Bitten at My Prenatal Checkup, I'm Giving Up the Baby and Him

On my way to a prenatal checkup, I was bitten by a rabid dog, so I went to Kingsport Hospital to get a rabies shot.

But Sara Delgado, his childhood friend, mocked me and turned me away.

You have no common sense! There hasn't been a rabies case in Kingsport in years.

The overuse of rabies vaccines is exactly because of ignorant people like you!

I clutched my thigh, blood still streaming from the wound, and asked her again and again to give me the rabies shot.

She cursed at me coldly.

"You're the doctor, or am I the doctor?!"

"If you want to play weak, go home and do it there!"

Frowning, I dialed Luther's number.

I thought he would take my side.

Instead, he was cold and stern.

"Sara's right."

"Kingsport has had zero rabies cases for ten years running. There really is no need for a rabies shot."

I gripped my phone, and the warmth in my chest slowly drained away.

A week ago, Sara was bitten by her family's little dog, just breaking the skin.

He went out in the middle of the night and called his colleague on duty.

Within an hour, Sara had gotten an imported rabies vaccine.

For me, all that was left was cold data.

I could get the rabies shot at another hospital, but the child and himI didn't want them anymore.

Section 1

"Aileen, stop making a scene and wasting Sara's time!"

"She's a doctor. She has a lot of patients to save. She doesn't have time to mess around with you!"

Luther's cold, impatient voice came through the phone.

My thigh, where the rabid dog had bitten me, throbbed with a stabbing pain.

I bit my lip, about to speak.

But the call was hung up.

My heart went cold and trembling as I hurried to another hospital.

The wound on my thigh had already clotted.

The nurse took out alcohol to clean it, her brow furrowed tight.

"Why are you only coming in now?"

"This is Level 3 exposure, the most dangerous kind. You need a rabies shot and immunoglobulin right away."

"Even if you don't take your own body seriously, you should think about the baby in your belly!"

The alcohol kept reacting with the wound.

The pain made me break out in a cold sweat.

"The babyI don't plan to keep it."

I forced the words out of my throat.

I used my phone to book a miscarriage procedure.

The moment I finished registering.

Luther called.

"Aileen, where did you go?"

"I didn't see you at your prenatal checkup."

There was a trace of urgency under his cold tone.

Just as I was about to speak, Sara's excited voice suddenly came through the phone.

"Luther, I've found a new, rare infectious disease case!"

"Come here quick!"

On the phone, that familiar silence fell.

"Aileen, let's talk when we get home."

"I looked at your last checkup results. You're a little anemic, but everything else is fine."

"Missing one prenatal checkup won't be a big deal."

The call was hung up in a hurry.

My phone refreshed to Sara's social media post.

My favorite childhood friend and comrade-in-arms right by my sideanother night devoted to medicine!

In the photo, she was making a heart shape at Luther's back.

Someone teased in the comments.

How many times is this now that he's devoted himself to medicine? And his wife isn't even jealous?

Won't the two of you end up sleeping on the little lab cot together again tonight?

Sara had just liked that comment.

I turned off my phone, and heard the nurse quietly remind me.

"You've had your immunoglobulin. You're pregnant and heavier, so you need six vials."

Six vials of fluid, all injected into the wound.

Where I'd been bitten, my thigh was swollen, hot, and red.

I pushed through the pain and walked out of the hospital observation room. Rain was drizzling down.

There was no way to get a cab.

After standing at the hospital entrance for more than ten minutes, I felt feverish and weak all over.

Hesitating a few seconds, I called Luther again and sent a text.

But it all sank like a stone into the sea.

When I got home, I was soaked through.

Dripping wet, I pushed open the door, only to find Sara wearing my pajamas.

Blushing shyly, she was letting Luther blow-dry her hair.

When the two of them saw me, they both froze.

Luther's brow knit, and he scolded me.

"Aileen, where did you go?"

"Why are you back so late?"

I was shivering with fever and didn't say a word.

As I bent down to find my slippers, Sara suddenly spoke up apologetically.

"Aileen, let me borrow your slippers for a bit."

"Anyway, Luther bought them to suit my taste."

I looked up and saw the pink slippers on Sara's feet.

I froze for a few seconds.

Luther came out of the bathroom with a dry towel in his hand.

He laid it over my head and gently patted it dry.

"Aileen, it's going to rain today. I reminded you."

"Where's your umbrella?"

"Don't tell me you left it somewhere again?"

My memory hadn't been good since I got pregnant.

During the rainy season, the weather in Kingsport always turned to sudden downpours.

After getting caught in the rain a few times, Luther had developed the habit of checking the forecast.

Whenever the forecast warned of rain, he would set an umbrella by the entryway.

This morning, Sara called him early.

She complained that she could never find an umbrella at home and had caught colds from getting soaked several times.

So he'd taken that umbrella with him.

I felt awful from the fever and didn't want to argue with him.

I turned to go into the bedroom, but he grabbed my hand.

"Aileen, let me see your wound."

Dropping to one knee, Luther tried to examine the wound on my thigh.

I turned aside to avoid him.

"No need."

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you throwing a little tantrum?"

His brow furrowed, and his eyes turned cold and stern.

"I already told you, Kingsport has had zero rabies cases for ten years straight."

"You don't believe mewon't you at least believe the facts and the data?"

The familiar words landed in my ears again.

For a moment I felt dazed.

Not long after I got pregnant, I had a sudden episode of bleeding.

Panicked and frightened, I took the test report to his office.

He offered no comfort, only talking calmly and coldly about the possibility of a miscarriage.

At the third prenatal checkup, the baby was found to have a suspected finger deformity.

With tears streaming down my face, I called his number over and over.

When he finally answered, he said only one thing, coldly.

"Aileen, the facts won't change. All you can do is accept it."

It seemed that whenever it had to do with me, he loved to talk about data and facts.

After a few seconds of silence, I looked up and met Luther's gaze.

"Then what about Sara?"

"...Aileen, do you really have to be this aggressive?"

"Sara was bitten by a stray dog as a child. She has trauma from it."

"The vaccine is only for her peace of mind."

When Luther finished, he reached up and rubbed the space between his brows.

His tone was weary.

"I did three surgeries today. I'm exhausted. Let's both give a little."

"Call the hospital and withdraw the complaint you filed against Sara."

"Sara is about to be promoted. This complaint will look bad for her..."

"I won't withdraw it."

"This is what Sara deserves."

Once I'd said every word of it, I walked into the bedroom.

Enduring the pain, I kept the wound on my thigh out of the way and turned on the shower.

Scalding water poured down over my head without warning.

My scalp and face stung from the heat, so I shut off the shower.

I looked up and noticed the water heater had been set to eighty degrees at some point.

"Luther, I turned the water heater up when I showered and forgot to tell Aileen!"

"Hurry and go check on her, help her adjust it."

Sara's voice rang out, anxious and seemingly careless.

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Aileen, are you okay?"

"Do you need me to adjust the water heater for you?"

Less than thirty seconds after his voice faded, just as I was about to open the door,

Sara's voice rang out again.

"Luther, the rain's stopped, I'll head home now..."

"Aileen, it's too late now. I'll drive Sara home."

"When I get back, I'll take a look at your wound."

At that point, Luther paused for a second.

His tone dropped, conceding a little.

"If you insist on the rabies shot, I'll give it to you myself tomorrow."

"Also, Mom wants us to write up the wedding invitations tomorrow, don't forget..."

The next day.

Luther had promised he'd come back once he dropped off Sara.

He never came home all night.

I was lying on the operating table for my miscarriage.

The cold instruments kept shifting beneath me.

I was so cold my body spasmed beyond my control.

"Don't be afraid, everything's going to be fine."

The doctor comforted me gently, then suddenly cried out in shock.

"Was this from a dog bite?"

"Did you get the rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin?"

My lips were pale as I answered in a hoarse voice.

"Good, because Kingsport reported a case of rabies today."

"It's the first case reported in ten years."

"Thank goodness you already got the rabies vaccine and the immunoglobulin."

The doctor's voice came with relief. But only a few seconds later

The instruments in the operating room suddenly let out a violent "beep beep."

"This is bad! She's hemorrhaging!"

"Quick! Stop the bleeding!"

My body grew colder and colder, and my mind blurred.

My phone suddenly rang.

"Aileen, where are you?!"

Luther's anxious, demanding voice came through to my ears.

My throat was so hoarse I couldn't force out a single complete sentence.

"What you did to Sara yesterday got spread all over the internet!"

"People are crowding the hospital and cyberbullying her. She was driven to the rooftop to kill herself. Get to the hospital right now and help clear this up!"

Kingsport had reported a case of rabies.

And Luther was worried Sara would be suspended.

A tear slid down from the corner of my eye before I could stop it.

"Luther, I'm having a miscarriage"

"Luther, I'm so scared. Please just have Aileen come to the hospital and clear things up, okay?"

The words I was about to say were cut off by Sara's choked sobbing.

"Aileen, stop making excuses!"

"Ten minutes. I have to see you at the hospital!"

Morgan said it coldly, and the call was cut off.

The pain was so bad I passed out completely.

When I opened my eyes again, there was a commotion outside the door.

"Aileen!"

"Where are you?!"

Luther's cold, furious voice rang out, and the ward door was shoved open.

"Aileen, you really are here?!"

"So you wouldn't have to help clear Sara's name, you actually put on an act and checked yourself into the hospital?!"

"Are medical resources something you can just waste however you please?!"

Cursing me word by word, Luther yanked the needle straight out of my hand.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me off the bed.

"If Sara's friend hadn't told me you were putting on an act in here, I really wouldn't have found you!"

"Aileen, you've disappointed me so much!"

"Sara's in such danger, driven to the point of jumping off a building, and you're just lying here enjoying the air conditioning!"

The IV catheter was yanked out, and the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

I was feverish and weak all over, and I reached out to cover the bleeding spot.

Luther froze, and the force in his hand slowly eased.

"Aileen, you really were getting an IV?"

"Pregnant women can't just have medications injected into them, don't you know that?!"

He reached out to help me up, and Luther was just about to look at the medication I was being given.

Right then, his phone suddenly rang.

"Dr. Sanchez, come quick!"

"One of the cyberbullies has a knife!"

"Dr. Delgado's arm has been slashed!"

Panic filled Luther's eyes, and his grip on my arm tightened again.

"Aileen, stop making a scene."

"Come with me to the hospital, clear things up, save Sara, and I'll forgive you this time"

My arm ached until it went numb, and my vision went black.

Luther dragged me out of the hospital.

"Make way!"

"I've brought the person from the video!"

"Everyone calm down and listen to her clear up yesterday's video!"

Through the crowded, angry mob, Luther dragged me forward.

The bite wound on my thigh and my abdomen cramped with pain.

I forced myself to stand up straight, and he hauled me right in front of Sara.

Blocking everyone's fury.

"Aileen Cooley, say something!"

Luther Sanchez's urging voice came from beside me.

I bit my lip hard, and just as I was about to force out a word

A brick suddenly came flying at me.

Luther instinctively shielded me, but Sara Delgado screamed and shoved me forward.

I fell hard to the ground, the pain knocking me out for a few seconds.

"You say she's the woman involved, so she's the woman involved?!"

"These are obviously actors your hospital hired!"

The crowd hemming us in shouted in anger.

The trash in their hands rained down onto me.

"Enough!"

"Everyone stop!"

Luther anxiously helped me up, panic in his eyes.

"Aileen, are you all right?"

"Why is your face so pale?"

"Hurry and speak up to clear this up, I'll take you to get checked..."

I leaned weakly against him, a wave of nausea rising in me.

"This doctor has no conscience, no decency at all!"

"My wife and daughter were killed by heartless doctors like you!"

"Today I'll avenge them!"

From the crowd, a man shouted in fury and rushed out with a knife in his hand.

Sara hid behind Luther in fear.

Luther let go of me, turned, and shielded her tightly.

With nothing to hold me up, I stumbled a step and only just got to my feet by gripping the rooftop railing.

Sara suddenly ran to my side, grabbed me, and shouted.

"She really is the pregnant woman who was bitten by the rabid dog yesterday!"

"If you don't believe me, compare her to the video!"

"I've already gotten her forgiveness. If you don't believe me, ask her!"

Shoved out in front of Sara again, I could barely force out the words through the pain.

"I'm the person from yesterday..."

Before I could finish, someone frowned and cut in.

"That woman yesterday was pregnant, but your belly is flat. You don't look pregnant at all!"

Luther, who had subdued the man with the knife, suddenly went stiff.

His eyes went to my stomach, and panic flickered across them.

I pressed my lips together, forcing down the pain in my whole body, and spoke word by word.

"Because today I just had a miscar"

"Because her pregnancy was fake!"

"She has a mental illness, she likes to pretend she's pregnant. Everyone, don't be fooled by the videos!"

Sara shouted from behind me, then looked at Luther in a panic.

"She's Dr. Sanchez's fiance. Dr. Sanchez can vouch for it!"

Luther's face froze, and he didn't dare look at me.

"Yes."

"My fiance has a mental illness..."

My body went rigid in disbelief as Sara forced me forward a few steps.

Face to face with the enraged crowd.

"I'm innocent. Dr. Sanchez's fiance is jealous and resentful of me. She's always picking fights on purpose."

"I only said that on purpose so that more people who really need it could get access to medical resources."

Sara's aggrieved, choked-up voice rang out.

The crowd went still for a few seconds.

When they looked at me again, their eyes burned with even greater rage.

"We were all played by this crazy woman?!"

"And here I took time off work just to stand up for her. Damn it!"

"Going crazy with jealousy over a man and pulling something like thiswhat a disgrace to us women!"

Countless curses filled my ears.

Sara let go of me, smug.

Just then, the female doctor who had performed my miscarriage pushed her way in, her face drenched in sweat.

"What nonsense are you spouting?!"

"I performed her miscarriage myself, and she nearly bled out and didn't make it!"

"Can you afford the cost of opening your mouth to spread lies?!"