Harly

Chapter Twenty-One (Edited 08/2021)

Some would say this should have been an easy decision.

Who would want to keep the child that was created from such a terrible situation?

I sure didn't.

What stopped me from scheduling an appointment as soon as humanly possible to end this before it began was Norman's parents.

After that day at the hospital, I hadn't heard anything else from them. They didn't visit me again, but I couldn't say it made me sad. In fact, I was a little relieved. There was too much going on in this situation to even try to mask my feelings, and they were transparent too.

None of us knew what to do about this. All they know is that their son committed a heinous crime and was then killed by an unknown third party. I had heard people calling the 'third party' a vigilante. Of course, they couldn't know the truth, but this was much worse, I'd think. It labeled Norman the criminal when I, and my family, knew the truth.

The hardest thing I had to do, besides, of course, recover from that night, was look his parents in the eye without telling them the truth.

I had considered it, of course. They had been in Norman's apartment. They knew what he was into. It wouldn't really be hard to tell them that it was all true and he met his end from playing in the darkness for too long.

But I also saw their disbelief in their eyes. And I didn't want there to be religion mixed in with this. Because if I knew anything, I knew God wasn't involved in this. And neither was the devil.

Norman's dad called my cell phone after going through as much of Norman's stuff as they could manage to find my number. It had to be a lot, because when he called me and I answered, he hesitated, like he'd hang up.

The call was entirely unexpected. I could only be grateful they called from their own number instead of Norman's. I don't think I could have handled something like that, seeing his name light up on my phone, opening it to see the little picture at the top of our messages.

Instead, it was blank.

Norman's father asked if he could take me to lunch, his wife unable to even leave the bed, much less go grab food. He said he had something important to talk about, and maybe out of pity, I agreed. I had no idea, however, that it would be something like this.

It was pretty awkward, to tell the truth. I couldn't imagine too many scenarios that would be worse than this, sitting across from your possessed-by-a-demon assaulter's father while you were pregnant with the unfortunate after effect.

He admitted that someone in the hospital gave them a call about the pregnancy. So much for client confidentiality. When I scheduled an appointment later on, I'd be sure to do it elsewhere.

He also admitted the reason he called was to see if there was any way he could talk me into going through with the pregnancy.

"I know that this is probably... The worst possible thing I could ever ask of you." He sighed irritably, running his fingers through his somewhat fading hair. He didn't look great. Of course, I could see why. I bet I didn't look great, either.

I didn't answer him. It really was the worst thing he could ask of me, but I saw where he was coming from. It didn't make it easier, of course, to hear someone ask you to keep the child of assault. It floored me. I went through a series of emotions in one sitting. Anger that, how dare he ask that? Then sympathy. Pity. Confusion. Hurt.

"It's just..." He tried to say, but paused again to think the statement through. "We don't have anything left of Norman." My heart broke along with his voice. The raw emotion there made me forget, momentarily, what was happening with me. There was someone else hurting too, and as sick as it was, I considered that maybe, just for a little while, we could be hurt together.