The Mistake

Young and naïve the sixteen year old soon to be mother starts to cry. Sitting in a mildew-smelling doctors office, the one her parents don’t know about, she tries to convince herself she is doing the right thing. She tells herself, that her parents would just not understand the predicament she got herself in, they would be unforgiving. Tears flowing down her cheeks her blue eyes look up at Dr. Ewing, an out-spoken white haired old man that only cares about the six hundred corrupt dollars. He tries to make her trust her that this is something that must be done. It is illegal for a girl of her age who just made a bad decision to do what she was about to do. She could have lied, she thought, and made up a story of how a stranger attacked her, the government would never refute that. But if she came clean and tried to go to her parents that she had unprotected sex that was it, there was no turning back. She knew if she told her parents what happened she would have to have the baby, no matter her age and circumstance. She just could not bare the thought of her life ending to become a stay at home mom just trying to make the rent month to month. She thought her dreams of Cornell were gone. All her hard work and all the good decisions she made in her life, just down the drain, for one mistake. It was all or nothing she thought, a baby I don’t know and can’t take care of or my future. She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes and finally agreed she is ready.

Twenty minutes later the doctor ripped off his sticky white gloves and told the nurse it happens all the time. The nurse who just started the week before can not believe her eyes. A young woman with her future right ahead of her lying on the steel table with no life left. Malpractice, maybe, but no matter what happened the doctor can not be held accountable, she signed the waiver. She knew that there was a possibility of something fatal occurring. Dr. Ewing told the nurse to call the emergency contact and try to retrieve the number of her parents, since the girls always put a friend on the waiver.

Natalie’s parents walk in without knowing what to expect. After the details are presented the mother and father start to cry. They try to understand how she could have made this decision without them even knowing. They start yelling at the doctor trying to figure out how he can live with himself after killing an innocent girl who didn’t know any better. He knew for certain girls Natalie’s age are at a high risk for something going wrong during surgery, yet he collects the dirty money with no research of family history or patient’s history. He certainly just collects his lousy six hundred dollars with absolutely no remorse. Straight faced he hands the parents his legal contacts just as if he was handing them a restaurant menu. The parents enraged finally leave and directly contact his attorney.

Months down the road, the case is thrown out due to the fact it clearly shows Natalie’s signature. With nothing more they can do, the parents try to cope the best they can with their loss and take each day as it comes. Lydia, Natalie’s emergency contact, on the other hand still can not overcome her best friend’s death and starts planning her revenge.

A Wednesday night in October, Lydia steals her father’s gun from his night stand. It was typical for families to own a firearm. No laws were ever passed concerning ownership or secure storage of firearms. None the less, dressed in all black she drives down to Dr. Ewing’s office. She knows he usually stays up late to follow up with paper work to ensure the protection of his practice. Her hand that clutches the gun is hidden down in her black coat. She walks in with tears in her eyes. She tells Dr. Ewing a story that she is pregnant and needs not to be. She also reminds him that he helped her friend with this kind of situation. With no care in the world Dr. Ewing hands her the waiver and he begins to take out his date book. As she reaches for the paper, Dr. Ewing notices the silver metal from her jacket and realizes that Lydia was connected to the girl who died on his table about four months ago. He tells the girl he will be right back that he just needs to lock up one door. Lydia nervously fills out the form. Dr. Ewing walks back in the room. She hands the form back to Dr. Ewing as sweat drips down her forehead. As she sighs she says that she would pay half of the cost now. She reaches in her pocket, but before she had time to pull out the gun, he stabs Lydia in the lower abdomen with the same scalpel that killed her best friend. Lydia falls to the floor gasping for air. Dr. Ewing flips her over with his brown suede shoes and stabs her once again to make sure she’s dead. He laughs and says out loud, thank you Lydia for your business.