I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember
Chapter 45: Weird Feeling
Frank sat by the window seat in the family room subconsciously rubbing his very slightly round stomach through his hoodie, he was now 12 weeks along. He was forced to wait 7 weeks for the specific type of abortion he was going to go under, called Hysterotomy abortion. This abortion has the greatest risk of complications, in fact the US even warned against hospitals performing the procedure on outpatients. Therefore, Frank would have to stay in the hospital for more than 24 hours, just to be sure.
His aunt Edith Conrad, his mother’s sister, and her husband Peter Conrad had literally appeared out of nowhere in hopes of reuniting with their beloved rescued nephew, who was also happy to see the wealthy couple again. They weren’t disgusted or horrified when Margo and Frank Sr. informed them that Frank was pregnant, in fact they were overjoyed and a bit envious, much to everyone’s surprise. Peter and Edith had never wanted kids of their own until it was almost too late to reproduce them. Sadly they were only able to have two of their own before it became impossible, much to their dismay. At first, Margo and Frank Sr. were shocked at the couple’s quick acceptance of the whole situation, and thus an argument of Frank’s upcoming abortion ensued. Frank ignored their bickering and focused on staring out at the rain as his mind drifted to the past week. His interrogation with Detectives Frost and Drebin didn’t go so well when Frank found out his friends were still missing. His father had convinced them to come back another time when the young boy was ready to talk, but Frank wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready. How could his friends still be missing when Poison told him that he’d let them go long ago? Could he have been lying to him this whole time and had indeed murdered them and stashed their bodies somewhere in the woods? Frank wasn’t sure. He didn’t know what to believe. A part of him believed that Poison, being a killer, had to obviously be lying but, then again another part of him was telling him that he wouldn’t do something so vicious as to hurt Frank like that. It was not only strange to him that his mind was still defending his rapist and kidnapper’s innocence after all he’s been through, it was also strange to both of his intelligential parents that had already caught on that he was hiding things about Poison during his interrogation.
“Oh Margo, you can’t blame the child for what happened to our dear Frankie-baby? It wasn’t in control of the situation, it didn’t ask for this to tragedy to happen. Why should it pay for the sins of….the other man?” Edith asked her younger sister.
“Never mind all that nonsense Edith, Frankie isn’t even ready to be a parent, whether the baby was created out of rape or naïve teenage love!” Margo argued, dismissing her sister’s comment completely.
“I couldn’t agree more, honey. “ Frank Sr. seconded, downing his whiskey.
Frank shook his head as the four adults continued to argue on about the subject of abortions and whether he should go through with it or not, even though an appointment had already been set up awhile back. He knew if he didn’t interject now, the group would end up arguing over it for the rest of the day and probably well into the night, hell even after the procedure was over with! Turning around, Frank stood up from the window seat to join the others around the coffee table. “Aunt Edith, it’s alright. You can all stop arguing over this because I already made my decision a week ago. I want to get this abortion.”
Uncle Peter gestured for Frank to come sit next to him, and once he did, he gave him a comforting pat on his shoulder. “Are you sure that this is what you want to do, kid? A life is a beautiful thing, and once you snuff it out you can’t get it back.”
Frank confidently nodded. “I’m sure you guys, I want to do this.”
“And those won’t be the only changes you’ll be making, young man.” Margo surprised him, sliding a brochure across the table to him. Frank picked it up and looked it over carefully. “Starting next week you’ll be seeing both a therapist and a counselor for your Stockholm Syndrome.”
“Wait, what? Stockholm syndrome? I don’t have Stockholm Syndrome!” Frank exclaimed in shock.
Frank Sr. nodded in agreement with his wife. “We believe you do, son.”
“What would make you think that?” Frank demanded to know, tossing the brochure back down on the coffee table in disgust.
“Frankie, we can tell when you’re lying, and trying to hide something. Need we remind you that we raised you? During your interrogation we could tell that you were holding back information from the Detectives. You can’t sit here and make up a lie that we won’t see through, Frankie.” Margo assured him gently to help calm him down since he was still on edge about his missing friends. She didn’t want to overwhelm him too much, since he had yet to fully recover.
Frank knew he couldn’t win even if he tried to, and so he didn’t bother to argue. Instead he sat back on the couch, crossed his arms over his chest and pouted over it. “But I don’t want to go.”
All four adults rolled their eyes in amusement at Frank’s expectant teenage response. “Yeah, son, we know, but that doesn’t change anything. You’re still going.”
“Fine.” Frank pouted.
“It better be.” Margo said with a smile. “Now go upstairs and get dressed. You need to pack some of your things for your stay at the hospital.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Frank sat in the doctor’s room in a scratchy paper gown waiting, it had only been an hour since he arrived. Doctor Garner was outside going over the special procedure that would have to be performed on him with his family just to help calm his mother’s nerves down. Before he left, he gave Frank a quick run through on the only option they would be able to perform on him since he was born with male genitalia, which in the end summed up to sounding like a C-section procedure to Frank. It didn’t sound so bad until Doctor Garner specifically described the procedure for him and mentioned that once he cut into Frank’s womb, he would have to cut the fetus into pieces before they remove it completely from his body. Frank had gone pale the second he heard that part of the procedure, and couldn’t listen anymore to Doctor Garner assuring him that he wouldn’t feel anything during his Hysterotomy abortion and that it would only take 5-10 minutes to complete the process. Afterwards, Frank would have to stay in the hospital for 3-4 days before he was allowed to be released, and then wait another 6 weeks for his body to completely heal.
…Cut the fetus into pieces…
Frank couldn’t get that information out of his mind. They would have to cut the baby that was sleeping inside of him, that probably had a heartbeat by now, into tiny little pieces before they probably sucked him out with vacuum. He didn’t want to picture what that would look like in his mind, but his brain developed the image for him anyway using his memories form sex education classes that also covered abortions and showed vivid pictures of the chopped up corpses of dead fetuses. Frank could feel his stomach flip when a nurse came into the room to take a seat in Doctor Garner’s chair. “Good morning, Mr. Iero, my name is Doris. How are you feeling today?”
“N-Not so well.” Frank admitted as his hand came up to rest on his upset stomach.
“That’s quite alright if you’re feeling nervous. Its normal for a first time parent to feel like their world is changing before their eyes, and it can be a scary thing, depending on the situation. If you don’t mind, we usually perform another ultrasound the day before your procedure, just to make sure there isn’t any changes that we didn’t catch before.” Nurse Doris explained as she rolled herself over to the ultrasound machine.
“Excuse me? Did you say changes, do you mean like a disease or an STD or something?” Frank began to slowly panic at the thought that something else could possibly be wrong with him. He’d been through enough already, what more did he have to go through to finally get some peace back in his life?
“I would think not. Just in case, Dr. Garner wants to make sure you’re okay and that there is nothing else to worry about before he begins the procedure tomorrow.” Nurse Doris assured him as she turned on the advanced computer and got the ultrasound set up. “Could you please lay back down on the examining table and pull your shirt up, Mr. Iero. This will only take a second.”
Frank was a bit calmer now, but he was still shaking as he leaned himself back on the exam chair that he had been sitting on since Dr. Gardner had left. He lifted his paper dress to reveal his smooth flat stomach and his Halloween boxers. The nurse got everything on the computer set up before she grabbed a tube that contained the ultrasound gel that was needed. “Alright, you’re going to feel a cold sensation at first before we begin.”
He nodded before he softly gasp in surprise at the cool gel being spread across his stomach with a wand that would help search for the fetus. “Now, let’s see what we can find in here, right?”
Frank tried not to look at the screen. He didn’t want to see the black and white picture of the child that was conceived by Poison. He kept his eyes on the ceiling for as long as he could before his hazel orbs trailed toward the right several times, and then finally lowering down until the small screen came into view. Frank could see two black spots with a tiny white dot in each of them, but he wasn’t sure what any of that meant. The nurse broke into a smile. “There it is! I can’t believe it, Dr. Iero was right to be concerned. I swear that paranoia of his is the reason your father is a renowned doctor in these parts.”
“My father? What does he have to do with this?” Frank asked her, looking between her smile and the ultrasound screen.
Nurse Doris turned her eyes to Frank. “Your father, Dr. Iero, wanted you to get another ultrasound because he said he had a ‘weird’ feeling. It turns out he was right to feel that way.”
“What are you talking about?” Frank cried out impatiently.
“Frankie, you’re carrying twins.”
His aunt Edith Conrad, his mother’s sister, and her husband Peter Conrad had literally appeared out of nowhere in hopes of reuniting with their beloved rescued nephew, who was also happy to see the wealthy couple again. They weren’t disgusted or horrified when Margo and Frank Sr. informed them that Frank was pregnant, in fact they were overjoyed and a bit envious, much to everyone’s surprise. Peter and Edith had never wanted kids of their own until it was almost too late to reproduce them. Sadly they were only able to have two of their own before it became impossible, much to their dismay. At first, Margo and Frank Sr. were shocked at the couple’s quick acceptance of the whole situation, and thus an argument of Frank’s upcoming abortion ensued. Frank ignored their bickering and focused on staring out at the rain as his mind drifted to the past week. His interrogation with Detectives Frost and Drebin didn’t go so well when Frank found out his friends were still missing. His father had convinced them to come back another time when the young boy was ready to talk, but Frank wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready. How could his friends still be missing when Poison told him that he’d let them go long ago? Could he have been lying to him this whole time and had indeed murdered them and stashed their bodies somewhere in the woods? Frank wasn’t sure. He didn’t know what to believe. A part of him believed that Poison, being a killer, had to obviously be lying but, then again another part of him was telling him that he wouldn’t do something so vicious as to hurt Frank like that. It was not only strange to him that his mind was still defending his rapist and kidnapper’s innocence after all he’s been through, it was also strange to both of his intelligential parents that had already caught on that he was hiding things about Poison during his interrogation.
“Oh Margo, you can’t blame the child for what happened to our dear Frankie-baby? It wasn’t in control of the situation, it didn’t ask for this to tragedy to happen. Why should it pay for the sins of….the other man?” Edith asked her younger sister.
“Never mind all that nonsense Edith, Frankie isn’t even ready to be a parent, whether the baby was created out of rape or naïve teenage love!” Margo argued, dismissing her sister’s comment completely.
“I couldn’t agree more, honey. “ Frank Sr. seconded, downing his whiskey.
Frank shook his head as the four adults continued to argue on about the subject of abortions and whether he should go through with it or not, even though an appointment had already been set up awhile back. He knew if he didn’t interject now, the group would end up arguing over it for the rest of the day and probably well into the night, hell even after the procedure was over with! Turning around, Frank stood up from the window seat to join the others around the coffee table. “Aunt Edith, it’s alright. You can all stop arguing over this because I already made my decision a week ago. I want to get this abortion.”
Uncle Peter gestured for Frank to come sit next to him, and once he did, he gave him a comforting pat on his shoulder. “Are you sure that this is what you want to do, kid? A life is a beautiful thing, and once you snuff it out you can’t get it back.”
Frank confidently nodded. “I’m sure you guys, I want to do this.”
“And those won’t be the only changes you’ll be making, young man.” Margo surprised him, sliding a brochure across the table to him. Frank picked it up and looked it over carefully. “Starting next week you’ll be seeing both a therapist and a counselor for your Stockholm Syndrome.”
“Wait, what? Stockholm syndrome? I don’t have Stockholm Syndrome!” Frank exclaimed in shock.
Frank Sr. nodded in agreement with his wife. “We believe you do, son.”
“What would make you think that?” Frank demanded to know, tossing the brochure back down on the coffee table in disgust.
“Frankie, we can tell when you’re lying, and trying to hide something. Need we remind you that we raised you? During your interrogation we could tell that you were holding back information from the Detectives. You can’t sit here and make up a lie that we won’t see through, Frankie.” Margo assured him gently to help calm him down since he was still on edge about his missing friends. She didn’t want to overwhelm him too much, since he had yet to fully recover.
Frank knew he couldn’t win even if he tried to, and so he didn’t bother to argue. Instead he sat back on the couch, crossed his arms over his chest and pouted over it. “But I don’t want to go.”
All four adults rolled their eyes in amusement at Frank’s expectant teenage response. “Yeah, son, we know, but that doesn’t change anything. You’re still going.”
“Fine.” Frank pouted.
“It better be.” Margo said with a smile. “Now go upstairs and get dressed. You need to pack some of your things for your stay at the hospital.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Frank sat in the doctor’s room in a scratchy paper gown waiting, it had only been an hour since he arrived. Doctor Garner was outside going over the special procedure that would have to be performed on him with his family just to help calm his mother’s nerves down. Before he left, he gave Frank a quick run through on the only option they would be able to perform on him since he was born with male genitalia, which in the end summed up to sounding like a C-section procedure to Frank. It didn’t sound so bad until Doctor Garner specifically described the procedure for him and mentioned that once he cut into Frank’s womb, he would have to cut the fetus into pieces before they remove it completely from his body. Frank had gone pale the second he heard that part of the procedure, and couldn’t listen anymore to Doctor Garner assuring him that he wouldn’t feel anything during his Hysterotomy abortion and that it would only take 5-10 minutes to complete the process. Afterwards, Frank would have to stay in the hospital for 3-4 days before he was allowed to be released, and then wait another 6 weeks for his body to completely heal.
…Cut the fetus into pieces…
Frank couldn’t get that information out of his mind. They would have to cut the baby that was sleeping inside of him, that probably had a heartbeat by now, into tiny little pieces before they probably sucked him out with vacuum. He didn’t want to picture what that would look like in his mind, but his brain developed the image for him anyway using his memories form sex education classes that also covered abortions and showed vivid pictures of the chopped up corpses of dead fetuses. Frank could feel his stomach flip when a nurse came into the room to take a seat in Doctor Garner’s chair. “Good morning, Mr. Iero, my name is Doris. How are you feeling today?”
“N-Not so well.” Frank admitted as his hand came up to rest on his upset stomach.
“That’s quite alright if you’re feeling nervous. Its normal for a first time parent to feel like their world is changing before their eyes, and it can be a scary thing, depending on the situation. If you don’t mind, we usually perform another ultrasound the day before your procedure, just to make sure there isn’t any changes that we didn’t catch before.” Nurse Doris explained as she rolled herself over to the ultrasound machine.
“Excuse me? Did you say changes, do you mean like a disease or an STD or something?” Frank began to slowly panic at the thought that something else could possibly be wrong with him. He’d been through enough already, what more did he have to go through to finally get some peace back in his life?
“I would think not. Just in case, Dr. Garner wants to make sure you’re okay and that there is nothing else to worry about before he begins the procedure tomorrow.” Nurse Doris assured him as she turned on the advanced computer and got the ultrasound set up. “Could you please lay back down on the examining table and pull your shirt up, Mr. Iero. This will only take a second.”
Frank was a bit calmer now, but he was still shaking as he leaned himself back on the exam chair that he had been sitting on since Dr. Gardner had left. He lifted his paper dress to reveal his smooth flat stomach and his Halloween boxers. The nurse got everything on the computer set up before she grabbed a tube that contained the ultrasound gel that was needed. “Alright, you’re going to feel a cold sensation at first before we begin.”
He nodded before he softly gasp in surprise at the cool gel being spread across his stomach with a wand that would help search for the fetus. “Now, let’s see what we can find in here, right?”
Frank tried not to look at the screen. He didn’t want to see the black and white picture of the child that was conceived by Poison. He kept his eyes on the ceiling for as long as he could before his hazel orbs trailed toward the right several times, and then finally lowering down until the small screen came into view. Frank could see two black spots with a tiny white dot in each of them, but he wasn’t sure what any of that meant. The nurse broke into a smile. “There it is! I can’t believe it, Dr. Iero was right to be concerned. I swear that paranoia of his is the reason your father is a renowned doctor in these parts.”
“My father? What does he have to do with this?” Frank asked her, looking between her smile and the ultrasound screen.
Nurse Doris turned her eyes to Frank. “Your father, Dr. Iero, wanted you to get another ultrasound because he said he had a ‘weird’ feeling. It turns out he was right to feel that way.”
“What are you talking about?” Frank cried out impatiently.
“Frankie, you’re carrying twins.”