Baby

A very VERY short story that I wrote for Vocabulary two years ago. I didn't even edit it, I'm just too darn tired. :) Hope you enjoy!

Miranda listened eagerly to her husband pulling their van into the driveway. Elated, she ran into his loving arms, feeling his soft caress on the back of her neck.

     “He’s almost here, Ben,” she whispered.

     After two years of vain attempts, the couple had finally received their only wish: a baby boy. Unfortunately, Ben had been called away on some important business and had only just arrived home. 
     “Come on, Miranda,” Ben mused. “Let’s go get some things for the baby’s room.”

     The percussion of the rattling exhaust pipe on the couple’s run-down van was the music of love to Miranda. Murmuring to her soon-to-be-born son, she leaned trustingly on her husband’s firm shoulder.

     “This is heaven,” she told herself. “This is how it should be.”
 Suddenly, her heart stopped as her dream was contorted into a nightmare.

     A relentless force rammed into the car on the passenger side, crumpling the thick metal like rice paper. Through flashes of blinding light, the mother screamed as excerpts from her biggest fears became reality: blood on the dashboard, a dark tree branch protruding through the shattered widow, an unmoving husband, and, worst of all, a heart-stopping dent in her overloaded belly. Stricken by fear and pain, Miranda collapsed into the back of her seat.

     Blinking away grogginess, Miranda groaned as her vision swirled. Squinting at her surroundings, she put together a pair of steel beds, exorbitantly bright lights, a woman clad in white...

     Miranda froze. “Jesus help me,” she whispered.

     Gathering all her strength, she pulled herself into a sitting position on the hospital bed. “Excuse me, where is my husband?” she croaked.

     The hospital nurse, slightly startled at the sudden noise, gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, miss, he’s in Emergency Care. Four of his ribs are broken, and his left lung was permeated by a bone sliver. He’ll be fine,” she assured Miranda.

     The young woman fell back onto her bed’s headboard, wincing as her skull hit a metal bar.

     “Careful, miss,” the nurse warned. Miranda shut her eyes, wishing the pain, on the inside and outside, would stop.

     Suddenly, after what seemed to be years, Miranda's eyes flew open. She sat straight up, ignoring the nurse’s grimace.

     “What about my son?” she demanded. “He was due any day now.”

     The nurse lowered her eyes from the mother’s searching gaze, obviously trying to defer answering.

     “I’m - I’m so sorry, miss. From what we’ve surmised...” She trailed off sadly.

     Miranda choked back a desperate sob. “No. No, it can’t…it's not…”

    The nurse turned away. As she did, the would-be mother's attention was caught by a brochure that had been dragged to the floor by the nurse’s commodious hospital robes. Reaching over the steel, low, horizontal bars that kept her in bed, Miranda grasped the paper and read through teary eyes:

     ‘My name is Lisa. My parents were killed in a car crash, and my six younger siblings and I were left to care for ourselves. I am seven years old, and WorldView is trying to help me find a home...'