Project Baby Spider * Peter Romanoff

-01

20 November 2000

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IT WAS EARLY IN the morning, an hour before wake up, and the morning sun was starting to shine through the small windows in the dormitory. All the girls were asleep, trying to catch as much rest as they could before they trained another day. However, Natalia had already woken up. Her lower back had started to hurt, and when she sat up, a wave of nausea hit her like a brick. She knew she wasn't allowed to get up, but she had to go to the bathroom; she could feel yesterday's dinner coming back up.

She got up from her bed and tip toed the short distance to the bathroom connected to the dormitory. Natalia tried to minimize the creaks that came from the aging hardwood by strategizing her steps, but it was hard to focus on her movements with her head spinning.

    Once she made it to the door, she put her hand on the knob and turned it. She pushed the door open, slightly leaning on it for stability. Natalia found herself at the toilet and practically fell down before it. She leaned over the side and regurgitated her last meal. The acid left a burn in her throat and an ill taste in her mouth.

    Once she was sure nothing else was coming up, Natalia sat there, leaning on the side of the toilet. The nausea hadn't fully left and her back still ached. A grunt escaped her lips when she attempted to stand, but ultimately failing. She continued to sit on the cold tile, wondering why she felt like this. Was it something she ate? Is she getting sick?

    I shouldn't stay in here much longer, Natalia thought to herself. She attempted to stand again, her knees weak and shaky. Pitiful, she criticized herself. Once she was standing straight, she took a deep breathe and closed her eyes to try and steady her body. Once she was positive she could walk steadily, she moved a few feet over to the sink. She twisted the knobs and it squeaked. She winced at the sudden sound. Natalia used her hands to bring water to her mouth, trying to get rid of the horrible taste and burn that still lingered in her throat and mouth.

Before she could turn the water off, there was a knock on the door. Natalia froze. She knew she shouldn't be in here at this hour. "C-come in," she said, wiping her now shaking hands on the hand towel left on the counter.

"Ms. Romanov, I need you to come with me," an average sized lady with brown short hair told her, after she opened the door. Natalia nodded her head and put the hand towel back on the counter, "Yes ma'm." She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and looked the lady in the eye. The woman smiled at Natalia, which must be a good sign, right?

The older lady turned and left the doorway. Natalia followed her out of the bathroom, and both were careful not to wake any of the other girls; there was still thirty minutes until wake up. As Natalia passed each bed, she saw how peacefully each girl slept. She wondered if they knew of her part in this project, or even the project at all.

The lady had brought Natalia to an average sized room. Medical supplies lined the counters on the left wall and the right had a singular chalkboard with no writings on it. In the middle of the room was a metal table, a thin mattress covering the top. On the side of the table was another taller table. A monitor sat on top of it, along with a keyboard.

"Please, do not mind the makeshift table," the lady said. Natalia only nodded her head. What is happening? Natalia asked herself. She watched the lady's every move as she prepared the computer-like machine.

"Lay on the table," the women told her. Natalia obeyed and walked to the table. She did as instructed and laid down, shivering when her arms met the parts of metal table without the thin mattress. 

The lady pulled a drawer open from under the monitor and grabbed a syringe with a needle already in its tip. "I need a blood sample, so hand me your arm," she told Natalia. Natalia moved her left arm, the arm closest to the woman, closer to the lady, and stared at the white ceiling. When she felt the pinch, she squeezed her eyes shut, never being a big fan of needles.

When she felt the needle exit her skin, she opened her eyes again. The lady had put a cap on the needle and walked over to the file. She set the syringe full of Natalia's blood down on top of it. When she came back to her previous spot, she started preparing a wand that was connected to the monitor. 

Once the wand was set, she grabbed a bottle of some kind in her free hand. "This will be cold," the lady said, squirting blue gel onto Natalia's stomach. Natalia flinched at the sudden change of temperature. Not knowing what was going on was eating at Natalia.

Without another word, the lady put the wand on Natalia's stomach and ran it across, spreading the gel as she did so. Natalia looked at the screen out the corner of her eye, and was confused. It was in black and white and a small oval appeared somewhat in the middle of the screen.

Curiosity couldn't stop Natalia's mouth. "What are you doing?" she asked. Her eyes widen, realizing what she had just done. You idiot, she mentally scalded herself. The lady only smiled at her, "I'm making sure Project Baby Spider is on track, and it is."

    Natalia was not a dumb girl. It took a few seconds, but she put the pieces of the puzzle together. That little oval is inside her stomach and can only be a baby; Project Baby Spider. Natalia was needed to carry the baby. But who was the father? She hadn't had the chance to do it with anyone. Then it clicked. The day when Madam B brought her into a room with only a bed and a man. She couldn't remember a thing other than his beautiful eyes. She doesn't even remember leaving the room, only waking up in her own bed the next morning. That must mean ... he couldn't have. But he did. The proof was inside of her.

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EDITED/REWRITTEN
this went from 600 words to over 1,000. don't we just love writing progression!

-Nat