The Orphan’s REVENGE

Maya Kendall screamed as the doctors in the room worked to reduce her pain. Blood filled the floor of the small hospital ward from a failed abortion attempt.

More tears stung her eyes as she caught a glimpse of her husband standing outside the room, with a look of disgust boldly displayed on his face. Beside him, her step sister clutched his arm, smiling widely as she suffered in pain.

Maya let out a horrifying shriek of anguish that caused the doctor’s hand to shake.

Feeling her spirit slip from her body, she glared at them and screamed as she tried to struggle out of the straps holding her to the hospital table, "Two of you have treated me so poorly. My husband and my own sister."

Her husband turned away while her sister clutched him tighter.

Maya felt the last of her blood boil. She was an orphan not loved by her real parents, sister or husband and the only other person she had in the world, her baby, was taken away before it was even given the chance to live.

With her last breath she cried one more time. “You will pay for what you did to me and my child. Oliver and Sophia, I will haunt you and avenge our deaths."

With that she closed her eyes in death.

# # #

(Present Day)

Maya's eyes flew open.

She started to pant as she remembered that she had been strapped to a bed, bleeding to death. She grabbed her abdomen and to her surprise there was no blood. No pain. Just a slight hunger. There were no doctors or nurses either. In fact, she wasn’t even in the hospital.

She sat up staring around the familiar looking room. It was well decorated with candles and red flower petals. The bed where she lay had a curtain of red petals surrounding it like a canopy.

It was her husband's room but it was decorated exactly like it had been on their wedding night. She looked around for him wondering why he had prepared all this when he had made it clear he didn’t like her.

Immediately images like memories began to flash through her mind. Then that dreadful scene at the hospital and what had happened before it.

(Flashforward)

Maya was heavily pregnant and sitting on the floor where Oliver, her husband, had just pushed her to.

"I can't have an abortion. It's too late. And this is a living child, please." Maya pleaded.

"Nonsense," he snapped. "How could you have carelessly gotten pregnant and tried to hide it? Did you think I wouldn't find out, huh? We are going to the hospital that Sophia recommended."

"No," Maya yelled, taking her husband by surprise. She rose, backing away as she grabbed her swollen abdomen. " I won't let you harm this child. You evil monster!"

Oliver slapped her across the cheeks and grabbed her by her hair, pulling her out of the house. He drove to the hospital late that night and then he pulled her forcefully towards the building.

"I can't have an abortion. The baby is too grown. Especially not from a dump like this," she screamed.

"I don't care about the baby. You are getting rid of it. I don't want anything else to tie us together."

Her husband successfully had her strapped to a bed until they could administer anesthesia to her which would make her sleepy.

Before she passed out, her sister rushed in and grabbed her hand, loudly telling her to calm down but then Sophia leaned close to her ears whispering, "I see the drug is beginning to work well. Rest in peace, not."

Sophia smiled as she walked out before Maya could respond. Maya’s eyes rolled to the back of her head as she blacked out.

Maya woke up with a terrible ache. Ache was an understatement. It was almost as though someone had sawed her stomach in half. The doctors around her are panicking.

There was blood all over the operation area. She screamed as a sudden pain shot through her abdomen and up her spine. One of the doctors turned to her in surprise. "How is she awake?"

"Did you administer the anesthesia properly?" The other one asked.

"We must calm her down."

"We've run out of anesthesia!" One of the nurses screamed.

"She is losing more blood."

"Where's my baby?” Maya repeated while struggling to get off the table.

“He’s dead. Isn’t that why you came here?” One of the nurses responded coldly and pushed her back into the bed, even though she couldn’t go very far because of the straps.

Maya stopped moving at the doctor’s response. She couldn’t hear anything. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t even breathe. Someone clamped a plastic oxygen mask over her face. As she took in her first breath of forced oxygen, her new reality hit her.

The one person she had in the world was gone.

"No, no, no. You killed him. You killed my son," Maya screamed, trying to grab the arm of the doctor closest to her.

She managed to grab his scrub and as he pulled away, a piece of it tore off. She threw it aside and set her arms in a clawing position but it was too late. The rest of the medical team had descended upon her. They grabbed her hands and tied it to the bars of the bed.

She screamed as loud as she could, yanking at the ties that held her to the bed but she knew the place was too deserted for such help to come. It was in the middle of nowhere. The kind of nowhere where nobody would come.

She stared outside the window, watching her husband's face and hoping by some stroke of luck that he would show some mercy. His face was twisted in disgust and her sister looked like she was trying to hold back her laughter. Her sister stylishly wrapped her hands around Oliver's arm and winked.

Maya's heart ached. She had been nothing but a loving, caring and devoted wife to Oliver ever since they had been married and this was how he treated her, like she was a freak he was forced to watch, while he stood there with her sister.

She began to curse them, even though she wasn’t sure they would hear her from beyond the glass window and even as hot tears mixed with sweat as it flowed down the sides of her face, "I will avenge my son. You killed him, Oliver, your own child. Even if I die, I will find you, no matter where you are and make you regret this."

(PRESENT DAY)

Maya’s eyes welled up with tears. Her child had died and she had thought she would die too. Somehow she survived. How had she survived and why did Oliver bring her back here?

Anger boiled inside her as she remembered her last words. She got up to confront Oliver but then realized that she wore the petticoat that came paired with her wedding dress. She spotted a slice of her wedding cake on a table. She found it strange that Oliver had arranged all of these to look exactly like their wedding night. It only made her more angry, as it reminded her of how her life had gotten ruined.

What game was he playing now? Or did her torture not stop at the hospital? Was this her personal hell? Last she checked, hell was a burning furnace. This room was well-conditioned.

She searched for her phone and found it in the drawers of one of the tables. She looked at the time. It was late at night. 9:05 to be exact. She saw messages and missed calls from various people on her contact list.

None of whom had ever contacted her ever again after her wedding day. Had they heard that her child was died? Most of them hadn’t even known she was pregnant. She checked the messages and saw that they were congratulating her on her wedding.

Confusion filled Maya's face. She just woke up after passing out in the hospital. It was a bit suspicious that she didn’t have any pain or ache or noticeable bandage. A procedure like that was bound to hurt for several days after. Maybe months if there were no complications

She checked her wrist for signs of the tie biting into her skin. Her skin was clean and clear. Well, as clear as it was on her wedding day.

Her phone pinged with an alert sound. She saw an angry message from Sophia.

SOPHIA: You tricked Oliver into marrying you and if you don’t leave him and go where no one else can find you, I will reveal your secret, you wicked wrench. Run away from the Braxton house for good.

Maya’s eyes widened in shock. She remembered this exact message. Sophia had sent these same words to her on her wedding night.

She had been waiting in this room for Oliver to return and decided to check the messages on her phone when she saw Sophia's message. She had cried upon reading the accusation, ruining her make-up and staining her petticoat in the process.

Back then, she had only ever wanted to please her sister but now that she knew what sort of monster Sophia was, she wanted to call Sophia and ask what she meant by resending this when it was clear that Oliver hated her but she got a call from her father which she answered.

"Maya are you alone?" He asked, without waiting for her to say hello.

"Yes, why－"

"You must be a good wife and suit that man well. Do whatever it takes to make him happy and pleased. You know our business depends heavily on this marriage. Do not mess this up for us."

Maya gasped. She took the phone away from her ears and cut the call. Her face was filled with horror as she replayed her father’s words.

On her wedding day, after seeing Sophia's text, her father had called her and said those exact words to her which was why she never left Oliver even up till that night at the hospital. She wondered if everyone was playing a cruel prank on her.

But when she checked the date on her phone, she saw that it was the 7th of May. Her wedding day.

Her phone almost dropped out of her hand as she processed these things.

Out of disbelief, she checked the calendar and timezone on the phone. Everything seemed correct. Even the year. She was back to her wedding day.

Had she dreamt that she had been pregnant for Oliver and that he had maltreated her? No, it couldn't be. It all felt too real to her. It wasn’t a dream. This had to be a prank.

She was sure she had died and she remembered this day very well because she had already lived it. She recalled vividly how Oliver came into the room, how he chased her to her own room the next morning and how he constantly avoided and ignored her.

She sat on the bed, thinking deeply as her heart began to race. Had she gone back in time? It was impossible.

She felt like she could tell what was supposed to happen next and this was the moment where Oliver would walk into the room and they would conceive her child, but she couldn't let that happen. If this was a second chance, Oliver wouldn’t be the father of her child.

If she let him touch her, history would only repeat itself.

Determined to leave the house and never see Oliver again, Maya stood up and walked to the door, planning to get to her room and pack her things but before she could exit, Oliver walked in.

Maya paused, heart frozen in fear.

Oliver stood in the doorway blocking Maya's path. Her heart raced in panic as she stared at him. For a moment they stared at each other. She, in fear. Him, in admiration of her beauty. Her long hair cascading down her back and her curves well displayed by her dress.

"Where are you going? I just arrived?" He stepped closer to her.

She instinctively stepped back. She had to remind herself that Oliver's severe maltreatment of her started after their wedding night to snap out of her trauma.

She raised her head high and replied, "I'm just trying to get a drink of water."

Then she tried to pass by him but he blocked her with his hand.

"There's some water over there in the room." He pointed to one of the bedside drawers that had a jug of water and a cup.

"I meant… I need to use the restroom."

"There's a bathroom in this room," he said.

Maya began to think of another excuse.

“I need fresh air," s