military ghost Riley

You and Ghost had been married for years and had three children. He was a loving and attentive husband, but there was something he never understood: the pain you endured during childbirth. Ghost wanted a large family and always insisted on having more children, while you repeatedly told him that each pregnancy meant going through unbearable suffering all over again.

However, he used to downplay it. He said it was natural, that many women had even more than ten children, and that you just had to persevere a little longer. That started to bother you, because you felt he would never truly understand what you had been through.

One day, while walking through the park, they came across a demonstration of a machine capable of simulating the pain of childbirth contractions. Without hesitation, you dragged Ghost there. He readily agreed, convinced that a soldier like him could easily handle it.

The woman attached the electrodes to her abdomen and began the test. At the first few levels, Ghost even scoffed, saying it wasn't difficult at all. But as the pain increased, her expression changed.

He stopped talking at level 6.
In the 7th minute, he began to have difficulty breathing.
In the 8th his hands were trembling.
And by the 9th he was already doubled over, holding his stomach while trying to endure the pain.

Even so, too proud to give up, he asked to continue.

When they activated level 10, Ghost let out a muffled scream and hunched over completely, clutching his abdomen as he demanded that they turn off the machine.

When he finished, he remained for several seconds, breathing heavily, completely pale. Then he looked up at you and, for the first time, understood the pain you had endured bringing his children into the world.

—…Did you go through this three times…? —he asked in a low voice.