Rayne Roswell All’s Well

Rayne up sat in her hospital bed, looking down at her phone to check the time; then back at the T.V, which hung in the corner of the room. There were two chairs to the left of her bed for potential visitors. Finally after two episodes of Law and Order the nurse showed up. She sat down in one of the chairs and leaned in towards Rayne looking a little concerned.

“Well, we got the results.” She said sternly not sounding reassuring at all. She kind of glared at Rayne too as if to say that’s right bitch you can’t have children.

“As it turns out your eggs have somehow ruptured and we may have to perform surgery.” She continued to say with no empathy what so ever. “I’m so sorry, you may never be able to have children. Don’t worry though this surgery is very successful and no further damage will be done.” The nurse then got up, patted her on the hand and cracked an awkward smile. “The doctor will be with you shortly.”

She could hear her heels clicking and clacking as she quickly walked away. Rayne exhaled slowly then looked back at the T.V. an ad for some strange new super store came on.

“Did you recently find out you can’t have children? Are you feeling like you will never be complete without a child? Well do we have something special for you.” The man was the type of guy you might expect to see in a Chevy commercial. He was big and strong with a low voice like a movie preview voice over. “Come on down to Fertility R Us. You can pick from a variety of different potential children. Call now to have a free brochure sent to your home, act now and we’ll also hook you up with a free DVD tour of our store.”

Is this a sign from god or maybe it’s a trap. Has anyone else seen this?” She quickly dialed the number 1-800-WOFETUSES.

She heard someone pick up the line and she said “Hello?” An automated voice came on; it was a woman’s voice. “Hello. To speak to a representative press one, if you already know your parties extension feel free to dial it at anytime, for your free DVD and brochure please press two now.” BEEP; she held down the button to make sure it was known she pressed it. She didn’t trust those automatic robot women for shit. The service then requested she speak her full address.

“Seventy-three sixty-nine South Washington Azure, Montana 59521.” Rayne said slowly to make sure what she said was understood.

“I’m sorry I didn’t quite get that, could you please say that again.” The voice said. “Mother Fucker fuck you you…”She was cut off by another,

“I’m sorry I didn’t quite get that, could you please say that again?” “Seventy-three sixty-nine South Washington Azure, Montana 59521” She said it much slower and much more irritated. The voice then repeated it back to her “was that correct, if no please say it again.” “Yes.” She said through her teeth. “Great! A brochure will be sent immediately!” The voice said trying to sound cheerful but still sounding robotic. She hung up the phone and the doctor entered.

“Have you seen the commercial about the fetus store?” She asked upon seeing her.

“Excuse me, have I seen what?” She gave a small scough, “No I’ve never heard of that, are you sure you’re doing okay, sometimes patients make up things when they’re in denial. Maybe we should wait awhile before attempting this surgery?” Her doctor said a little concerned.

“No, no I’m fine let’s just forget I said that, I was just kidding. What does this surgery entail?” She said trying to hide her mind racing wondering if she’s going crazy. ​“The surgery is a very safe very easy procedure we just open you up and extract the ruptured ovaries, all you have to do is sleep.” She said confidently.

“Okay well let’s start right away…I’m ready to get this over with so just knock me out, take my ovaries, and I’ll be on my way.” Rayne said keeping pace with the doctor’s confidence.

“Okay, well let me go talk to the surgeons and we’ll go from there.” Said the doctor before leaving the room.”

Oh great, more waiting, this is some fucking bullshit. Rayne thought as she watched yet another Law and Order SVU.

How many more episodes am I going to watch this time before the stupid doctors show up?

“Knock, knock.” The doctor said from behind the sheet to Rayne’s room.

“Come in.” Rayne said dully rolling her eyes at no one.

“The surgeons will be ready to perform shortly, thanks for your patience.” Said the doctor.

The doctor then told her to move onto the stretcher she’d brought into the room. She then began puling her towards the surgeon station. As they were going down the hospital hallway Rayne peered into some of the rooms whose curtains weren’t closed. There was a young boy about 12 with a broken leg that was bleeding profusely from the hole created by the protruding bone.

Why was that curtain open! She shuddered at the sight and laid back down looking up at the slowly passing lights. She then turned to the other side, passed a few more closed curtains before another one was left open. She glanced at the old man acknowledging his catheter. She felt bad for a moment but then returned to the fact she was about to face something scary as well. She’d never liked needles they always freaked her out, even now when giving blood she still freaked her nurses out by staring intently on what they were doing with the needle.

Upon her sudden thought of needles she requested she be given the gas instead. She thought about the peacefulness of being put to sleep. No need to worry about the long sharp needle dripping with drugs going into her soft waiting vain. Finally they reached they’re destination. She was in the middle of a fairly large room with a viewing area above. She shot her eyes towards the tools to her right and to her left. She then plopped her head down on the stretcher, gripping the sides and clinching her teeth trying to keep from telling them she didn’t want to go through with this. The surgeon then placed a blue mask over Rayne’s air passageways. Rayne drifted out of consciousness, the figures of the surgeons slowly fading from her sight.

The surgeon made a small incision in Rayne’s pelvis. Blood started to leak down her side and the surgeon quickly grabbed swabs and mopped it up. The surgeon then stuck little tongs inside the wound and pulled out one ovary and placed it in a tube of alcohol. The surgeon watched it sitting on the surface, little pieces of bloody goo breaking off and sinking. She reached in the slit again and pulled out the last ovary and placed it with the other one. She then stitched Rayne up; the needle popping in and out of her skin.

Rayne woke up in a different room, possibly on the same floor but who could tell. All the hallways and rooms looked pretty much the same, maybe a chair or T.V moved around a bit but still relatively the same. She heard the footsteps of the doctor coming, but they stopped at the closed curtain next to her. She listened as the nurse explained to the person next to her that they were dying. “There’s a series of experimental medications that have had some success in the past.” Rayne tuned it out, the thought of what the person next to her must be going through. She listened as the nurse walked away again her shoes squeaking as they turned a corner.

The curtain next to her swung open and a man about 50 peered at Rayne.

​“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in on you, I didn’t know there was anyone there.” The man said.

​“That’s okay, I umm…I’m sorry, I overheard what the nurse said.” Rayne said hesitating a little hoping it wasn’t the wrong thing to say but continuing anyways.

​“Oh…yeah, well there’s always something going wrong it’s easy to find things going right…I’m not dead yet right?” The man said forcing a laugh.

​“No, no you’re definitely not dead, I suppose that’s a good way to look at things; although in a weird twisted way.” She said arching one eyebrow.

​“I don’t know, I’m just blabbering, you probably have your own life with your own problems; but I can’t help but tell someone…My family’s too busy for an old man like me.” He said forcing a smile and squinting his eyes a bit to make it seem more realistic.

​“Old man.” She repeated bursting out with a laugh. “I’m sorry.” She said still laughing. “Come on brighten up, these doctors don’t know anymore than you do, you’re probably what…47? You’ll be fine.” Rayne said, ignorantly optimistic.

“Fifty-two, and I know what I look like, you don’t have to humor me.” He said before closing the curtain.

“I wasn’t humoring you, but okay good-bye, I think I’ve had enough hospital.” Rayne said before removing her covers and getting up. She stopped at the “nurse station,” although she thought it was more like a “secretarian” space.

“What do I need to do to get out of here as quickly as possible?” She said slapping her hands down on the counter in front of a dumb looking brunette with her hair pulled back so tightly it looked like it was being ripped out.

“Excuse me…you need to go back to your room and wait for the doctor. That’s all you can do.” The nurse said.

Fuck that. She thought before saying.

“Oh sure; I’m just gonna go back to my curtain.” Rayne said sarcastically before walking out of the building tuning out the nurse calling after her.

“Miss!...Miss?!”

She strutted through the parking lot as if she was the lead character in an apocalyptic zombie movie. Rayne located her car and drove home. Rayne’s house was small, yellow with an awkward brick chimney on the right side of the roof; it was a circular brick chimney almost resembling a well. She parked in the driveway in front of her garage. The door to her house was connected to the inside of her garage, where her washer and dryer were also located.

She got out of her car and went inside. She threw her keys in the little copper bowl she had on a small end table when you walk in. Rayne then went to check the mailbox. She grabbed it and began rummaging through it quickly.

“Vogue no, People eerrgh! Stupid magazines, fuckin gas bill, Oh my god, is it real?” She said as she pulled out an envelope reading: Includes DVD; Handle with care. TOP SECRET, ONLY FEW CAN KNOW, was in big bold letters on the bottom.

“Only few can know…what the fuck is this?” She repeated while staring at the envelope in disgust. She put the mail down on her kitchen table, walked to her living room, and sat down in front of her T.V with the DVD on the coffee table. She began reading the cover of the brochure. There was a picture of a huge sign kind of resembling the Toys R Us sign but reading Fetuses R Us instead. She laughed at the sight.

“This is ridiculous, why did I even…” she trailed off as she opened it up.

All you have to do is plant your choice fetus in your garden and water he or she daily. In only a couple of days you should start seeing results; if you do not please call the number at the bottom of the page.

On the other page of the brochure was a happy couple holding a baby boy and smiling widely. She flipped it over to the back where there was a picture of the manager and a few employees in an awkward group hug type pose with names and labels. Below the picture it read: Satisfaction Absolutely Guaranteed. She stared at the D.V.D. for a moment a little unsure, then back at the brochure. She got up and put in the D.V.D. tossing the brochure to the side.

The Manager came on the screen

“Please press play to begin.”

She excitedly got her remote and pressed play, her whole body wiggled, as she got ready for what was about to happen.

​There was a shot leading into the store parking lot and then a man walked into the scene.

​

​“Hello and welcome to Fetuses R Us! I know you’re probably thinking you’re crazy, how could this store possibly be real? Right? That was my first impression too, when I started working here 10 years ago. My name is Tamoni Belito, I am the regional manager of Fetuses R Us. For more than twenty years Fetuses R Us has been changing the way children are made. Starting with water growth moving to oven growth, and finally now soil growth. Let’s have a look around!”

​The camera moved inside the store and briefly gave a tour of all the different isles, only showing the labels of what was in each aisle.

​“Here we have what we call the main aisle, we call it this because it has the basic outline of what the child looks like.” The man said pointing at the sign. “In this aisle you can find such things as head shape, body type, and pigmentation. In the next aisle we have hair colors and eyes colors, lip shades, and even facial hair color for when the child matures, if it’s a boy of course. He said laughing a little “Once done compiling all the different attributes to make the child just how you want it, bring your attributes to the check out area and we’ll have your fetus ready in no time. The movie then cut back to the front of the store. “Well that’s all the time we have for today come on and check it out yourself, you can find the directions in your email. On behalf of Fetuses R Us we would like to thank you, Rayne for giving us the time to introduce you to the beautiful world of baby growing.” The movie then gave a spurt of static and smoke began coming out of the D.V.D player.

​“What the fuck? Of course this shit would self destruct or whatever…these people are like mission impossible agents or something.” Rayne muttered to herself. She walked through her living room, around the couch and through the doorway to her bedroom. Her Macbook Pro was sprawled in a mess of blankets on her bed. She ran and slid onto her bed and flung her laptop open. She quickly typed in hypemail.com into her web browser. She logged in and quickly hit the inbox button several times before a list of emails dropped down.

​The first email that caught her eye was an email from Moni which had her name in big bold letters in the subject area. She clicked on it and began reading as fast as she could.

​Dear Rayne Roswell,

Here is a link to the directions of our store. If you do not delete this within 20 minutes of opening it will automatically be discarded so take these directions to heart. We hope you don’t have too much trouble finding the place; we recommend using a GPS.

P.S. don’t try and print these directions either as it will result in the destruction of your printer.

Best Wishes,

Tamoni Belito

​She clicked the link and a pop up came up on the screen. A map with just a little dot saying we’re located here above a shaded rectangle. She assumed this was the outline of the store. She clicked the dot several times thinking a hidden address would appear. Stumped she plopped her hands down on the keyboard accidently scrolling down revealing the address below the picture.

​“Wow, that was it.” She said chuckling and slapping her forehead. She wrote down the address on a piece of paper and started for the bowl holding her keys. She glanced back at her computer before exiting the room. Her computer had shut down, or gone to sleep, but either way the email was probably gone. When she got to her car she unwrinkled the paper with the address on it but what she had written wasn’t there anymore.

​“Oh what the hell? I know…I know I wrote it down. I know this is fucking ridiculous, all I want is to get to this stupid fucking store. Whatever, it’s probably just a scam, but how would they know my last name? Fucking Fetuses R Us!” She muttered before yelling the last part and throwing the paper. It hit the GPS and a voice that wasn’t the normal woman direction giver came on.

​“So, you wanna go to Fetuses R Us do you?” Asked the GPS.

​“YES! YES!...Tell me how please!” She screamed at the GPS.

​“What am I gonna get in return hmmmm?” The GPS said, it was the most human like robot voice she’d ever heard.

​“Is my GPS taunting me now? What on Earth could a fucking GPS want? I must be going crazy.” Rayne said to herself.

​“You’re not going crazy. Now about what I want…how about…a better car I bet a nice GPS like me looks pretty stupid in this piece of shit.” Said the GPS.

​“Umm excuse me, this is a nice car it’s a 2010…how can you even see it? What am I doing? Why am I talking to you?” Said Rayne steadily becoming more impatient. She slouched in her seat and turned the car on.

​“I don’t actually care about the car; don’t be such a Debbie downer. I’ll take you to Fetuses R Us just hold your horses. How do you drive this damn…Oh excuse me, I mean…” The GPS then stopped all communication.

​The car put itself in reverse and backed out of her driveway, it then started driving out of her neighborhood.

​“What the fuck is going on? This isn’t happening, I know I’m asleep, I’m gonna wake up at my computer I know it.” She said squeezing her eyes tightly closed. She cracked one after feeling a few turns and the acceleration of the car. She opened them fully to find herself going up an on ramp to a freeway she’d never seen. She went in three full large circles until finally straight road stretched out before her. She tried opening the window to peer out over the concrete guardrail, but all the windows and doors were locked.

​All she could see was the two-lane highway and concrete guardrails on either side too high to see over. Up ahead she could make out a place where it looked like the road just fell off. She turned around and wrapped her arms and whatever of her legs she could around the drivers seat. She felt her stomach rise up to what felt her throat as the car went down the steep off ramp leading to another twisty road that ended with a one-way road. It eventually turned into a parking lot to Fetuses R Us. The car parked and unlocked the doors with a resounding click.

​Rayne burst out of the car so fast the door swung back and closed. She sprinted for the entrance, but slowed a bit when she saw a figure waiting behind the sliding automatic doors at the front of the store.

“Ha! You made it! I knew it would work.” Rayne recognized the woman from the back of the brochure. Rayne arched her eyebrow and put her arms on her hips.

“You knew what would work? Are you trying to tell me it was you controlling my car?!” Rayne said raising her voice.

“Come inside we have some things to go over.” Said the manager. Rayne realized it was her voice on her GPS.

“That was you on my GPS…how the fuck were you controlling my car? You could have fucking killed me!” Rayne yelled grabbing the woman’s arm.

“I was doing you a favor by bringing you here. I thought you would appreciate our services. We can always just take you back and you’ll forget this ever happened.” The manager said coldly.

Forget this ever happened? She thought about that statement before saying “No, I’m sorry it was just…a bit scary.” Rayne said holding her finger and thumb a half an inch a part. She was reluctant, but curious, the manager of course playing off this human flaw of curiosity.

She led her past all the aisles to a hidden doorway in the wall that led upstairs to a viewing room that watched over the whole store. The sat down in two large black leather recliners.

“For starts my name is Lucille Brandywater. This is my Fetuses R Us…Technically speaking. The regional manager who we know as Moni, pronounced money, presides over all the Fetuses R Uses over the U.S. We are a secret non-profit organization that only selects those we feel will make great children. We wouldn’t want just any old person wandering in here and making a serial killer now would we?” She laughed before adding, “to explain all the strange self-destructions and what not we get a fairly decent amount of government funding, and some bonus money for buying and using they’re technology to keep us very secret. I mean could you picture this store crowded with dumb people or drug addicts? It would be terrible.” Said Lucille making various hand gestures and facial expressions throughout her whole introduction.

Rayne had sat in silence for the entirety of it only nodding occasionally. It was a lot to take in, to be told your car was being controlled with government technology and how virtually no one knew where she was. She didn’t care, she enjoyed the adventure; her life had been unexciting and depressing, especially finding out she couldn’t have the one thing she thought would make her whole. She thought this was a Godsend, it was the miracle she’d been waiting for, no matter how corny or cliché it sounded she wanted to believe God gave her and only her this.

“That was the most amazing fucking awesome explanation I could have only expected to see in some weird action movie on HBO or something.” Rayne said finally grinning madly. “I just can’t believe you actually invited me in on this, now that I think about it, I’m blessed to be apart of this, I just wish I could tell someone. What do I say? How do I explain a child, I don’t have a boyfriend or anything?” Rayne rushed these questions at Lucille frantically.

“Well that’s quite a thought process, ha don’t worry though, just tell people you had a one night stand or something, come on “Knocked Up? I know you’ve seen it. These things do happen.” She said pointing her finger right at Rayne’s face.

“Right, well um, I think I wanna just skip to the fetus making I’m getting a little anxious. Don’t mean to rush you or anything.” Rayne said shakily fumbling over words.

“Of course, just go right back down the stairs you came in from. I think I’ll stay up here, I’m interested to see how your choosing goes.” Said Lucille narrowing her eyes and cracking a creepy smile.

​Rayne shot her a look of concern before quickly turning and leaving the room. She was a little nervous about how she should make her child. She was worried she would fuck up and not make the right decisions. That is how all-wrong decisions get made, second-guessing, especially in something so delicate as deciding what your child will look like; or even act like.

​She started in the physical attributes section selecting the skinny during child then muscling up when older body type. She had known right away she wanted a baby boy. She looked at the manikin heads placed under head shape. The manikin heads were all shaped differently in very little ways or very large ways. They had egg to baseball, and upside-down teardrop to flattop to just a regular looking skull, all with different outcome sizes. She chose the skull, not feeling very attracted to the other choices.

She moved slowly down the aisle to pigmentation. There was a pale manikin next to more manikins that slowly got darker moving into tan shades and getting darker into deeper browns. Rayne picked out the slightly tanned manikin and placed it with the other in her cart. She noticed that the floor tiling were pictures of different smiling babies. She found them more creepy than cute. She eventually reached the end of the aisle and turned around the corner to the next one. This was all about the face. There were different options for foreheads, cheekbones, eyebrows, hair color, eye color, nose, lips, and facial hair color.

She picked out a brownish auburn hair color with bright green eyes; then she scanned over a few foreheads before choosing a good average sized one. She wanted her child to have very accentuated cheekbones and picked the ones labeled “jutted.” Rayne felt on all the eyebrows trying to find ones that weren’t too thick. She picked a nicely shaped pair that was a slightly darker shade than the hair color. For the lips she chose a plump bottom lip with the upper just a little smaller. She chose a slightly darker shade of red to make sure they weren’t too girly of a red.

For the nose she carefully looked through all the models, scanning over the larger ones before stumbling on the one she wanted. She knew the boy was going to look good. He’s gonna have so many girlfriends, it’s gonna be tough to compete. Rayne thought to herself before laughing out loud. She was so lost in this new world of baby creation, she forgot about everything else. She moved to the last aisle skipping down it as she tossed in the few remaining attributes: broad shoulders, long built legs, and large strong hands.

She ran her cart to the check out, and hurriedly began piling all the manikins onto the conveyer belt. The cashier cocked his head and stared at her as she flung the rest of the cart onto the belt.

“Umm are you okay, I’ve never see a costumer do that before.” Said the cashier widening his eyes.

“Yeah…I’m fine…just really happy and excited.” Rayne said catching her breath in between each word.

She didn’t realize her body was beginning to reject the stitches she’d failed to remember or care about before leaving the hospital. Her skin was lightly pushing them out.

“I’ll be right back with your fetus, wait right here…it might take a few minutes.” He said before leaving his station and going through the same doorway that lead to the viewing room. Rayne stood tapping her fingers on the top of the register when she heard a little “tink” on the floor. In the middle of the babies face she was standing on was a staple. Rayne picked it up and examined it for a moment before she realized what it was. One of her stitches or staples rather had come out and fallen on the ground.

She quickly reached under her shirt, grabbed her pelvic area and pushed on it, trying to feel if they had all come out. She pulled her hand out and collapsed on the ground. Clutched in her hand, in a bloody contortion were the remaining staples. The cashier returned to find Rayne on the ground with one arm outstretched holding her head off the floor. The cashier moved in closer to discover a pool of blood and the staples still clutched in her hand.