Mission Abort

The day was sunny, the birds were busy chirping along, basking under the sun, playing, or whatever it is that they did during the day. Down in the hills, in a town called One Hill, two lovers were busy enjoying the day. Ashley always thought the name of the town to be ironic, considering that the whole area was filled with hills. But legend had it, that, that hill had held the father of the tribe. He was the one who warned the tribe against the foreigners. Sitting at the top of the hill, he had seen the train approach. Ashley and Tee, living in their one single room, played along heartily as they waited for the food to cook. Their house was very small. It only held one bed and the table. The table was full of books and that one laptop. Ashley loved reading and so did Tee. But Tee was more of a movie person than a book guy. Tee loved to take photos. He owned this one camera that he had come across by accident. His friend had given it to him since he had no use for it. Tee was a very good photographer. He was busy telling Ashley to pose this way and that way while cracking up jokes so that he could take pictures of her. He took pictures of everything. Their small room, the stove, the table, the books. Everything he pointed his camera at, he took a photo of. Ashley asked to take a break. She woke up and took a cup to have some cold water. The next thing that Ashley knew was Tee shaking her calling out her name.

“Babe! Babe! Babe…” Ashley opened her eyes slowly and touched his face. She had never seen such fear. Tee looked at her with so much fear and it strikes Ashley what had happened. The last thing she remembered was feeling faint and dizzy, trying to hold on to the bed to prevent falling. But she had fallen hard on the floor. She had fainted and had been out for quite some time.

“Are you okay?” Tee asked her.

“No, I feel a bit dizzy and weak. It's too hot in here.” She said while touching her head.

“Alright, let's go out so that you can have some breeze.” Tee took her under a tree that grew right outside their house. The reason why Ashley had agreed upon moving in with tee and staying with him, apart from the love she had for him, was because of the town. The place was so hilly and open. One could see to the far ends of the horizon. The sunsets were beautiful too. Ashley was afraid of asking Tee why he had been so afraid. Ashley wondered, was he afraid because he would lose me or because people would have thought that he killed me? But she could not share her thoughts with him. She was just happy to be alive and in his arms. But, she knew, she had to do something. Lately, she had not been feeling too well. She had to visit the hospital.

“The doctor will see you now” Ashley woke up from her imagination and mouthed a casual thank you to rose. Rose was a nice person; she had been so warm and welcoming to her when she told her the reason for the visit.

“so, Ashley, how can I help you today,” the doctor asked her.

“I’m here for a pregnancy test.” She said while looking at him straight in the eyes. Just as expected, the doctor did react. She was a young and beautiful girl after all.

“Alright, lie down here and let’s have a look”

“it seems you are 8 weeks pregnant. Congratulations” the blood drained from her face. How could it be, how could she be pregnant?

“Did you hear me?”

“Yes, I did. Do you perform medical abortions” she asked him. She had nothing to lose. She knew she had to take the risk of knowing. She did not care how the doctor would perceive her.

“What?”

“Do you perform abortions?”

“Yes, we do.”

“How much is it”

“considering your advanced stage, it will be $50. We can perform it now.”

“I can’t now, I will come back later with the money”

Ashley went home with a heavy heart. She was crying the whole way back home. She did not care that people would notice. All she knew was that she had to get home. She wondered what she would tell Tee and how she would relay the message. When she got home, the house was clean Tee never cleaned up, unless there was something he needed to apologize for. She just lay down on the bed and put on some music.

“There you are, how did it go?”

“I’m 8 weeks pregnant,” she told him.

“That means it did not work. So, what are you going to do.”

“Have another abortion, the doctor told me that it would be $50”

“When are you going to do it?”

“I have to do it tomorrow before it’s too late.”

He held her tight and they hugged. She cried all her tears. She felt really awful, but she knew she had to do it. She had to. There was no way she was going to have the baby.

“Remember we have to go to Claire’s party tonight.” She reminded him. Previously, she had no intentions of attending the party. She didn’t like parties. But now, she had to go.

“I didn’t think you would want to after you know…”

“of course, I want to, especially now, I need something to take my mind away from this.”

Tee and Ashley were the first ones to get to the party. Surprisingly, Ashley expected to find so many people there considering how popular Claire was but it was just her and her roommate called Liz. They said their hellos and immediately Tee had to leave. He had to finish off something urgently and come back later.

“do you mind if I smoke some weed?” Ashley asked Claire and Liz.

“No, by all means, go ahead,” Claire told her; Ashley felt like the world was coming to an end. How could she kill one person twice? And how is it that those abortion pills never worked? How could she live with herself after this? She couldn’t confide in anyone. The only person who knew was Tee and she planned to keep it that way. In her mind she knew that weed and probably alcohol, would enable her to sleep through the night.

They listened to music and danced along to the tunes. Considering that her last party had been when she was in high school. More than 5 years ago, she was having a good time. Their classmate by the name of John had also joined them. It was just the four of them. She decided to go look for Tee. As expected, he had gone to his favorite pub. Ashley waited for him while having some drinks. It was her first time drinking alcohol. She always hated it due to its bitter taste. But tonight, she thought to herself, “if I have the courage to abort my baby twice, then drinking alcohol should be an easy task” so she gathered the courage and drank as much as she could.  

“Hey babe,” tee kissed her on the forehead once he got to the pub and ushered for them to leave. Tee invited his friend Nicholas to join them. They went along to the party just the three of them. They put on music and danced. Nobody else came to the party. But the equation was balanced. John, Nicholas, and tee with Ashley, Liz, and Claire. They sang birthday songs, shared life, and danced to the music. Ashley turned out to be the star of the night. For some reason, she knew every song that played that night. She had never danced in public before, but tee forced her to dance. She danced so well that all the boys wanted to hold her and dance with her. She hated it, but she did it anyway. She never liked being held by anyone else other than Tee. But they had a great time. They sang and danced till it was 4am. Ashley had thrown up a couple of times during the night, and she had immediately wished she had never drunk that alcohol. They finally decided to go to sleep at 4am. Tomorrow was the day; tomorrow was mission abort. That was all Ashley knew as she went to bed.