Birth, Unexpected

For Spooktober 2024, word "drown"

The girl squatted as instructed, holding the footboard for balance as he knelt beside her. She grimaced at him. “Thank you for your help,” she whispered.

Pain creased her face. She needed conversation and distraction. He nodded. “I’m glad I happened upon you.”

“Could I hold your hand?”

He offered it, steadying her.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Dielo,” he answered without thinking. “What are you called?”

“Bekah.” She sucked a ragged breath. “Things felt wrong. I didn’t know what it should be like, but it felt wrong. I wanted to come here for the memento.”

Dielo didn’t understand. “What memento?”

Behind Bekah, the younger doctor rolled her eyes. Bekah squeezed Dielo’s hands and leaned into him.

“I see your baby,” announced the older doctor with pleasure. “You’re almost there.”

Bekah gave a little gasping laugh. Dielo stared back at the doctors in a kind of disbelief. They could see the child?

But Bekah was trembling on her legs. She’d been weak even before she had begun to squat. “I can’t,” she panted.

Another helper brought a pillow. “Lean against the bed here,” she said. “You’ll be up again in a bit, but it’s all right to rest.”

The doctor arranged Bekah’s limbs, coaxing and coaching, and she curled over her legs with her knees and elbows out, one hand gripping Dielo’s like a drowning man clutching a rope. He glanced down and saw the top of a tiny red face emerge from her, squished and slimy and squinting. His stomach roiled and he swayed, bracing his free hand on the floor.