Olivia settled back into a comfy chair in the living room, opening up a book. With every noise outside, her eyes travelled from the page to the window overlooking the street. After ten minutes of reading the same sentence over and over, she threw the book down.
She hated waiting for things.
Getting up, she checked herself in the mirror over the fireplace. The blonde bob framed her heart shape face nicely, glad she’d decided on a quick haircut the day before. She smoothed the lines of her flowered dress, not her outfit of choice but she had to look good today.
There was a huge slam that reverberated through the house.
Rushing to the window, she saw the familiar sight of a grey van. It looked a little like a delivery truck, except this one had steel reinforced sides and bullet proof windows.
There was a heavy knock on the door, she almost thought it was going to come off its hinges.
Walking out into the hall, she took a deep calming breath before opening the door.
Olivia was faced with someone distinctly male looking, dressed head to toe in bulletproof armour topped off with a helmet.
The helmet’s black tinted visor was down so Olivia couldn’t make out a face.
He was carrying a long cardboard box under one arm.
Excitement coursed through her, she reached for the parcel but a gloved hand clamped around hers’ squeezing tightly. It felt like every bone in her fingers were going to snap.
“Malcolm, let her go,” said a woman sternly, who appeared from nowhere carrying what looked like a clipboard. “Sorry about that, can’t get the robots these days. Are you Mrs Olivia Dawson?”
The robot obeyed the woman and let Olivia go.
“Yes,” she replied, rubbing the feeling back into her hand.
“I’m Agent Buckley.”
She turned to look at the woman, dressed in a sensible navy blue suit and white shirt. Olivia spied a black holster sitting snugly under her arm, the butt of a gun just visible.
“Can we come in?”
She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded at Agent Buckley, moving out the way for them, trailing in their wake into the living room. The agent’s eyes travelled around the cosy room with large squashy sofas and bookcases lining the walls. It looked more like a library.
“Where’s your wife?”
“Oh, she got called into work suddenly,” Olivia said nervously. “She’s a doctor after all.”
Would they not give her the package? They wouldn’t take it away, would they? She was so close.
She frowned. “Most irregular. Anyway we just need a DNA sample to confirm your identity.”
Olivia placed a sweaty hand on the clipboard, which turned out a tablet, to give a sample.
The robot set the package on the floor.
“You can leave us now,” said Buckley waving it away. The door closed after it with a mighty crash.
“Can I see?” she asked excitedly.
“It’s against protocol but I don’t see why not.”
Buckley pulled open the cardboard to reveal a sturdy plastic box that looked a bit like it was holding music equipment or something. She flicked open two catches and heaved up the lid.
Inside, lay the most beautiful baby Olivia had even seen.
“She’s just to your specifications,” said Buckley reading from her tablet. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, rosy complexion.”
She picked up the sleeping baby gently. She was seven when natural reproduction was outlawed by the world’s governments, to curbed the swelling population.
She still remembered being wheeled into the sterile theatre and the pain in her stomach that lasted for weeks after they ripped out her womb.
Five years ago, the government told her that she wasn’t ‘stable’ enough to have a child whatever that meant. She had so much love to give, they didn’t understand.
Olivia was going to prove them wrong, she would be good for this child.
“Hold on,” said Buckley frowning. “There seems to be a problem…”
Buckley went for her gun but Olivia was too quick. She pulled out the gun she’d been hiding behind the cushion on the couch. She shot the other woman in the head before she finished her sentence.
It was the same weapon she’d used to kill real Olivia and her wife earlier.
Somewhere in her brain it registered she was doing something wrong but she ignored it.
She was a mother now.
Thank you for reading!© LJ Cassidy