Summoning Stone

Chapter 3

A groan fell out of Tessa's mouth as she woke. Her entire body ached and she felt cold and clammy. Worse, she felt incredibly bloated. Like she ate something left out too long and now it was just sitting in her stomach, rotting and refusing to move.

Hand moving to her belly, she slipped her fingers under her t-shirt and rubbed a little. Maybe it was just the way she was lying on her side, but her belly actually felt swollen. Rather than her stomach, it was her lower belly that seemed to be harboring a large, firm mass.

Groaning again, Tessa rubbed, pushing through the layer of soft fat to get to the source of her discomfort. Though it didn't seem to physically help, it didn't make anything worse. So, she kept doing it, widening the path of her hand until she was rubbing an oblong track under her navel.

Finally, she opened her eyes and kept them open. That was when she realized she was not in her apartment. It was her bedroom-office in the Einhorne house. Her brow crinkled as she tried to remember but couldn't - why had she lain down here?

Well, even if she didn't remember, the answer seemed obvious. She must have started to feel sick while she was working and decided to just lay down for a little to see if it would pass. And then she must have fallen asleep.

Tessa slowly pushed herself up to sitting, her one hand remaining on her belly as she did. She had a rough night, it seemed; the comforter was horribly bunched and abused beneath her. Continuing to rub her protesting belly, she scooted to get off the bed and finally stood up.

Groaning a little against aching muscles and fatigue that seemed to permeate every fiber, she now felt lightheaded on top of everything else. Lifting her other hand, she rubbed her head and then combed her fingers through her hair. She didn't get very far, it was badly tangled. Her hand lowered to join the other on her belly and she released a heavy breath as she rubbed.

Looking down, she frowned. Low, round and solid, the swelling looked like a baby bump. But she couldn't be pregnant: she'd never had sex. And, anyway, even if she had, growth should occur more gradually than this. It had to be bloating. The most pronounced case she had ever experienced. And the wrong time in her cycle.

What the hell did she eat? She couldn't remember having dinner. Lunch was... a tuna sandwich. Was that it? Had the tuna somehow gone bad? That could be it. With a heavy breath, she started to move. She had to fix the bed so that it wasn't so obvious she had spent a bad night here.

***

Finally! Tessa dropped onto her bed. She had taken a shower, detangled her hair, and secured it into two braids and now she could go back to sleep. Funny, though, she really expected to have evacuated the tuna that was making her sick. But she wasn't experiencing cramping or nausea.

Pulling her pillow into position, she curled up on her side. She pulled the blanket partly over her and then pushed her hand under her pajama top. It was still there, the same as before: a solid mass filling her lower belly.

Holding it, she shifted a little, trying to get more comfortable. Tired as she was, she wasn't passing out right away. She was hungry. Not wanting to worsen her condition, she hadn't eaten anything. Her stomach growled as though to remind her it had been neglected.

How could she be hungry and sick at the same time? Annoying. Her stomach wasn't giving up and she finally gave in, flipping the blanket off.

Sliding off the bed, she walked across her studio apartment to the strip of linoleum that demarked the kitchen. Her hand still on her belly, she considered what she should eat. What wouldn't make things worse? Well, peanut butter and jelly was never wrong.

Tessa meant to take it slow, meant to just eat a small amount. But that's not what happened. She toasted the bread and was buttering it before she remembered she was doing peanut butter and jelly. Right over the melted butter, she slathered peanut butter on one slice and then jelly on the other. Even as she was licking off the knife, she put two more pieces of bread in the toaster.