2.

On the inside kitchen windowsill of the Ellis family home, there rests three flowerpots, a large one resting right in the center with a smaller one on either side. For a long time, the gloriously vibrant colours that flowered within these pots along with their poignant scent had provided a calm and a peace within the home. These flowers long pre-existed the pregnancy and once that pregnancy had indeed become confirmed along with the assurance that all was well as well can be then other items were added to the household to enhance the sense of calm with the intent to ensure the best possible entrance into the world for the newborn when the child arrives, but things were not to be all so calm and rosy at all.

Early discussion had led to a suggestion being made for a home birth to occur with the idea of having the child come into the world under the best possible circumstances and the hopes that a life will evolve in the same vein though as things would have it a home birth would not come occur at all, neither could it be known until closer to the birth that the child was to be a girl.

All the bright colours and fresh scents, new and old, within the Ellis home only lasted so long and that home birth decision was very much a premature one. That horrible feeling Lacey had on that visit with the consultant stayed with her, it never left even if the memory did, if anything the feeling intensified and grew. It grew within her.

Something was terribly wrong as far as Lacey was concerned and the flowering plants along with other items in the family home reflected this. The colorful and bright Ellis household was quickly becoming dull and grey as was Lacey herself too. The plants on the windowsill appeared to be slowly dying.

Three months into the pregnancy and Lacey herself was certainly looking dull and grey. Her full and bright blonde hair became darkened and thin. Her whole being has thinned, all apart from her belly which made her current condition clear and obvious despite the fact that she was only thirteen weeks pregnant. Lacey's own personality also drastically altered, and it altered to match how she looked.

She had become irritable and aggressive to say the least. Then there was also the paranoia. A duality has come; something else has come to take up a lodging within her, something other than an evolving child. It is both mixing into Lacey's own personality and remaining apart from it. There are moments at times seen and at others unseen where Lacey would sit on a chair or on a spot on the ground where she would rock back and forth and hissing, speaking in voices, one like her own and another that appears unnatural.

There would be conversations between the voices and if someone were to believe that these conversations were occurring between two separate individuals then that someone would easily be forgiven for thinking such up to a point where they could see for themselves that within those conversations only one person did exist.

Lacey's younger sister Sharon came round quite often, more often since the news came of the pregnancy and she did this out of love for her sister and delight at the news that there indeed is a pregnancy though the delight soon would be replaced by other emotions. The visits began to come more out of concern.

Pre-pregnancy there was nothing but joy and catching up whenever Sharon came around. Being as much best friends as they are sisters ensured of course that there was the confiding of the difficulties. The want to start a family had been tough and when tears would get the better of Lacey, her sister always had the knack of bringing back the smiles.

Yeah, the two sisters had always been so much more than sisters; each knew everything about the other or at least had assumed they knew everything about the other. When the pregnancy had been confirmed the whispering began and Lacey heard those whispers, she heard them all or so she thought, and the love and concern shown to her would soon be believed to be nothing other than a conspiracy against her.

It quickly became clear to Sharon that her sister needed help and not the kind of help that Sharon herself could offer.

From the dining room side of a thin partition between the dining room and kitchen, Lacey once again hears whispers. The whispers louden a little as two people move into the kitchen. For a moment or so Lacey quietly watches what occurs through a gap in the partition, going unnoticed as she is, she is unwilling to believe that her own eyes and ears may be attempting to deceive her.

'She needs help Ben, and we are not capable or giving her that help' speaks Sharon.

'No, no, she has all she needs right here. I'm not having some white coats look after her and our child. We can do this.'

'We can't do this. There are six months to go and at this rate there will be no child, and mum may not make it either. For the sake of our family, your family, we need to do this.'

'I don't know ... I just can't do it ...'

At this moment Ben turns away from Sharon. They had been facing each other while standing a couple of feet apart since their arrival into the kitchen. Lacey does not see or hear things exactly as they transpire. She sees her husband and sister embrace then kiss though this does not actually happen at all. With all that has been, and the current state Lacey is in, she bursts through the partition.

'I knew it' she says, 'I knew it all along. The two of you could never keep your hands off one another, could you?' Her voice loudens as she begins thumping Ben, one thump for each word she speaks and a duality within her voice. 'How could you do this to me? How could either of you do this? After all we have been through.'

'Honey ...' Ben almost questions his own sanity. Is he really hearing that duality?

'Don't honey me ... what? Once I am knocked up, I am no longer attractive ... is that it? Now I'm pregnant you can't wait to fuck my sister, huh? You ... no good son of a bitch ...'

Lacey continues to vent and strike out, acting and speaking in a manner that is so out of whack for her. Something is clearly wrong and that soon becomes even more evident for as her current lashings out does not last long and she soon collapses. If Ben had needed to be convinced ... consider him convinced now ...

3.

Three months of a pregnancy, thirteen weeks more precisely, has brought change to the Ellis household and not a positive change, it has been anything but positive. Lacey Ellis has changed, drastically. Besides her belly already showing, Lacey, in general, has thinned and her appearance has darkened, and paranoia has taken her to the point it has caused her to collapse in her own home.

Add to that the odd duality in her voice that comes and goes, along with the conversations she has with herself ... If those around her could believe in such things, then it may even be said that Lacey is ... possessed. The time came and the decision made.

When Lacey awakes, she does so to confusion and surprise, and then to anger. She manages to hold back that anger at first for indeed in the moment she does wake, she finds herself strapped at her wrists and ankles to a bed in a relatively small square prison hospital like room.

There is an intravenous drip going into her left arm. This room she is in is white, pure white and it really is small and square. There is one window within the room, and it is covered with steel mesh and despite that steel mesh, a bright light shines in from outside. There are no blankets on Lacey or the bed at all though some will be brought to her at a later time. It is quite warm in the current moment and she is appropriately dressed so blankets are not necessary.

There is one occupied seat either side of her. Before a word can be spoken, a dark shadow passes down a hallway right by the open doorway to this particular room. Lacey feels the dark presence and knows to some degree of what it is. This, all of this, has her slightly agitated and affects her in no other way.

'Where am I?' she asks of her husband as she finds difficulty in focusing her eyes.

'You are in a safe place. It is for the best Lacey. Once the baby is born, I am sure everything will be alright. Ya know ... we will get ...' distraction and emotion get the better of Ben Ellis, preventing him from speaking any further.

'And you are alright with this?' Lacey asks Ben, realizing what is happening.

Ben finds difficulty in attempting to answer; he is finding difficulty in regaining himself and his composure. His struggle with all that is happening along with seeing the love of his life in her current predicament makes it so that tears soon begin to streak down his face.

'Look at him Lacey, of course he is not alright with any of this ... but it is for the best. When your child grows up, he or she will thank you for it.'

'For the best? ... My child? No, Sharon ... no, you just want me out of the way, isn't that it? You've taken my husband from me, now you want to take what I am carrying ... I'm not having it.'

'This is not it at all. You need help sis, and you will get it here.'

Lacey had woken with a relative calm and that calm was only ever going to last a moment or two, especially with the situation she finds herself in and with the external agitation being projected her way. Oncoming screaming and further accusations thrown at Ben and Sharon by Lacey at the top of her voice soon take precedence. The language, the tone of voice and the aggression is such that it forces Ben and Sharon to vacate the room and it forces doctors to sedate their newest guest.

It all is a struggle, especially over the next six months. Baby is born as healthy as any child can be. A daughter it is, something Lacey had advance notice of. With the struggle to become pregnant, how it occurred and all that came after, a logical name of Nancy is chosen. Mum has not been released from the asylum like hospital and may never be released for her behaviour is such that for her own safety and health she is in the best place to ensure her own safety. From birth and for an initial foreseeable future Nancy is to be raised by her father and her aunt.

Yeah, Ben Ellis is Nancy's biological father but there is another father, a true father and there will be a coming of age down the road though there will be a long road to travel before he asserts his claim and reveals his plans.

On the inner kitchen windowsill of the Ellis family household there are three flowerpots. One large pot in the center and a smaller pot either side of the large one and the flowers within once were vivid and full of life have been slowly dying though completely dead, they are not. On the day a child is born, those flowers take a turn for the worst.