Just another tragic story

Staring around the medical room, listening to her walkman, Tina waited for the doctor to return with her results. She cradled her stomach as if to comfort the growing foetus inside of her. Her parents sat next to her, emotionally detached and looking bored out of their minds.
Three months ago Tina made the biggest mistake of her life, the decision she regretted the most and the one that haunted her with shame. She didn’t know what to do with the baby; it was just another painful reminder. The doctor walked in with a grim look on his face.
“I’m sorry Tina, but I have bad news. The test shows you are HIV positive…”
Tina felt as if a tornado had been set upon her, hell bent on destroying everything in her life. She could see the doctor’s mouth move but all she could hear was the dull, hollow noise. The sound of her life being swept away.
When Tina finally awakened from her alcohol induced slumber, she found herself sprawled across the backseat of her Nissan with a bottle of vodka in hand. She could faintly hear the sound of ‘sweet little sixteen’ playing on the radio. As Tina attempted to prop herself up, the room began to slowly spin as she felt the events from the previous night weigh down on her.
Tina dragged herself towards the window and squinted her eyes to avoid the intensity of the bright horizon. Eventually she recognised where she was; the car park of a supermarket about two blocks from her house. After an internal debate, Tina decided to walk home as she was in an unfit, still slightly drunk, state of mind. Tina pulled herself out of the car, noticing a small group of teenage girls walking by. They were all wearing miniskirts and tank tops and were talking about how awesome it was getting high the previous week.
Trudging along, Tina glimpsed at her reflection on the store window. All she saw was a pimply, pale girl, depressed and alone. Rain clouds that had formed above her began to release a torrent of water and soon Tina was drenched. But she was thankful for the rain; it masked the tears that began to pour from her face. As Tina continued her walk home she began to watch a little child with his mother.
“Mummy, pick me up, pick me up, I don’t want to walk anymore… and I’m cold, can we go home now?”
“Stop complaining, can’t you see I’m busy? I’m trying to have an adult conversation here” responded the mother, as she ignored her child and returned to talking on her mobile phone.
“Yeah so next weekend we’re having a barbeque, make sure you bring your own alcohol and the kids have a sitter for the night, it’s going to be one wild party” the woman said into her phone.
Tina looked down at her stomach and suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. A feeling of shame and disgust immersed her. She was still waiting, hoping, that someone would tell her it was all just one big joke to teach her lesson. But it wasn’t. It was a mistake she would forever have a scar of.

She tried to brush off the sense of self pity, but she couldn’t erase the thoughts of how messed up everything was and still, her thoughts remained on the baby and that one night…
Not paying much attention, Tina hauled herself along, staring down at the dull coloured concrete. She didn’t want to look any of the passer-by’s in the eye, thinking they could sense the shame emitting from her.
Tina heard the sound of coughing and smelt the distinctive stench of tobacco smoke. In the corner of her eye, she saw a girl, dressed in denim shorts and a black cardigan, trying to smoke while balancing a baby in her other arm. Tina recognised the look of sorrow on her face, the unkempt hair and puffy eye bags.
Tina looked up for a brief moment and saw a familiar overpass, the one above the train tracks. The one where she had gotten drunk for the first time with her friends. She walked lifelessly towards it, stopping at the edge. Flashes of fading memories dashed through Tina’s mind, recounting the times she had been here, getting wasted. One memory stuck out more than the others, and stung the most. Sounds of ambulance sirens filled her ears, as she closed her eyes and remembered the time she had to be taken to hospital for alcohol poisoning. Tina wanted out from it all and wished it was just a horrible nightmare she would wake up from. That she could close her eyes and her problems would disappear. Tina slowly hooked her leg over the railing, justifying to herself that she wouldn’t be missed. Just another teenage suicide.