Seventy Seven

AALIYAH

Since last night, I've been having this excruciating pain that consumes my being from the inside, as though it would snap me open from the inside out. It's stronger than the regular pain of depleted energy, and annoyingly different.

Hunter couldn't sleep, he spent the whole of the night giving me head-to-toe massages and tummy rubs and filling my energy, what scared him the most is the spike in my temperature, I’m running a high-grade fever.

“The physician is almost here, honey. We should go to the waiting room.”

"Take me to the theatre.” My breath is slow and hard as I constantly inhale deeply.

"He needs to examine you and...”

“I’m in labour.” I affirm.

His expression is a mix of strong emotions; confusion and bliss and every other blend of anxiety. I've never seen a woman give birth, my mama never lived to give me a sibling, nor was I decent enough to watch the midwives assist women in distress, and knowing that I’m in labour is only but natural.

"No matter what Hunter, do