Thursday, May 8, 2008

Mommy's Little Girl-Chp5

CHAPTER 5: JEALOUSY

After the almost-drowning incident, Isabella was warned by her husband not to go out unless it is really, really important. Isabella tried to occupy herself by knitting clothes and sewing a quilt for the baby. Arlene sat and watched as she did it. Soon she found herself helping Isabella out by knitting tiny socks for Isabella.

“What do you hope this baby will be, Arlene? A boy or a girl?” Isabella asked while she sewed the rose pattern on one of the column of the quilt.

“I hope it would be a boy,” Arlene said, smiling her ever sweet smile. “What do you think, Kitty?”

“A boy too,” Kitty replied, mending his own torn foot.

“That makes 3 against one,” Isabella chuckled. “Your Papa wanted a girl…Oh!”

“What is it, Mama?” Arlene asked, stopping her knitting.

“Your little sibling just kicked. You want to feel it?”

Arlene nodded and went near Isabella’s bulging tummy. The baby kicked again, sending Arlene into all smiles. She stroked Isabella’s tummy and asked, “Mama, will you still love me?”

“Of course I will, silly!” Isabella laughed gingerly as she stroked Arlene’s coffee-coloured hair. “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, Mama. It’s just that you often get upset when I do wrong stuff and…”

“I feel bad about that too. It’s my first time with all these things. I hope you can bear with me, Arlene.”

“I will, Mama,” Arlene kissed Isabella’s cheek and hugged her lovingly.

“You will always be my little girl, no matter what.”

“I love you, Mama.”

Isabella was cleaning up Arlene’s room, taking out most of the toys she had for her. She put them all in a box and hollered for Arlene.

“Arlene! Come and help Mama with this stuff!”

Arlene appeared with Kitty in her arms and was quite surprised to see her toys all stacked up in the box.

“Mama, what are you doing with my toys?”

“I’m going to put them in the nursery room for the baby. I know most of these toys are for girls, but they can still be played with. Your baby sibling won’t really know the difference.”

“Mama, these are my toys. You gave them to me because I’m your little girl,” Arlene tried to protest but was stopped firmly by Isabella.

“Now, Arlene, you have to leave some space for your baby sibling too. Besides, you have Kitty with you and he’s a Super Toy, and Mama’s not taking all of your toys, just some that you might not need. These toys look better when your baby sibling is playing it, OK, sweetie?”

“But…”

“No ‘buts’ and no more arguments, or else I’ll be very unhappy. Is that clear, young lady?”

Arlene nodded without a word as she helped Isabella carry the box of toys into the nursery room. It was the nursery room Isabella and Arlene, with a little help from Paulo, spent days decorating. It was what every baby dreamed of having. The colour of the curtains were soft and soothing to the touch, the cot nicely equipped with an auto-rocking motion, pretty dolls everywhere and a new Super Toy sitting in the cot waiting and ready to be turned on anytime. Arlene looked around the nursery and stood there and watched as Isabella arranged the toys neatly at its places. She saw the look on Isabella’s face as she planned and made everything right. It had those same loving eyes she came to recognize ever since she was activated, but they looked slightly different.

Those eyes were reserved for the baby.

Isabella got up in the middle of the night feeling thirsty. Paulo was working night-shift tonight, so it was only her and Arlene in the house. She moved cautiously out of bed and wore her furry slippers. Winter was quite cold at this time of year—not even the heater was hot enough to counter the cold.

She walked down the stairs. Her very pregnant belly was making her move quite slowly. As she was almost down to her last three steps, she suddenly stepped on something slippery. She lost her grip and slipped, falling heavily onto the floor. Painfully, she tried to get up but gasped in horror when her 6-month-old belly was beginning to twinge in pain. The pain gradually became stronger and more extreme. She began to burst in tears when she saw blood flowing out between her legs.

“Arlene! Arlene, help me! Please help me, oh my God, please! Help me~!!”

Unknown to her, Arlene was just upstairs, sitting out of sight and peeping from the banisters. She just sat there without moving an inch, watching Isabella as she lay on the marble floor, clutching her stomach hard and crying, more blood flowing out of her. She made no attempt to go downstairs to Isabella’s aid or rush to the telephone to call for an ambulance. She just sat there and watched, her aquamarine eyes sparkled like jewels in the night.

“Mama is in trouble. Hurry up and help her,” Kitty urged as he tugged at Arlene’s nightgown.

“Later,” Arlene replied shortly, her face creasing into a tiny smile.

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