Our Minor Mistake

As sun filtered through the thin curtains I awoke with a start. I had no idea where I was at first and then my brain caught up with the events of last night. It was weird. One night I was getting up at six o’clock for school at home and the next minute I was getting up at half ten in Scarborough.

I get up and listen carefully. I can hear the sound of the radio and voices drifting up through the floorboards. I get up and pull my dressing gown on. I walk into the hall and down the stairs.

I find them in the kitchen. Cora was standing at the sink washing up while Emma sat at the table with her boyfriend drinking cups of tea. Cora turned round as I entered.

‘’Morning honey’’ said Cora as I walked in. ‘’would you like some toast?’’ she asks smiling.

‘’Yes please’’ I say smiling. It was so nice to be a place where I was actually appreciated that I nearly started crying. ‘’It’s so nice of you’’ I say tears in my eyes.

‘’Oh sweetheart someone’s feeling hormonal this morning’’ she said wrapping her arms round my shoulders. ‘’It’s all perfectly natural in your condition’’ she said smiling. ‘’Now today you’re going for a scan and you can see your baby for the first time’’

My eyes start tearing up again. ‘’That’d be amazing to see him or her for the first time’’ I say through my tears.
Cora laughed slightly. ‘’Are you going to find out the sex of the baby?’’ asked Jennifer curiously.

‘’You can’t tell until the fifth week’’ said Cora knowledgably.

‘’That’s a shame’’ I say tearily. ‘’I’d really like to find out’’ she said.

‘’Doesn’t she have to go to school’’ says Jennifer from the table.

‘’It’s legal for her to leave at 16’’ says Jennifer’s boyfriend from the table. ‘’I’m Ryan by the way’’ he says smiling.

‘’Nice to meet you Ryan’’ I say still crying.

‘’Great that’s settled then Elizabeth will quit school and then after her babies born she can go back to college’’ says Cora planting a plate of toast in front of me.

The door opens and Tom walks in shirtless. ‘’Morning guys’’ he said sitting down.

‘’Guess what Tom we’re going to the maternity ward today maybe we’ll see Emma.’’ Says Jennifer as Tom blushes.

After I’ve eaten my toast I go upstairs and change. I notice that my stomach has become slightly rounded. I pull on my blue checked shirt, jeans and converse and run down the stairs.

I get into Aunt Cora’s car and they take me to the hospital. ‘’So have you thought of any names yet?’’ Cora asked me as we travelled.

‘’I haven’t really acknowledged this as real yet’’ I say. ‘’I haven’t really thought about anything like that’’

I think carefully about it. I wondered what Dan would think, whether he’d help me choose the names. I wondered if he’d be a good father, probably not. He isn’t the most responsible person in the world no matter how caring and sweet he is. He still has the mind of a four year old.

My thoughts are interrupted but the car pulling up outside the hospital.

I climb out and follow Cora and Jennifer who had tagged along to the maternity ward. Cora signed us in and we took a seat in the waiting room.

The room is nice with yellow wall paper and blue carpets with squishy blue chairs. The waiting room is full of pregnant woman all waiting for an appointment. There are no eyes on me but I figure people just think Jennifer is the one who is pregnant.

‘’Elizabeth Fenton’’ says a tall blonde woman in a white coat. We get up and walk towards her. We follow her into a room with a white bed and ultrasound scanner. ‘’Hello I’m Doctor Emma Richards your midwife would you like to take a seat’’ she said.

‘’Tom fancies her’’ Jennifer whispers in my ear.

I smirk and lay down on the bed. ‘’I hear you are two months pregnant’’ she says as she squeezes gel onto my stomach.

It’s cold and I wince but she puts the scanner across the screen and a beeping nose reaches my ears. I look up at the screen and see a black screen with white marks on it.

I looked carefully and I could see a baby on the screen. It was my baby. It was right in front of me and at the same time it was inside me. It was mine.

Tears filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. ‘’That is your baby. Everything looks completely healthy and you’re coming along nicely.’’ Emma asks smiling at me. Tears roll down my cheeks and I feel Cora’s hands on my shoulder but she is crying too.

‘’That’s good’’ I splutter through my tears.

‘’The heart beats good and strong and shes the right size for a two month old foetus’’ she said with confidence.

The tears just get stronger. I had a little baby growing inside me. In seven months it would come to life and become her/his own tiny person. I would teach it things like how to avoid the bullies and how to build with Lego. I was going to give it the best life a child could possibly have.

It was going to be perfect and everyone was going to love my baby. It was going to be the best time of my life and whether it was a boy or a girl it was going to have the best support it could possibly.

‘’Elizabeth are you alright dear?’’ asks Cora laughing slightly.

‘’I’m perfect’’ I say smiling as tears fall into my mouth. ‘’I’m going to be a mummy’’ I say.

Emma wipes the gel off my stomach and I wiped off my tears. I get up smiling. I was given a small picture of my baby. I was so happy I didn’t even care about the fact I was throwing away my childhood. It was going to be worth it to raise my little child. Even more tears fall down my face but I have never been happier.