Darkness

She is awakened by her own screaming. Black dreams slither down into her subconsciousness. Her mouth feels dry and her voice is cracked. "Light." Fluorescent light flickers to life. It takes a while for her eyes to get used to the brightness. 

The walls, floor and ceiling are sterile and white, as are the sheets and the screen hiding the toilet and basin, both made of stainless steel. The sheets are damp from sweat and the nightgown is sticking to her legs. She lifts the covers and looks down at her body, realizing that the nightgown is sticking to her thighs because she’s bled a little. Weakly she gets up and makes her way towards the toilet. She sits down and pulls her nightgown off, throwing it in the corner. 

With trembling hands she begins to wash away the blood, trying to avoid touching the stomach. One arm touches the soft mass, she shudders. She’s not yet become accustomed to not carrying someone. A hissing voice cuts through her thoughts. "Something..." 

Startled, she looks up and her eyes lock on the opposite wall. How long had she been here? More than nine months, less than a year. She remembers being given shots, how they rolled her through the long white corridors and how she, through her foggy mind, had seen her belly growing bigger and bigger, how someone… "Something!" Her body jerks her back to reality. That something grew inside of her. 

She had been in pain, they had given her more shots. Then the contractions began and they had once again rolled her through the corridors, to another white room full of stainless steel equipment. It had felt all wrong, it was too big, had the wrong shape. The surgeon had looked at her with a frown and then he pulled at it. She screamed. They held her down and she felt how it came out of her. The doctor had looked triumphant. Then it happened. She wishes she could forget it. A gleaming slimy black tentacle had wrapped itself around the doctor's neck and then disappeared again. 

She closes her eyes and rests her head in her hands, doesn't want to remember. 

Suddenly it whipped back into view, piercing the doctor’s throat. Everything collapsed into chaos. Two men had thrown themselves down after the doctor's body and a nurse had quickly given her an injection. The delivery room had become blurry and she had been rolled out of there with the sound of someone. She immediately corrects herself. The sound of something shrieking and gurgling. 

Sliding off the toilet seat her stomach turns convulsively, bile giving off a sour taste in her mouth and after a while she falls to the floor. She notices that she’s crying, the tears making the room into white square of blurred light. She lies there a long time. The floor's cold linoleum feels comfortable against her hot cheek. When she’s run out of tears she stares blankly at nothing, listening to her ragged breaths. 

Maybe it's self-preservation, maybe it's vanity, but she gets up and washes off in the sink. The cold water cools her swollen eyes and hot cheeks. There’s a clean nightgown on a chair by the door, it feels scratchy on the skin. Soon after she hears someone walking in the hallway, stopping outside her door. Quickly she slides into bed again and pulls the covers up to her chin. A nurse enters with a small tray in her hand. Strange how something so small can make her whole being cringe. 

She can’t take her eyes off the paper covered tray. No way to look away from the small syringe. Can’t help but to look at the nurse's narrow and gloved hands. "Can I go home now?" Her voice sounds so small. 

"Sure." The nurse's smile never reaches her eyes. "I'll just give you this small shot first." 

A paralyzing feeling takes over her. With a firm grip of her arm the nurse pushes the needle through the skin. The arm feels cold where the liquid flows through her veins. Everything in the room becomes blurry. Her eyes want to close themselves. Her mind vainly tries to fight what’s to come. The last thing she hears is the door closing, the steps disappearing down the corridor. Slowly she falls backwards into a darkness, a darkness full of slimy black tentacles that want to take her even further down into the dark. 

***

This is more Nightmare Fuel and the image here is the prompt for today's story. 

My story is originally written in Swedish.