"Can someone make this pain go away?" A young woman grumbled, her voice sounded hoarse, definitely from having shouted for so long.
"Please ..." Evelyn mumbled under her breath and grunted in discomfort. She was struggling to not yell out in pain. Sweat formed a bead on her forehead and she clenched her fist, tightly. Her other hand was holding tightly onto Victoria's hand, an older woman who had rushed her to the hospital.
"Hang in there, alright. We are almost there." One of the nurses said to Evelyn, gently. Evelyn had been put on a stretcher and they were rushing her into the hospital.
"You can do it." The other nurse chipped in, her voice was comforting but it did nothing to ease Evelyn's pain.
She was in labor and contractions were hitting her in waves. Her water had broken at home, before the ambulance came to take her, yet the water didn't stop flowing from her body all the way to the hospital. The gown she had on was completely drenched, from the water and her sweat.
"Oh my God! Oh ..." Evelyn couldn't take it anymore so she let out a scream. Her lips parted and her chest heaving up and down. Her strength was deteriorating. Even her scream was weak.
"Keep it down, will you!" Victoria snapped at Evelyn, gnashing her teeth. She was Evelyn's stepmother whose patience was wearing out every second as Evelyn grunted and screamed, clutching her hand tightly.
"You have no idea what you are doing to me, do you? Maybe you are even enjoying it, you annoying brat!" Victoria gritted out, more to herself. She had a deep frown on her face as she tried to hang in there as Evelyn held her hand, it was as if she was transferring the pain to her.
"On a norm, it should be your baby daddy here getting his hand crushed by your firm grip, but no, you would rather inflict the pain on me because he is nowhere to be found." Victoria grumbled and huffed in annoyance.
The nurses glanced at each other, wondering why the older woman was being insufferable.
"I can't do this ... I can't ... Arhh!" Evelyn gritted out, totally oblivious to what Victoria was saying as she doubled over in pain. Her eyes were shut tightly and sweat dripped from her forehead to them.
"Shut that mouth before I will be forced to shut it for you, girl." Victoria said, glaring at Evelyn.
"Just what is making her scream this much? Isn't she supposed to have been prepared for this? Is childbirth a surprise now?" Victoria asked rhetorically, her question was directed to no one in particular so the nurses kept quiet, and just focused on their job.
"Help me, please. Have mercy on me." Evelyn suddenly let out a scream and she tightened her grip on Victoria's hand. It was Victoria's turn to scream out in pain then.
"Someone help me before this girl squeeze the life out of me." Victoria yelled dramatically.
"Excuse me ma'am, you should stay here. You can't follow her into the labour room." One of the nurses said to Victoria. By then, they had gotten to the entrance of the labour room.
"Oh, finally. Thank God." Victoria heaved a sigh of relief.
"Can you let go of my hand now?" She snapped at Evelyn, who seemed to be totally out of the world. She couldn't hear a word that was being said to her.
"Can someone tell her to release my hand now?" Victoria yelled at the nurses when Evelyn wasn't doing what she wanted.
"I can do that." One of the nurses stepped in and quickly helped to detach Evelyn's hold on Victoria's hand.
"Uhn, now I can breathe well!" Victoria grunted, stretching her hand, the scowl on her still intact.
"I wasn't the cause of her misfortune. I didn't ask the irresponsible one who impregnated her to abandon her, so why should I have to suffer this much?" She scoffed, talking to herself and pressed her lips into a thin line.
The nurses pushed the stretcher into the room and the door closed behind them.
"What in the world was that display?" One of the nurses whispered to the other, referring to Victoria's attitude.
"I am not sure how that is any of your business. Stop prying into what is none of your business and let's get the woman prepared for labor." The other nurse replied to her colleague, sounding irritated by her nosy attitude. She had never liked that about her. After saying that, she had turned to something else, completely ignoring her nosy colleague.
"There you go again, behaving like miss perfect. You act like you have never ..." The other nurse was whispering back in annoyance in response to what her colleague had said, when her eyes caught something and she stopped talking abruptly.
Blood. It was seeping out from Evelyn's thighs.
"Oh no, my Gosh, she is bleeding." She shouted calling on the attention of her colleague who was arranging some things in the room.
"Check her pulse." The other nurse instructed her colleague in a tone of urgency. With that, they forgot about everything else and sprung into action, giving Evelyn an undivided attention.
"Her pulse is weak. Very weak." The first nurse informed the other.
"Madam, can you hear me? If you can, I need you to keep your eyes opened. I need you to be strong. Stay with me." The second nurse said to Evelyn whose eyes were still kept shut.
"Just Page the doctor right now." The second nurse instructed her colleague while she kept staring at Evelyn's eyes, desperately hoping she would open them.
Slowly and weakly, Evelyn opened her eyes but couldn't keep them open for more than a split second. She was losing consciousness.
"The doctor is on her way." The first nurse quickly informed her colleague.
"We are losing her ..." The second nurse muttered solemnly, as she watched Evelyn struggling to stay awake.