17 Sound of silence

“Good morning, dear. Coffee’s on the table and the eggs are almost done.”

“Good morning. Ah Thank you.”

“Annabelle sure is growing up fast.”

“Yes…”

“Pretty soon she’ll be off to college!”

“About that…I was hoping that maybe she could be home schooled instead…”

“What for?”

“I don’t know that you’ve noticed, but she’s different.”

“

15

13. Future

Layla was finally sent home with the new baby. She stopped crying to herself by this point, it was if the basin of tears had dried. Thomas was very supportive throughout the ordeal. Something that surprised Layla and made her feel ashamed. She felt ashamed that it was only she who had spited her own child. The baby was very complacent. Thomas wanted to name her Annabelle. At the time, Layla was too depressed to think of anything so they settled on Annabelle.

The first few days were rough not because Annabelle was colicky or difficult to care for, but because Layla had a hard time trying to set aside how she felt. She constantly burnt things she was cooking, dropped plates and would absently stare off.

3. Hospital

The rain poured down silently. Everything felt silent. Layla laid quietly in the hospital bed staring at the rain outside with vacant eyes. She remembered a time when she was younger. She was five years old. Her mother told her multiple times to not play in the china cabinet because she might hurt herself. She looked up to her mother. She was beautiful, graceful, and everything a wife and mother should be. She made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies that Layla had ever tasted. The aroma of the cookies wafting through the air was one thing that always reminded Layla of her childhood, which is why she worked so hard to make the perfect cookies. On this particular day, her mother had gone outside to tend to the vegetable garden. She had been playing with her dolls inside when something shiny caught her eye, a colored wine glass glinted in the sunlight…

“Mrs. Johnson?” the young nurse asked tentatively.