Calm Down

Lois took a deep breath and counted to ten. The weird, stumpy head of the statue seemed to leer at her. She repeated the ritual, forcing her body to relax.

"There's a rational explanation for this," she said out loud, as much to calm herself down as anything. "Statues don't get people pregnant. I just...missed the signs, I guess."

Nine months ago...or had it been ten? The memories were hazy. A one-night stand...very unlike her. Lois vaguely remembered grasping the sheets as her lover took her from behind, on this very bed...the banging of the headboards...the way she had practically begged them to cum in her...

But not a face, not a name.

She couldn't remember her last period, either. That wasn't really strange. Ever since college, her periods had been spotty—too much dieting and exercise, it was easy to skip a month. Had she really missed nine months though?

The reporter laid her chin on her chest and stared down at her feet. She could still see her toes, but the abdomen had a definite curve to it, and she couldn't see her mons pubis or the top of her thighs. Wet drops gleamed from the little bumps surrounding the puffier nipples of her sore breasts.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered. But something didn't add up.

Lois sat down back in front of the computer, staring at her own reflection in the webcam. The belly looked bigger on the monitor, the nipples darker. She could see the golden fluid hanging in drops off the bottom of her swollen areola, feel them splash onto her stomach below.

She turned back to the internet stories, sorting through, trying to find the earliest one. The later stories were different, lots of variations, kinky sex and impossible ballooning bellies. The earlier ones were more like diaries...confessions. Girls discovering the idol, then realizing they were pregnant. Condoms broke, forgot their periods...it was like the pregnancy had snuck up on them, and by the time they thought to do anything about their condition, it was...

"Too late," Lois whispered, feeling something shift inside her stomach. Something hard that moved independently of her, pressing against the taut skin of her belly. She stared down at a little bulge pressing against the skin from the inside.

Lois stared again at the statue. "Was I really pregnant, before I found you—or did you change that?" she said out loud, goosebumps rising on her arms. "And if you did...what do I do?"

The reporter set her mouth into a firm line. She needed answers, but the statue couldn't give them to her.