An Unexpected Visitor

An Unexpected Visitor

The thin straps of my short blue dress kept slipping from my sweating shoulders. Music pounded loudly in my ears, making my head ring. The room was dark; the only light a flashing disco ball. My friends danced all around me, causing me to feel claustrophobic. Several teenagers outside of the park lodge were smoking, and the smell was drifting into the dark room through one of the back windows.

It made me want to gag.

I danced with the crowd, the small tiara slipping off my high ponytail. Sweat rolled down my neck as a result of the room being sweltering hot. In one of the other rooms of the park lodge sat food, bowls of candy and chips, jugs of soda, seven pizzas from Papa Johns, hundreds of packets of twizzlers, and many, many chicken wings. I had filled up on the snacks long ago, and now wished I had eaten less. My stomach hurt but I tried to ignore it and have a good time. I noticed my best friend Alice making her way through the crowd to my side.

“Happy seventeenth birthday!” she screamed into my ear in order for me to hear her over the blast of modern rap music.

“Thanks!” I screamed back.

She danced away when a black haired boy came to her and took her hand. He led her into the center of the dancing crowd. I am so proud of her, having finally gotten a boyfriend. She has always been insecure and unexpressive, but now she is being herself. Before, pretty much all of freshmen year, she would never talk in class and now she does. Like, a lot. I stopped dancing and escaped the crowd. My heart was pounding in my chest. My blood was churning from the adrenaline granted by my party. I need a breath of fresh air; it’s way too hot in here. I pushed through the crowd towards the large double doors of the park lodge. Slipping out of the left one, I exited the lodge.

The sweet summer air pierced my nostrils. A warm summer breeze interwove between my dark red locks. The sky was dark, stars twinkling overhead like crystals in a pool of black water. Instantly, I calmed down. The energy slowly drained from my limbs. I smiled tiredly as I descended the stairs to the grassy ground.

Several groups of teens stood outside the lodge. One had about ten people spread out on the grass, long wisps of silver smoke trailing from the cigarettes in their mouths. Another bunch of kids stood near a massive oak tree, glancing stealthily around the park grounds before popping pills into their mouths one by one. Those kids are making such a bad choice, though even I have almost gone on drugs. It’s hard to stay away from them when they litter the high school world!

The third group was rather loud, and had claimed the picnic table outside the lodge. They all wore black, purple and red, and most of the teens had black makeup on their face, whether it was tears or black lipstick.

“Hey,” a black haired Goth boy called to me, his voice deep and almost bored. I smiled at him and waved.

“Hey, Landon,” I said as he stopped me and gave me a hug.

His clothes smelled of…the ocean?

“Did you get new cologne?” I asked him.

He smiled, the black tears drawn on his face arcing upwards.

“Yeah, you like it?”

“Um, do you?”

“Yeah,” then he sniffed his underarm.

I laughed, rubbing his head. He ducked from under my hand and lifted me onto his shoulder. I hit his back playfully.

“Put me down! Come on, Landon!” I laughed as he spun me around.

“Please?” I said into his ear.

“Fine,” he said disappointedly. I punched him on the arm after he set me down on the cold sidewalk. He chuckled.

“Great party, see you Monday!” he said after flicking my ear, something he did every time we saw each other. We’ve been friends ever since kindergarten when he convinced me to try the monkey bars and I ended up with a cast on my arm for three weeks. After my arm healed, I tried to stay away from him, though I could not help it. We became best friends, and now our parents hardly ever find us apart.

He walked away back to his group of depressing allies. Landon used to be a normal kid, trying to grow a mustache and experimenting with girls in order to find "his type". Then his Mom died. It was on Christmas Eve, when Landon was eleven and I was nine. Landon never celebrated Christmas agin, nor did he believe in God. That's when he became depressed, which ultimatley led to him becoming Goth. I miss his old self, but since his Mom died, I have become used to his new personality. I had tried to help him through it, but he is so stubborn that he wouldn’t let me do anything.

I crossed the abandoned street that lay before the lodge and headed towards the playground on the opposite side. Sitting down on the closer of the two silver metal slides, I lay my head in my palm. Sure, this party has been a blast, but it doesn’t help with the pain of knowing that my boyfriend and I are leaving for different collages. He is going to Yale, and I am going to a collage in Africa! I can’t live halfway across the world from him; I love him. He is half of me, and I am half of him. What am I…what are we going to do? Everyone says long distance relationships are difficult to keep. Including my Father, he thinks it just cannot be done. Not to mention how much phone sex would suck. I don’t actually think it would be that bad, but personally, I want the real thing; real sex. I have already had a taste of it.

At that moment, the pain I had felt after eating the party food hit me once more. This pain is not from feeling overstuffed, it has to be something else. I bent over, the pain not exactly pain but almost like..like needles being stuck into me. Closing my eyes tightly, I held my stomach and tried to breath slowly.

[i]I sat at the cream colored desk, holding my aching stomach. A few moments ago, when Ms. Hannah had begun talking about the way the French Revolution impacted all of Europe, a sudden cramp hit me. It felt as if I had been shot in the midsection. What is this? I have never felt so much pain! I tried to concentrate on my teacher, but soon it became too hard. I felt like I was losing consciousness. As I attempting to write down the notes the teacher was giving the class, the paper blurred as my eyelids drooped.

So, so tired.

“Hey, are you all right?” I heard a girl ask who sat next to me.

I nodded, not sure if I was telling her the truth or not. A strange metallic taste became present in my mouth as if I was drooling blood instead of spit. I shook my head, the taste making me feel nauseous. I held my stomach, bending over while trying to ignore the cramps.

“Miss? I think she’s going to be sick!” the girl who sat next to me called out to the teacher. Seconds later, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up into Ms. Hannah’s soft and pudgy face. Her long, curly brown hair fell in front of her eyes as she spoke to me.

“Would you like to go to the nurse?” she asked me quietly.

I nodded, the cramps and the metallic taste in my mouth and the weariness taking hold over me. The teacher left for a moment, then returned with a tiny pink note. She handed it to me and helped me stand. The world spun slowly, I wanted to fall to the ground and sleep. Right there, where all of the kids in the class could see me.

“Would you like me to send someone with you?”

I shook my head, grabbed my backpack, and exited quickly out from the silent classroom.[/i]

I stood and made my way across the street, up the stairs, and into the lodge. All the way I held my stomach and tried not to look like I was in moderate pain to the people surrounding me. I passed through the crowd of dancers and headed for the bathroom. I gulped. The strange metallic taste was in my mouth again-I had gotten used to it, having tasted it a lot in the past few weeks. I threw myself into the bathroom as nausea hit me.

Leaning over the wastebasket, I felt the food I had eaten at the party exit through my mouth. I moaned, holding my stomach. My lips tasted of stomach acid as a horrifying thought hit me. What if these are the first signs of preg...pregnanc...pregnancy? What would I do? I banished the thoughts out of my head as fatigue washed over my body. I leaned against the bathroom wall. The room stank of pee, and the walls were a hideous yellow color. A child’s teddy bear wallpaper ran the length of the ceiling. Then, sighing heavily, I reached into my purse and removed a pregnancy test.

[i]Outside it was raining hard, the sky a silver-gray. Kobe and I sat on my mother's couch, my parents gone for the day. I leaned over and kissed him, his soft pink lips soothing me. He ran his slender fingers through my hair, twisting a lock of it on his pinky. He kissed me back as we moved closer to each other, the rain pattering on the windowsill. The crack of thunder vibrated through the room, sending tremors through my body. We pulled apart, smiling dreamily at each other. I kissed him on the cheek, then the ear. I could feel his warmth on my arms and legs, on my neck.

“I love you, Kobe,” I whispered into his ear.

“I love you too, baby,” he whispered back, his peppermint scented breath misting over my face.

“Are you warm?” I asked him, pulling the itchy blanket farther up onto his lap.

“Your body is my sun and you are my warmth,” he whispered back to me.

I smiled and snuggled under his bulky arm. He stroked my cheek, his fingers blossoming a deep longing inside of me.

“Do you ever fantasize about me?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said, hushed.

“What do you imagine?” he wondered aloud. I blinked, surprised at the nerve-wracking change in topic.

“Us on my bed, naked and smiling at each other,” I whispered back hesitantly, scared and yet exited about where this conversation was heading.

“Me too,” he agreed.

Then, he stood, taking my hand softly. His palm was warm, his dark tan skin soft as a child’s. He turned towards the stairs and I willingly followed him. Stop, go back to the couch and don’t follow him, my head told me. I ignored the voice as I stared at Kobe’s dark, passionate eyes that shone even in the dim light of the house. Go and follow him, you’re ready and you know it, my heart told me. I chose to listen to that voice as I followed Kobe up the stairway. I felt excitement fill my soul. Then, as he opened my bedroom doorway, I smiled at him and entered the room, his hand still around my pale wrist. I shut the door behind us as we headed for the bed. [/i]

I lifted myself up, the nausea washing over me again. I managed to keep it in. I followed the steps on the side of the test container and in a few moments, I sat waiting for it to show the color strips. I bit my tongue until I could taste blood. My head spun, the room becoming fuzzy.

I almost bit my tongue off when two pink strips unearthed themselves on the screen of the pregnancy test.

Holding back a scream, I sat on the floor with my face sitting on my scrunched up knees. Slowly rocking back and forth, my thoughts spun out of control. What are Mother and Father going to do? WIll they send me away, make me live on the streets? No, they love me. But how in the world will I break the news to them?

I gasped for oxygen which didn't seem to be in the room at that moment. Closing my eyes, I could see were my parents and boyfriend, all of them mad at me. Oh god! What is Kobe going to do when he finds out I am pregnant? What if he leaves me?

All of my plans for collage have just been thrown in the trash and taken away by the garbage men. How could this happen? What am I going to do?

I could get an abortion, but I am against abortion.

I could always have the child and then give it away. A pang of jealousy hit me then, and I frowned at the toilet who seemed to mock me from across the room. I cannot give away my child. It's mine, and who cares if I don't go to collage, I have a child. A baby. My own baby. I can go to collage later in life. I glanced down at my stomach, realizing it had a whole other meaning now. It's not just my stomach, it is my child. I stroked the skin around my bellybutton as a smile awakened on my lips.

I have a child.

I am no teenager anymore.

I am a mother.