Original Author: symbiote
After settling onto the bed, Jen impulsively asked, "So why haven't I heard about this before?" Her hands, in an effort to distract, sought something to touch. Her left hand rose to her face, twirling a stray strand of hair on her finger. Her other hand, without thinking, fell into her lap, brushing her belly with one finger.
As soon as it had, her hand jerked back as if it had been shocked, then fell to her side. Even a repressed memory had a way of altering and affecting what a person does and says. She looked decidedly uncomfortable.
Gina saw the whole thing, and smiled despite herself. "When the government caught wind of a highly infectious disease in rural New England, what do you suppose they did? Closed the borders, right? Sent in the guys in the shiny suits. Blacked out the media into and out of the area. Threatened to burn the town to the ground. Some people think they were responsible for releasing it in the first place. Accident or no, if Dr. Umbert hadn't found the cure when she did, it would have been a massacre.
Gina leaned forward for emphasis, "After Dr. Umbert found the cure, the government paid off the victims. No, I'm serious- they created a bullshit story about a freak snowstorm and record low temperatures causing people to die, and paid the families involved never to tell the public-at-large what really happened. They paid for Umberth College, too- as a place for victims and their families to get a 'normal education' and to care for their, and by 'their' I mean 'our' special needs."
There was a long silence as Jen let the information soak in. Her mouth opened twice, only to close again in a feeble impersonation of a guppy. Then she stood up, walking briskly to the door, turned and pointed at it. "So Gen, and Ginnie, and everyone here... they 'unbirth' each other? I..." she shook her head, her face contorting towards illness, "I mean... how?"
Gina jumped out of her chair, one leg coming up on the chair, "How?! Jennifer, you can't be serious! How do you think a person gets into a womb? I mean... jeez! Do I need to show you?"
All at once, the proverbial two and two suddenly and irrevocably equaled four. Jen's look went from disgust to wide-eyed shock, and she slumped to the floor.
But only for a second. She sprang back up almost as fast as she had fallen. "I need to call my mom..." she said, a determined look on her face. "...I can't stay here." She unlocked and opened the door, prepared to run all the way down the stairs to the phone she saw in the lobby of the dorm.
Gina jumped up and grabbed her shoulder, "Jen, wait!"
In the few moments the door had been shut, the hallway had come alive with people. At least twenty girls, some with heavy luggage, some with heavy bellies, were crowding this way and that, pushing past each other to find their dorm rooms. The rush had begun!
Slamming the door and turning back to Gina, Jen almost screamed, "This is messed up! I mean, besides being very weird, no offense... it's just, this place isn't for me! I don't have any 'youthening' disease. I'm sure as hell not loose enough to push a person's arm into me, much less a full-grown person!"
"You need to calm down, Jen...
