Wailing and sirens often disturbed Jonni’s sleep that night, but didn’t realize why until she opened her eyes and found herself in a cramped alley. Pushing herself up, Jonni looked down at herself and began to cry. As tears streamed helplessly down her face, she could hear the Doppler-ganger of police sirens and the screech of a car coming to a sudden halt.
“Ma’am, are you and the child alright?” Joni wanted desperately to say yes, but she could not hear the child crying. She was far too weak to check if she was breathing. A team of paramedics raced over with a stretcher and what look like an over sized incubator.
“We are just going to cut the cord and get you stitched up. Is that alright?” The paramedic talked as she checked my pulse and the dilation of my pupils.
“How is she? Is she alright?” Looking at the child now, Jonni could see her moving and smiling.
“Don’t worry, she will be fine. She just needs a little prenatal care. Did you take any precautions or go to the doctor while you were pregnant?”
“I-I didn’t know that I was. I don’t even remember giving birth.”
“Do you remember how you got in this alley? She is a few hours old, so you have been bleeding out a while. “
“I was walking home from track practice. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“It’s okay; trauma can cause temporary memory loss sometimes. Now I need you to sit as still as you can while we lift you on the stretcher. This is going to hurt, but we will have some pain medicine given to you soon. First we have to stop the bleeding.”
Jonni bit her lip, anticipating the pain but it never came. She only felt discomfort as her body was stretched out and carried away. The paramedics didn’t ask any more questions o the way to the hospital. They just focused on keeping her vitals steady, and making sure Jonni stayed awake. Jonni waited until the paramedic, who had spoken to her earlier, came to check on her to ask questions of her own. Jonni pulled the mask off her face and asked, “My mother? Does she know where I am?”
“No. What’s your name and address? We will contact her, but first we have to worry about getting you through surgery and stopping the bleeding.”
“Wait, why do I have to go through surgery? I got you just had to do stitches?”
“You have internal bleeding. We think something may have been punctured, and the wounds to your vaginal area were inflicted. You did not have a natural birth.”
“So this happened deliberately?” Joni waited for a reply but their conversation was interrupted as the door opened.
“Come on, Amy. We can’t have her in there all day plus the police want to talk to you about this little lady.”
“What do they want?”
“ Jonni here has been missing for twelve months. “