Fluke

Part 3

The next day, the patch of greasy skin had grown. It had spread to cover most of Maria's abdomen. However, the lump at the centre of it had remained the same size. Maria stared at her body in the mirror. What had happened to her? The mass on her stomach moved, causing the surface of her stomach to stretch. Maria dropped her shirt back over her stomach and turned away from the mirror, disgusted at what she had just seen.

She called into work and tried to explain what was going on to her supervisor. Somehow what had happened to her sounded trivial when she came to recount it. A rash was no reason to stay off work, and to describe what had happened to her as something more serious than that just sounded wrong. In the end, Maria stuttered out, "I'm waiting for the test results."

Her supervisor was silent for a moment. "Alright. When do you think you'll be back in again?"

"I don't know. It should only be a couple of days - unless it's something serious."

"Are you sure you're alright?" There was more than a hint of concern in her supervisor's voice. "You sound worried."

"No. Yes. No." Maria didn't know what to say. "It's just a precaution. That's all. Look, I should be back in to work by the start of next week at the latest. I just need to wait for the test results, and I don't want to risk passing anything on. Just in case."

"Alright," her supervisor said. "I'm sure we can manage without you for that long."

Maria spent the morning curled up on the sofa, a cushion clutched over her chest. She didn't dare look down to see what had happened to her. She didn't want to see the ugly blemish that afflicted her. Instead she spent the day watching mindless television shows, trying to distract herself.

That night, Maria dreamt that she was standing in front of her bathroom mirror. The skin on her stomach had split to form a long, mouth-like slit that ran from just beneath her ribs to just above her pelvis. The slit opened and closed, making wet noises as it sucked at the air. Unable to stop herself, Maria reached down to the slit, pushing her hand into it. The slit opened, accepting her hand, her wrist and then her whole arm; swallowing them whole. Instead of organs, all she could feel was a mass of warm, wet tissue. Maria hesitated; then, unable to resist the morbid fascination, she pulled her arm out of her stomach, fearful of what she would see next.

Her dream was interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

"Maria? It's your doctor. We'd like you to come in as soon as possible. There's something we need to discuss with you."