It Just Be Like That Sometimes

Submitted into Contest #56 in response to: Write a day-in-the-life-story about a first-time parent and their newborn child.... view prompt

2 comments

Fantasy Funny Romance

Voices litter the air of the crowded street. They bounce against the walls and assault the ears of whoever is trapped within the jumble. 

A tall and slender figure pushes her way through the crowd hurridly. A to-go cup swings back and forth as she swerves through the maze of limbs. 

Brown eyes glance towards the gaping doorway she was frantically working towards. She was almost there.

Until something hit her, something that knocked her coffee right onto her black shirt.

Another girl, with dyed black hair, stood there. Dani stared at the growing stain, dazed until she felt an arm leading her somewhere. The girl was hurriedly pulling Dani towards the bathroom, the opposite way from Dani's class. 

They dry the shirt to the best of their ability. Dani's mind on hyperdrive, while the other girl is careful and sure with her movements, Dani's are frantic and discombobulated. Dani scrambles to collect all of her things, preparing for the soul-draining glare she will undoubtedly receive from her teacher.

"I could buy you another one?" Phebe, Dani had learned, asked shyly. Dani stopped her motions, gazing confusedly at Phebe. "Oh! A coffee," Phebe elaborated.

"I'm actually late for class," Dani admitted. Phebe was nodding her head preparing to run from the situation when Dani interjected. "You could give me your phone number though?"

Two weeks after this encounter they were dating.

After three years they had a small wedding.

And, five years later they decided to adopt a child.

They've had said child for a week. 

The alarm clock buzzed, waking the two occupants in the room. Dani, hair curly and blocking her eyesight, looked blurrily towards the small crib that housed the baby. She had noticed how oddly intelligent the baby was but had forgotten when she caught Phebe snacking on marshmallows in the middle of the night again.

But Dani remembered the passing thought as she looked at the completely silent baby. The completely silent baby who was looking expectantly at the drowsy couple.

Dani squinted at the expression, puzzled. The baby seemed to huff, before gesturing with a pudgy hand towards her mouth. 

Dani glanced from Astra, the baby, to her wife, expecting to see the same flabbergasted expression painted on her face. Instead, she saw Phebe distracted with her phone, having not seen a thing. 

Phebe, noticing the astonished expression on Dani's face, raised an eyebrow at the brunette. They stared at each other for a moment, Phebe completely puzzled and Dani still dumbfounded by Astra. Astra was currently staring disapprovingly at the two adults, waiting patiently for them to feed her.

Dani groaned and flopped down, covering her face with a blanket.

--

Now, Phebe had noticed several things about their little Astra that Dani had not. 

For one, Phebe always changed her diaper. Dani was rather squeamish, and Phebe was more than happy to help her wife be more comfortable. So, Dani went to make dinner and Phebe prepared for the first diaper change when she noticed something rather odd. 

The waste was neon pink.

Phebe stared in wonder for a bit, before nodding to herself. "Right then," she finished changing the diaper and went to go help Dani with dinner.

--

Dani felt like she was going insane.

Astra was not normal. Not that that wasn't a bad thing, of course, Dani wanted the little girl to be herself. It was just the little oddities Astra had that were unlike any Dani had ever heard of. 

The baby looked like she understood what they said, she didn't cry, she didn't fuss, she ate her food, she knew when to be silent and when to be loud. Now that Dani was thinking about it, Astra had never woken them up in the night she was just always staring expectantly.

Dani looked toward Phebe and Astra while scrubbing at the dirty dishes. Phebe was playing with an excited Astra, both of them giggling. 

Dani sighed, a smile playing on her face, she went back to scrubbing. 

She was definitely going insane. 

--

The silent battle ceases the tenth day of Astra's inhabitants in their lives. 

It starts out as a normal day, Phebe and Dani wake up from the shrill tone of the alarm clock. They feed Astra, who waits patiently for the formula, and they are just about to settle down to start work from home when the doorbell rings. 

Phebe gets it. It's their neighbor, asking if they would watch her cat for the day. The neighbor had just gotten an urgent phone call and needed to leave, but her cat wasn't feeling too well, and she didn't want to leave him alone. Phebe accepted and the cat has been prowling around their apartment ever since. 

The guardians kept a close eye on the cat, not knowing how Astra and Oreo will react to one another.

But when the sun has gone down, and their neighbor is due back in about an hour, a confrontation arises.

Dani and Phebe stepped away for not even a minute, just to start dinner when they came back Oreo was standing over Astra. The baby had a chubby little hand splayed over the cat's whiskered nose. Her hands were glowing a soft purple.

The adults froze in awe and horror but remained silent, terrified to interrupt the scene. The light faded from Astra's hand and Oreo carefully rubbed and purred against the infant. 

Phebe recovered quicker and smiled at the adorable scene. Dani surprised at Phebe's unsurprised expression, gestured wildly to the infant.

"She's an alien," Dani accused, flabbergasted.

"Dani! You're going to hurt her feelings." Phebe reprimanded, moving towards the smiling baby. Phebe picked her up carefully, she could be rather clumsy you see, and brought her towards Dani. She pointedly looked her wife in the face before vocalizing her doubt.

"You think this cute face could be dangerous?" Both Phebe and Astra were giving huge smiles. Dani visibly calmed down, reaching for Astra and cradling her towards her chest.

"I never said dangerous, I said Alien." She clarified poutingly. 

Just another normal day for the small family.

August 28, 2020 00:00

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

2 comments

Lilliane Wei
02:07 Sep 05, 2020

Nice story, I like the unexpected addition of Astra being an alien. I think you could've used more transition words to help the story flow better but other than that, this was a great story, I hope to read more of your writing soon!

Reply

Show 0 replies
🄼🄹 🅂
21:18 Sep 02, 2020

This was an amazing story. Some parts towards the beginning didn't flow in my opinion, but I think that you got the hang of it. I've read quite a few LGBTQ+ stories on Reedsy and I appreciate them a lot. I really like this keep writing! Do you think you could check out one of my stories? I also named one of my characters Dani, lol.

Reply

Show 0 replies
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.