The Blizzard

I woke up to a growling stomach followed by the feeling of intense hunger. I glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. It read 20:00. I couldn’t remember for how long I had slept but I figured it had been a while. I made my way out of the bedroom and sleepishly went through the kitchen cupboards in hopes of finding something to satisfy my hunger. I was disappointed. The cupboards were empty and there seemed to be nothing edible in sight. I sighed and grabbed the car keys from the counter, preparing myself to go to the local supermarket.

I opened the front door and was met with what looked like the worst blizzard of the year. The wind was howling and everything was covered in thick layers of snow. My stomach was contracting, almost hurting from hunger. I put on my winter clothing and decided the weather was not going to stop me from eating that day.

I arrived at my regular supermarket, paid a quarter to unlock a shopping cart and started browsing the aisles. It was unusually quiet in an otherwise very popular supermarket, but I figured the blizzard was causing people to stay at home. I filled the cart with various food items. Bread, milk, rice, cereal and all the necessities.

The cart was half-full when I thought there was enough for me to live on for a few days. I started making my way towards the register when I noticed a strange, distant and muffled sound. I stopped to listen carefully, but the sound seemed to have stopped simultaneously. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of something being terribly wrong.

I continued pushing the cart towards the register. I wanted to pay for my groceries and get out of there as soon as possible. I stood by the register for a while, waiting for a cashier to come ring up the groceries. After a minute or two of waiting, I realised that I had not seen one person, no customers nor employees, since entering the supermarket.

Confused and slightly frightened by the creepiness of the situation I decided to abandon the groceries and just get out of there. I prepared myself to leave when I suddenly heard a sound again. It was the same sound as before, only this time it was much clearer and louder. It came from behind the register. Could it truly be what I thought it was?

I peeked behind the register and my suspicions were confirmed.

The sound was that of a crying baby. The baby was lying on the cold floor, wrapped in nothing but a blanket. I looked at the baby’s innocent face. It could not have been more than a few days old. I looked around the supermarket, in hopes of seeing the baby’s parents, a caregiver or anyone else for that matter. There was no one in sight.

Who would abandon a baby in a supermarket? Where are the parents? I stood still, staring at the child in front of me while trying to make sense of the situation. I could not just leave it there, could I? someone had to take responsibility and apart from the baby, I was the only one there. I picked the baby up from the floor, cradling it carefully in my arms while trying to figure out what to do. I tried calming the baby down, but it would not stop crying.

I decided I needed to call for help. I reached into my pocket to get a hold of my cell phone, but it was not there. I tried the other pocket and it was empty too. I must have left it in the car. I decided that I could get to the car and drive to the police station myself. That would likely be faster too.

I took off my coat and wrapped the baby in it to keep it warm. With the crying baby in my arms, I left the store and walked into the blizzard. I tried looking around for my car at the parking lot, but the mixture of snow and raging wind had made it almost impossible to see anything. Meanwhile, I held the baby close to my chest, doing my best to protect it from the horrible storm.

Desperately looking for the car, I stumbled in the snow and dropped to the ground. I tried to get back up but had hurt my ankle badly. I could not stand up. It was freezing cold and I could no longer feel my fingers. The baby must have been alright though, as the crying had finally stopped. Then I screamed for help as much as I could.

I do not know for how long I was screaming for help, but eventually a woman wearing blue clothes came rushing towards us. She had a very worried look on her face. I remember her screaming for back-up. Then I was carried inside. Someone mentioned something about hypothermia. Then everything went black.

I opened my eyes and looked directly at a tall man standing in front of my bed. I scanned the room and immediately recognised my surroundings. The white bedding and the beeping machine next to me were all too familiar. I was in hospital and the man in front of me was a doctor.

“She’s back!” he exclaimed, and two more people rushed into the room. A nurse, wearing blue clothing like the woman I had seen before and a man with a badge identifying him as a psychiatrist.

“Where is the baby?” I asked drowsily.

The nurse told me I needed to rest.

“I have to know what happened to the baby,” I insisted.

The psychiatrist sat down next to me. I felt my heart sinking as he explained what had happened. There had been a baby, but it died during childbirth two weeks ago. I had had a mental breakdown which had triggered a rare psychological illness called postpartum psychosis.

“But the baby was real.. In the supermarket,” I said.

“Hallucinating is a common symptom in women with postpartum psychosis," he continued. "A nurse found you outside at the hospital parking lot in the freezing cold. You are lucky to be alive.”

“Now you need to get some rest,” the nurse said.

Then everything went black again.