Silent Descent

Violet sat quietly on the couch, her body feeling heavier than it ever had before. The room was still buzzing with excitement, the cheers for Christian and Luna echoing like a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Laughter, clinking glasses, and congratulations filled the air, but none of it was for her. Not anymore.

Her hands, trembling and cold, rested protectively on her belly. The baby- their baby- was the only thing that still tethered her to this life. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the noise, to focus on the little life growing inside her.

But then, a sharp pain shot through her abdomen.

Violet gasped, her hands instinctively gripping her stomach as the pain intensified. It felt like a vice tightening around her belly, twisting and squeezing. Her breath caught in her throat, and she doubled over slightly, her mind struggling to process what was happening.

The room blurred, the voices around her fading into the background. She tried to call out, to get someone’s attention, but the words died in her throat. No one was looking at her. No one cared. Another wave of pain hit, stronger this time, and Violet’s body jerked involuntarily. Her vision darkened at the edges as she gasped for air. Panic flooded her chest, but she forced herself to stay calm- for the baby. It’s going to be okay. It has to be okay.

She looked up, scanning the room desperately for Christian. He was standing near the window with Luna, smiling, his arm wrapped around her waist. They were whispering to each other, oblivious to the pain she was in.

Another sharp pain. This time, it was unbearable.

“C-Christian…” Violet’s voice came out as a whimper, barely loud enough to hear over the noise of the party. She tried again, her voice cracking with fear. “Christian… please…”

No response. No one even glanced in her direction. The room was full of people her family, his family, their  family- and yet she had never felt more alone. She tried to stand, but her legs buckled beneath her, and she collapsed back onto the couch, her hands clutching her stomach in agony. She felt something wet and warm trickling down her leg.

Her heart froze in terror.

Blood.

Her hands shook as she looked down, and sure enough, there was blood- dark and staining her clothes, pooling beneath her. Her mind reeled. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, not like this. Violet’s lips trembled as tears flooded her eyes, her voice a strangled whisper.

“Please… someone help me.”

No one listened. They were all still laughing, talking about Luna’s pregnancy, about Christian’s future with her. Violet’s pain- her suffering- was invisible to them. The pain intensified, and she felt another gush of blood. Her vision blurred with tears, her body trembling with shock. Is this how it ends?

Finally, someone noticed. It wasn’t Christian. It wasn’t Luna. It wasn’t her own mother. It was a distant cousin, someone barely connected to her, who gasped and pointed.

“Oh my God, she’s bleeding!”

Suddenly, the room shifted. The laughter died down as people turned to look at Violet, but their expressions weren’t filled with concern. There was more shock, more confusion than real care.

“Someone call an ambulance!” a voice yelled, but it felt distant, far away from the agony that consumed Violet’s body.

Christian glanced over, his brow furrowing, but he didn’t rush to her side. He didn’t even move. He just stood there, his face twisted with annoyance, as if this was some kind of inconvenience.

“Get her some help,” Christian muttered to one of the guests, his voice detached, as if she were a stranger. Violet’s eyes met his, pleading with him- begging him to care. Please, Christian, help me. But there was nothing. No love. No warmth. Just cold indifference.

The pain was too much. Her vision darkened again, and she slumped forward, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. She could hear people rushing around her, hear someone on the phone with the ambulance, but no one came to her side. No one held her hand. No one comforted her.

Minutes passed like hours, and finally, the ambulance arrived. The paramedics rushed in, but even as they lifted her onto the stretcher, none of her family moved to follow. Not Christian. Not Luna. Not even her mother.

Violet’s heart shattered all over again. They were all standing there, watching her being carried away, and not one of them stepped forward. No one reached out. No one offered a word of comfort. It was as if she had already been erased from their lives, like she didn’t matter at all.

As the paramedics wheeled her out of the house, she glanced back one last time, hoping-praying -that someone would come. That someone would care enough to ride with her to the hospital. But they didn’t. They all stayed behind, still huddled around Luna, still talking about the future that Violet had been so cruelly cut out of.

The doors of the ambulance closed, sealing her in the cold, sterile silence. Violet lay there, her body trembling, her mind racing. The baby. She had to hold on for the baby. But the pain was unbearable, the fear suffocating. Tears streamed down her face as she whispered to herself, the words catching in her throat.

“Dad, Mom, I miss you. Where are you? I can’t do all of this by my self. They left. I don’t have anything and anyone again. Please… Mom… Dad… Take me with you.”

She was alone. Completely and utterly alone. Between the pain and the sirens, she can see a flash of happy life that she once has. It feels like just yesterday she smiled and happy about her life. But now? She don’t even know either if she will be able to live after this.

She look down to her belly, slowly closing her eyes. And in that moment, as the sirens wailed and the ambulance sped into the night, Violet realized just how far she had fallen. How much she had lost.

Her husband.

Her family.

Her baby.

And herself.