CHAPTER ONE
AND THE WORLD WENT QUIET

In the year: 1939

     A DISGRACE. That is what Ethel Quarts had been calling her daughter, Thea, for the last nine months of the unwanted pregnancy. Thea was beginning to think it was her actual name.

While Ethel continued to braid up her hair, Thea sat on the edge of her elegant-styled bed, her feet nuzzled comfortably into fluffy slippers. Her gaze fell to an impregnated belly, and her eyes softened.

"I believe it will be a boy." Thea couldn't help but smile at the thought of her child cradled in her arms.

"What makes you say that?" Ethel questioned with the underlying tone of frustration in her voice, "You have no reason to think anything of this baby...no one will know of this."

"Mother I—" Thea hisses when she feels her mother accidentally pinch her skin. After a few moments of silence, Thea speaks again, "I never meant for this to happen."

"You never meant to be a whore, huh?" Ethel's lips press together into a faint frown. "You never meant to go against your religion and sleep with a man before you have married?"

Of course, that is what her mother was most upset about. Being the wealthy Christian family of Chattanooga, Tennessee, meant being the perfect Christian and the moment you make a mistake is the moment you go against god.

"You seem excited for this child that was never meant to be, why are you happy to carry a sin?" Ethel was now standing in front of her daughter in her nightgown, arms crossed and her black hair in a bun.

Thea was hurt by her mother's words, "How dare you call your grandchild a sin?"

"That is no grandchild of mine." Ethel shakes her head, "And that is no child of yours...what happened to you? You were meant to be the tamed child, Harper and Ava were the only two meant to give me problems."

Becoming slightly snarky, Thea mumbles, "I suppose this was the only way I could get your attention."

"Excuse me?" Ethel squints, waiting for Thea to repeat her words.

Thea only flutters her lashes, "It's nothing."

Thea didn't know what else to say, she didn't want to sound bratty or sound like someone looking for attention but the truth is—she was looking for that attention.

Thea tried not to be angry with her mother. She was just a widow doing her best in a bad situation.

With Ava suffering from such a rollercoaster of emotions every day and Harper's major anxiety problems, it was easy to forget about Thea.

But Thea always found ways to distract herself, always finding a new shiny thing to fixate on. And for the last nine months, she's been fixated on the baby growing in her stomach day by day.

She couldn't stop daydreaming, she and her child sitting on a porch as they watched the sunrise. Thea's cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much.

"Sleep. Dr. Sinclair will be here first thing in the morning for your check-up, so make sure you're dressed." Ethel ends the conversation there before leaving.

Once Thea was sure her mother was gone, she quickly got comfortable as fast as she could(though limited by her pregnant belly) and rested her back on the headboard of the bed.

Thea softly soothed her belly, smiling sadly, "It's just you and me, baby...I promise that you will be very loved." She continued to whisper sweet things to the baby throughout the night before finally falling into the daze of slumber.

✸

     Thea's blood-curdling scream awakened her entire home during their sleep. Fire. That's all Thea could think about. Her insides felt like they were burning and hardening, sending her into a wave of panic.

Her eyes teared, vision blurred before focusing on her mother who came running in as fast as she could. Harper and Ava entered cautiously.

"Breathe, Thea, Dr. Sinclair is on her way." Ethel positions Thea on her back.

Thea was now covered in sweat, the air felt thick, her skin was hot and her face was wet with tears. For just a second of curiosity, she drops her sights on the blood that has now stained her sheets.

So much blood.

Her panic grew further.

"Enough with the screaming, will you?" Ava complained as she stood on the opposite side of the bed with her fingers massaging her temples, "You're having a child not getting stabbed to death."

A faint snort is heard from Harper.

Thea grunts as pressure grows down her body. "...shut up—just shut the hell up!" She wanted to further her sentence but the pain cut her short.

The doorbell is heard ringing.

"Ava, go get the door now."

"But I want to—"

"Now!"

Ava leaves, soon returning with a strawberry blonde with an olive complexion, her uniform looking freshly ironed. "How long?"

"Almost thirty minutes," Ethel answers the doctor.

"Ms. Quarts," Dr. Sinclair makes her way to the front end of the bed, seeing pools of blood coat the sheets. She frowns slightly.

It doesn't go unnoticed by Ethel, "What? What is it?"

Thea looks up worryingly, "what's wrong?"

Dr. Sinclair looks towards Ethel, "She is losing more blood than usual."

"Is that bad?" Harper tilts her head.

Thea yelps when a shock runs through her, and the pressure in her abdomen grows, only making her grow more uncomfortable. She begins seeing black spots in her vision.

Dr. Sinclair speeds towards the head of the mattress, looking closely at Thea's pupils. "Ms. Quarts are you feeling anything out of the ordinary?"

"I've nev—I've never carried a child before," she grunts, "I don't know what ordinary is."

"What is going on?!" Ava exclaims.

"I think I might pass out." Thea murmurs, her bones getting weaker.

Dr. Sinclair shakes her head, "Ms. Quarts is losing too much blood, we have to take her to a doctor."

"You are a doctor!" Ethel snaps.

"I have not been medically trained for such matters!" Dr. Sinclair shakes her head, "We have to get her to a hospital, I know a Doctor who can save her. If we get her to him now, we have a chance of saving both the child and your daughter."

"We cannot risk her being seen." Ethel shakes her head, eyes widening,

Dr. Sinclair was stunned at the mother's priorities, "your daughter is near death and the only thing you care about is the possibility of your image being ruined?" She hissed in the woman's face.

Ethel responds with an intense glare, not breaking eye contact with the doctor.

"I will not stand here and do nothing, I am calling for help." Dr. Sinclair turns to exit but is immediately stopped by Harper and Ava, "excuse you?"

"We can't let you do that," Ethel answers for them.

Dr. Sinclair scoffs at their behavior, pushing her way through the daughters anyway. Suddenly, she feels a tightening on her wrist, she quickly turns to see the perpetrator. Ethel Quarts.

Ethel aggressively tries to drag her back inside the room but Dr. Sinclair resists. Both now struggling against each other's strength, Ethel yanks at Dr. Sinclair's arm, causing Dr. Sinclair to hit the temple of her skull on the dresser and fall limp on the floor.

"Oh my goodness!" Harper screams at the top of her lungs as she looks at the motionless doctor.

"Is she dead? Is she?"

Ethel lifts the lady's head from the floor, seeing a pool of blood swimming beneath it.

"What have you done?" A croaked voice comes from the bed, Thea Quarts.

Ethel paced back over to her daughter, "I'm saving this family from a disaster."

Thea's eyes pooled with tears, she could feel it...she knew she was going to die. "Mom, please—call someone, anyone. Please, don't let me die here, don't let my baby die."

Before Ethel could answer, a scream erupted from Thea's throat as she felt the pressure grow in ways it hadn't before.

Ethel runs to the lower end of the bed— "...she's having the baby."

Harper felt her chest tighten and her heart quicken in speed. "You killed her." She stares down at the dead doctor.

Thea gives her last bit of strength before she hears a cry erupt into the air. A babies cry.

And as she smiles, her vision fades into a void.

And the world went quiet.

ragerwrites, Yes, unlike Blood Sins, we're jumping right into it with a very intense scene. I hope y'all enjoy this Alice Cullen story as much as I enjoy writing it. I hope the storyline isn't too much because I'm kind of worried it is but we'll see.

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