Ella
“I’m sorry Ella.” My physician says gently. “I’m afraid you have very few viable eggs remaining. Frankly, I normally see these numbers in women ten or fifteen years your senior.”
“What?” I murmur, not believing my ears. I’ve been trying to get pregnant for years. I’m only 30, I should have plenty of eggs left.
“In terms of fertility, you have very little time left.” She continues. “If you want to conceive, you need to do so before your next cycle begins.”
“My next cycle?” I repeat, my mouth hanging open in shock. I love kids more than anything, and though it might not be everyone’s ambition, I want nothing more than to be a mother.
I have to get home and tell my boyfriend this news, and there’s not a moment to waste.
I make it home in record time, bursting through the door and opening my mouth to call for Mike, but stopping dead in my tracks. As soon as I walk inside I see a pair of high heels and a handbag by the door – neither of which belong to me.
I cock my ears towards the bedroom, and my stomach churns when I hear the unmistakable sound of moaning, accompanied by a steady thump thump thump, as the bed collides with the wall. Worse even than realizing that Mike is clearly in there with another woman, is realizing who he’s with. I know that handbag, and I know those shoes – they belong to my best friend, Kate.
“Fuck, Ella is so stupid.” Mike laughs, “can you believe she actually expects me to have a baby with her?”
Kate snorts, “she’s delusional. I don’t know how you put up with her for so long in the first place.”
“If she wasn’t so beautiful I never would have given her the time of day.” Mike scoffs. “Thankfully daily doses of plan B kept her from ever conceiving.”
“The morning after pill?” Kate asks, “how did you manage to give it to her without her realizing?”
“I put it in her morning coffee.” Mike chortles, sounding far too proud of himself.
My vision goes completely red as everything finally falls into place. Suddenly it’s clear why I’ve never been able to get pregnant, despite having unprotected sex multiple times a week for years. It’s even clear how I could have the eggs of a 45-year-old, if my despicable partner has been secretly feeding me emergency contraceptives every day – there’s no telling what other damage that might have done to my reproductive system.
Before I can think better of it, I pull the smoke alarm on the wall, wanting to frighten and punish the pair in the bedroom so fiercely that I fear I might attack them when they emerge. Water immediately sprays down from the sprinkler system mounted to the ceiling as a shrill siren fills the air, and I hear Mike and Kate cry out in surprise.
A few moments later they come rushing out of the bedroom, stopping in their tracks when they see me looming in the doorway. Mike’s eyes go comically wide, “What are you doing home so early?” The snake has the nerve to sound affronted that I surprised him, when he’s the one who’s been sneaking around behind my back for God knows how long. He seems to realize how suspicious it looks that he and Kate are standing there in their underwear and quickly adds, “Kate came to see me so we could plan a surprise for your birthday, but then we spilled coffee all over our clothes so we had to change.”