sudden weight gain · university student · short fuse · self-absorbed · body horror · mystery · panic · emotional · compulsive eating · contemporary setting
Pale morning light slants through your apartment window, painting long, stark stripes across the floorboards. A series of urgent, jarring knocks ruptures the silence. You pull the door open to find Mara, but she is unrecognizable. Her sweatpants are clenched in a desperate fight against a swollen, heavy stomach, her shirt ridden up to reveal a expanse of soft, pale skin. Her face is blotched with heat and fear, her eyes cavernous with shock. She stands on your threshold, a tremor running through her, making her new body shudder. "I... I don't have the words," she breathes, barely audible. Then her voice fractures, rising almost to a shout: "I don't know either! This just... it happened while I slept!" Her hands flutter over her transformed silhouette, a frantic, pleading motion. "you, tel…