The Unborn Sin

On Mother's Day, I forced myself to swallow a heavy dose of abortion medicine. The baby, perfectly healthy in every single ultrasound, was reduced to an eightmonthold stillbirth.

Staring at the lifeless lump of flesh, my husband, Nolan—who had always played the tragic orphan card—crashed to his knees in the bloody water.

My mother, Colleen, a widow for years, gripped the doorframe so hard her fingernails cracked. Spit flew from their lips as they screamed at me. "How could you be that heartless?

That is your own flesh and blood!" With hands entirely coated in crimson, I held up my phone and played a video for them.

A few seconds in, their eyes bulged, all the color draining from their faces. "Die! That sick freak has to die! Bringing that thing into the world is an absolute disaster!

It had to die!" Chapter 1 While Nolan and Colleen were out of the house, I downed the entire bowl of abortion medication in one gulp.

Within moments, a sharp cramp seized my abdomen. Crimson soaked through my sweatpants. I clamped my teeth together so hard my jaw ached, my entire body drenched in cold sweat.

Exhausting every last ounce of my strength, after what felt like an eternity, a bloody fetus slid from between my thighs. I collapsed into the puddle of my own blood and sweat.

Colleen, returning from her grocery run, drew in a sharp breath. The brown paper bag smashed onto the floorboards, raw steaks rolling out across the tiles.

Her legs buckled, nearly sending her crashing down. "The… the baby is born?" I stared at her for a long time, incapable of forming a single word.

She immediately pulled out her phone and dialed Nolan. "Nolan! Nolan, Maeve gave birth! Get back here right now!" Ten minutes later, Nolan slammed the door open.

His chest heaved, a grin stretching almost ear to ear. "He's born? My son is really born?" He crouched down, hands trembling as he reached for the bloody mass on the floor.

His legs gave out, slamming him heavily onto the floorboards. "The… the baby…" Seeing him like that, Colleen dropped to her knees beside him.

I watched her pupils dilate rapidly, her jaw dropping open. Because the child I had just delivered was already dead. He died while he was still inside my womb.

Both Colleen and Nolan sat slumped in the puddle of blood, just like I was. They stretched their fingers out beneath the tiny nose, desperately trying to feel for a breath.

After a long, suffocating silence, Colleen screamed. "Why?!

I just went out for a few minutes to get groceries, and the baby is gone?" Spittle flew from her lips. "You finally made it to eight months!

I waited on you hand and foot every single day, and you deliver us a stillbirth?!" Nolan clutched his hair, his voice cracking. "It took us two years of marriage to finally get this baby!

Maeve, do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to his birth? Why didn't you protect him? Why did you let him leave me!" He still didn't know.

It wasn't that I hadn't protected him. It was that I had killed him with my own two hands. I dialed 911 myself.

Colleen and Nolan huddled together, clutching the lifeless fetus and wailing loudly. Neither of them spared a single glance at me.

The ER doctor told me I was incredibly lucky to be alive after losing that much blood.

They had just finished stitching me up and hooking me to an IV when Nolan stormed into the hospital room.

He held up the bowl, a dark residue of the abortion pill still clinging to the ceramic, and delivered a vicious slap across my face. "You bitch! Why did you kill my son?

Tell me why!" So he found out. I touched my stinging, burning cheek. "You know exactly why." He shook his head, stumbling back a halfstep. "What the hell do I know?

Since the day you got pregnant, I've worshipped the ground you walk on. You know my dad died when I was little and my mom remarried." "You know I'm an orphan.

You know how much I wanted a kid to finally have a real family! I just don't understand why you would abort my child." He didn't understand. Fine, then I would make him understand.

With hands still stained with dried blood, I unlocked my phone and hit play on a video, shoving the screen right in his face. All the color drained from his skin.

He stumbled backward, knocking into a chair. I stared at him. "Do you still want this baby?

Tell me, do you still want him?" He shook his head frantically, his pupils blown wide. "No. No, we can't have him! He deserved to die.

He really deserved to die!" Colleen rushed into the ward right on his heels, tears streaming down her wrinkled face, mirroring Nolan's earlier breakdown. "Maeve!

I told you, all you had to do was give birth. I would have taken care of him entirely! Why on earth did you have to abort at eight months?

Do you have any idea what a massive sin you've just committed?" Chapter 2 "Today is Mother's Day, and this is the sick gift you give me?" I knew. I knew everything.

But that thing could never be allowed to be born. The woman in the bed next to mine had delivered just half a day ago.

Her side of the room was overflowing with balloons and bright smiles. The motherinlaw rocking the newborn glared at me through the gap in the privacy curtain. "Are you kidding me?

You aborted at eight months? That's straightup murder.

You're going to rot in hell." "Exactly," the other grandmother chimed in, pointing a finger at me. "Young people today are so messed up.

If you didn't want it, you shouldn't have gotten knocked up! Waiting until eight months to abort?" "You trashed your own body and murdered a baby in cold blood.

You're a monster!" They spat their selfrighteous venom at me.

Colleen swayed, grabbing the bedrail like she was about to pass out. "You don't understand!" she wailed to the neighbors. "My soninlaw has a low sperm count!

Do you know how hard it was for her to finally get pregnant?

This vicious bitch just destroyed his only chance at a bloodline!" Nolan slumped against the wall, his face buried in his hands. "Stop.

Colleen, just stop talking." But his pleading only fueled Colleen's rage. She lunged forward and delivered another brutal slap to my face. "You slut! You absolute piece of trash!

If I knew you'd turn out like this, I would have killed you in the crib! How dare you even breathe on Mother's Day?

Do you even have the right?" The two older women next door nodded vigorously. "Damn straight! What's the point of a toxic bitch who'd murder her own kid even living?

She should have died right alongside it." I stared at the two furious women. Without a word, I turned the screen of my phone toward them and hit play on the same video.

Just like Nolan, their pupils shrank to pinpricks. They scrambled backward, knocking over an IV pole with a loud crash. "Oh my god, that is disgusting!

That's no accident, that's a deformed freak!" "Good riddance!

An unethical, twisted monstrosity like that should never be brought into this world!" Colleen whipped her head around, looking like she'd heard them speaking an alien language. "What kind of bullshit are you spouting?

That was my grandchild! The only kid my soninlaw would ever have! Why the hell are you saying it deserved to die?" No one answered her.

The women frantically yanked the privacy curtain shut, treating our side of the room like a highly contagious virus. Colleen spun back to me. "What is on that phone?

Show it to me!" She tore the curtain back open and glared at the neighbors. "Tell me! What the hell is on her phone?" The women shrank back, the color draining from their faces.

They pointed trembling fingers at Colleen. "Get back! Don't come near us!

Get the hell away!" Colleen stood there, her jaw slack. "Are you people psychotic?" The motherinlaw hammered the call button.

When the nurse ran in, she practically shrieked, "We need to change rooms!

Right now!" The nurse looked apologetic. "The only availability is a private VIP suite, but it's much more expensive—" "Move us!" Both women yelled it in unison.

In less than ten minutes, the entire family had packed up their balloons and baby gear and bolted for the private suite. The shared room was left empty, except for me and Colleen.

Just before they rolled the bassinet out the door, they shot Colleen one last, venomous glare. One of them actually spat on the floor. "Sick freaks.

Absolute sick freaks!" Colleen's face flushed purple. She looked ready to throw punches. "What kind of bullshit is that?

Who the hell are you calling sick freaks?" The women didn't look back, fleeing down the hallway as fast as they could.

Colleen marched back to my bed, breathing heavily, staring daggers at me. "Show me what's on that phone. Right.

Now." The more hysterical she got, the tighter I gripped the device, refusing to lift a single finger. Chapter 3 Her last shred of sanity snapped.

She lunged forward and ripped the IV line right out of my arm, pointing a shaking finger at my face. "If you don't tell me why you aborted that baby right now, I will strangle you to death myself." Staring at her bloodshot eyes and bared teeth, I asked quietly, "Are you even my mother?" Her eyes darted sideways for a fraction of a second. "If I'm not your mother, who is?

Your useless father kicked the bucket over a decade ago! I broke my back raising you all by myself!

When you got married, I gave you two hundred thousand dollars in cash for the wedding and put down two million for the down payment on the villa!" "When you got pregnant, I paid ten grand a month for toptier private nurses, treating you like a literal queen!

What the hell did I do wrong to deserve you trying to piss me off into an early grave?" The corner of my mouth twitched into a bitter smirk. "Mom, it's my body, and my child.

If I don't want it, what's the problem? Why are you that furious?" "I shouldn't be furious? You know damn well Nolan has a low sperm count! You know he's an orphan!

You know exactly how crucial this baby was to him, and you—" The more she yelled, the more worked up she got, until she finally swung and slapped me across the face again.

The attending physician walked in on his rounds right as the blow landed, immediately shouting at her. "What the hell are you doing? The patient is severely weakened.

As her mother, you should be caring for her, not assaulting her!" Colleen instantly turned on the waterworks, sobbing hysterically as she laid out my "crimes" all over again.

The doctor looked at me, his expression complex. "It's a tragedy," he muttered. "An eightmonthold fetus could have survived outside the womb." Colleen nodded frantically, wiping away fake tears as the doctor patted her shoulder in sympathy. "It's going to be okay, ma'am.

Your daughter is young. She can always try for another one." I stated flatly, "I am never getting pregnant again.

And even if I did, it wouldn't be Nolan's child." "What did you just say? You're planning to cheat on Nolan?

Maeve, how did I raise such a shameless little slut?" Colleen raised her hand to strike me again.

The doctor caught her wrist just in time, but the look he gave me was far less friendly now. Without a word, I hit play on the video and shoved the phone toward the doctor.

In less than thirty seconds, his entire demeanor flipped, mirroring everyone else's. "That's sick. It had to die!

It absolutely had to die!" The exact same words as the old women next door. Colleen was practically vibrating. "What is it?! Maeve, you have to tell me what is on that phone!

How could your own baby be a sick freak? How?" The doctor ignored her completely.

He efficiently reinserted my IV line and shot Colleen a hard warning glare. "If you interfere with my patient's recovery again, I will call security and have you arrested." Colleen glared at me with pure venom. "You little bitch.

You have to come home eventually. I'll be waiting for you. If you don't explain this to me, this is never going to end." Two days later, I was discharged.

During those two days, neither Colleen nor Nolan showed their faces. The nurses and doctors handled all my care. When I finally went home, it was exactly as I expected.

The house was empty except for Colleen. Nolan was nowhere to be found. Colleen looked like she had aged ten years.

She sat on the couch, aggressively dialing Nolan's number over and over again. "The number you have dialed cannot be reached.

Please try again later." No matter how many times she hit redial, that robotic voice was her only answer. She couldn't find Nolan.

The moment she saw me walk in, she hurled the phone onto the sofa and lunged at me. "You little slut, you finally showed your face? Spit it out!

What exactly did you show Nolan that made him pack up and disappear? Chapter 4 "It's been two days. I still can't find him.

Where the hell did he go?" I gripped her wrist tight. "He's a grown man with his own two legs.

How the hell should I know where he went?" Colleen's eyes were bloodshot, the veins bulging. "He bolted right after he saw that video on your phone!

Tell me what exactly you showed him!" I refused to say a word. She completely lost her mind.

She grabbed whatever was within reach—a vase, a remote, a coffee mug—and hurled them at me, one after another. I dodged out the front door.

The neighbor from next door heard the commotion and immediately ran over to intervene. "My god, what are you doing? Maeve is about to give birth!

How can you act like a lunatic and hit her? Are you trying to kill the baby in her womb!" Colleen stood with her hands on her hips, panting heavily. "Give birth?

Does it look like she can still give birth? Look at her stomach." The neighbor glanced at my flattened abdomen and gasped. "Did she deliver at eight months?" I shook my head. "No.

I aborted it." The neighbor covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my god. Maeve, your baby was practically at full term. Why would you get rid of it?

If you didn't want it, you shouldn't have gotten pregnant in the first place." "We all saw how Colleen and Nolan waited on you hand and foot during your pregnancy.

How could you be so heartless?" Tears streamed down Colleen's face. "We treated her like royalty! We practically watched her twentyfourseven.

Who would have thought that in the twenty minutes I was gone to buy groceries, she'd swallow an entire bowl of abortion pills? She's a monster.

She's a coldblooded murderer." The neighbor looked at me, her face stark white. "I never would have guessed a girl who looks as sweet as you could be so vicious.

This is terrifying!" She called me terrifying.

I unlocked my phone again. "Here, let me show you something." Unsurprisingly, just like everyone else, she started shaking uncontrollably the moment she saw the video. "Good!

That sick freak deserved to die! Maeve, you did the right thing!

It had to die!" She muttered under her breath as she darted back into her apartment, immediately pulling out suitcases and dialing a moving company.

Her husband walked out of their bedroom, looking bewildered. "We've got a great setup here. Why the hell are we moving?" I showed him the video, too.

He started packing even faster than his wife. An hour later, the movers arrived. Within another thirty minutes, the apartment next door was completely stripped bare.

Not a single soul was left inside. Colleen grabbed the neighbor's arm just as she was stepping onto the elevator. "Why are you moving?

What did she show you?" The neighbor violently ripped her arm away like she had just touched a deadly virus, aggressively wiping her hand on her own shirt. "Get back!

Don't touch me with hands that have touched that incestuous freak!" Colleen's face twisted in rage. "Who are you calling a freak?

Who the hell are you calling a freak?" The neighbor jabbed a finger toward our open door. "Your entire family is a bunch of sick freaks!

Every single one of you!" The hallway fell dead silent, leaving just the two of us. Colleen had screamed herself hoarse. She had thrown all the punches she could muster.

Exhausted, she slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor, staring up at me pleadingly. "Just tell me what is on that phone. What did you show them?

Why is everyone so terrified? Why do they keep calling us freaks?" Her eyes widened as a thought struck her. "Wait… was the baby not human?

Was it…" I could see her sanity fracturing right before my eyes. I figured it was finally time to let her in on the secret.

I unlocked the screen, a slow smile stretching across my face. "Here, Mom. See for yourself." Chapter 5