The Reluctant Mother

Darlene threw up for the third time that morning. This was the fourth day in a row that she'd woken up nauseated and it was starting to make her extremely nervous.

She hadn't thought much of it at first, but after reviewing her calendar, she realized she hadn't had her period in almost two months.

"Shit!"

She picked up the phone and called her OB/GYN to make an appointment. She hoped to the gods she wasn't pregnant, she had just left her husband of ten years when she'd caught him in bed with her mother. The memory of that moment caused another wave of nausea and she just barely made it to the toilet in time.

"Yes, I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. Carver...That's fine...No, I need a pregnancy test...Thanks, tomorrow at nine is fine." After hanging up the phone she sat down at the kitchen table and looked through the day's mail.

"Bills, bills, bills," she griped. "I can't afford a fucking kid!"

* * * * *

The following morning, she waited anxiously for the test results to come back. Finally, just when she was ready to start bitching at the nurses, the doctor came out to the waiting room.

"Congratulations, Darlene. You're going to be a mother."

Darlene fainted.

* * * * *

The next seven months seemed to crawl by for Darlene. She didn't believe in abortion, and she was still not sure about adoption either. When she began to feel the contractions, she felt a mixture of relief and trepidation.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered to the baby within her. "I don't really want you, but will I regret it if I give you away?"

Her labor lasted nearly 30 hours, but at last the moment arrived.

"Push, Darlene! I can see the head," Dr. Carver urged.
"I can't push anymore! It hurts!"
"Yes you can, one more! Come on, Darlene."

Darlene screamed in pain as she gave one final push.

Silence.

"Oh my god," Dr. Carver was pale.
"What is it, what's wrong with my baby?" Darlene sat up, trying to see and gasped. The doctor was holding a misshapen form in her hands. It was about 20 inches long and weighed approximately eight pounds, like a normal baby, but it was a strange grey color and had abnormally large eyes.

"What is it?" Darlene whispered, fearfully.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was an alien."

A loud noise in the hallway caused them all to turn and look toward the door. Men in black suits burst in.

"Hey! You can't be in here!" Dr. Carver shouted.

The men ignored her. One of them grabbed the baby and the strange men raced back out the door.

"What the hell is going on here?" Darlene cried.
"I'm sorry, we'll have to quarantine this area," another man, dressed completely in black like the others, was standing in the doorway.
"Who are you?"

He ignored her and left the room. A few seconds later they heard pounding. The doctor tried to open the door and found that it had been boarded shut.

"Oh my God, they're going to let us die in here."

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