Chapter 1: The Night Everything Ended

I was five months pregnant when my husband pushed me down the stairs.
Ryan and I had been married for three years. At first, everything seemed fine. But when I told him I was pregnant, his entire attitude changed. He didn’t want the baby. His mother, Linda, didn’t want it even more.
They both started pressuring me to have an abortion.
“You’re too young,” Linda would say. “This baby will ruin Ryan’s future. You’re being selfish.”
Ryan would nod along with her.
“We can have kids later,” he would tell me. “Right now isn’t the right time. Just trust me.”
I refused.
I wanted this baby. I had always wanted to be a mother. No matter how much they pushed, I stood my ground.
That’s when things turned dangerous.
Linda started “accidentally” bumping into me whenever she visited. She would push past me in the kitchen or “trip” and fall against me. Ryan started getting angry more often. He would yell at me for the smallest things and storm out of the house.
I should have left then.
But I was pregnant, scared, and still hoping that Ryan would come to his senses.
One night, I came downstairs to get some water. Ryan and Linda were in the living room, talking in low voices. They stopped the moment they saw me.
I felt a chill run down my spine.
I turned to go back upstairs, but Ryan followed me.
“We need to talk,” he said.
I kept walking.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I replied. “I’m keeping the baby.”
That was when he grabbed my arm.
Before I could react, he shoved me hard from behind.
I remember falling.
I remember the sharp pain as my body hit each step. I remember the way my hands instinctively went to my stomach to protect the baby. I remember Linda standing at the top of the stairs, watching with a cold, satisfied expression on her face.
She didn’t move to help me.
She just watched.
I woke up in the hospital two days later.
May you like
The baby was gone.
And so was the woman I used to be.