"Maria just had a really bad morning sickness again. Give me your son right now. No matter how painful it is, you have to deal with it. If you don’t, then forget about me going to the parent-teacher meeting."
After threatening me, he hung up the phone. He knew I would obey.
Angelo hated me. He didn’t like my son either. Even if I wanted him, my son’s biological father, to go to a school meeting, I had to give him blood from my heart.
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Angelo sent a location. It was a nightclub.
[Bring your son here right now. Also, don’t forget to buy a box of condoms and some sexy lingeries on your way.]
My hands shook and my knuckles turned white from gripping the phone too hard.
Then Maria sent a message too.
[I’m allergic to cheap fabrics, so make sure to hand-wash the sexy underwear you bring.]
She even sent me their clothing sizes.
I blocked both of them.
I turned off the phone, placed my hand gently on my belly and spoke with a hoarse voice.
"Help me end this pregnancy."
"Mrs. Lombardi, I’ve taken care of him for five years. But I can’t stop the nightmares. Please think of helping my whole folk doctor community as something separate. I should leave now."
I was an orphan, raised by my grandmother. She came from a long line of folk doctors. Seven years ago, a company tried to force all the folk doctors to leave the mountain. They wanted to use our skills for something illegal.
However, my grandmother refused.
A few days later, a bulldozer came to the foot of the mountain. They said they would destroy our home if we didn’t obey. Some of our people were badly hurt. They almost died.
We were ready to run as we began moving deeper into the northern mountains.
But then Mrs. Lombardi came to us. She used her power and connections to solve the problem. She asked me to come down the mountain with her to help her grandson. He had terrible nightmares that made him lose control. If it got too bad, he could kill someone without meaning to.
The only way to calm his condition was with the blood of someone from the folk doctors’ bloodline. Unfortunately, that bloodline was nearly gone. I couldn’t let anyone else in my community suffer. So, I followed her down the mountain alone.
Whenever Angelo lost control, I held him. I gave him herbs, gave him my blood, cooked medicine and stayed by his side day and night.