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Faith hurried out of the grocery store, casting a worried glance above, the sky which was blue a few minutes ago has now been surrounded by thick angry grey clouds.
She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself as a cold wind swept by, luckily, it didn't take long for the taxi to stop in front of her. She muttered the directions to the driver who sped off.
Faith heard the screams of confrontations before she even stepped into the living room. Her eyes scanned the messy living room which smelled like cigarettes and alcohol.
Scrunching her nostrils, her body stiffened when she heard the soft muffled sounds.
Her eyes quickly located the source and her heart jumped in her throat, amidst the seas of clothes gathered on the old-looking sofa was the baby!
Anger pierced through her heart as she snatched the clothes covering almost half of his face, his little face was red and the cries were louder.
God! He'd been suffocating!
Carrying him in her arms, she started to slowly rock his back, but his cries didn't cease, perhaps he was hungry.
Where the hell were his parents?
She didn't have to wonder for long as she heard the voice behind her.
"Faith, you are here?! when did you arrive?"
Faith turned around swiftly to see Micheal approaching her.
Both he and his girlfriend were her next-door neighbors.
She noticed that his face was slightly reddened, perhaps, he was embarrassed that she must have witnessed the fight with his girlfriend, it wouldn't be the first time.
She wanted to scream at them for leaving their baby unattended, he could be hurt while they were busy fighting themselves.
"He's hungry." Micheal stated, accepting the baby from Faith's reluctant hands.
"I bought the formula you wanted, but how could you just leave him li__" She barely started, it happened so quickly, a rough shove almost had her losing her balance. Faith clutched her enormous stomach, her eyes wide in alarm as the entire contents of her grocery bag were spilled onto the floor.
"Anastasia! What are you doing! She bought the formula since you don't care that the baby you gave birth to is hungry!" Micheal spat, yanking his girlfriend with one hand, clutching his son with the other.
"He's my child! Not yours, why don't you face your business you ugly ass bitch!" Faith received the snarl from the furious woman.
"Mind your language! She's a better woman than you could ever hope to be!"
A short pause followed as Anastasia seemed to breathe out fumes of hot coal.
"You are cheating on me with her aren't you?! I get it now, you want my boyfriend and my baby! You want to make my boyfriend yours because you're soon to give birth to a bastard!" She screamed glaring at Faith who was yet to completely recover from the shock.
"Shut up! You don't talk to her like that, you better behave or__"
"Or what!" Anastasia barked, shoving Michael's shoulders aggressively.
Wasn't she afraid of mistakenly hurting her baby? Faith thought.
"She's pregnant, fat, and ugly! She's always here! How many times have you done it behind my back?!"
Faith took a step back in disgust and pure anger as Anastasia produced a cigarette from god knows where and took a long whiff.
"How many times have I told you not to smoke in front of him!" Faith watched as Michael snatched the cigarette from her lips and tossed it to the floor. The action earned him a series of slaps from Anastasia.
"Bitch!" He cursed, smashing a hard fist against her face.
Faith winced at Anastasia's loud furious cry.
Bile formed in her throat watching the blood gush from Anastasia's mouth.
How had she ever gotten involved with these people?
The major victim in all of these was little baby Ian, she always felt heartbroken, especially on days when he was left to starve by his "mother ". Some days, Faith even had to take the responsibility to ensure he was bathed and dressed in clean clothes.
It appeared that they both didn't care that right now, the child was currently screaming at top of his lungs.
She sincerely believed that both parents were not doing enough for their child.
The grocery was all scattered on the floor, as she started to leave, she couldn't help but contemplate whether to call for social help for the child.
That was probably the only way she could help him grow in a safe and happy environment.
"What are you still doing here?!" Faith received the angry snarl from Anastasia that forced her legs to move.
" Next time you don't stay away, you'll fucking regret it!" She heard Anastasia's final threat just before she slammed the door close behind her.
She sighed.
So much for trying to be of help.
Her hands unconsciously reached to touch her heavily protruding stomach, she was just into her ninth month of pregnancy and according to the doctors would be due in three weeks.
Would things get easier or would it get more difficult?
It had been tough and complicated trying to put the piece of her life together after her divorce seven years ago.
She had never realized how solely dependent on him she had been.
She often thought about him.
The memories were still fresh but at times felt like some distant far away dream.
She had had to move outside of town with her mom and brother to get a job, deep down, she knew the main reason was to reduce the risk of ever bumping into him.
If he ever found out that she lied to him__
That was her biggest fear.