1
New Addition
Her blood-curdling scream filled the air, yet the woods behind the mansion was eerily quiet and paid no attention to her desperate cry for help. Tina Sheffield was staring at the thing that had just slid out of her — still attached to the other end of the umbilical cord. She wanted to get up and run out of there as fast as her legs could take her, but her physical connection to the one that shared her DNA prevented her from being able to do so. Furthermore, blood and a watery substance had settled beneath her and between them. She wished she had a pair of scissors, a knife or any sharp tool to cut the fleshy cord and separate herself forever from the newborn with the beaming, green eyes and grotesquely distorted face. She was hyper-ventilating and felt that she was about to lose all sense of consciousness when she heard a dangling of keys near the front door, then the door opening and shutting again.
“Tina, I’m home!” went the voice she was so relieved to hear.
“Trent!” She cried at the top of her lungs still staring at what lay in front of her. “Hurry! Please!”
Holding the plastic bag that contained the large bowl of vanilla ice-cream, Trent came upon a sight on his living room floor that absolutely shocked him.
“Oh my God! What in the world…” He quickly put the bag down and rushed over to Tina.
Tina was drenched in tears. “Get a scissors or a knife quickly, Trent! Cut the cord! Please cut this frigging cord!” She pleaded.
“Okay,” Trent was suddenly feeling nauseous; his mind racing and unearthly thoughts flooding his brain. He ran to the kitchen for a large knife and seconds later, was back.
“Cut it!” Tina demanded.
“Where?” He asked nervously.
“Here!”
Trent’s hand was shaking as he attempted to sever the umbilical cord. He looked away as the thing snapped cleanly in two. Tina backed away hurriedly, still on her buttocks as more liquid gushed from her body with the hasty movement.
“I’ll… I’ll get some towels,” Trent said, rushing upstairs.
Tina sat against the wall shaking violently as if on the verge of a melt-down. The baby had managed to get a thumb near its lips and was now lightly sucking it. Trent returned moments later and took the large towel over to Tina. He helped her as she placed it against her vagina to stop the dripping. He then hurried over to the baby, knelt down beside it and gently picked it up.
“We have to get you to the hospital,” Trent said to Tina.
With her eyes still fixated on the infant, she asked, “What is that?”
Trent grimaced. “Tina, it’s our baby.”
“No!” She protested. “It’s not! It’s not our baby, Trent! How could it be our baby?”
“Tina…”
“What do you mean it’s our baby? Look at it! It’s a monster! Can’t you see?”
Trent was at a loss for words.
“What’re we gonna do with it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I have to go to the hospital, so what’re we gonna do with it?”
“Tina, the baby’s coming with us,” Trent said matter-of-factly.
“Oh no, it’s not.” She shook her head. There was now a strange calmness in her voice. “That thing is not coming anywhere with me. No one’s gonna know that I gave birth to such a hideous, ungodly creature.”
Then suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw that the child had instantaneously and inexplicably assumed full human form. His black hair was pencil straight and his eyes, brown and entrancing.
“Oh my goodness, do you see that?” She asked, as if disbelieving her own eyes.
“Yes, honey. I see our beautiful baby,” Trent replied, realizing that something on the inside of Tina had snapped.
“What’s wrong with me? Am I seeing things?” She asked earnestly.
He was afraid to answer. The baby started to cry.
“Bring him to me,” Tina urged.
Trent carefully handed the child to her.
“He looks just like you, honey.” She held the infant closely. “He has your eyes.”
“He does. Doesn’t he?” Trent smiled.
They gazed lovingly at the child whose arrival they had anxiously awaited. However, not envisioning for a moment that he would arrive into the world on his father’s living room floor.
“We have to get you two to the hospital,” Trent reminded Tina.
“Okay,” she smiled, now accepting of the idea that both mother and baby would be going.
He took the baby and helped Tina up off the floor.
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