Chapter 2: Chapter One
''I was afraid something like this might happen,'' her mother whispered while she lightly touched her daughter's arm. The cuts and bruises around her waist made it harder for her to keep her tears at bay.
''We knew this would happen someday, Lisa,'' John said.
She pointed a finger at him with a serious expression, ''Not like this. Look at her!'' she continued and moved her hand back to her daughter's arm. Her eyes trailed John's figure as he moved closer to Arabella's sleeping body. The cuts did not look familiar to his eyes, it is not like any he has seen before.
''Lisa, look at the cuts on her body. Do they look familiar to you?'' Her eyes snapped back to her daughter's waist where the deep gashes littered Arabella's flesh.
''It's not possible John, and you know that,'' she started trying to convince herself, ''It's a myth.''
''That prophecy has been around our people for hundreds of years, Lisa. Everybody knows about it, even humans so why make a big deal about it? It is not like you are going to lose her, she was attacked by an Amarok,'' he spoke.
''Don't you dare say that name again!'' she yelled at John, '' We stopped it seventeen years ago.''
John sighed, he was getting aggravated by Lisa's ignorance, ''Lisa, you know it's hard to stop the Amarok, and it's impossible to stop a prophecy from materializing.''
John could see the heartache through her eyes when he said those last words because she knew he was right, but to accept that he was right was more difficult than she thought.
She looked down at Arabella's body one more time, inspecting the bruises and cuts before her eyes met blue ones, ''What can we do?'' she sighed.
''There's really nothing we can do, Lisa, but we can help her. We can try to prepare her for what is to come.''
''What if we are too late?'' her chair squeaked when she stood up and walked over to John. He grabbed her shoulders and looked in her eyes.
''Well, we will know for sure when the results are in," he said, turning to leave.
"We should've never given her that book," she cursed herself and John's retreating figure.
"It was meant to happen,'' he turned to look at her again, ''It would've happened with or without the book," he said before closing the door, leaving her alone in the hospital room.
She appreciated the quietness of the room; it gave her the opportunity to grasp everything that John said. If he is speaking the truth, she must accept it. There is no other way around it. No matter how hard it might be for her, she had to take care of Arabella. It is the only thing a mother can do for her daughter and she was not about to fail at the one thing she was good at.
The rays of the sun shone through the open windows, seeming peaceful and innocent a total contrast to what she was feeling when she looked at her daughter. She did not wish this upon anyone, the kidnapping of your child. She was missing for three months before she was found near a river. The images of that day still replayed in Lisa's brain. It was not something she wanted to ever see again.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not even hear the door open.
''Miss Johnson,'' the doctor called when he entered the room, ''I have the results,'' he gave her a quick smile and looked down at the file in his hands.
''She suffered a hard blow to the head, meaning memory loss is expected but we won't know for sure until she wakes up."
Tears automatically rolled down her cheeks as she listened to the doctor. That was her baby, and there was nothing she could do to help.
The doctor looked at Lisa, clearing his throat before he continued, "Ma'am, she's four weeks pregnant."
''Oh God,'' her mother cried,'' What do we do?''
''Well as you know ma'am, there are a few options one can consider in this situation. Her first choice is to keep the baby, the second and third being adoption or abortion. Normally we try to avoid abortion but, in this situation, where she will not remember anything and where she has been the possible victim of rape, we tend to remove the problem. Teenagers have a difficult time accepting that they have been the victim of rape and having the rapist's child does not help them, in fact, heavy depression often occurs after a few weeks into their pregnancy.''
A cry escaped her lips as she looked over at Arabella's unmoving body. She wished she could turn back time, just a few months ago when they were on holiday in Hawaii, where they tanned on the beach every day for a week and bonded as a mother and daughter should.
She could not make the biggest decision of Arabella's life. It is her baby, and she has the right to choose. It does not matter how hard it might be to stand on the side and let things happen, but there is no way she can make that decision for Arabella.
''Ma'am, if you made your decision, I will be happy to help. We can finish the procedure before she wakes up. It will be like it never happened,'' he desperately tried to comfort her. He has seen this happen before, around two years ago. They did the procedure before the victim woke up and she was fine after that, still traumatized but she lived through it. She was happy they did the procedure before she woke up because she did not want to be reminded of what happened to her.
Lisa contemplated her choices and Arabella's possible reactions before she looked at the doctor, ''It is not my choice to make, doctor. We can ask her what she wants to do when she wakes up,'' the fake smile she gave the doctor would be the first one of many.
''I respect your wishes ma'am,'' the doctor returned her smile and left with the file in hand.
Lisa waited a while before she looked down at Arabella again. This was the worst day of her life. She was positive that her daughter had enough strength to fight through the coma and wake up again, but whether that would happen now or in her second trimester she did not know.
''Oh Honey, what happened?'' she clutched the white sheets in her hands as she sobbed over her daughter's chest. It was hard enough to sit by her side, and not being able to talk to her. Now she was left with another life in her hands.
She can still remember the time she found out that she was pregnant with Arabella; it was on a holiday. Her parents took her on a special trip for her birthday that year. She kept it a secret from her parents for the whole holiday, scared of what they might think. After a few months, she told her mother and when that went well, she told her dad. It was the hardest decision she has ever had to make, but she had to make it on her own and so must her daughter.
Arabella did not know her Father and neither did Lisa, it was a one-night stand that ended badly. All she could remember was the man's name, Axil, and his gorgeous body. Any woman would fall for a man like that and that is exactly what she did after a few drinks. She swore to never drink another sip of alcohol from that day forth. When things go as wrong as they did, you tend to avoid the thing that caused the problem.
"Lisa?"
"Yes?" she turned to see John standing in the doorway. When she saw John, her eyes teared up because she knew now that he was right all along.
"Did you get the results?" he questioned with big eyes.
She took a deep breath, struggling to keep her throat clean, "She might have memory loss."
He walked closer to Lisa and sat on the stool beside her, "I'm sorry," he whispered to her shaking body.
"She's pregnant, John."
"What?" he yelled, "Are you sure?"
"Yes," John massaged her hand as she cried into his shoulder, he did not mind the stains his shirt will have after a while, she was more important to him than some tear stains.
He hoped he was wrong all along, but the pregnancy proved everything, "that's part of the prophecy."
The sobs wracked through her body as she nodded her head, "I know," she said, "I hoped it wasn't true."
"As did I, Lisa. As did I," he whispered and clutched her hand in his, "We can still help her."
She looked at him with hopeful eyes, "The prophecy states that the beast will take her."
"Not if we keep her away from him. He's not going to be ecstatic about it, but at least we'll know she's safe," he gave her a big hug before standing up.
"Where are you going?"
He stopped and turned around, "To disguise her scent."
There was a shift in the air when she stood up, ''What can I do to help?''
''He's going to come for her because she is with his child. I do not know how much time we have left as it is. Cover her scent in the room. I will be back as soon as I can.''
She nodded her head and watched him turn down the corridor, disappearing in the crowd. When she locked the door, she got her bag and sprawled its contents on the small white table in the corner. She grabbed a variety of substances and mixed it into a syringe, when the potion was complete, she lit a candle and poured the contents into the flame of the candle.
A smell of mint and roses filled the air, completely overpowering Arabella's scent. If the beast is after her, he will stop at nothing to get her and the baby. Lisa hoped that her potion will work, she has not prepared a potion in over a decade and without the proper practice, anything might go wrong.
When everything was done, she went over to Arabella and occupied one of the two chairs next to her bed. That is where she stayed for the next two months, hoping and praying that the coma will not last forever.
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