Lore [1/???]
Added 2024-10-31 21:34:04 +0000 UTC
Kimberly sits in the corner of the room and stares at the bassinet. Stares at the white frills and the yellow bow on the side. Stares at the eyelet pattern and how it reminds her of being a child and dressing up for summer picnics with her mom and sibling in a white floaty smock and a matching sunhat.
Something unfamiliar rises in her throat. A hand unconsciously goes to her belly even though it's surprisingly flat now. The baby is in that bassinet, not her womb, and yet...
She can't connect to the baby.
Her daughter.
...And his daughter.
She shivers a little at the thought. At the memory. At how it all went wrong because she was too fucking stupid to see the writing on the wall.
At another memory - this one of his blood spattered across the pale bark of a pine tree.
The baby begins to make snuffling sounds in the bassinet.
Kimberly freezes, horror spiking through her. No. No, no, no, she can't do this. She can't be here. She can't be the person this child relies on.
This child she never wanted.
This child that only one woman ever wanted.
Kimberly tries to swallow past the lump in her throat. She keeps seeing that smile that Kimberly has always wanted from her mother but never got.
That smile that told her she was loved. That she was special. That she had a purpose.
The baby begins to cry. Kimberly can't move.
The baby begins to wail.
Kimberly begins to cry, shaking, curling in on herself. No, no, no...
Maria enters the room and gently picks up the baby, cooing and offering a bottle. She sings a soft, lilting lullaby that Kimberly doesn't recognize.
And then Maria leaves the room with the baby and doesn't spare a glance at Kimberly.
Kimberly is torn between anger and relief.
At least Maria will protect the baby.
Maria won't let her get to the baby.
She won't let πβ₯πͺΜΈπΊβ₯ get to the baby, either.
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