Maybe it was the Chinese food yesterday. She’d had prawns while Jade had stuck to a chow mein. The prawns were clearly a big mistake.
She lay on the bathroom floor in between spells of either sitting on or leaning over the toilet, her arms wrapped around her belly and her hot forehead resting on the cold tiles. At one point she felt like she may have dozed off or passed out, she wasn’t sure. She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been in the bathroom, but she didn’t have the strength to get up.
Jade would surely be wondering where she was, why she hadn’t called for Ben. Or was she still giving her the cold shoulder? But if she had texted, Maddie wouldn’t know because her phone was in the other room. The thought forced her upright and she staggered into the kitchen for a glass of water, desperately searching for her phone, but it wasn’t long before she was rushing back to the bathroom.
She was getting worried. She would need to take some nausea and diarrhoea medicine, but knew she didn’t have any. There was plenty in her old bathroom cabinet in Greg’s house though. But she couldn’t call Greg or Gemma. Not this time. This was too humiliating. She didn’t want either of them seeing her in this state on the bathroom floor.
So she was on her own.
Jade. She could call Jade. Maybe she would have something she could take or could go to the chemist for her.
Her phone was still in the other room. She managed to crawl her way to the lounge. It lay on the couch like a beacon. She summoned up the energy to send Jade a message through Snapchat.
Minutes later she heard a knock on the door. She was still in the lounge, curled up in a tight, cramping ball at the foot of the couch, a shivering mess with the stench of puke clinging to her.
She limped over to the door and opened it without checking who it was.
‘Jesus H. Christ! Look at the state of it!’ she heard Jade say, although she was now beyond the point of comprehension. ‘Come on, let’s get you into bed.’
She felt herself being dragged like a sack along the corridor to her bedroom, plopped on the bed and the warm duvet flung over her. Then Jade tucked her in like a child, smoothed back her hair and said, ‘I’ll get you some water, then I need you to take these for your stomach.’
Maddie clenched her eyes shut as another cramp ripped through her. A hand propped her head up and said, ‘Here, take these.’ She opened her eyes to slits and accepted the small pills from Jade and the glass she was holding out.
Only after swallowing them did she say, ‘What are they?’
‘Just Imodium – don’t worry, I’m not trying to poison you,’ Jade said with a laugh.
Maddie managed to say, ‘Thanks Jade, you’re such a good mum,’ before her eyes started getting very heavy. ‘Wait,’ she said, her eyes popping open again. ‘Where’s Ben?’
‘Don’t worry about him. He’s fine. Just concentrate on you. ‘
‘I don’t think I should take him swimming.’
‘You don’t say! Another day is fine. Now sleep it off. I’ll clean up the bathroom and you’ll be right as rain in a bit.’
*
Something was ripping her apart. Someone had taken a scalpel and was slicing through her abdomen, pulling and tearing, probing and rummaging.
Her baby! They were stealing her baby!
She needed to wake up, shout out, tell them to stop! Her hands pushed out, fingers like claws, ready to scratch and cleave at them.
You can’t have him! You can’t have him! Archie!
Maddie sat upright, her T-shirt stuck to the cold sweat on her skin and her eyes wide and panicked.
The room was dark, the curtains drawn to the late afternoon light. She was alone.
Then she remembered the cramps, the sickness. Jade had been here. Had she left?
She lay back down, her breathing slowing. The tightness in her gut had loosened and it no longer felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside out. She swung her legs from the bed and took a few tentative steps on weakened legs. She peered into the bathroom. It was immaculately clean, any sign of her earlier illness washed away while the scent of citrus bleach lingered.
She kept a steadying hand on the wall as she headed along the corridor towards the lounge. ‘Jade? Are you here?’
The only sign she had been was the box of Imodium on the kitchen counter next to a glass of water. Everything had been cleaned and tidied. Her breakfast dishes were washed and stacked next to the sink and the bakery box had been removed.
A wave of mortification flooded through Maddie. What must she have looked like when Jade arrived? She couldn’t really remember what Jade had said or done. It was kind of her to clean up though and she wouldn’t be standing here now if Jade hadn’t brought her the medication.
She heard a key turn in the door and Jade walked in, carrying a plastic bag. ‘Oh, great, you’re up! How are you feeling?’
‘Better, thanks – well, the cramps have stopped anyway.’
Maddie noticed the keys in her hand. ‘Oh, I borrowed your key from the nail behind the door so that you wouldn’t have to get up.’ Jade hung the key back where it belonged.
‘Um, ok, thanks.’
Jade started unpacking the plastic bag in the kitchen. ‘I borrowed some money from your purse to get some stuff for you – bananas, bread for toast, that kind of thing. It will help to settle your stomach. Sit, I’ll make you some buttered
