"Congratulations! You're pregnant."

My whole world stopped spinning at that moment and I looked at her in disbelief. Pregnant. I can't be, I can't bring a child into this world this way.

I knew I couldn't keep lying to myself about this, the slight roundness to my stomach was becoming hard to ignore.

"How far am I?" I asked the overly peppy doctor.

"About eighteen weeks, you're small for being so far along though. We should do an ultrasound so I can see how the baby's development is going, I'm not too concerned but I'd like to make sure everything is okay, lie back on the table and raise your shirt honey"

I laid back, the paper crinkling beneath me, and lifted my shirt. The doctor squeezed some type of blue gel over my stomach and I flinched slightly at the coldness of it. The pretty red- headed doctor smiled apologetically at me. She picked up a doppler and placed it on the lower part of my abdomen and moved it around.

"Ahh, there you are little one."

I looked over at the screen and then I saw it. My baby.

"Okay, everything looks good, they're small but I'm not too worried. We might be able to tell the sex, would you like to know?"

She moved the wand back and forth for a little while, but couldn't seem to find what she was looking for.

"Sorry, I can't see anything, it looks like someone wants to keep it a secret for a little longer."

I let out a little laugh at her joke as she wiped the gel off my stomach.

"Well Miss Hills, everything is looking good so take these vitamins every day and I'll see you in a few weeks, you can make your next appointment at the front desk." We shook hands and left the room.

I made my appointment and left the clinic. I sat in my car and then I started to panic. A baby I can't take care of a baby right now. I can't bring a life into the world, not my world, it's not safe. What am I going to do?

I gave myself exactly thirty minutes to freak out before I glanced at the time.

"Shit, I need to get back before he does."

I buckled myself in, wiped my tears, and sped home. I managed to make it back in fifteen minutes but my heart dropped at the sight of his beat up truck parked in the driveway. I am so dead.

I opened the creaky door of my little car and quickly got out and slammed the door. As I walked up the overgrown pathway that led to our tiny one bedroom, dirty, faded, yellow house, I felt like I was walking to my death. I took a deep breath once I reached the faded front door and twisted the knob. The door groaned loudly when I pushed it open and the floorboards creaked with my every step.

"Ann, get your ass in here!"

I jumped at the sound of his voice. It was coming from the kitchen. I knew what was coming, he would ask why his dinner wasn't on the table when he got home from work but I was too afraid to tell him why. I made my way into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway and looked at a point somewhere in the middle of his chest. He was much bigger than my short five-foot frame. He stood about 6'2, with pasty, perpetually moist skin, at age 45 his greasy blonde hair was thin and graying. He sported a small paunch belly. I looked up at his disgusting face and made the mistake of looking into his sinister grey eyes.

"Where's my food? You know the rules around here I expect my meal to be on the table when I get home from work. And why didn't that happen today?"

I knew he wanted an answer but I didn't know a way to explain myself. He took this as disrespect and before I knew it he was about an inch away from my face and he grabbed me by my hair none too gently and jerked my head back so that I was looking at him.

"I asked you a question, you better hurry up and answer before I hurt you."

Before I could answer his face took on an even harder edge than before and he gripped my hair tighter.

"Where were you Ann, out whoring around on me?"

I finally managed to find my voice.

"No John, I didn't cheat on you."

"Then where the fuck were you!" He roared as he pushed me back, the sharp edge of the counter digging into my back. I flinched back at his voice. I knew I had to tell him. Maybe if he knows I'm pregnant he'll calm down. He slapped the wall next to my head and screamed his question again.

"I said where the fuck were you!"

"I-I-I- I went to the clinic because I wasn't feeling well."

Before I could get anything else out I felt his fist smash into the side of my head.

"What did I say about doctors, huh? What did I say! I swear to God if someone comes to this house because of what they saw then there'll be hell to pay."

He landed another punch that knocked me to the floor this time.

"Now get the fuck up and make my dinner."

He stomped up the stairs and slammed our bedroom door. I slowly got to my feet and got to work on making his dinner. I made his usual Wednesday dinner, steak and potatoes.

While the steak was finishing in the oven I went to the mirror in the hall to look at my face. The left side of my face was swollen and turning purple and my lip was split. I placed my hands over my stomach, over an almost unnoticeable bump that was starting to form. I have to get out of here. And aloud, in a barely audible whisper I spoke to my tiny bump.

"Don't worry, mommy is going to get us out of here."

I made my way back to the kitchen, took the steak out of the oven, and plated it. I went to the fridge and grabbed his usual beer and made my way up the old creaky stairs to our room. I opened the door and there he was, lying on our bed in his underwear as usual with his disgustingly hairy gut out in its full glory. I fought against the disgusted look that almost appeared on my face.

"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna bring me my food before it gets cold?"

I quickly made my way over to him and handed him his plate and sat his beer on the nightstand. I stood back but didn't leave the room. When he ate I was nothing but a live-in waitress and I was expected to act as such. As he ate, he stared at me like he would rather be eating me for dinner.

"C'mere Ann."

I slowly walked toward him, he hadn't finished his food so I was genuinely curious but afraid of what he wanted. As I approached him he moved his plate over to the nightstand and motioned for me to move faster. Once I reached him he moved surprisingly fast. Before I could process what was happening he had me laid back on the bed while he had all his weight on top of me. His face was close to mine and I could smell the stench of alcohol on his foul breath. He was crushing me.

"John, you're hurting me."

His eyes took on an apologetic glint.

"I'm sorry Annie, that's what I want to talk to you about." He shifted us so that we were sitting, facing each other.

"I'm sorry I keep hurting you Annie, I know it's the drinking and the drugs that make me do this. I don't want to hurt you honey, I really don't. It's just you're so beautiful and I know that a lot of men look at you and that just makes me so angry and I take it out on you." This wasn't the first time he had apologized for his actions but he seemed sincere this time. I knew I would never forgive him for the things he had done to me, but I couldn't let him know that, so I responded with my usual "It's okay John. I forgive you."

He smiled at me like he was genuinely sorry and he gathered me into his sweaty arms and pulled me to his hairy chest and squeezed me.

"Thank you, Annie, I promise things will get better. Come on let's go to bed."

He tucked me under the blankets, turned the lights off, and climbed into bed next to me. He scooted closer to me and wrapped his sweaty arm around my waist, right over my stomach. It wasn't long before he was snoring loudly in my ear.

As I usually did when he went to bed I thought about my current situation and how it came to be this way. 

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This is just a story that I wrote a very long time ago but never finished that's been saved as a draft for the last five years so, I figured I'd post what I have and work on finishing it soon. It's just as cliche and slightly cringe as you would expect it to be but hey, I was fifteen and just starting out when I wrote this, so don't judge too hard. But hey if you like it go ahead and leave a vote!