5 The baby

Today after being done with her shift, she was getting ready to go home, when she was suddenly cornered by two men, who were visibly in a drunken state of mind.

"Hey missy, do you want us to help you get home?"

One of them asked her, also while trying to push Linda into the corner further. Linda could see the weather changing, also with raindrops starting to pour down. She had to think of a way to get out of this situation as soon as possible, or else she might be a prey to these crazy people.

She looked around and saw a rod standing against the wall. She hurriedly grabbed it and held it in a defensive stance as she looked at the men warily. The men just sneered and made their way towards her. It was ridiculous that these men were trying to harass her when she was pregnant. Linda could feel the adrenaline rush within her, her heartbeat rising. She swung the rod weapon in the air as she successfully knocked the men to the ground for a good while. Seeing her chance at escape, she ran away from the scene but was unfortunately trailed by those men again.

'Seems like the rod swing was light. I should have hit them harder.'

Spitting out curses at her, the men chased her in the downpour, until they couldn't see her any longer and that's when Linda stopped and found herself in pain. Then to her rescue, a man helped her.

'Wait, a man helped her. Means she must have delivered by now.'

Linda slowly opened her eyes after about 14 hours of operation. Her eyelashes fluttered lightly as she slowly opened up her eyes. The beep sounds beside her rang in her ears and she was thankful that she took that risk of trusting the man. When she adjusted to the light and environment around her, she turned her head in either direction, looking for her baby. When she couldn't find it, her heart drummed against her chest. She looked everywhere but couldn't find it anywhere. In such an emergency, her fangs were starting to show themselves, when she heard the door click and then followed the voice of a crying baby.

The nurse came in and smiled upon seeing Linda already sitting on the bed. She went up to her and handled the baby carefully to the mother.

"Your baby has been crying for the last 15 minutes. So I thought to bring it to you."

Linda had already had her fangs retracted back when she heard the baby cry. The first baby cry was like something that tugged at her heartstrings. Something started to bloom within her. That protective, caring, loving feeling started to emerge from the depths of her heart. When she saw the baby, she didn't know that her tears were falling until the baby's face was adorned with her teardrops. She carefully cradled the baby in her arms and gave it a soft kiss on the forehead. She turned to the nurse, who was watching the scene unfold with a smiling face and gave her a grateful nod.

The nurse left and Linda's attention was back on her baby. As she adored the bay, the feeling of motherhood intensified with each passing minute. The feeling and that intense want to protect her child took over her and she hugged the baby gently with some more stray tears falling down her cheeks. The baby had already stopped crying the moment it landed in his mother's arms. It was as if he knew that his mother was there for him and that he was no longer in an unknown environment. Its big eyes looked back at his mother and with a toothless grin, it just smiled.

Linda smiled and chuckled when she saw her baby trying to lighten her up. The cute moment was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Linda turned to the door and saw the kind man who had helped her back then. Now that she took a better look at the man, she realized that the man was still in his wet clothing and had a bowl of porridge in his hand.