EMBERS OF THE UNSPOKEN

CHAPTER 1–1 (THE LAST MORNING)

The morning began with a lie, the kind that looks like honey on the tongue but poison the heart, for Mira Daniel that all she believes, those tasteful lies.

The morning started like any other day, but this day was different from any other day because it is Mira due day, after waiting for three years like a river waiting for rain in drought, God finally smiled at her. The day God would finally bless her with her own bundle of joy, the day marked on the calendar she will meet her baby, the day her happy marriage will heed fruit, the day she will meet her other self she has been waiting to meet for night months.

She stood up from the bed happy and excited as she went to the kitchen to make breakfast, humming a song to herself when her husband walked in all dressed up and was leaving for God knows where.

Sterling Daniel.

Mira's husband, the man she was ready to sacrifice everything for.

He  kissed her forehead gently, the way he always did. 

"Where the hell are you going today of all day?" Mira ask curiously.

"The meeting I told you about, it's today and it's important." He said, adjusting the jacket he wore for supposed business trip. " I promise I will be back before you know it, and I will meet you at the hospital."

Mira forced a smiled. “Today is the due date, Sterling.”

“I know,” he murmured, touching her stomach with tenderness. “Call me if anything starts, I will make sure I keep in touch.”

"I love you." And he peck on the forehead once more and walked out of the kitchen.

"I guess we are on our own." She declared touching her round stomach.

Almost an hour later, Mira felt a sharp but manageable contraction, her baby was ready. She was already moving carefully around the house, humming softly as she  dressed and checked the hospital bag she had prepared with Vanessa Cole—her best friend since childhood.

" I thought she said she be here today."

Vanessa knew the due date.

Sterling knew.

Everyone important knew.

Her life felt steady. Prepared. Safe.

But at the same time she felt alone, all the people that matter was not here with her.

She placed her hospital bag in the car, and drove straight to the hospital.

The second contraction hit while Mira was turning into the hospital parking lot.

It wasn’t the dramatic, the screaming kind you see  movies. It was deep. Gripping.

She eased the car into a parking space beneath a flickering streetlight and turned off the engine quickly, she couldn't believe she drove herself in that situation. For a moment, she just sat there, both hands on the steering wheel, breathing carefully to regain herself.

“In… and out,” she whispered.

Another contraction rolled through her belly, heavier this time. The baby shifted inside her, pressing low, as if impatient.

“It’s time,” she murmured, half in excitement, half in fear.

She reached for her handbag in the passenger seat and checked for the last time then froze.

The envelope.

The brown hospital envelope containing her antenatal records, scan reports, blood work — everything.

Her heart dropped.

“Oh no. No, no, no…”

She saw it in her mind — lying neatly on the dining table at home, exactly where she had placed it so she wouldn’t forget it.

Mira forced herself out of the car and walked toward the hospital entrance, one hand supporting her belly. The automatic doors opened with a soft mechanical sigh.

At the reception, her voice trembled. “I… I’m in labour.”

The nurse asked calmly, “Your hospital file, ma?”

Mira swallowed. “I left it at home.”

The nurse’s expression shifted. “We need those documents. Do you have someone who can bring them?”

Vanessa.

Mira grabbed her phone.

The first call rang endlessly.

The second went straight to voicemail.

“Pick up… please pick up,” Mira whispered, but no response, and she move to sit on one of the hospital chairs.

The nurse encouraged her gently, “Walk, ma. It helps. Don’t sit yet.”

So she walked.

Up the corridor.

Down again.

Each step slow and deliberate. The polished hospital floor reflected her pale face under the fluorescent lights.

Her phone remained stubbornly quiet."where could Venessa be for God sake!!"

She tried Vanessa again.

Nothing.

A sharp pain bent her forward. She leaned against the cool wall, breathing hard.

“I can’t drive back,” she muttered. The contractions were too close now. Too strong.

The nurse approached her again. “We can start basic admission, but if you can get someone to bring the envelope quickly, that would help.”

Mira looked toward the glass doors leading back outside.

Home wasn’t far. Just fifteen minutes away on foot.

Fifteen minutes… if she wasn’t having all this contractions to deal with.

She imagined walking under the night sky, contractions stopping her every few steps, strangers staring, her body working against her.

A strange calm settled over her.

If no one was coming… she would have to do it herself.

She straightened slowly, holding her belly as another wave built inside her.

“Baby,” she whispered, almost apologetically, “we might have to take a little walk.”