PART FOUR: THESE THINGS JUST HAPPEN

“Tony, it’s coming.” Sabelle’s breathing was ragged. She was still on the couch, but she sat up, her gaze fixed on him.
“You think it’s time?” He asked feebly.
“I know it’s time.”
It was about midnight at this point, every star in the sky had gone out. Streetlights were the only thing that illuminated the streets. All of the clinics were closed.
Tony paced the room once more, thinking of someone he could...

The last thing that was expected to happen was for the baby to come early.
It was sudden, in the middle of dinner.
Sabelle hasn’t been feeling well for the past week, so she didn’t feel like eating much. Tony had to go as far as to coax her to take another bite of bread, or another spoonful of soup.
Sabelle dutifully obeyed her brother, following his orders. She lifted her fork to her lips feebly, when the pains came...

PART TWO: ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

“I..I can’t have kids. I’m..infertile.”
Tony took a drag from the cigarette he held in between two shaking fingers. He puffed out a ring of smoke, watching them fade in the summer breeze. He stood in that grassy field, nobody was around him for miles.
Along with chaos there was peace, he concluded, but with little certainty.
Sabelle’s sobs from so long ago rang in his head, taunting him.
Jesus Christ, Tony. You’re a...

PART ONE: DISALLIGNED


“Ms. O’Malley, I’m so sorry to have to tell you this.” Doctor Thatcher, a kind old man with only thin wisps of hair left atop his head, smiled at the young woman sympathetically; a look she was all to used to. It never meant anything good.
Sabelle sat on the edge of the exam, the thin paper gown she wore crumpled with each jittery movement she made.
The fifteen year old pushed her chestnut brown locks out...

“I have an announcement to make..” My older brother Alex stood up from his end of the table, holding a crystal glass in his hand.
The rest of my family, along with me, looked up from their dinner plates in curiosity. An “announcement” wasn’t something to go unnoticed in the Blackmon home.
“Briar’s pregnant! She just learned this afternoon!”
It took a lot of willpower for me to keep my jaw from hanging open. Though Alex was older than me...

Adam woke to Sabelle’s screams at three o’clock in the morning.
“No, please! Stop! Stop!” Came the girl’s cries.
“Sabelle!” He threw back his covers and bolted from his bedroom to the living room where the girl lay on the couch, in a fitful slumber. She clawed at the air, fighting off invisible demons that attacked her. Her brow was furrowed in determination.
“Sabelle..” He tapped her gently on the shoulder. “Sabelle..wake up, please, it’s just your Uncle Adam..” It...

 
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The sun was just setting when Sabelle finally came out of her room for dinner. She had shut herself in there the whole day, and just curled up on her bed, recapping the days events, hundreds, maybe thousands of times.
Those Brooklyn streets… 

                  These country skies.. 

Curved lips I just can’t disguise.. 

                                  Woah, Nellie.. 

Her father’s voice rang in her head. 
He had given up what he loved..for no reason specifically. She had looked him up on...

The sun was just setting when Sabelle finally came out of her room for dinner. She had shut herself in there the whole day, and just curled up on her bed, recapping the days events, hundreds, maybe thousands of times.
Those Brooklyn streets…

                  These country skies..

Curved lips I just can’t disguise..

                                  Woah, Nellie..

Her father’s voice rang in her head.
He had given up what he loved..for no reason specifically. She had looked him up on Wikipedia scanning every...

The last thing anyone expected was for Izzy Hamato, who had gone missing for the past six months, to come stumbling down the winding tunnels of New York’s abandoned subway channels, blood spilling with every singular step she took.

Correction: That was the last thing Leonardo expected to see. He had just been sitting on a concrete ledge, thinking quietly to himself. He heard..groans come from down below. Concerned, and understandably perplexed, the turtle teen hopped down from his perch,...