Short Story (Cerpen)

9 Months

Category: Fiction Fantasy Short stories

Title: 9 Months

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Being a father to most men is an aspiration. Especially in the first birth. Sometimes these young fathers are too enthusiastic. Not yet their children were born, they have bought a baby bed, clothes, to stock diapers for a month. They forget who they need to care for.

It never occurred to me that keeping a pregnant woman is harder than taking care of yourself. Lack of sleep and thoughts split into my routine with my wife. In the 6th month of pregnancy, the psychic state of the Goddess, my wife, is getting worse. He kept talking about the baby he was carrying.

So I took my wife to Doctor Halim. Actually we went to this young doctor every two weeks for USG, but since I couldn't stand my wife's imagination, I took her there more often.

'This is not my son. It's an alien, it's a reptile, ' my wife repeatedly told Doctor Halim. A thousand times I said, 'That's your son, Dew, ' but still his expression was cold.

Arguing with him is no end. So I asked Doctor Halim to check the contents with an ultrasound machine. After that I asked for a picture. I gave the photo to the Goddess and asked her to glare. But instead he convinced us, 'Liat right? It's reptile. Where are your eyes? Look at his feet like an octopus.'

'Guritas are not reptiles, ' I argue.

We started arguing again, until Doctor Halim got hooked and hit the table, 'Hey, it's not just you guys who are patients. Many are queuing up. Try to be quiet first.'

Doctor Halim wrote a prescription with the inscription chicken claw, 'Sir Adam,' he looked at me sharply, 'Your wife needs a complete break.'

I don't agree because it's my responsibility. This amateur doctor doesn't seem to believe me. He must have thought that I was weighing on the pregnant woman's mind, 'Where am I? Do I need a break too? Give me the solution Doc!'

Doctor Halim doesn't want to know, he wrote a prescription, we took a drug. That's how I do that short.

At the next visit Doctor Halim did not want to hear the debate again. He performed the procedure as ordered by Algortima. Identification – check – write recipe. That'sthat's all.

Even if the content is healthy, but my wife's brain is getting crazy. He sat neatly at the dining table like a newly trained SD child staring at the TV and rarely blinked. Even his favorite dishes that I bought far away, terasi acid vegetables did not move his body.

He was raving again, 'Dear Adam, buy me food.'

I placed half a plate of rice and brought the bowl of warm sour vegetables closer, so that the steam from the food touched his senses, 'This I have bought. Your favorite, ' he's still gawking.

'I want goat horns. That's what they say.'

'Oh, my Goddess! Call you!'

'Buy lan, pliss.'

Who would buy him a goat horn? I'm tired and sultry. I don't give a shit. I've left him all night at the dinner table. I sleep.

The next morning I found him sleeping next to me. However, not even a small dinner that I served was he touched.

I'm off to work. Being a Marketing Manager is harder than Sales. If Sales only tells lies, then I am the mastermind of the lie. We sell soft drinks that taste like fine water given soda solution, plus flavorings. The creative deadlock of the development division made us have to think of many ways that the waste products were sold.

Fortunately we sold one plastic bottle at below market price, if Big Cola cost 3000, then we sold it for 2900. To boost sales, we spread a lot of pamphlets, wall stickers to rent advertising where in the ad a teenage girl posing as mischievous as possible while holding a bottle of our product called Glori Liquid or GL.

Succeeded. That cheap product sold. I can support my poor wife. To celebrate our success. Big boss is having a party. We drank until dawn. But sadly, I could not share my happiness with my wife, even Bobi, my thick-bodied coworker became a place to chat, 'I don't know what to do anymore.'

Under the influence of alcohol, Bobi could still use his common sense, 'That's pre-natal depression. It's mundane. My wife wants me to keep her pregnant. He wants threes*me.'

I'm surprised, “Threes*me? Two boys?'

'Two girls but I refuse.'

My eyes glared at my mind, 'Weh, if I had a wife like you. I admit your wife's imagination is far more creative than mine.'

I came home drunk. My wife hasn't slept. He sat in the middle room staring at the TV. For months my wife and I never got together. Who can stand it? I kissed his shoulder. He didn't react. I grabbed her hair. He even said, 'You sissy reptile.'

My desire melted away instantly. I'm sleeping again. On Saturday tomorrow, I took her out of the house, breathing fresh air in the city park. We've been sitting in front of the fountain for an hour. The goddess said nothing. I miss her beautiful natural voice. It's not a voice like the female devil I've heard since the second month of pregnancy.

I talked to myself and I hope he hears, 'Dew. You may have changed a lot now, but my love for you will never change. I miss your voice, I miss your warm embrace, even I miss the moment you get mad at me why go home the night goes on.'

The goddess turned her head and looked at me, 'Adam,' I really expect beautiful words from her, but, 'You've bought her horns?'

The woman took off the headphones, she smiled, Six months and two weeks. Why?'

'What is the name of pre-natal depression?'

'No. Just fine. I have a Standby Husband. Ready to Take Care. So there was never a problem.'

The young lady said as if slapping me, 'Gini, my wife is also pregnant. His soul condition was worrying. He is often very nervous. I think hallucinations are.'

'Bring to Doctor dong Mas.'

'Udah.'

'The Soul Doctor means. Psychiatrist.'

According to the advice of pregnant mothers I brought Dewi to see a famous Psychiatrist. Bobi gave the address of the Doctor named Markus. I gave everything I had to the doctor. His reaction I never expected.

'He and the baby need rest, ' said the elderly Doctor Markus.

'But Doc''

'I mean, a complete break. Let him rest.'

I'm not satisfied, 'Is this because of the cure? That amateur Doctor Halim must have misused the medicine, ' I showed the prescription paper on the table. Doctor Markus only saw him from afar, not interested in touching him, 'There is nothing wrong with the cure. Go home, tell your wife to rest.'

Counseling ended. There is no solution at all. By the eighth month, I was already used to his swearing and witty chirping. That afternoon he was standing in the yard, his weak body was almost blown away, I had to embrace him into the house. He said, 'Dear Adam, the alien kept on kicking. He again communicates with his carrier in the sky.'

I was provoked because he could not stay still, constantly be in a struggle to be left standing in the sun-baked yard during the day. I pulled and pushed, forcing her inside. I put out so much energy that I pushed him until he slammed into the floor. Thank goodness it's okay. I was completely unintentional. I won't forgive myself if anything happens to her body.

Tears came out from her little eyes. However, his eyes were blank and continued to whisper with a heavy breath, 'You've bought the horn?'

I don't care about goat horns or deer. I took him to Doctor Halim. Thankfully, everything is healthy. However, Doctor Halim even threatened me when we said goodbye, 'You will get in trouble if she can miscarry.'

From the beginning he did not like me, 'Originally know Doc. I love him and my future son. I won't tell anyone who's going to hurt him and the baby. Won't do. Including myself.'

A week after the incident. I don't remember what time it was, which was obviously midnight. The goddess continued to whisper, 'They came, they came. Alien..alien, ' so repeatedly made me wake up. His body was sweating violently, his eyes were opened his body stiff. I touched his forehead. His body temperature was like a boiling teapot.

'Dew? What's up?'

'He's coming! He's coming!' His shouting. Until he screamed so much.

Not much thought, I bopong goddess and took her to the hospital. My feelings raged. My mind flew everywhere. I don't want anything to happen with him and our future son. Quickly and swiftly I went down the stairs while holding the Goddess's roar. He screamed so loud that the sound filled the whole corner of our house.

Suddenly his body stopped. A heavy object fell to the floor. That little thing came out of my wife's stomach and was full of blood. I put the Goddess' body on the floor and took the thing. That's my baby. There is no crying. I'm holding that tiny creature.

No other feeling arose other than an outburst of fear, 'What is this creature?' I can't believe what I saw. What my wife has been saying is all true. I threw the creature on the floor. The creature was oval-headed, gray-skinned and had many legs, its body filled with green liquid. Her two black eyes were staring at me and were very threatening.

'Al... aliens??'

With her legs the creature approached the body of the Goddess. I'm not gonna let his legs touch my wife's skin. I let go of the violent stomps to the creature so many times that its body shattered apart, a green liquid spurting all around my feet. That thing is not moving. My hands were shaking I had trouble breathing.

Unbeknownst to me, the Goddess got up and directly stuck a sharp object into my stomach. I screamed loudly, it was stuck deep in my stomach. He shouted, 'The goat horn! I bought it!'

I turned around, the Goddess looked at me with her demonic gaze, her pupils flushed red, she shouted again, 'That's your son, Adam!!'

The chuck was so strong, my breath was running out. With the rest of my energy and breath, I threw a punch at his face. The grip was released but the Goddess attacked again. I preceded his move, I pushed him against the wall. His head hit the wall hard. He's not moving. His body does not breathe. She die. Killed him. I pulled the hard object, it was true it was indeed a horn. Goat horn.

They said that I was the one who bought it and told my wife to keep the horn. Not likely.

Nine months later, diagnosed with mental illness, I was discharged from the mental hospital. I felt like there was nothing wrong in my head. I looked up and saw what I should have heard and seen. The doctor said I had Paranoid Schizophrenia. Hallucinations. Doctor Halim is his witness. He said that I downed all the Diphenhydramine pills that should have been given to my wife. This tranquilizer pill was given to my wife because she could not calm down and hold it because my prilak who often came home at night drunk.

I even manipulated routine USG checks from once every two weeks to twice a week. I can't stand the pressure of work and the burden of being a father. Worse, I'm not sure if it's my biological son. I'm not ready to be a father. So, the dose I swallowed increased. Until I hallucinated that the one conceived was not human, but alien.

I stepped out the hospital gate. For months in the prison of the soul, I felt myself free and relieved. I stared at the clear sky that was not filled with clouds, I smiled cheerfully, 'So when are you going to come down to earth again?'