Time to Decide

Teenage parents are more a norm in society these days than most like, but what happens when a teenage father finds himself in a spot where he'll have to raise the child alone and make a hard decision.

"Wh-what do I do? Mom?"

Small. That was the word that came to mind as Melissa stared at the hunched form of Evan. Her sweet, precious little boy was barely 15-years-old and suddenly she was flashing back to visions of him as a frightened toddler who'd just had a nightmare. Her own hands shook just as badly as her son's were, but it was her job to be the calm in the middle of the storm.

"Take a deep breath. We'll figure it out. You're not alone, Evan."

It'd all started as a dare. A spin the bottle bet that involved a kiss and a little touchy-feely under the shirt that got out of hand. Hormones raged out of check until it led to a foolish moment of unprotected sex between Evan and a girl, Cara, that he hadn't even really liked. Melissa had been horrified when her son had told her. Though she'd wanted nothing more than to yell at him about stupid behavior, but had the wisdom to remain calm. Cara's parents had went off the deep end when they'd found out about the pregnancy, and disowned her. Being 'that' parent wasn't even an option.

Now, Melissa was looking after the well-being of both Evan and Cara, as well as, their child. Things hadn't been going smoothly, but neither had it been especially bad. That was until today- the day Cara went into labor a month early. Melissa had been at work when the contractions started, but figured they weren't fake ones when Evan mentioned blood and fluid. Immediately she'd headed home to get them and take Cara to the hospital.

The situation though was looking rough for the newly born little boy though. His Father was a mess. . . and his Mother wanted nothing to do with him.

"Sh-she won't even talk to me, Mom. How are we going to fix this? The nurse said she called her parents. I can't raise him by myself. We ne-never even talked about other options..."

Evan's face was pale from distress, but Melissa couldn't let him buckle now. If he did then nothing would be decided. If Cara had contacted her parents then that meant she wanted nothing to do with this baby now. Knowing that the child would be even more of a responsibility needing to stay in the NICU for awhile, and needing surgery for a heart defect had definitely made the girl think. Cara's parents had wanted her to get rid of the baby, but instead she'd tried to remain strong until finally the pressure had made her buckle.

Now, that baby had one person to depend on. Every motherly instinct screamed for her to wrap Evan in a hug and tell him she'd take care of it all. That everything would be fine, because Mommy would handle anything that came his way. Except that couldn't happen anymore. He was a Father now, and making decisions was part of that. While she'd help when necessary with the baby the responsibility had to be his own. He had to be the parent.

Gripping his chin tightly Melissa forced him to look at her. There was nothing gentle in the touch or soft about the look that accompanied her words. "You need to man up, Evan. Nobody is taking that baby now. Doctor already said he's going to need surgery. He's sickly. So you have two choices. You can give up on him or you can be the Father that he needs you to be. What's it going to be?"

And in that moment Evan was forced to make a decision that would define him for years to come: He was a Dad.

copyright October 30, 2011

Author's Note

This was given to me as a writing prompt suggestion. All it stated was teenage dad. It was written in a couple hours as a way to prep my muse for NaNo.