The Miracle of Life

''(Note: this pasta is adapted from a different pasta: "New Life" with user Iron Mosquito's permission. He/she is the author of said pasta and "New Life" is available to read on the writer's workshop.) ''



There she was. Sweet Annie. I could hardly believe my eyes. We had responded to a call from the suburbs; a pregnant young lady’s waters had broken right on her doorstep as she was leaving her house. The voice on the other end of the phone sounded familiar, of course, but I never could have anticipated who it would be. I suppose it was just dumb luck that lead us to meet again, or maybe some kind of divine intervention.

The rain was particularly heavy that day. It came down in lashing sheets as me and Harris pulled her writhing body onto the stretcher. A few intrigued bystanders watched from a distance, their eyebrows raised, their mouths slightly agape. Me and Harris were barely even fazed; we had done this type of thing before, of course. You’d be surprised just how common a situation hers was. Harris was always a good paramedic: tidy, worked well with others, knowledgeable yet social too. ‘He’d be good father material himself’, my mind glanced upon as we shuffled to the back of the ambulance. With a quick nod to me, he laid down sweet Annie’s body on the bedding, already beginning to comfort her in that calming way of his.

I ran out onto the wet tarmac, almost darting straight into the path of a battered sedan like a moron. The driver, a fat old man dressed in formal office-wear, begrudgingly held back a honk of his horn, eyeing my medical attire and the flashing sirens screaming across the road. Within a few seconds, I was at the driver’s wheel, Annie’s muffled grunts faintly echoing into the back of my head as I turned the key in the ignition. God, she was beautiful. That smile. Those eyes. That cute little ponytail that waggled as she walked. It almost pained me to hear her in such a state. Almost.

The ambulance was set in motion by the press of my foot on the pedal, and as it rounded corner after corner, barrelling down street after street, I let my mind wander. It just didn’t seem fair that Annie’s baby was to be brought into the world at the hands of strangers at the hospital, people who never even seen her beautiful face, let alone people who knew her. After all her struggles, the 9 months of pain and hardship, what fate would the baby behold? Seized by adoption? Or worse, Annie would choose to raise the child as a single mother, wasting the next 20-or-so years of her life tending to the every need of an unwanted kid. There seemed to be no positive outcome.

And at that moment, I had an epiphany. I would take the burden of raising a child into my own hands.

It was a long drive to our newest destination. Keeping a level head was more difficult than I anticipated, especially as traffic was heavy, and the sirens were on. As Annie’s screams became louder and more violent, I worried that she might squeeze out the offspring prematurely. The thought of Harris delivering such a precious creature sickened me. Even as I heard him calm her bout of suffering, a feeling of immense jealousy stabbed through my soul. Why wasn’t it me tending to her needs, surrounded by the tools of my profession, the handsome prince to her fighting body? Why was I stuck carrying out some second-hand task like a simple-minded plebeian?

Some time passed, and Harris’ growing worry was almost tangible in the air.

“You’ve turned down the wrong street,” he cried out. “We’re heading away from the hospital. There’s not much time. Take us back down Sandy Lane and turn right!”

But I listened not. Besides, he clearly had more important matters to attend to. Excited adrenaline kept my palms firm and steady, my shifting eyes wary of the vehicles that surrounded me. They hurriedly slid out of my way like obedient vermin as the destination grew closer. Beads of sweat dripped down from my forehead like raindrops down the ambulance’s window. My mouth salivated a little, as if the ambulance had been filled with the smoky scent of a sizzling steak.

One by one, the dainty houses and refined office spaces gave way to growing layers of foliage and plant life. The road ahead thinned, fading from city black to country brown. Traffic weakened, and cars quickly switched from plainly-coloured city-crawlers to louder, prouder, more intense quad bikes, trucks, and motorcycles. A small smile creeped up the side of my mouth. There wasn’t much longer to go now.

Harris thumped audibly on the metal wall that separated us in short, frenzied thuds.

“What the fuck are you doing? Have you lost your shit? Turn us around!”

On and on Harris ranted, threatening to get me fired or report me to the police, among other things. I gritted my teeth, wishing I had some sort of distraction. But again, it didn’t matter. I chuckled loudly as I saw our destination rising from below the hills, a half mile away. It was a lonely shack, miles away from any form of civilization, and almost completely concealed by a thick pocket of trees. Half-burnt, half-rotted. It hadn’t been acknowledged or glanced upon for generations, let alone visited. The perfect location. I metaphorically patted myself on the back for finding such a hidden gem.

I could barely contain myself as I pulled into the leaf-strewn path that lead to the shack. Not a single other car was to be seen. My foot carefully pressed on the brake, making sure that the stop was gentle as possible as not to hurt precious Annie. The screeching blare of the sirens finally came to an end. I sunk down a little in my seat, temporarily relieved, yet wary that the situation was not over quite yet. A quick pat of my trouser pocket reassured me that my revolver was still there, awaiting my grasp. It was always something I kept on me, for emergencies. Well, special emergencies.

The ambulance door swung open easily with the kick of my shoe, and the pleasant sound of Annie’s confused voice was just able to be heard as the leaves crunched against my feet. Harris pushed open the back doors, greeting me with a particularly incredulous look.

“What-”

The boom of my gun made me flinch a little, though not as much as I used to. To my amazement, the bullet had fired directly through Harris’ left eye socket, an explosive and greatly satisfying outcome. The back of his skull burst outwards in a terrific firework of blood and brain matter, showering the ambulance wall and Annie along with it. Gone in an instant. Luckily, Annie was unharmed as Harris slumped down the wall. In a strange way, I expected to perhaps feel a pang of sympathy for my colleague of so many years, but alas, there was nothing.

Annie screamed, this time out of pure terror rather than the agony of labour. That had all but been forgotten in the moment. I stepped up to her body, gradually lifting it into my arms. She struggled a little, softly flailing her arms and legs like a newly-born baby. Patches of Harris’ blood were stained on her face and hair, colouring her dress in thin sprinkles. The weight of two human beings were carried in my arms as I stepped back down to the ground.

In the space of a minute, we had reached the shack. The door collapsed with a single push, splintering into musty pieces. Miscellaneous bugs and insects crossed my peripheral vision as I stumbled my way to the bedroom, where a collapsed king-sized bed lay in wait for Annie’s tender body to lie upon. I put her down onto the mattress and breathed a deep sigh of relief. No-one would bother us now.

It didn’t take long to get ready. I squeezed on the rubber gloves and donned the standard procedural surgical mask, but that was all I had on me. I prayed to whatever twisted God above that it wouldn’t become a C-section, otherwise I might’ve had to improvise. With no anaesthetic, of course. Fortunately, that wasn’t how it happened. The time went by remarkably quickly.

Using my forefinger and thumb, the first thing I did was reach into Annie’s vagina and peel back her cervix. The baby’s head was just visible amongst the various fluids. Annie was incredibly tired, close to passing out through exhaustion. I had to hurry.

She was brave throughout the whole ordeal, I’ll give her that. Her face was constantly layered with a thick mixture of sweat, which I did my best to absorb with a wipe from my sleeve. Most of the procedure involved me screaming at her to push, a command that she rarely failed to obey. Rather quickly, I could already see the baby’s pinkish head start to emerge.

As delicately as I could muster, I gripped its head with the tips of my fingers and pulled towards my chest. Annie yelped, her skin turning an almost purplish colour. Two hysterical faces looked at me with crying eyes, and finally, the baby fully emerged. Its soft body waggled in my cradling arms, giving me a joy the likes of which I had never quite experienced. I held my little girl up in my arms.

“Look, Annie. It’s our baby. Our beautiful baby girl. You made it. I’m proud of you, Annie.”

But Annie said nothing. She responded with a mixed expression, both overjoyed at the birth of her child, and terrified as she remembered who I was, thinking back to what had happened nine months ago. I took a moment of reflection too, pondering on how magnificent that night was. Even through all the screaming and pleading me not to, I have a sneaking suspicion she may have enjoyed it somewhat.

Alas, poor Annie could not seem to handle the circumstances. Completely battered, she fell limp off the side of the mattress, her glazed eyes still hanging open even as she perished.

Content, I tore the umbilical cord off with a pull, still cherishing my princess in my arms. I stared deep within her ocean eyes, spotting the same beautiful twinkle I had seen when I first met Annie. It was at that moment I decided that this gift of a daughter was to be named after the very thing that gave her life to bring it into the world.

Annie was reborn.