This was going to get ugly. I was done being nice.
SIXTY-ONE
Then
“Come back with him. Bring my baby back to me.”
Kitty couldn’t stop crying. Her heart was in pain, every part of her body was aching, from missing her newborn baby. It was like a part of her was ripped from her. She couldn’t believe that Damian and Linda would take her newborn son away from her.
Didn’t she do a good enough job? Had she messed it up somehow?
Kitty wiped her tears away and sat on the bed, thinking maybe they were going to bring the boy back. It just took a while. Maybe they just took him to the doctor, to make sure he was healthy? Yes, that was probably it. He needed a checkup. She took in a deep breath to calm herself down and lay on the bed, staring at the metal roof above her. Then she finally fell asleep. Exhausted from crying and screaming, she passed out.
She didn’t know how long had passed, but she woke up to the sound of the bolt being shot aside, and sat up straight, her pillow soaked from crying in her sleep. She gasped, blinking away the tears.
“W-who is there?”
It was Linda. She didn’t look at Kitty, just stepped in carrying water and food. She placed it by the entrance, then turned to leave.
“How’s my baby? How’s Oliver?” she said, even if she knew they didn’t know she had named him that. It was after her grandfather who died when she was a young child, but she had loved so much. “Is he okay?”
Linda paused but didn’t look up. She stared at her feet, then began to leave.
“No, wait,” Kitty said. “Please?”
Linda paused again.
“Can I see him? Please? I miss him.”
Linda shook her head.
“Please?” Kitty said. She got off the bed and fell to her knees, hands clasped together. “Please?”
But Linda just shook her head again, then walked away and closed the door.
“NO!” Kitty screamed and ran to it. She clenched her fists and hammered on the inside of it, crying helplessly.
“Please, please. Just for a few seconds? Just let me hold him?”
But all she received in return was a deep silence.
As the days passed, Kitty became more and more desperate to see her son. When she was brought food, which by now was always done by Linda, she begged the woman to let her hold him, to let her feed him, but all her pleading was ignored. She felt like she was going crazy, trapped in this shed with no one to talk to except for the roaches scurrying around in the corners.
Days turned into weeks, and Kitty spent her time sobbing and wishing for her baby back. She even told herself that she could hear him crying sometimes, and it broke her heart.
She didn’t understand why they would take him away from her. She began to lose hope, convinced she’d never see her child again. And she also wondered why Damian had stopped coming. Was he tired of her? Had he lost interest in her? Was she not good enough for him anymore?
Did he forget about me?
One night, as she was lying on the floor where it was the coldest in the hot shed, she heard a sound coming from the outside. It was faint at first, but then it grew louder and louder until she could make out the sound of footsteps approaching. Her heart raced with hope.
She knew it was probably just Linda bringing her food as usual, but the footsteps seemed heavier and more determined than usual. Could it be someone else?
Could it be… him?
The door creaked open, letting in a slight light from the now so mysterious outside world. The face greeting her in the doorway made her heart beat faster.
She smiled and rose to her feet.
“Damian!”
He walked in and closed the door behind him, then took her in his arms. She hugged him and clung to him as tightly as she could. He lifted her up and carried her back to the bed. She cried and enjoyed being held so much, she didn’t want to let go of him again. She had felt so alone these past weeks. It had been like the whole world had forgotten about her. Like she was going to just rot away in that shed.
But now she felt a sliver of happiness again. Now that he was back. He loved her and always had. She knew it. He would never forget her.
“I have some good news for you, Kitty,” he said with a handsome smile that made her stomach flutter.
“Good news?” she asked, thinking it had to be about her baby. Was she going to get to see him? To hold him? Would they let her into the house and be with him? She could promise to never try to do anything bad. She never would. She didn’t want to upset them.
“You’re going to be a mother again.”
Kitty’s heart stopped. “What do you mean? What happened to my baby? Where is Oliver?”
“Don’t worry about him,” he said. “He’s fine.”
“But… how?”
He smiled even wider, then removed a lock of hair from her face and put it behind her ear. Then he caressed her cheek.
