The First Lock - 5. Chapter 5

- V -

Katrena stared at her reflection in the mirror, patiently waiting for those damn lines to finally show. “Here we go again...” she thought. If this test was negative, then everything she had done was done for nothing. She closed her eyes when she realized that she was stuck in this world now; hopelessly stuck with absolutely no hope of ever returning to Jett. She couldn’t figure out what she was feeling right now. It was some crazy mix of hope and... Well, another hope. Two different hopes. On one hand, she hoped that she was not pregnant; that she was not going to end up with that monkey on her back (“Oh my God, what if it’s going to be twins?!”). On the other hand, she feverishly hoped that she was pregnant, and that her hasty departure wasn’t indeed done for nothing.

Finally, she made herself look at the white plastic stick. She found it funny that the damn things looked almost the same here as they did in her world. There weren’t too many differences around here. Well, that’s what she thought now anyway. She will probably find more later on. The word ‘husband’ apparently meant ‘mate.’ ‘Police’ was the word they used for militia. She wondered briefly if there was a different word for the female version of ‘mate.’ Then she looked at the test, and words became the least of her worries.

Two. Blue. Lines.

She felt tears crawling down her cheeks and she couldn’t tell why she was crying. She couldn’t tell if it was relief she experienced right now, or desperation, or fear, or an enormous sense of loss... Maybe it was everything combined. She stood still for almost fifteen minutes, blindly staring at the plastic stick. Finally, Mandy knocked on the door and carefully asked if she was all right. Katrena slowly opened the door, and Mandy threw a quick glance at the test that Katrena was holding in her hands. Without saying anything, she wrapped her arms around the girl, and Katrena, who never showed any sign of weakness to anyone (including Jett) before, dropped her face into Mandy’s shoulder and started crying for real.

****

“Well,” Mandy said forty-five or so minutes later when they were sitting in a small restaurant, waiting for their food to arrive. “We will need to get you to a doctor...”

Katrena winced. She was never too fond of the doctors; hospitals and such always gave her the creeps. Mandy nodded, as if understanding her reaction.

“It’s necessary,” she said. “We will also need to figure out how to get your Social Security number and stuff like that...” she frowned thoughtfully, and Katrena just blinked.

“Social security?” she thought dumbfoundedly. “What the hell is that?”

Finally, she figured that it was probably some sort of a number they assigned you when you were born; this way it made it easier to keep a track of you.

“What about your last name?” Mandy asked meanwhile.

Katrena tried figuring this one out herself. She told Mandy she didn’t know her last name, which of course, was a lie. She lied about the last name automatically, without even thinking about it. Her actual last name was Rowel. She didn’t like it much, since it always felt to her it missed another ‘l’ at the end. Somehow, she felt that it should be spelled Rowell, therefore, she thought of her last name as of a ‘broken’ one. She glanced up at the waiter who brought their food.

“Food here is good,” she thought while digging into her mashed potatoes several minutes later. “Coffee was good as well... I guess this place could be tolerable enough...” Yeah, it could be if not for one single thing it lacked.

“Jett...” she muttered, and Mandy glanced at her in surprise.

“Jett...?” she repeated, and Katrena blinked when she realized that she said it out loud. “Is that your last name?”

Katrena stared at her for a full minute.

“Yeah,” she muttered finally. “Yeah... My last name is... Jett,” she finished in a softer voice.

“Stuff is coming back, huh,” Mandy said in such tone of voice that Katrena slightly frowned. She sounded as if she was saying ‘I don’t know if you are lying through your teeth or if you are telling the truth.’

“Somewhat,” Katrena nodded calmly. “Bits and pieces... It’s like trying to drive in the very thick fog, you know...”

“You know how to drive then?” Mandy glanced at her.

“I think so,” Katrena frowned and stuck her fork into a fat mushroom that was trapped in her potatoes. “Yeah,” she nodded. “I think so...”

“We could go for a test-drive tonight,” Mandy said, thinking that there was no way in hell she was going to let this girl drive through the traffic jam, which they were about to experience on the way to the twins’ school. Hell, Mandy thought, maybe she is not faking after all. She looked pretty convincing. Not like Mandy had a lot of experience when it came to amnesia (soap operas don’t count), in fact she had never met anyone with that particular condition, but Katrena sure looked convincing.

“Sure...” Katrena nodded, finishing the rest of her mashed potatoes. “Sounds interesting...”

“Want more?” Mandy smiled when she saw the girl all but lick her plate. “You are eating for two now,” she added slyly, and Katrena winced.

“Or maybe for three,” she thought, and closed her eyes in desperation.

“What if it’s twins?” she asked numbly, and Mandy snorted at that.

“That’s why we need to get you to a doctor,” she said. “You don’t show at all, so I’d say, you are in your first trimester.”

“Yup,” Katrena thought melancholically. “First one, that’s for sure...” but she didn’t say anything out loud.

“We’ll take care of that tomorrow as well,” Mandy was saying meanwhile.

She was saying something else, but Katrena didn’t listen to her. Instead, she was wondering how in the world was this even possible? “I mean,” she thought. “I am a perfect stranger to her; she had never met me before; I might be some psycho for all she knows... And yet, she took me to her house; she is feeding me; she is willing to let me stay with her... I wonder if that’s how everyone in this world is... Or is it just her? Well, whatever the case might be, I’ll have to figure out a way to pay her back...”

She also couldn’t help but think that if she wouldn’t go through with Locking herself, everything would be quite different right now; a kind woman or not, Mandy would pay for her inviting gesture in full, and not in a good way. Katrena missed her abilities, but at the same time, she was relieved she couldn’t access them anymore. She knew that she would end up hurting (and maybe killing) this woman who was chattering about doctors right now; she would’ve done so back on that road when Mandy almost hit her with the car. Katrena wouldn't care in the slightest that it was clearly an accident. Mandy scared the shit out of her, and if Katrena happened to have her abilities right then... She briefly closed her eyes and firmly told herself to stop thinking about that.

“...more food?” Mandy finished, and Katrena opened her eyes.

“No, thank you,” she said, figuring that Mandy was asking if she wanted more food. “I am good.”

She wouldn’t mind more, to be honest, but she decided against that.

“Okay,” Mandy nodded. “I am going to get dessert then. What do you want?”

“Ummm...” Katrena said and frowned.

“What is it?” Mandy glanced at her above the dessert menu.

“Ummm...” Katrena said again. “I think... Shit!!”

She jumped up, almost knocking her coffee mug off the table and raced to the bathroom. Thankfully, she made it there just in time. She folded in half, hovering above the toilet, and then she threw up everything she ate twenty minutes ago.

“Son of a bitch...” she whispered when her stomach stopped convulsing. “Son of a bitch...”

If she had any doubts about her being pregnant for real, she had none whatsoever now. She had never threw up for no reason before, and she was positive that the food she ate was just fine. Food had nothing to do with this; it was that damn monkey.

“Son of a bitch...” she muttered again, and made her way to the sink.

She washed her face, and swirled water in her mouth until the taste of bile was almost gone. Finally, she turned off the faucets and shuffled out of the bathroom.

“You okay?” Mandy looked at her with concerned frown.

“I need a mint or something,” Katrena grimaced.

“Want some of my sundae?” Mandy asked, and when Katrena looked at the said sundae (“Whipped cream... Oh, dear God... All that whipped cream...”), she moaned:

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me...” and raced towards the bathroom again.

****

“How you feeling?” Mandy asked almost an hour later when they were sitting in the car, waiting for the twins to arrive.

“Ugh,” was all Katrena said.

“Yeah,” Mandy agreed with her. “It’ll get better by the fifth month or so...”

Katrena stared at her with badly hidden horror.

“Fifth month...?” she repeated weakly. “Fifth month?!”

“I know,” Mandy nodded. “You are also going to get weird food cravings, heartburn, swollen feet... You are going to lose control of your bladder...” she sighed. “Man, I do not miss that, believe me...”

“Oh, God...” Katrena buried her face in her hands.

“But the nausea should be almost gone by the fifth month,” Mandy said in what she hoped was reassuring voice, wisely deciding not to mention the fact that for some people nausea was a constant companion throughout all nine months. “Do you want a girl or a boy?”

Katrena put her hands down and stared at her once again.

“I don’t care,” she said finally in a colorless voice. “I don’t give a damn; it’s a monkey,” she finished silently, deciding not to say it aloud.

“Okay,” Mandy nodded. “Oh, there they are!”

Katrena watched the identical twins bounce towards the car, and she did her best to stop herself from cringing. Next nine months are going to be hell, she thought gloomily. Next seventeen or so years after that are going to be even worse.