January 11th, 1985
New England Baptist Hospital
125 Parker Hill Ave, Roxbury Crossing
MA 02120
?One more big push, Mrs. Kelley! One more, and remember to breathe! Okay, ready? Push!?
That child ain?t no kid of mine, was the broken record playing in Mr. Kelley?s head. He knew that thing that spilled from his wife wasn?t of his blood, didn?t hold a candle to his lineage, was just a mutt that he had to be responsible for. He didn?t pan a look of awe to the pale Melissa who wore her emotions on her sleeve. She looked so fucking happy that it made him sick to think of how they would be ripping that child from her arms any second now. A deal?s a deal. He had given his word but when tasked with explaining the situation to Melissa he had grown a coward. She had gone and done the unthinkable, had slept with another man under the eye of God, ruined the image of their white picket lifestyle, had him become some tainted name within the ranks. Why should he care? Why should any of it matter?
That ain?t no kid of mine.
Paul felt his jaw tighten the moment he caught a glimpse of them wrapping up the screaming newborn and creating a direction for the door. He felt his gut clench when Melissa began looking between the masked nurses as if to ask where they were taking it. Smell of copper didn?t mix well with the scent of despair; Paul rubbed at his face to help mix up the lines it was making, deep furrowing lines that would show his inner debacle. He heard the tremble in his wife?s throat when she reached with sluggish arms to passing medical experts but none would give her the time of day. None acted like she was a person, a human being, just an incubator for their newest subject. If that wasn?t enough, he had to bite a long his tongue to curb his own rage and misunderstood emotions when Melissa started screaming. The panting of being utterly bemused, fragile from childbirth, was rabid. It was aggressive and wild.
It was the sound of a mother wanting to protect her babe with tooth and nail.
?Paul! Paul, please, please! Where are they taking him? Where are they taking my baby??
?I had to.?, he murmured but she didn?t seem to hear him.
?Please, give him back! Where is he? Someone answer me, please!?
?Melissa, I had to.?, he said louder this time. With no other choice than to look into the savage widening of her eyes once it registered. ?I had to do it. He ain?t no child of mine. You know, you know how they are.? Excuses came pouring out but he was stoic in tone. Not a budge in his timbre because this was the right thing to do. It was for the Order. For the greater good.
?What?? It?s small, the way she questions him. Almost more painful to hear the mousey whimper come bending from her lips.
Paul stilled his hands by folding them into his trouser pockets. He didn?t give two shits about the baby but this, the broken and defeated expression that Melissa now wore, was hell. A personal tier in the inferno that would make him remember that look for the rest of his days. She had done such a tragic thing, expressing how she didn?t love him by the actions of taking another lover; he shouldn?t have felt this way but he did. He loved her, had since the day they met, but any feeling she might have still had for him? He saw it leave the windows of her eyes.
?You?ll be able to see him. After a while. I promise.?
?Paul, Paul -- what are you saying? What are they --?, but she didn?t need to finish. She knew. Deep down, she knew what they were capable of. The stories were no longer fables because there was evidence now. Cold, hard, tangible evidence in the shape of a still wet baby who shone with the blood of its mother, wrapped away in cool white blankets, screaming down the hall as it just began opening its eyes.
____________________________________________
?Oh, no, no. Not yet.? The nurse who held him appeared to coddle him, whispered down near his face, and shifted a hand over those eyes that were not supposed to open for at least another three years.
New England Baptist Hospital
125 Parker Hill Ave, Roxbury Crossing
MA 02120
?One more big push, Mrs. Kelley! One more, and remember to breathe! Okay, ready? Push!?
That child ain?t no kid of mine, was the broken record playing in Mr. Kelley?s head. He knew that thing that spilled from his wife wasn?t of his blood, didn?t hold a candle to his lineage, was just a mutt that he had to be responsible for. He didn?t pan a look of awe to the pale Melissa who wore her emotions on her sleeve. She looked so fucking happy that it made him sick to think of how they would be ripping that child from her arms any second now. A deal?s a deal. He had given his word but when tasked with explaining the situation to Melissa he had grown a coward. She had gone and done the unthinkable, had slept with another man under the eye of God, ruined the image of their white picket lifestyle, had him become some tainted name within the ranks. Why should he care? Why should any of it matter?
That ain?t no kid of mine.
Paul felt his jaw tighten the moment he caught a glimpse of them wrapping up the screaming newborn and creating a direction for the door. He felt his gut clench when Melissa began looking between the masked nurses as if to ask where they were taking it. Smell of copper didn?t mix well with the scent of despair; Paul rubbed at his face to help mix up the lines it was making, deep furrowing lines that would show his inner debacle. He heard the tremble in his wife?s throat when she reached with sluggish arms to passing medical experts but none would give her the time of day. None acted like she was a person, a human being, just an incubator for their newest subject. If that wasn?t enough, he had to bite a long his tongue to curb his own rage and misunderstood emotions when Melissa started screaming. The panting of being utterly bemused, fragile from childbirth, was rabid. It was aggressive and wild.
It was the sound of a mother wanting to protect her babe with tooth and nail.
?Paul! Paul, please, please! Where are they taking him? Where are they taking my baby??
?I had to.?, he murmured but she didn?t seem to hear him.
?Please, give him back! Where is he? Someone answer me, please!?
?Melissa, I had to.?, he said louder this time. With no other choice than to look into the savage widening of her eyes once it registered. ?I had to do it. He ain?t no child of mine. You know, you know how they are.? Excuses came pouring out but he was stoic in tone. Not a budge in his timbre because this was the right thing to do. It was for the Order. For the greater good.
?What?? It?s small, the way she questions him. Almost more painful to hear the mousey whimper come bending from her lips.
Paul stilled his hands by folding them into his trouser pockets. He didn?t give two shits about the baby but this, the broken and defeated expression that Melissa now wore, was hell. A personal tier in the inferno that would make him remember that look for the rest of his days. She had done such a tragic thing, expressing how she didn?t love him by the actions of taking another lover; he shouldn?t have felt this way but he did. He loved her, had since the day they met, but any feeling she might have still had for him? He saw it leave the windows of her eyes.
?You?ll be able to see him. After a while. I promise.?
?Paul, Paul -- what are you saying? What are they --?, but she didn?t need to finish. She knew. Deep down, she knew what they were capable of. The stories were no longer fables because there was evidence now. Cold, hard, tangible evidence in the shape of a still wet baby who shone with the blood of its mother, wrapped away in cool white blankets, screaming down the hall as it just began opening its eyes.
____________________________________________
?Oh, no, no. Not yet.? The nurse who held him appeared to coddle him, whispered down near his face, and shifted a hand over those eyes that were not supposed to open for at least another three years.