Collected Kill: Volume 2 Read Free Page B

wrong!”  Jenny said.  “I’m having twins!”
    “But you seen it with your own eyes!”  Nathan shouted.
    “But I can feel them both.  My body doesn’t lie to me!”
    Nathan felt his anger subside and sadness and pity eclipse everything.  He felt sorry for Jenny.  He knew she was unstable.  Nuts, to be exact, but he couldn’t muster the nerve to leave her.  Not in her fragile condition.  And he couldn’t bear to leave his firstborn child to live with a nutcase-mother.
    *      *      *
    The baby slid out in a torrent of blood and mucus.  It didn’t scream.  It didn’t move.  
    The doctor flipped it over and slapped its back.  Nathan noticed its body was blue, its head was strangely oblong.
    Another slap and Nathan heard it cough.
    The doctor siphoned the excrement from its mouth and cleaned off its body.  He wrapped it in a towel and turned to Jenny, “Congratulations, Mom.  It’s a boy.”
    Jenny took it into her arms and cried and Nathan felt his own lip quivering at the sight.
    Then Jenny handed the baby to Nathan and started pushing again.
    “What are you doing?” the doctor asked.
    “My other baby is in there!”
    “No.  Stop pushing, Jenny.  There was only one.”
    Nathan bundled his son up tight and took a deep breath.  The doctor briefly glanced over at him, and Nathan shook his head.
    “Please stop pushing, Jenny.  You might hemorrhage.”
    “No!” she screamed, “Get the fuck down there and deliver my other baby!”
    “Nurse!” the doctor yelled.
    Nathan stared between her legs as a nurse rushed in.  
    “Restrain her!”
    Jenny started fighting the nurse, screaming and kicking.  The doctor held her there and managed to work on her stomach, massaging it until a bloody mass plopped out of her.  Nathan cringed as the doctor threw the chunk of afterbirth on a scale and said, “That’s it, Jenny.  I’m sorry but there was only one.”
    Jenny calmed down suddenly, like the realization finally struck her.  
    In the middle of the chaos of nurses checking vitals and other nurses administering medicine, Jenny requested that everyone leave her room.  The doctor looked again to Nathan, as if to ask why?  Nathan just shook his head and was the first to leave.  The nurses and doctor quickly finished up weighing the baby, set the IV drip, stitched Jenny back up and turned on the heat lamp where they placed the baby beneath.
    Jenny just stared hollowly at the ceiling as each left the room.
    When Nathan returned, Jenny had cleaned the blood off the floor and replaced the sheets by herself.  She wouldn’t speak to him.  She just slept.
    *      *      *
    A day later, she was still hospitalized.  The nurses were monitoring her condition around the clock.  She was treated with antidepressants and all sharp objects were removed from her room.
    Nathan had to return to work as Jenny’s mother watched after the baby.
    Around noon, Jenny’s mother called the office.
    “They’re sending her home today,” she stated, “The drugs have stabilized her depression and she has really come to terms with it all.  She’s smiling and joking around.  We’re packing right now.”
    “Great!” Nathan said, “I’ll meet you at the apartment.”
    He arrived at the apartment just as Jenny’s mother was leaving.
    Jenny was waiting for him.  She gave him a kiss at the front door and hugged him.  
    “Where’s Daniel?”
    “Shhh,” she whispered,  “He’s sleeping.”
    Nathan smiled.
    Jenny smiled back.  “And so is Nathan Jr.”
    Nathan’s heart skipped a beat.  “What?”
    “They’re both sleeping!”
    Nathan glanced into the nursery to see the familiar sight of two cribs set side by side.  He took a deep breath and swallowed hard, fearing that she had somehow stolen another baby on her way out.  
    Jenny led him by the arm until they entered the nursery.  Nathan glanced in on the first crib and saw Daniel curled up and sleeping soundly.
    A hollow feeling