Consent

The young woman tried to take in everything around her with frightened eyes. The hallway was crowded. People in white passed her without taking a glance at her; she felt invisible.

"Can I help you?"

The woman looked at the nurse and nodded. She just wanted the pain to be over. Before she had a chance to talk, her neighbor-she didn't know her much; she even didn't know why the older woman had volunteered to help-replied.

"Yes, she's having a baby." The neighbor pointed her finger at the woman. She didn't seem to know or care that the pale-looking woman was in great pain.

"All right, where is her husband? We need him to sign this form." The nurse waved a piece of paper in the air.

"Oh, he's not here. He's in the garrison. You see, he's a soldier, and he's under duty until tomorrow."

"What about her father?"

"Her parents live in another city. She's alone."

"We have to wait until her husband comes back. There's nothing we can do without his consent."

"I can't stand anymore." The pregnant girl whimpered and fisted her sweaty hands.

"You can take her to that empty room." The nurse pointed to a room a few feet away and went back to writing on a big notebook.

She felt her neighbor-she didn't even know her name-painfully grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the room. Her back hit the hard bed, and she whimpered once more. How much longer did she have to take this pain?

"Is there anyway we can call your husband?" She shook her head, trying to concentrate on the neighbor's voice.

"Well, you better try to sleep then. They won't call the doctor until your husband's here." The woman lay down on the bench in the corner of the room. She was already half asleep.

"But I can't sleep. It hurts too much." She protested as she felt the cramps. Everything was getting blurry.

"Somebody help me, please!" The woman finally screamed, tears escaping her eyes and running down her hollow cheeks. The nurse came to her room after a few minutes of agony.

"I can't take this anymore. Do something!" She was breathing heavily. A white blur came closer to her bed.

"You must be patient until the doctor comes."

"You don't understand! Do something!" She screamed as she grabbed a handful of the woman's uniform in her fist.

"What do you want me to do? It's your first child, isn't it? How old are you?"

"Seventeen," She whispered as she lay her head down on the pillow. It suddenly hurt to speak.

"You need to relax. I'll see if I can find a doctor." The nurse was gone, the neighbor was asleep and she felt abandoned. It seemed she was the only one left on the planet.

She closed her eyes and opened them, again and again. The scenes kept changing, but the pain was there. It was always there and never went away, as long as she remembered.

She could hear screams, but she could not recognize the voice; it was a stranger, but his voice was gentle and his cold hand on her feverish forehead was soothing, and he kept repeating that it was going to be all right, and everything was black and then nothing.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

She opened her eyes slowly. There was no sign of sun; rain drops were hitting against the window, making a soft, rhythmic sound.

"You're awake." She turned her head to the right; the muscles in her neck protested. She knew that woman; it was that nurse.

"Your husband is not here yet." She could not understand what the nurse meant. She felt numb and frozen.

"You have a baby boy. The doctor decided to do the operation without your husband's permission. You were dying, but you're fine now. Everything's fine. I'll go get your baby."

The tired woman stared at the rain drops and slowly nodded as she cleaned the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand. Yes, everything was fine.

The neighbor on the bench was softly snoring.