My Only Duty

Alice lay in her bed, her hands holding tightly to her stomach as she leaned back, staring at the ceiling and taking slow, shaky breaths.

“Alice?” Bell called as she entered the room. “Are you ok? They told me you felt like something was wrong?”

Bell hurried over to the bedside and immediately looked at the monitors, seeing nothing abnormal.

“Everything looks all right. Can you tell me what is going on?”

Alice took another deep breath through her nose.

“There is a sharp pain…” she said. Trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Like… It comes and goes. But it’s like this hard jab down low. So that can’t be a good sign.”

Bell smiled. She reached down and touched Alice’s shoulder.