A Summer Swift
I winced as the bright sunlight shone through the skylight window. My head was throbbing with pain and I felt nauseous. I curled up trying to not absorb the pain. I clutched my stomach as it twisted and turned. I heaved myself up from my bed and examined myself in front of the mirror. Fairly light skinned for an Indian, I thought. I diverted my attention to my eyes. Not again. My make-up from last night had smudged and it was going to take hours for me to take it all off. Owww. Stupid cramps, I thought. My hair looked as though a flock of birds had been through it I tugged at a few loose bits that were flying around and matted it down. My stomach felt as though someone had shoved a pole through it. What on earth is wrong with me, I thought. I paused for a second to regain my balance and picked up the phone to dial my doctor.
“No Dr. Katherine, I’ve never felt this way before”, I stated.
“Could it be that you are pregnant?”, she questioned.
“I…uh…well…”, I stammered as a maelstrom of emotions churned inside my mind.
“Well Sameera? There’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s normal for unmarried women to be pregnant. It is 2005 for god sake. Not the 1800’s!” she said with a chuckle.
I gave her a weak smile before I asked her whether I could have a pregnancy test right then and she agreed to after her next patient. I thanked her and went back to the confined waiting room and took a seat on the green, hard, plastic chair. I looked around at a couple fondling their child, probably no older than a year. The lady in front of me looked heavily pregnant and her husband was next to her, comforting her about something. Everywhere I looked, there were boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. I had no one. It wasn’t my fault. Was it?
“Miss Sameera Jeyakumar?” called an Irish accent voice.
I snapped out of daydreaming and looked up. A nice looking woman at the counter looked up and waved a folder at me. “Dr. Katherine is ready for you now.”...