As much as he tried to hide it, I could see the worry in his eyes. He was afraid for the baby and me. On several occasions, I teased him for worrying too much, even though, deep down, I was worried too.
I was more afraid than he was because lately, the baby had been moving less each day. And that was concerning to me.
Also, all my dreams were negative. Whenever I closed my eyes to sleep, I saw the same thing: a river of blood and a body covered in snow.
It was becoming unsettling, considering that it was the only dream I’d been having for weeks now. Although I had no idea what it meant, I knew for sure that it wasn’t anything good.
Blood.
A body buried in snow.
That had got to be a bad omen.
A part of me wanted to believe that it was nothing serious. That it was just the trauma of all the violence and chaos I’d witnessed in the last few months.
But that didn’t explain why I kept having the same dream almost every night for weeks. Was it some kind of spiritual message? Was it a warning? Or was it just a side effect of the drugs I was taking?
Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. At all.
One night, I was fast asleep when a sharp pain in my belly woke me up. It felt like my intestines were being stabbed with a knife.
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Artur jolted awake, eyes flashing with concern. “What is it? What’s happening?”
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t describe the feeling. But the pain was unbearable.
“Konstantin, get the car!” he yelled, carrying me in his strong arms.
“What’s going on?!” Hilda barged in, worried.
“I don’t know. I’m taking her to the hospital.” The urgency in his tone was clear as crystal.
I began gasping, struggling to breathe as the voices around me started fading away.
“Hold on!” he yelled, racing down the hallway.
My vision became hazy, my head pounding loudly as he sprinted through the corridor.
“Stay with me, Celine!”
His voice echoed, anchoring me to reality. However, with each passing second, it became harder to stay awake. My eyelids were heavy, my vision was blurry, and my mind was drifting away.
Then blank.
Nothing.
Absolute darkness.
***
By the time I woke up, I was in the hospital, the EKG beeping steadily beside me. My vision was still blurry, but after a few seconds, it cleared. And that’s when I saw my husband and the doctor discussing in a corner.
“Your wife is showing signs of severe preeclampsia,” the doctor explained, his voice low and even. “Her blood pressure is dangerously high, and it’s starting to affect her internal organs. Because of that, blood flow to the placenta is limited.”
“In English,” Artur said, looking right at the doctor.
“Both her life and the baby’s are at risk if this worsens.”