Short Story: Nothing Left to Say

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Nothing Left to Say

by Nikki Layne

There was nothing left to say. His decision was made. She knew he was wrong and she knew what she could do about it, but she wanted to protect her children from the monster he had become; had always been. 

Becca was pregnant. Aaron was the father. They had only dated for a short time, but they had plans to get married. Aaron loved Becca's son, Gavin; or at least he acted as though he did. Aaron was constantly talking about wanting a child of his own and giving Gavin a brother or sister. Then it all changed.

It was 4:15pm. Aaron had just gotten home from work. He went into the bathroom to wash his hands only to find a pregnancy test. He came out to ask Becca for an explanation. "What is this?” asked Aaron. "It's a pregnancy test", replied Becca. "I'm pregnant", she said. Aaron was in shock. It wasn't the good, excited shock that Becca had expected. It seemed like he was scared, as if he had just hit a brick wall in some plan with no way out.

The next few days were very different between Becca and Aaron. Becca went to her first prenatal appointment, but Aaron made no attempt to be there. She came home with sonogram pictures and paperwork stating that she was six weeks pregnant. It was as if Aaron just couldn’t be bothered. Aaron spent the next couple nights going out to the bars with his buddies from work. Becca was left home alone. Becca always went out with the guys. However, now that she was pregnant it seemed that had changed. Everything had changed. Nothing was the same.

She could sense that nothing would ever be the same between her and Aaron again. She couldn’t quite figure out why he was reacting this way to the pregnancy. He still acted normal around Gavin. He had only built a brick wall between him and Becca, and it was because of the pregnancy.

Becca wasn’t happy and neither was Aaron, obviously. Becca was faced with a serious decision. Was she supposed to stay and wait it out to see if Aaron ever came around? Or was it time they went their separate ways? Becca chose the latter. She didn’t want her son to see her unhappy and she didn’t want to stay with someone she was unhappy with because of a new baby. She felt this was the better decision.

As she started moving her things out, Aaron started to ask questions. He wondered where she was going, and with who. He didn’t try to stop her. He was just full of questions. He didn’t seem to care either way whether she stayed or went. After her last items were moved out, she placed the keys on the kitchen table and didn’t give it a second thought. She closed the door behind her and decided that was a closed chapter of her life. Well, semi-closed.

Becca was still pregnant. She had no idea what she was going to do. She was happy to be pregnant, but not under the given circumstances. She was angry that Aaron had acted in such a way that forced her to leave him while she was pregnant with his child. However, she knew there was nothing she could do about that. It was time she thought about Gavin and the new baby.

That night, Becca checked her e-mail as usual only to find an email from Aaron. He had said that he would pay for the termination of the pregnancy with all costs made payable to the doctor of her choice. Becca was infuriated. She could not believe that Aaron wanted her to get an abortion. Becca was a Christian and believed that a baby was a gift, not a choice. She wrote back her refusal. All it came down to was that Aaron didn’t want this baby, nor did he want to be obliged to him or her financially. Becca informed him that his name would not be associated with the baby and he was free to live his life without any obligations to a child he helped to create. It ended there.

There was nothing left to say. Becca would go on to be the single mom of two young children, both under the age of two once the second was born. She was hurt and scared with no support. She knew she had to pull herself up and make this work. She loved her son, Gavin. She just hoped that under the given circumstances she could love the one she was carrying the same.

Nine months later, Becca delivered another boy. She named him Gabriel. A phone call came into the delivery room. It was a female’s voice. The voice asked, “Are you up for a visitor?” Becca, said, “Sure”, even though she was unsure of the voice. The girl, she didn’t know. However, the man she was with was Aaron. Apparently, Aaron had gotten married in the short time they had been broken up for. They walked in, took a glance at Becca and the baby. Aaron then walked back out.

Aaron hasn’t showed back up in fifteen years. Gabriel is fifteen now. Over the years Becca could not believe Aaron had showed up at the hospital just to walk back out and never look back. Gabriel never asked about his dad, which so far Becca was thankful for. She was unsure of what she would say.

Gabriel was always a good kid, an honors student, and quarterback for his high school football team. He had everything going for him. Then a phone call came in. It was Aaron. Gabriel answered. Gabriel apparently knew more than he let on. He responded to Aaron with, “There is nothing left to say.” He hung up. From that moment on Aaron did not matter to Gabriel or Becca. There was no explanation needed. There was nothing left to say. Literally.