Intuition – Veronica
I woke up swinging and punching for my life. I heard a familiar yet unrecognizable voice calling my name in a Latino accent. I opened my eyes to see my uncle standing over me. I’m not sure how long I’d been on that floor, but he was kneeling next to me and asking me a whole bunch of questions. I looked around the apartment and noticed that everything was gone. This time I was pissed, no longer upset. The paramedics rushed in the apartment and examined me as my uncle held my hand the entire time. I was eventually lifted onto a stretcher and rushed to the hospital.
After a blood test, it was discovered that I’d suffered a miscarriage after being pregnant for 8 weeks. Perhaps that was why I threw up the other day on the stoop. Anyway, I called Monae before I could call my own mother. I knew she understood. I knew she could relate. I remained high on motrin so I wouldn’t have to lie awake and face my family. The doctors kept me in the hospital over the course of five days to run more tests, only to discover fibroid tumors. I asked my family to leave my room during my first night in the hospital.
I wanted time to myself, however I would soon wake up to see Miguel sitting next to me…squeezing my hand. It was weird but I felt an indescribable connection to him at that very moment even though this was not his baby. We sat in silence and eventually drifted off to sleep. This continued every night actually. On my last night in the hospital, there was a knock on the door. The nurse announced that I had a visitor, my husband. I had no idea who this could be, I didn’t think Miguel was crazy enough to pretend to be my husband. In walked a pitiful looking RJ. It looked as if he’d been sleeping in his truck for a week. Monae had apparently tracked RJ down and told him what happened. He walked in and stood next to my bed and said “I am so sorry that I left you. In a marriage, you can’t just walk out and leave when there’s a problem. Even though we aren’t married, you are my wife and I feel like shit for causing this to happen. I’ll never walk out on you and our family again.” I stared at him with a puzzled look. “But RJ, we don’t have a family. The baby is dead. She’s dead.” I watched him ball his fist up tightly and whisper “I know, and losing her makes me realize that we both fucked up.” I moved over to the other side of my bed so RJ could sit next to me. At that point I seriously doubted that RJ and I could last. I knew in the pit of my stomach that there was someone else in his life, and I was okay with that even though my heart was as cold as my baby.
