Joanna retched and bent over the toilet bowl.
The pain and nausea twisted her stomach
until she couldn’t breathe. The stuff came up
and burst out, all yellow and slimy and tasting
of bile. She knew more was coming, so she sat
on the bathroom floor waiting. In the interval,
the door banged and her mother’s voice asked
her to open up. Seconds later, she was
standing over her, a look of anger on her face.
She had just begun feeling the wrenching of
her gullet when suddenly her mother gave her
a resounding slap. It was the trigger for
another outburst of her stomach’s contents.
When she rose her mother was waiting for her.
“Whose child is it?”
“What do you mean?” This time the tears were
not held back. She began sobbing quietly.
“What do I mean? I am not stupid. Don’t you
think I know morning sickness when I see it?
I’ve heard you throwing up all over my toilet
for the last two days. You have been
complaining of being sick for three months.
Now tell me, whose baby is it?”
“But mum I’m a vir…”
There was more retching and throwing up.
When she was done, she kept heaving but
nothing would come out. Sobs gushed out of
her as her mother glared at her in anger.
“All this time I thought I was raising a
daughter and instead I have a w.hore in the
house! Those tears will not help you. Tell me
who the father is before I beat it out of you”
“Mum…I…”
“Don’t you mum me! I was not there when
that baby was made. Do you expect me to be
the proud grandmother of an illegitimate
child? And who do you think will pay for that
child’s upkeep? What do you think the
neighbors are going to say of me? Do you
think I can walk into church with my head up
anymore? I will make you regret every second
of that day you decided to bring shame on me!
You will pay for every ounce of embarrassment
I shall suffer!”
“MUM!” She was screaming now. “I’m not
pregnant!”
“Don’t you dare! Its bad enough you spread
your legs for every man, now you look me in
the eye and lie? Pack your things. I want you
and that bastard out of my house.”
“But mum… I…”
“Nothing. I want you to leave in the next
30minutes or I will throw you out like a dog.”
Joanna was left crying as her other walked
away without a backward glance. She was in
too much pain to move but she knew her
mother. If she did not willingly leave she
would be thrown out. She dragged herself to
her room and packed her things slowly. A dull
pain was going through her but she ignored it.
She had 10 minutes left and her mother was
already yelling for her to get out.
She couldn’t believe this was happening. She
wasn’t pregnant, but her mother would never
believe her. The pain increased and she
screamed out for her mother. Her mother came to the door but was unmoved.
“Stop that acting. Get out.”
“Mum help me!” she cried clutching her
tummy as she fell to the ground.
Her mother simply watched her, yelling about
how it would be good if she lost that b.astard.
She didn’t want an illegitimate child.
Joann cried and said a prayer for God to
forgive her mother as she felt the life get
s.ucked out of her. Her mother was unmoved,
to her the bastard was dad and so was her
s--t of her daughter. All was right in the world
because she would not be embarrassed by a
scandal.

Days later, the autopsy results were in. her
mother had ranted about a pregnancy and the
doctor had to set the record straight. The
doctor was brief. He had learnt from
experience that it was best to give this sort of
news in the fewest words possible. He broke it
down into simple layman’s terms.
“Your daughter was not pregnant. She had
ovarian cysts, they raptured and she bled out
when they raptured. If she had gotten to
hospital in time, we could have saved her.”
Joanna mother sat there I shock. Her baby
had told her the truth. She had let her baby
die for nothing. Tears ran down her face as
she thought of the last thing her daughter saw
as she died; her other with a look of hate
cursing her. She had failed as a mother and a
human being. Joanna’s death was all her
fault.