My LIFE MY PAIN

THIS WASN'T HOW February was supposed to be.

'Hey, Kylie!'

Kylie hayes stood as her friend came out of her office but she was unable to return Alora's smile. 'I've just got to go up to maternity to see a patient and then we can.....' Alora didn't finish her statement. Now she was closer she could see that her friend was barely holding it together, Kylie's eyes were brimming with tears, her long curly black hair looked as if she has been whipped up by the wind and she was just a thought breathless, thing as if she's been running. it quickly became clear to Alora that Kylie was not here for the Royal for their shopping date.

She wasn't.

Kylie has walked out of their antenatal appointment at the hospital where she worked and, like a homing cookies, had taken the underground to the Royal, where Alora was an obstetrics registrar. She has sat in panicked silence on the tube and, despite being five months pregnant and wearing a maxi dress and sandals, she has been one of those people up the escalator rather than standing and letting it take them to the top.

You are not here for our shopping date, are you?'

Alora checked, and Kylie uncertainly recalled a date that they had made a couple of weeks ago. They were both supposed to finish at four today and the plan had been to hit the shops, given that kylie would know by now if she was having a baby girl or boy.

They had all planned it — they were going to head off for a late afternoon tea and kylie would reveal the sex of her baby. Then they would shop for baby things in the appropriate colours and choose shoes for Kylie and Jamal's wedding, which was just over seven weeks away.

That was how it was persumed to be.

This was how it was.

'You know how we discussed keeping things separate, remember?' Kylie felt as if her voice didn't belong to her as she spoke to her closet friend. 'Can I change my mind about that?'

And, because she and Alora has been friends since way back in University, and medical school she didn't have to explain what she meant.

'Of course, you can,' Alora said battling the feeling of fear. 'Let's go into my office.'