the girl in her dreams
The woman hadn’t intended to become a mother. Then life grew inside of her, and she could not imagine being anything else.
They said it wasn’t viable, and they cut it from her. But something must have remained.
The girl is in her dreams, nearly every night, growing as a child would. She is gaunt and frightened looking, but her eyes betray an inner fire. It is the same fire that used to burn in the woman.
They change her prescription, and the girl disappears.
Dreamless years go by. And then one night, the girl reappears a young woman. She reaches out. And screams.