Page 18 of Insidious

My fingers twitch.

Someone inhales sharply.

“Isaac,” Lily says quickly.

A chair scrapes.

Warm hands close around mine.

His hands. I know them instantly- the calluses, the scar on his palm, the nails bitten to the quick.

“Luna?”

Chapter 4

Luna

This memory settles over me like a summer breeze, unlike the others. There is just warmth, a slow unfolding of a piece of my past that I hold dear.

I’m floating somewhere between sleep and waking, my body heavy, my mind drifting …

The bright light shines red through my closed eyelids.

A memory.

It is raining this morning.

The light drizzle seeps into everything without ever becoming a storm. Isaac is pacing by the window, phone in hand, messages lighting up the screen every few minutes as he tries to get everything ready. The contractions started an hour ago.

He is thirty-three, and I am twenty-seven—the perfect age for our first one.

We got married two years after we met. Waited four more until I got promoted, until things were “stable.” Until life looked like it was going in the direction we both wanted.

We planned this baby. We already love her with all our hearts.

“Breathe, Luna. Come on. Look at me.”

His voice sounds unfazed. His hand holding mine? Not so much.

I clutch his hand, my short nails digging into his skin hard enough to leave purple crescents.

“I am breathing,” I snap, sweat plastering my hair to my face, “What do you think I am doing? Playing bingo?”

“You’re holding your breath between contractions.”

“Well, maybe I like holding my breath, Isaac. Would you like to swap places? Aaaaahhh.”

He lets out a huff of laughter which is quickly smothered by my killing glare and leans closer, his forehead brushing mine.

“You’re doing incredible, baby.”

I would roll my eyes if the contraction didn’t hit at this very instant. As if Isaac would know what he is talking about.

Instead, another contraction tears through me, and I swear loudly enough that the midwife coughs to hide a laugh.

Hours.

God, it feels like forever.