Stay Awake

Lois Lane didn't bother to dress. She threw on an overcoat and heels, grabbed her purse and walked out of the apartment. Rode the lonely elevator down to the street level.

Even half-awake, the reporter knew this city. The nearest all-night pharmacy. Her feet felt like leade blocks, legs and hips aching and tired, eyes blinking as they struggled to sleep. She wanted to sit, to close her peepers for just a minute. Instead she bit the insides of her cheeks, rubbed her thighs together, and kept walking.

The lonely clerk in their stiff white labcoat, young in years but with old eyes that had seen too much of what walked through their doors in the wee hours of the morning.

"Morning after pill," Lois asked for, and got it. No prescription necessary. She grabbed a six-pack of beer on the way out, and a couple of large energy drinks. Nothing good to have, if you were pregnant; but Lois didn't care at that point. Hell, it was almost a plus.

The waist of her overcoat felt tighter on the walk back. A growing ache in her belly, the sash digging into her middle. There were few people on the street at this hour, but the ones that saw her looked at her strangely. She moved like a woman with a load of secrets, and even the dealers steered clear as she made her way back to her apartment.

By the time she arrived, Lois was fit to collapse. She shucked the coat, not eager to see what it revealed.

There was a livid pink line around her belly, where the sash had dug into her abdomen—now notable swollen. Lois frowned and opened the pill and a beer. Downed the one and chased it with the other.

On edge, **** not touching her nerves at all, she looked at the kitchen clock:

03:55

She dared not sleep. Her jittery hands found the first of the energy drinks and cracked it open. Took a deep breath.

"I'm going to drink all of these," she announced to no one in particular. Maybe to the hateful bottle, that sat there on the counter, which had started all this. "And I'm not going to sleep until it passes."

So she sat there, alternating sips of beer and sugary, ultra-caffeinated soda, and stared at her growing belly.