Page 21 of A Minute Past Midnight

“No. It's impossible.”

Denial.

That was what I was in at the moment. My thoughts traveled back to that one night with Samir.

The heavy thrusts.

The passionate kisses.

The condom breaking right before he pulled out of me.

Both of us were aware that he came on my stomach and realized the condom had broken.

I felt him jerking inside of me before he pulled out, but I thought he pulled out in time.

“It’s possible. We can discuss exactly what you’d like to do moving forward.”

“Shit! Fuck! Dammit!” I yelled, dropping my head in my hands.

This couldn't be.

I didn't have enough money to get an abortion, and I wouldn't dare ask Mya to front me. After knowing her for over two months, she'd already told me she was against abortions one night after the subject had come up about babies.

I had no idea where to find this man other than his nightclub.

“It's going to be okay, Ju. I got your back, sis.”

I didn't speak. My mind was swirling with thoughts about what I should do. I was against abortions too. I couldn't imagine taking an innocent life, but I also had to think about my current situation. I could barely feed myself, and adding another mouth to feed would ruin me.

“I want to do a checkup to check and make sure everything's fine. Is that okay?” Doctor Moore asked.

I nodded.

He left the room for a second and came back with a device. He instructed me to lift my shirt and then poured some cool gel on my stomach. Turning on the device, he placed it on my lower abdomen and moved it around until a loud swooshing sound filled the room.

Tears gathered in my eyes because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I was pregnant with a stranger’s baby.

Mya wiped my tears and held my hand. I appreciated her for being here with me, even though she could have just dropped me off and kept on about her life.

Doctor Moore removed the device and helped me wipe the gel from my stomach.

“Heartbeat’s strong,” he said, removing the device. “Listen. You don't have to make any decisions right now. You're still early in the pregnancy, but there is a small window, so from now until next month, you should have made your decision. For now, I'm going to prescribe you with some prenatal vitamins. Come back to see me in two weeks. If you decide to keep the baby, we’ll move forward with prenatal care. Sounds good?”

I nodded again as he washed his hands and told me to get what I needed from the front desk.

Everything after moved in a blur until we were in Mya’s truck, heading back to my place.

“Are you okay?” Mya asked.

“No. I'm pregnant with a man I barely even know baby. My first time trying to be spontaneous and I get pregnant.”

“Yeah. It's very unfortunate. He must have been in it deep for him to get you knocked up.” My head whipped over to her, and she looked at me with a smile on her face. “I’m talmbout in iiiit!”

“It’s not funny, Mya! I can barely feed myself, and now there's someone else I have to worry about!”

“Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You're right, so do you know his name? Where he lives? Works?”

“His name is Samir . . . Frost, I believe. I don't know where he lives, but⁠—”