippers from under her bed and began tip toeing towards the door. She didn’t want to wake her parents up, the floorboards had a habit of creaking loudly at night, and her parents would always hear whenever she got out of bed. The floorboards began to creak just as she reached her bedroom door, and she slowly turned the door knob and pushed it open.

She could hear the sobs even more now, and it sounded like a woman was crying. Bandit’s face creased in confusion. Why would there be a woman crying downstairs? From what she could hear she was really upset. Should she go and wake her parents? Perhaps a homeless woman had broken in whilst they had been asleep upstairs, or maybe a crazed fan had somehow managed to break in. It could even be a Draculoid, but why would it be crying? If it was a Draculoid then Bandit would give no sympathy. She smiled and grabbed her ray gun from her room, tip toeing towards the stairs. She could save her parents, and she would be their hero.

She was Lady Sunshine, and no one could defeat her.

The only thing that worried Bandit, as she walked down the dark stairs, was that the person was crying. Should she comfort them, even if it was a stranger or a Draculoid? She paused at the bottom as she heard the woman sigh. She could see their shadow, and it looked like they were holding something in their hands. The woman sniffed, and pulled out what appeared to be a cell phone. Should she stop her? Maybe they were calling for back up to rob the house, or possibly worse.

Bandit’s heart began to pound faster, and she began to get extremely scared. She was just about to run upstairs to worn her parents, when she heard the woman speak.

She recognised that voice instantly. Although that voice was usually much gentler, much steadier. Now, she sounded distressed and her voice cracked with every word she spoke. A tear poured down Bandit’s cheeks as she listened to her mother on the phone. She wanted to go and hug her until she smiled, until she heard her mother sound normal again. She sounded terrible, and it made Bandit wonder what would upset her so much.

“Hello? Alicia, I need to speak to you. It’s urgent.” She heard her mother sniff. Alicia? She was speaking to Uncle Mikey’s wife so late at night? Or was it morning? Bandit wasn’t sure.
A sob seemed to force its way from her mother’s lips as she answered Alicia; “I-I-I- Alicia I think I’m, well, I think I’m pr-pregnant.” She stuttered, and Bandit could hear her sobbing harder, followed by a very worried Alicia on the other end of the phone call.

Bandit froze. She couldn’t move, her legs wouldn’t allow her. She couldn’t take in the information; she couldn’t register what her mother had just said. This couldn’t be true. Her mother would never keep such a huge secret from her, not to mention her father. There was no way this could be happening. Why would her mother be crying? Whenever Bandit had heard grown ups talking about babies they all seemed excited and enthusiastic, but her mother looked like the complete opposite. Wasn’t having a baby a good thing? A blessing?

She heard her Aunt Alicia say something very softly through the cell, and her mother began to take deep breathes. She looked like she was trying to calm herself, and it seemed to be working. “I-I took a pr-pregnancy test. I took more than one Alicia, I know I am! I’ve taken three in the last few hours; I don’t know what to do!” She seemed to be hyperventilating, and Bandit would have run to her mother to help her if her legs would allow her to move.

A tear slid down Bandit’s face and she tried to stop herself from sobbing. Her mother clearly didn’t want this baby, did she react this way when she had found out she was pregnant with
Bandit? Was she just another unwanted baby, like this one? Was she an accident too?
“Y-yeah. I went to the s-store with B-Bandit. G-Gerard, he doesn’t know! I haven’t, I haven’t even told him!” Bandit could feel more warm tears sliding down her face, and she had to put her hand over her mother so that her mother wouldn’t hear her sobbing.

“I can’t Alicia! How is he going to react? W-when he finds out his wife is having a b-baby, when she was way past the st-stage of having children years ago?” Her mother was panicking, and was now pacing around the room. Bandit pressed up against the wall so that she wouldn’t see her. “I’m 47! Since when can a 47 year old get pregnant?”

Bandit gasped. She hadn’t known that age affected how long you could have babies for. She hadn’t learnt much in her sex education lessons. “I know! But I thought I would have stopped soon! I mean, this is so rare. I’m going to be one of those freak cases in the newspaper, ‘Old Granny Lyn-Z has another baby’, and I can’t deal with this!” Bandit almost let herself sob out loud. She wanted to understand why her mother was so upset.

“How are we going to raise another baby? Gerard goes back on tour in a month! I’m going to ruin everything for him! That’s why I can’t tell him.” There was a pause. “Even if I do tell him, how am I going to tell Bandit?” Another pause. “Yes, she’ll probably be excited, but I can’t raise another baby, not at my age! I thought I’d had all the children I was going to have! Why does this have to happen?”

She couldn’t stand it anymore. Her mother didn’t want another baby. She didn’t want to give Bandit a baby sister or brother, she didn’t care about them. She didn’t love the baby like a mother should; she didn’t want this one like she had wanted Bandit. Or maybe, she had been lied to. Her parents had told her more than once that they had planned to have Bandit, but what if the same thing had happened with her? What if she had been unwanted?

I sob broke from her lips, and before Bandit could stop herself she began crying even louder. Her legs still wouldn’t allow her to move, she was still in shock. The room had gone silent other than Bandit’s sobbing, and she heard her mother hurriedly tell Alicia she had to go. Her mother’s shadow came towards her quickly, and Bandit tried to stand up, but fell back onto the step.

Before she knew what was happening her mother had taken her in her arms and was hugging her tight. She was trying to soothe Bandit, rubbing her back and telling her everything was okay. She brushed away the tiny tears, replacing them with her own.

Carrying her small child in her arms she led her into the living room, sitting on the couch with Bandit on her lap. Why had she been so stupid? How long had her daughter been sat there for? She had been listening in on her mother’s conversation; she had heard that she was pregnant. But why did she look so upset? She had never seen her daughter cry like this before, not even when she was a baby.

Tears were still streaming down the little girl’s face, and she wouldn’t make eye contact with Lindsey. What had she said to upset her so much? It broke Lindsey’s heart to see her daughter like this, and she could feel her pain. Her own tears blurred her vision as she tried to soothe the small girl. She brushed her small cheeks, trying to stop her from crying any more.

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” She whispered, pulling the girl into another hug. She had no response; Bandit just continued to sob onto her shoulder. Her muffled sobs eventually began to drown out, and when the little girl looked up into her mother’s eyes, Lindsey felt her heart sink.
The small girl’s eyes held a look of pure hatred in them, she looked so angry. Her small hands pushed at Lindsey’s chest as she tried to pull away from her mother. Lindsey cried out in shock and grabbed hold of the little girl’s hands, making her scream and kick at her mother.

“Let go of me!” She squeaked, trying to pull her hands away from her mother’s grasp. Lindsey gasped as she felt Bandit’s foot kick just below her stomach. She let go in shock, and Bandit fell to the floor, hitting the soft carpet. Lindsey held her stomach in pain, and suddenly Bandit’s eyes changed. Lindsey saw that her eyes now held concern and guilt, and the little girl got up from the floor, hesitating to help her mother.

She put her hand out to wave Bandit off, catching her breath. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve that, but she decided she would forgive her if she had a good enough reason for hating her so much. She caught her breath and looked up to see her daughter crying again, but this time, she didn’t look angry.

“I’m sorry!” The girl squeaked, running up to her mother and hugging her tight. Lindsey pulled the girl from her looking her in the eyes. Both of their eyes were swimming with tears. She grabbed the girl’s face lightly, making her look back at her. For a moment Bandit looked scared, she thought Lindsey was going to shout at her.

“You will never do that again.” She whispered, glaring at the girl to make her understand. As much as she loved her, she needed to lay down the law. No child should hit their own mother. “You will apologise to me. Now.” Usually Bandit wasn’t very scared of Lindsey, she wasn’t strict at all. But now Bandit seemed to obey immediately, spluttering out an apology as fast as she could.

“What’s wrong Bandit? What did I say to upset you so much?” She wiped the fresh tears that were coming down the small girl’s cheeks. “Please speak to me baby, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Bandit sniffed and turned from her mother’s grasp. She walked over to the other couch and sat down, and she began to speak. She hiccupped between each word she spoke, and she kept her gaze focused on the floor.

“I heard what you said. I heard everything you said mom!” She cried, now looking her in the eye. “I heard what you said to Alicia, you said you were pregnant! You said you didn’t want the baby!” Lindsey gasped, she had heard everything. But she had it all wrong, she had to explain. “It’s was just an accident wasn’t it? Just like me no doubt! I bet you lied to me, you didn’t want me, but you had to keep me, and now you’re doing the same to this baby!” It felt like a knife had punctured her heart. How could her daughter think such things? “You haven’t even told dad!”

Bandit attempted to run from the room, but Lindsey caught her arm and pulled her towards her. She was on her knees now, holding Bandit in front of her. “How could you think that? I love you more than anything in this world, and I would never lie to you.” Her daughter shook her head, she didn’t believe her. Lindsey shook the girl lightly. “Please, listen to me B. You were not an accident. I swear on my life, I swear on your father’s life and I swear on yours. We love you, and we wanted to have you. I was so happy when I found out I was pregnant with you!”

“Then why don’t you want this baby? What’s so bad about having a baby?” Bandit demanded, almost shouting at her.

This was going to be hard to explain. “Honey, I wasn’t expecting to have another baby. I’m 47; women my age can’t really have babies. It’s very rare.” Lindsey avoided Bandit’s next question, when she asked why older women couldn’t have children. “I’m not as young as I used to be sweetheart; taking care of a baby will be much harder this time.”

Bandit sniffed. “Okay, I understand that, but you don’t have to wish the baby away!”

“When did I wish the baby away?” Lindsey asked gently.

“Well, you were crying. And you said; ‘Why does this have to happen?’ So I know you don’t want it!”

“Listen to me.” She stroked Bandit’s cheek. “This baby was unexpected. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love it, just as much as you. And if it means I have to take care of another child, I will. It was just a shock for mommy. I’m much too old for this, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. I’m scared Bandit. I need you here for me.”

The girl nodded and hugged her mother. “I’ll always be here for you mom. Just promise me you’ll love this baby, just as much as you love me and dad.”

Lindsey promised and broke the hug. Bandit’s eyes were wide with terror, and she seemed to be looking behind her back. Lindsey froze. Please don’t let it be. She turned around, grabbing Bandit’s hand.

There stood Gerard, looking extremely shocked. He was frozen, he was barely blinking. He had heard everything. He knew she was pregnant.