Misha is my daughter
Part of the Flash Fiction Train
Her head started hurting like someone was constantly hitting it hard with a piece of rock. A painful migraine. Repeating the same words again and again in the same motion, coming up with different thoughts every time. “Misha is my daughter”
Her purse now laid over the bed, next to her. Her hair messy, her face in a pale red, wet, reflecting the exhaustion along that afternoon. She cuddled, even more, trying to get warmer. She lazed, too tired to get up and lay again under the bedsheets of her bedroom. Her left arm held her tummy and she was repeating “Misha is my daughter.”
Laura recalled last weekend, now 4 days ago. She woke up and got dressed for work, a small café near the hospital. As she stared in the mirror of her closet, she recognised her breast was getting bigger, while her tummy was getting round. Could it be?
Yet she got to work, stopping by a pharmacy first. Laura got a pregnancy test and used it at the toilets in the cafeteria. She was pregnant.
It was different for her, though. Other happy couples would jump and dance with each other, but her ex-boyfriend was now in a coma. It was different for her because she started crying. She was happy, but she was alone and scared. Tyler was not holding her right now, no one was. Laura never thought this would be what her first time would look like. And instead, she had to make a call.
“It’s strange having you here, don’t you think so?”
Laura couldn’t spot her eyes, if she had put on her favourite mascara, ochre brown, or if she did even use contact lenses anymore. Darja had put her Louis Vuitton sunglasses and hadn’t put them off yet. Laura could see herself all the time, facing her words. This made it more awkward.
“I would ask the same question”
Smile.
“What brought you to Russia?”
“Well, I got in, Laura! Just as I dreamed!”
“You are now part of MI6?! What, are you working right now? Are you into any secret mission?”
“Job’s secrets. But yeah, I did get into. I passed the Police Academy and they send me to train for MI6’s new recruits. Devastating. But at least they accepted me and now I am a secret agent, working in the terrain. Don’t tell anybody about this.”
“That’s amazing!”
She gasped.
“Well, why did you call?”
Darja smiled, showing her perfect white teeth.
“It’s about Tyler, my boyfriend.”
“Are you married now?”
“Not yet, but it’s not this. He’s here now, in Russia. He is recovering from a coma.”
She could feel the cold situation. Darja now took off her sunglasses, her eyes surrounded by a light gray circle.
“He was injured in a train holdup.”
“What?!”
“You were on the same train.”
“Is Tyler the guy that smelled of alcohol all over? Brown hair, good jawline, a birthmark on his right cheek?”
Laura nodded.
“He was a maniac. Couldn’t get his eyes off me and my hat.”
“He is the father of my child.”
She wanted to feel the weight of her words, but all she faced was Darja’s senseless expression. She put her sunglasses back on.
“What happened on that train?”
Darja got up.
“He was in the wrong place the wrong time.”
She left, leaving behind some cash.
She doesn’t know if she can believe her now. “Anna is my wife”. She doesn’t even know why she even invited her to come by. All she can wish is that Tyler becomes a good dad.
Misha was not his daughter.
This story is a part of a collaborative chain of flash fiction stories. Resources and links are available in the master post here:
Characters
- Tyler — Recently out of a coma in Russian hospital
- Laura — came, stayed with Tyler for those two months, now pregnant, knows Darja
- Darja—friend of Laura, working for MI6
