A Baby Made of Lies

Inside the interrogation room, the officer's face was hard and unreadable.

"Ms. Long, why did you use that much force on a pregnant woman? Just because she asked you to keep it down? Do you understand that what you did qualifies as intentional assault?"

I met his eyes, calm and steady. "I didn't. First, I never intended to hurt her. Second, she's not pregnant. She's a man."

The officer frowned.

"We've already confirmed with the hospital. The injured party is Rose Jenkins, female, 12 weeks pregnant. Due to severe impact, the pregnancy was lost. What else do you have to say?"

I let out a small laugh.

"The hospital? Which doctor ran that exam? Bring them here. Let's talk face-to-face. I've said it already. Rose is a man. There's no fetus in there. Just a silicone implant and a bag of red ink."

That made them pause. They probably hadn't seen a suspect this stubborn before.

One of the male officers slammed his hand on the table.

"You still won't admit what you did? The surveillance footage, your coworkers' statements, the hospital report, everything points to you! You think making things up will get you out of this?"

I didn't look away.

"I didn't do anything wrong. Why would I need to get out of anything? I want to see Rose. I'll prove it in front of you. I'll prove she's a man. If I can't, I'll take full responsibility. No arguments."

My certainty made them hesitate.

After a few minutes of quiet discussion, they decided to take me to the hospital for a face-to-face.

When we got there, Rose was lying in a hospital bed. She was pale and hooked up to an IV, looking weak enough to fall apart.

Paisley and a few others were standing guard beside her. The second they saw me, they rushed over like I was something dangerous.

"You've got some nerve showing up here! You killed her baby!"

Paisley was practically shouting in my face.

I ignored her and walked straight to the bed, looking down at Rose.

"Drop the act. You're overdoing it."

The moment she saw me, her whole body jerked. She shrank back, eyes wide with fear.

"Don't come near me, you monster… What more do you want? You've already killed my baby…"

She cried like she was breaking apart, loud enough to draw everyone's attention in the room. Her eyes were full of panic as she grabbed Paisley's arm, voice trembling.

"Paisley, please… Make her leave, okay? I'm scared when I see her… My baby… My poor baby…"

The others chimed in right away.

"Stella, are you really not going to stop until you drive her to death?"

"Yeah, what's the point of this? That was a life!"

I waited until the officers were actually watching me, then let out a cold laugh.

"A life? Fine. Then let's figure out whose 'life' that really was."

The second I said that, Rose snapped.

"That's nonsense! My child died because of you! You're a killer! He was three months old. I could feel him moving inside me every day… Give me my child back!"

After shouting, she broke down into sobs again, the kind that made everyone around her soften.

But this couldn't keep going.

Just as Paisley stepped forward to comfort her again, I moved. I stepped up to the bed and yanked the blanket off.

"I know exactly who killed your child.'"

Right in front of everyone, I grabbed the waistband of her hospital pants and pulled hard.