14 Dark Skies

The ladies went up and down around Esther, some cleaning her while others tried to clean the child on her. He wouldn't stop crying and the ladies rushed with everything they did so that both mother and child won't catch an infection along side cold. Esther was brought into a small house, she was dragged in by the ladies her eyes still on the old lady holding her son and she had no strength to scream out because of the pain she was going through after child birth. The old lady stared at the child in her arms before looking out the window, the rain had not stopped, it had intensified with heavy wind blowing the town away. She stared at the strange skies, her eyes narrowed at it's darkness, it was too dark to be called midnight because it was passed midnight yet it was still dark.... very dark!

The room Esther laid in was made warm and her clothes were changed, because they didn't have any clothes for her at the moment, they covered her in blankets. "We will bring in help if need be, lady Norma" one of the women said before the rest took a glance at Esther and the child. " Just call us if you need anything, lady Norma" they said before packing the bloody sheets and dirty clothes away from the room. The old lady came closer to Esther and placed the child beside her, "you will be fine, milady" she said and Esther stared at her blankly, not having the strength to say anything then the once bright room from the burning torches turned dark because Esther saw only darkness. The loud cry of the baby woke lady Norma from sleep, she walked her way into Esther's residing place, Esther was still sleeping! Her brows furrowed and she wanted to smack the hell out of her but she didn't. She touched her feet and her eyes widened, she uncovered her and covered her mouth with her hand. Esther was still bleeding badly and she was cold, the sheets below her was wet with her blood and strangely the baby was not crying again, he laid there kicking his tiny legs. The old lady went to the bathroom hurriedly and came back with a bow of warm water and towels. She cleaned Esther again, praying to the gods that the woman didn't die on her, she was now holding Esther's arms and she shook her continuesly. She was able to bring her into the bathtub and opened the tap on her her, she had to force her hand into Esther's core into her cervix. Esther's eyes shot open and a painful scream followed, feeling the room and she shivered with tears streaming down her face. The bathtub was now dirty red, the old lady kept on pushing out more of the remaining blood, until sh didn't feel any more liquid inside her. She pulled her hand out and Esther's eyes rolled backwards, the pain filling her whole and she cursed herself for having such a bad head from the beginning. She couldn't even close her legs now and the woman was now cleaning her again with a hot towel, she raised her head to look at Esther before she cleaned her forehead with her arm. "It's okay now, am sorry I don't have much for your pain but the healer will be here soon" she said and help her out of the tub, Esther suppressed her painful murmurers but it still came out of her pale lips. She held onto the old lady for support because she had no strength not energy to move her muscles. She had to drag her legs out of the bathroom and she sat on the old chair in the room, whimpering and keeping her head on her lap she just had to do something to distract herself from the immense pain she was feeling nothing actually came in mind though. She bit her lip hard and she shivered, her abdomen was hurting like crazy and she could scream at anyone who annoyed her at that time, was this how it was? Child baring? She asked herself before she heard her child give a small cry, he was awake she thought and a smile formed on her face. "I will feed him with milk since you have no energy to give him" Esther heard the woman say, she was such a gods sent to her. The woman went to out of the room after helping Esther in bed and inspecting her again to see if she was still bleeding, satisfied with what she saw, she went out of the room and Esther wondered why the morning hadn't come yet, it was still very dark. The old lady return with two glasses in her hands, she gave one to Esther to drink and Esther whispered thanks to her. The woman carried the baby and sat on the old looking chair infront of the bed she sent it to the lips of the baby to feed, Esther stared at the woman was she actually feeding a new baby like that, was that even possible? She sat there with her back supported with pillows. She took in the warm water occasionally glancing at the old lady, then she looked out the window, it was still dark. "It is late in the morning, the skies are still dark though" the woman spoke out when she realized that Esther was staring outside. She nodded and didn't say anything, it took a while before the town healer came to give her medicine and Esther only thanked the gods for what ever the old lady gave her to drink,it was of great help. The brown haired man narrowed his eyes at the child sleeping next the mother before he turned to look at the old lady, "this child looks healthy to me, lady Norma....how come he survived the cruel night?" He asked and the old lady sighed, not knowing what to say. The mother and child had suffered and to think of it, where were they heading to at such time? The healer mixed medicine for Esther and made her drink some. She frowned when her glands reacted to the taste of it, what the hell was that! She yelled inwardly but managed to give a smile to the elders in the room, that was the least she could do at the moment. As much as she wanted to throw up she managed to finish the full cup and leaned her head on the wall, taking in deep breaths to calm her nerves. " The luck of the gods is on your side, no woman survived this case in years now and your child...." His voice trailing and he looked at lady Norma. Esther's eyes widened and she looked at them for answers, "is,is my child alright?" She asked with difficulty as she tried to touch the sleeping baby beside her. The child kicked as if telling the mother she was okay and went back to sleep, Esther raised her head to look at the elders in the room. " I think, he looks fine" she reasoned out and they nodded, " that's the strange problem, no child nor mother would have survived in your case" the healer said again and lady Norma glanced at him. " That's enough already, Nico! They were just lucky, the great gods have good plans for them, I believe" she said and gave the healer a pat on his back. He stared at her for a while before he turned to smile at Esther who was busy disturbing the sleep of her young one, she had a big smile on her face while she played with her baby. " I will leave you for now, will be here by evening time to check up on you, don't worry you are in good hands" he said and winked at lady Norma, who glared at him deadly. " Get out of here, Nico!" She shouted playfully and the man left, Esther was curious to know how her child would look if his small eyes were to open. " Leave him be, woman! He needs a lot of rest" lady Norma said before she went to carry the child away from her. She went to the window with the baby in her arms while Esther stared at the old lady's back, lady Norma turned to look at the shocked Esther and said, " if I leave him with you, you won't let him be, so you rest and leave me with my grandchild! What, is he not my grandson?" She asked her in a mocking tone followed by a grin and Esther smiled. " Thank you for everything, lady Norma... I don't know what would have happened to us if not you-" her words cut short by the old lady's maniac laughter, " oh,oh! You would have still survived no matter what, do you still not know why? Lady Norma stared at Esther and she looked serious now. She had heard about the child to bring balance and couldn't believe her eyes, was she really holding him or was it some kind of joke? She asked herself the little proof was the dark skies and what was the reason behind it really....