Confronting the Past

The white room felt like a tomb. Anna fidgeted in the hard plastic chair, her heart hammering against her ribs. Every nerve in her body screamed at her to turn and run, but she forced herself to stay. Today, she was facing her past, a past she'd hoped to bury forever, she had to do this in order to move on.

A buzzer sounded, and a thick slab of reinforced glass slid down, revealing the face she'd dreaded seeing. Jimmy. Gone was the cocky swagger he used to carry. His once-bright eyes were dull, his hair matted, and his face gaunt. A pang of something akin to pity lanced through Anna, quickly replaced by a surge of anger; she shouldn’t be feeling bad for him, he brought this upon himself.

He stared at her, a flicker of hope igniting in his eyes. "Anna," he rasped, his voice raw. "I knew you wouldn't abandon me for long. Not when we have a child on the way."

Anna scoffed, the sound harsh in the silence. Abandonment. The word twisted like a knife in her gut. But she wasn't here for a fig