jaded hearts

Going to Blackwood

Freya has been having pregnancy symptoms for a while now, the dizziness, oversleeping, and tiredness initially she thought its the stress of having to deal with the girls tantrums all alone with their house help that was on sick leave for a while and just returned very recently but when she started throwing up, she told her husband about her speculation of having a baby so they went for a pregnancy test, earlier that week.

They were watching a movie cuddling on the sofa that they extended to form a bed, space-saving furniture when a package arrived, Zane stood up to get it and it was from the hospital he took it to his wife and with Freya's fingers crossed and anxious to know the test result she didn't even bother going through the details, the other words in the paper were blurry to her and the only word she could see doing a happy dance is the world positive.

Zane and Freya shouted for the joy they were extremely happy, they were still screaming, they were more than thrilled about the news and the thought of having a little one running around the house in the next nine months when they got distracted by Freya's phone ringing, its a call from an unregistered number

"hello, ma'am can I speak with Freya? Sydney's best friend" the caller whom Freya could tell is a woman from her tiny voice asked.

yes please,e, may I know who am speaking with?"Freya asked politely, trying to catch her breath from all the screaming she and her husband just did.

"I am staff from crystal royal care center, two people were rushed in a few minutes ago they had a car accident with two girls and from the cell phones of the victims recovered at the accident scene, you are on top of Sydney's emergency number apart from her husband Hugo whom we called earlier but found out that his phone is here with us"Freya's body was shaking as the hospital staff spoke that their best friends were involved in an auto crash and they got a hold of their contact from the victim's list of emergency numbers saved with the name best friend so they assumed they are the closest to them, they were invited to identify the two bodies in the mortuary as soon as they can.

"accident?? mortuary??? identification of bodies"Freya repeated like it was some kind of foreign word that she was hearing for the first time.

"what happened what did the person say?? "Zane asked a confused Freya impatiently, it was like she forgot how to speak for a moment, he was still trying to figure out what was going on when he receives a call from crystal hospital and gets informed about the accident, the next thing that comes to his mind was to hurry to the hospital and check the state of things

"I have to go now baby," he said swiftly pecking Freya, the realization dawns on Freya and she pulled him back "you can't go without me, I am coming with you," she told him.

"I will go and be back before you know it I don't want you stressing out because of your condition, I just need to clear the hospital's doubts and I will be back," he said in a pleading tone to Freya

"the are not just your loved ones, they are mine too and I also need to know they are okay"Freya is not always this stern with her husband But for the past few weeks Hugo noticed a change in her behavior...blame it on the pregnancy hormones he thought and sighed. Freya didnt bother changing from the pajamas that she has been wearing around all day, it's a silk pant with a sa spaghetti-strapped top, she just managed to grab her coat on the rack closest to the door before dashing out of the house with her husband following closely being her making sure she is not injured. on their way to the hospital,

Freya kept on staring out of the window barely managing to concentrate on the silent prayer she was doing in her heart, she wanted all this information to be a misconception more like a case of mistaken identity or better still their phones being in the wrong place at the wrong time she couldn't bear to imagine or entertain any evil

thoughts concerning any of the wonderful people that left her house in the afternoon death in the evening.

After a while, they drove into crystal hospitals packing lot Freya couldn't even wait for her husband to pack properly before she spoke to him in a deadpan voice

"release the lock and open this door, I need to get out of this car" it was more like a command and not a request.

Zane knew the kind of person his wife is and arguing with her will only cause more harm than good especially now that she is pregnant so he released the door lock and watched her dash out of the car he made sure she wasn't in view before proceeding to properly park the car he didnt wants any flimsy mistake of hitting his disoriented wife to occur.

Freya made her way to the receptionist and told them about the call she received earlier, she tried explaining herself without confusing her words because if she had to repeat her words she won't tolerate it. the receptionist understood perfectly what she was talking about, she asked her to fill out some official paper, Zane gets there and handles the paperwork while Freya gets directed by an attendant to the mortuary

Freya couldn't believe her eyes, she saw her precious baby lying on one of the stretchers looking so pale and lifeless, there were a few bruises on her face and hands

"baby get up, I have had enough of your mischievous acts today I really cat tolerate it anymore so get up and let's get out of here" she pleaded with her baby while forcefully wiping a tear that stubbornly escaped from her eyes,

she kept on pleading and calling out to aurora but she didnt move an inch, while scanning around the room in her confused state her eyes descended on Hugo at the other side of the room and she quickly rushed over to him.

"Hugo, you're Aurora's godfather and you know how best to convince the girls, if you talk to her she will listen to you so get up please I beg of you don't do this to me am begging you both" she pleaded with Hugo but her pleas landed on deaf ears.

"sweetheart please talk to these two, their prank is overboard already, and am not supposed to stress out in my condition, please tell your best friend to stop "she folds her hands together in front of her head and speaks to Zane in a stern tone, which sounds more like a warning than a request. Zane pulls his wife close and consoles her

"I have lost my princess already,  if something happens to you, my angel I won't be able to live with myself, so please pull yourself together for my sake and that of our unborn child" he pleads. Freya rudely pulls out of Zane's hug and lashes out at him out of anger and pent up frustration

"what are you even saying to me? I should pull myself together? for crying out loud I just lost my baby girl and here you are asking me to pull myself together?" she says like she can't believe her ears

"How can I accept that my baby is gone? I only left her like a few hours ago so what could have gone wrong? God please if I have done anything wrong to deserve this, I will gladly take any punishment but please don't take my baby away from me please"

she broke down crying while Zane pulls her close to comfort her, she wept bitterly till she didn't have the energy to go on anymore, Zane patiently stayed with her rubbing her back in an up and down motion to console her but there is this piercing pain in her heart that she wished could be a terrible nightmare That she could wake up from but that isn't the case because everything that happened is happening.

Freya went on with this attitude for a few days, she was in her world mourning her baby's death she didn't even remember to ask about either Freya or Lexi's whereabout, she didn't even gather enough courage to enter the girl's room

Today she finally enters and when she saw two little beds with the name aurora and Lexi placed on the top of each bed designed with glitters in resting on cloud and a unicorn horn in the middle with the eyes at both ends, and each of their pictures on the wall of their respective beds, it then dawned on her she didn't inquire about her other little girl nor her best friend for the past few days.

"What kind of person am I turning into"she quietly sobbed before dialing Zane's number to inquire about them, she is informed that Sydney has a clot in her brain which made Her lose her memory and they don't know how soon she will recover.

Freya dreads asking about lexis condition because she has been receiving bad news and she doesn't know if she will be able to handle another

"make lexis own an exception please God let her injuries not be life-threatening, I lost one daughter already I won't be able to bear the pain of losing another she silently prayed trying to hold back her tears.

she prepared a few things to bring with her to the hospital for Lexi, she had her hopes up that lexis condition is not lethal otherwise Zane would have preceded his information with it but she still had to see for herself.

Freya got to the hospital and gets directed to lexis room, her already shattered heart broke further into tiny bits on seeing Lexi, tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably, Lexi looks like she hasn't slept properly with the bags underneath her eyes she saw her food untouched more like she is lost in her world of misery that she didn't even notice Freya come In she was just on the bed staring at nothing in particular like a zombie.

The adorable five-year-old girl she knew who was always smiling or throwing tantrums is sitting there like she has forgotten how to smile. she saw that she didn't suffer many physical injuries she broke her arm and has a cast on with a few cuts, she gathered Lexi in her arms Whispering into her ears that it's going to be fine.

After Hugo's and Aurora's burial, Hugo's father William who broke all ties with him came back to Lexi who didn't know him he also saw the state that Sydney is in, she can't remember anyone William suggested to Zane to allow Freya and Lexi go to blackwood for a change of environment, he transferred his mansion in blackwood to them, he knew how his son's death is taking a toll him so he could imagine how Freya and Lexi must be feeling.

Lexi kept on having nightmares and it starts to get worse, she would wake up panting scared and afraid Freya initially assumed that she couldn't get the accident scene out of her mind but when it persisted she took her to visit a psychologist she is informed about lexis post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the accident trauma, they can't cure it but they can manage her condition.

"poor Lexi, she has to deal with this at such a young age," she thought she brought out her phone to put a call through to Zane when she got a call from saying that Sydney jumped off a bridge, they saw her diamond wedding ring and her other stuff lying beside the road, they heard from the crowd that the owner of the staff jumped into the water, they searched but they still can't find her body"Zane spoke painfully

."what are you even saying, how will she jump? she can't jump no no no" Freya said not believing him.

"it's the true baby she left a suicide note at the hospital saying that her baby is in your care since she was told that you are her best friend she said she doesn't have a reason to live anymore" Zane concluded." but she does, Lexi is everything to her...how could she"Freya chocked

she looked at little Lexi and tears stream down her face uncontrollably, this little girl is so attached to her parents so how will she be able to cope without her mom....how will they ever be able to tell her that her mom committed suicide because she felt she has no reason to live again....how am I going to cope with all this Freya sobbed

little Lexi missed her mom terribly but she couldn't ask anybody she was just behaving like a robot that you can tell to do anything and she won't question you before crying out the command...Freya was trying her possible best to bring her out of her chaotic world but it was as if everything she was doing was not working

in her pregnant state, Freya will cry herself to sleep every night,  it was hurting Aurora seeing her godmother like this, but she was also hurting a pain she doubts is ever going to heal from. Freya falls sick due to too much stress despite the condition she was in, and it dawned on Lexi who knew her mom is gone already......she is not dumb she heard them talking about it......she lost one mom already, she can't lose another

Those few days that Freya was weak and on bed rest were challenging for Lexi because while growing up she has never seen Freya like this and as a little girl she knew that they were both in pain....she remembered Zane's words the dead are gone already and they that are alive need to live on.

little by little she started talking, she started opening up to Freya, She started eating and this eased Freya's worries at least little by little Lexi is becoming more like the girl she is used to being around.....when Freya gave birth to a bouncing baby boy she saw Lexi genuinely smile for the first time in a very long time and tears of joy trickled down her cheeks

"looks like we have been given a second chance at happiness.....she looks at the little bundle of joy curled up inside the crib with Lexi barely leaving his side and observing him keenly like a specimen