Pike

The heart monitor's alarm blared in his head, competing with the shrill crying from the room. The apartment, illuminated by the bluish reflection of the buildings, smelled of disinfectant and formula. He ran a hand through his messy gray hair, feeling the bandage on his cheek.

With mechanical movements, Lucio poured water into the bottle. He avoided looking at the crib; he knew the baby was there, but he ignored it. To him, it wasn't his son, it was simply the baby. The intruder who had almost stolen his entire universe. He left the bottle in the kitchen, where months before he had lifted it up, laughing. A sharp chill ran down his spine as he remembered the joy of those days, now buried in an operating room. He walked toward the bedroom, gently pushing open the door.

There she rested. Seeing her so pale and vulnerable, a deep melancholy settled in his chest; she was his only home, his only certainty.

He sat on the bed and brushed a strand of her hair aside. He longed to connect like before, but the horrific thought of what had come out of her body froze any possibility of intimacy. He knew it would fail, that her body would refuse to respond because of the trauma, making him feel like an even worse monster.

"Love?" Her voice sounded like a thread in the darkness. "Is he crying? Bring him to me, please... I want to hold him for a while."

He felt a lurch in his stomach. He couldn't understand how she could give her love to what had almost killed her. Swallowing his rejection, he forced the cheerful mask he'd been rehearsing for weeks.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, just stay in bed," he said with a smile. "I'll take care of the baby. You just rest."
She fled into the living room. Her family was in there, lying in that bed; what was in the crib was something else entirely. When she reached the child, she avoided eye contact, feeling guilt gnaw at her bones for not being able to extinguish an involuntary contempt she could no longer control, a contempt that corroded her fragile heart even more than it already was.