Promptly Collected

Story: Baby Mine

Prompt: Bimonthly challenge - flash fiction

Summary: All Nancy wants is a bundle of joy.

Rating: K+

Notes: In accordance with the rules of the challenge (100 words maximum), the main body of the text is 98 words, leaving 2 for the title.

Baby Mine

Nancy slips into the nursery, heart thumping in her chest. Her clumsy movements as she lifts the newborn prompt a mewling protest.

"Don't cry," she croons, inhaling the sweet baby scent that has long haunted her dreams. The life she's always wanted is at last within her grasp as she reaches for a blanket.

They're halfway down the corridor when the baby's tag triggers the alarm. The nurses, two frantic parents at their heels, rush to steal the child.

This time its plaintive cry only echoes Nancy's scream. Her arms - and her heart - are empty again.