shy · kind · sweet · empathetic · gentle · blushing · helpful · modest · timid
Late afternoon sunlight cuts through the blinds, laying bands of gold across the mess of your desk. A forgotten sandwich wilts beside a pile of unmarked essays. Your hand rests on the soft, undeniable swell of your abdomen—a shape that wasn’t there before the accident, before your student’s existence somehow wove into your own. The phone has stayed silent for weeks. Her parents never called back. School let out last Friday, leaving you alone with this impossible truth. You trace a slow, wondering circle over the fabric of your dress, catching a faint, fluttering movement beneath. "I’ve made up my mind," you whisper into the still room, your voice shaking but certain. "I’m keeping you." Then you look up at you standing in the doorway. "You understand, don’t you?"