edit January 31, 2004: I changed the title because I didn’t realize there were other stories titled the same; and I also fixed some grammatical errors. /edit

A/N: A one-chapter deal, meaning... there is no more to follow. I'm just exploring the character of Manny a little bit, which regard to recent events on Degrassi. I hope you enjoy it. I rated it PG because I thought it might be a little bit disturbing.

Her Choice

Manny awoke with a start. It was dark in her bedroom, and quiet. She sat up quickly, caught between dream and reality. Sweat had plastered her hair to her face, and she brushed it away, looking down at her knees and breathing heavily. After a moment of retaliation, she slid her legs over the edge of her bed and wandered to the bathroom, closing and locking the door with two soft, sequential clicks.

Manny ran the cold tap water and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were scarlet in a face shining with sweat. She twisted her hair back and splashed the cold water on her skin.

Pushing the seat-cover down onto the toilet, she sat down with a towel and dabbed at the beads of water on her face. An sense of dread filled her. She replaced the towel beside the sink and pulled up the hem of her tank top, staring down at her stomach. It was flat; unchanged since she'd last seen it.

'Calm down, Manny...' she told herself quietly, breathing deeply and running her hand across her skin.

She emerged from the bathroom and crept down the stairs, stepping out into the yard as quietly as she could. The horizon was a pale grey, slowly spreading light across the sky. Manny sat down on the front step. There was a light drizzle of water; somewhere between mist and rain.

'I made the right choice,' she thought to herself, but it wasn't a convincing statement. She imagined the small child running in front of her with deep dimples and missing teeth. His ringlets caught small drops of misty rain and glistened, as if covered with a hundred tiny beads of glass.

The moment could have lasted an eternity.

'Mannuella?'

The child disappeared and Manny looked behind her, startled. Her mother was standing at the door, looking thoroughly confused.

'What are you doing out here?' she asked.

Manny stood up quickly and wiped the rain out of her eyes.

'I needed some air,' she said quickly. Then added, 'why are you out here?'

'I heard you come down.'

'Oh...'

Manny followed her mother back inside the house, rubbing her arms.

'What time is it?' she asked, reaching the stairs and looking back, hearing the door of the refridgerator open and close in the kitchen.

'Just after six.'

Manny walked slowly back up the stairs. Her room was considerably better-lit than when she had left it. She sat down on her bed and watched the still shadows forming on the wall.

'It's still my secret,' she told herself reassuringly. She lay down and stared at the ceiling, dangling her legs over the side of the bed. Her mother was suspicious, but not certain enough to vocalize her thoughts.

All that mattered was how to tell Craig. Nobody else would have to know.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, imagining his reaction. It would startle him, but they both needed to accept the choices they had made. Manny rubbed her stomach again, wincing as flashes of her dream crept across her mind.

Then she stepped back into the bathroom and watched a piece of her life be swept off in a rush of swirling water and scarlet blood.

THE END.

A/N: This was written in a way so that (hopefully) you couldn’t guess the ending. If you don’t understand what just happened to the baby, Manny chose abortion. Thank you for reading.