The Shadows in the Hills: Triple Threat

Chapter Eleven

I was hardly surprised by my little girl's arrival. Brodie had made it clear that it was a possibility. She was tiny compared to her brother. I couldn't help but see the comparison. She looked much more like me. I wondered if that was what we had looked like together as infants. I knew Brodie would have been considerably bigger than me, given the age gap. It still left me a bit more than uncomfortable that the three of us had been raised together, even for a short time.

It was odd looking at the two of them lying on my chest. The size difference was ridiculous. I looked at Jackson, but he didn't seem remotely concerned. The birth of my little girl had gone much more how I had expected than her brother had been. It was like he was too big for my body to handle. I felt better just knowing it was all over, even though the pains were still lurking around.

We hadn't managed to get much in the way of baby bits. It was difficult when my pregnancy had been so short. Jackson had made a crib, but with the two of them, it would be a tight squeeze. I was starting to feel like I was going to nod off and I was convinced I was going to fall asleep and drop one or both of them. "Can you get the crib? I'm exhausted."

"Of course." He scarpered off, but I spotted Mikkel giving me an odd look as Jackson departed.

"What's wrong?"

"Your contractions are still too strong."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm pretty sure you've got another one on the way." The fear was unreal. He had to be wrong. I couldn't do it again. I had nothing left. Then, the fear that it could be another large baby, I had no chance. My body was too damaged already. I just prayed he was wrong. Jackson approached and looked from one of us to the other. He must have known something was wrong from the look on my face. He always managed to read me so easily.

"Mikkel thinks we might be expecting triplets rather than twins." My voice was much calmer than I felt. It felt like my whole body was going rigid at the thought. I tried my best to convince myself that it could be another small baby. That it wasn't more than my body could handle. The Goddess had blessed me with so much, I had to believe that I was meant to survive. That I wouldn't surrender to the lure of death.

"Is that a problem?"

"Of course it's a problem! It's alright for you standing there." My temper was raging at the mere suggestion that it wasn't a problem. "I can't. I just can't."

"Esme, you need to calm down."

"I CAN'T!" Mikkel was only trying to help, but I didn't care. They were all part of the problem. None of them understood, and I wanted my mother more than ever. I could feel the contractions increasing and all it did was confirm that Mikkel was right. My whole body was shaking. I had no control over anything as I kicked out. I seemed to no longer even be in my body. Floating above like some sort of ghost, but with all the pain still ripping through me.

Watching on as Mikkel tried to examine me. He didn't get very far before he got a foot in his face and fell backwards onto the floor. I withered and screamed on that awful sage sofa as though my body was no longer my own. I could feel every second of the baby trying to force their way out of me like some sort of creature from hell. The scene looked like something from a horror film. The colour had drained out of me completely. I was tensing so much that I thought I would end up breaking my own bones.

"We need to do something to calm her down." Mikkel seemed completely lost as to what he was meant to do with me. Jackson just turned and left. I could hear him banging around in the kitchen. I wanted to beg for them to stop it all, but my jaw was too tense for me to even speak.

"We need to get this inside her."

"I don't think a cup of tea will do it."

"This one will." Jackson handed the cup to Mikkel, and I felt as his thumbs squeezed into either side of my mouth at the back of my jaw. Jackson was grunting from the force he was having to apply, but the rest of my body was in too much pain for me to feel anything. "Pour it."

"It's too hot. It will burn, not to mention choke her."

"Just do it, now. NOW!" Mikkel did as he was bid, but I still didn't feel anything. As I smelt the lavender, I tried to focus on it, closing my eyes to the world and clinging to the tiny scent as though my life depended on it. I supposed it did. Everyone seemed to be out of ideas, and I had no control at all. I was sure my end was coming for me. Everything around me seemed to be disappearing. Jackson and Mikkel were talking, but I couldn't make out their words as I went down the rabbit hole. It felt like I was being forcibly sucked into the earth. Trying to open my eyes, but finding them, like everything else, not to work anymore.