ONE HUNDRED AND NINE

TWENTY TWO YEARS AGO IN SOUTHRAIN

"Noel, what have you decided? My dad and my step mum will soon realise that I am pregnant. They will chase me away.", the young girl spoke as she fought hard to stop the tears.

"I cannot marry you, Amelia. You know that as much as I do," Noel said. "I have told you over and over again: abort that child!"

Amelia failed to fight the tears anymore. They fell on her hands. Noel slowly winded up the car windows and spoke in annoyance, "crying about it won't help! No one ever got rid of an unwanted child by crying over it!"

"Unwanted, you say? But I do want the child!" she protested.

"And I don't! You have just been laid off work; and you have no money! Who will help you to raise the child? I'm honestly getting tired of this! I can drive you to the woman now; today!! Shall we go?" Noel asked and without waiting for her to respond, he started the car. They drove in silence, save for the sniffling coming from Amelia.

Finally the car stopped near an old house. Noel got down and pulled Amelia out.

"This is the only way, Amelia. This is the easiest way out of this mess. You will thank me later."

"Is...is abortion legal?" Amelia stammered.

"Who cares?" Noel spoke while he dragged her. He knocked at the door and a young lady opened the door.

"Is she here?" Noel asked.

"Yes, come in"; the young lady moved to give them way, and Noel entered while puling Amelia. They walked down a long corridor until they were standing in front of a brown door. Noel knocked, pushed the door open and entered. It was a very dark room. It could show that initially, the room had windows like any other normal rooms; but in the place of the windows were placed some old asbestos sheets. They were nailed to the walls and on the base, supported by old broken bricks.

"She finally agreed?", a woman spoke as she stood up from a dim corner.

"Yes. Please do the work." Noel spoke and left the room.

The woman smiled at Amelia. "Lie on the bed. It's a bit painful, but it is not too bad. How far along are you?"

"Umm…seven..I mean eight weeks." Amelia was gravely terrified.

"Umm, OK. You can lie on this bed", the woman started to put on some gloves.

Amelia sat on the bed and looked at the woman.

"Remove all your clothes. Lie down," the woman instructed.

"Please, please I beg you. I want to keep the child! I don't want to do this!" the young woman cried out.

The older woman stopped and looked shocked. "Oh, I thought you had agreed to this? Should I call Noel in?"

"No, no please don't! Is there no way you can just lie to him and say you have done the procedure, and let me walk free? Please?" Amelia was about to start crying.

"Umm, how old are you?"

"Seventeen. Actually I am turning seventeen next month on the sixth." Amelia stated.

The woman slowly pulled off one of her gloves and walked towards the corner of the room. She picked a dirty glass and poured some water, which she handed over to Amelia.

"What is it? Is it the…the pill…I mean the thing that will cause the abortion?" Amelia was in a panic.

"It's plain water. To calm you down." The woman smiled.

Amelia drank all the water in two huge gulps, and she handed over the glass to the older woman.

"If I do what you're requesting of me, it will cost you. I have done it before, but you have to pay. I have fake blood with me here, and I can smear some on you and make it appear like we aborted the child. But my worry is, will you be able to stay away from him, so that he never knows that you kept the child? And more importantly, will you manage my charges?"

Amelia leapt to her feet with hope, and said, "I have a bit of money that I have been saving. I can give all of it to you! if it's not enough, then I will work very hard and pay you monthly until I clear my debt."

The woman kept her gaze fixed on Amelia. She pulled many curtains which completely covered the small bed. The room became even dimmer, and the woman brought forward a small sealed bucket. She placed it on the bed next to Amelia, before she brought a huge plastic paper.

"Lie down, I will apply a few things on your face. We need your eyes to swell a bit, and you must look sad, of course."

Amelia lay down hesitantly. "What are you going to put in my eyes?"

The woman laughed. "You're very scared. I have done this many times before. Trust the process."

Amelia was hesitant but she followed the instructions. The older woman took off the remaining glove and took a bit of some colorless gel. She rubbed it frantically in her hands before applying it with force on to Amelia's face. The smell was bad; Amelia hated it. She sneezed twice, but the older woman paid no attention to the sneezes. She continued to forcefully apply the gel, and Amelia started to feel slight itching on her face.

"It won't harm your skin. It's just to make you swollen a bit. It's just for the man to believe that we did it. It's not like women have swollen faces after an abortion; they don't. But now, since we're trying to hide something, I find it proper that we go the extra mile," the woman smiled.

Amelia lay still on the bed and did not respond.

"Just sleep there. I can let you go after more than an hour, or even two hours. He must believe that we're aborting", she stated without emotion.

She walked back to the corner of the room and started working on something. Amelia was amazed at how the woman spoke about abortion without even wincing. It was as if she was just talking about the most common subject; yet in Lakeworld, abortion was not legal at that time.

The woman came back to the bed after almost an hour. Amelia was already falling asleep. The woman yanked Amelia's skirt up and picked the small bucket. She roughly opened it and some thick red liquid splashed out. It was the fake blood.

She dipped her bare hand into the red liquid and smeared it on Amelia's inner thighs. She splattered some on her skirt, and some drops on her feet. Amelia had expected the fake blood to have a foul smell; but there was no smell to it.

The woman quickly washed her hands in a bowl, and ordered Amelia to stand up.

"Bend down, try and walk as if you are in pain", she demonstrated the walk to Amelia.

Amelia walked slowly, copying the step.

"You need a frown on your face. Face the floor and look sad."

Amelia did as instructed. The older woman led the way out, and Amelia followed. When they were approaching the lounge, the older woman held Amelia by the elbow, and led her on slowly.

Amelia raised her tearful eyes and stared at Noel. In a quivering voice she spoke, "I don't ever want to see you again!"

Not knowing what to do, Noel sprang to his feet and looked at Amelia's bloody skirt. He was wearing a yellow shirt and a t-shirt inside of his shirt. Instinctively he unbuttoned his shirt and brought it to Amelia. He tied it around her waist, to cover the blood on her skirt.

"Let me take you home," Noel offered in a shameful voice.

"No. I want nothing to do with you", Amelia resisted. "I need to be alone."

"I can hire a cab for you. Please Amelia, let me do something for you."

"No", Amelia refused to give in.

"Please Amelia. I know you don't want me anymore, but for the sake of my conscience, allow me to help you one last time. You are in pain. You need my help."

"I said no!" Amelia said with finality.